JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Long before smartphones, digital watches, and alarm clocks, Jacksonville residents relied on a loud copper whistle known as \u201cBig Jim\u201d to tell them when it was time to start work, take lunch, and head home.<\/p>\n
More than 130 years later, Big Jim is still on the job.<\/p>\n
Perched atop JEA\u2019s Waterworks Building at Main and First streets in Springfield, the 32-inch copper whistle continues to sound off every weekday at 7 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., and 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
For many Jacksonville residents, it\u2019s more than just a whistle. It\u2019s a piece of living history.<\/p>\n
Built in the 1890s<\/p>\n
Big Jim was created by Jacksonville inventor John Einig, who reportedly set out to build the largest steam whistle possible.<\/p>\n
He named the whistle after his brother-in-law and builder, Jim Patterson.<\/p>\n
The whistle first began operating when the city opened its water plant in Springfield in 1895. For decades, it helped workers keep track of the workday in an era when many people didn\u2019t own watches.<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine back in the day,\u201d longtime JEA Waterworks Lab Manager Paul Weber said. \u201cThere were not many watches, no iPhones, iPads, nothing. You are working downtown, you are in the shipyards working and you need something to tell you when to go to work, go to lunch, come back and go home. That\u2019s what this is for.\u201d<\/p>\n
A witness to Jacksonville history<\/p>\n
Over the years, Big Jim became much more than a timekeeper.<\/p>\n
The whistle marked the arrival of electricity in Jacksonville and sounded warnings during the Great Fire of 1901, one of the most significant events in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
It also blew to celebrate the end of both World War I and World War II and has helped ring in nearly every New Year for generations.<\/p>\n
Today, Big Jim remains one of the oldest operating landmarks in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
A sound that still shapes daily life<\/p>\n
While technology has replaced the need for a citywide time signal, many people still rely on Big Jim.<\/p>\n
Michelle Jones said the whistle helps keep her on schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to be at work at seven o\u2019clock every morning so if Big Jim goes off, I really have to be out the door,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
Norma Williams said the whistle has become such a regular part of her life that she hardly notices it anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell the time, and after a while I really don\u2019t even hear it anymore,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
For Mark Dorsett, manager of the Corner on Main apartments located across the street from the Waterworks Building, Big Jim remains part of the neighborhood\u2019s character.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps me realize now it\u2019s lunch, end of lunch and at the end of the day. It\u2019s perfect,\u201d Dorsett said.<\/p>\n
Dorsett said he even tells prospective tenants about the whistle\u2019s history before they move in.<\/p>\n
When Big Jim went silent<\/p>\n
In 2012, a lightning strike temporarily silenced Big Jim.<\/p>\n
The whistle was out of service for more than a year, and according to Weber, people immediately noticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess this is part of the urban myth, that when we took it down and took it offline, people were calling downtown wondering why it wasn\u2019t going off,\u201d Weber said.<\/p>\n
The reaction surprised some people but demonstrated how attached many residents had become to the historic whistle.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very interesting in our day and age with all the technology, we don\u2019t need a timepiece,\u201d Weber said. \u201cBut yet some people are very attached to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not everyone loves it<\/p>\n
Of course, not everyone appreciates hearing a giant whistle several times a day.<\/p>\n
Keith Jones, who moved to Jacksonville from New Jersey, has a different opinion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re from New Jersey. And up north you hear a lot of noise. But that was just obnoxious,\u201d Jones joked.<\/p>\n
Even so, Big Jim has endured.<\/p>\n
Back home in Springfield<\/p>\n
Big Jim originally operated at the Main Street Water Plant in Springfield, powered by steam generated from the facility\u2019s boilers.<\/p>\n
In the 1970s, it was relocated to JEA\u2019s Southside Generating Station. When that plant closed in the early 2000s, Big Jim returned to its original Springfield home.<\/p>\n
Today, the whistle operates using compressed air rather than steam.<\/p>\n
And according to Weber, it isn\u2019t going anywhere.<\/p>\n
More than a century after it first sounded, Big Jim remains one of Jacksonville\u2019s most recognizable sounds \u2014 a daily reminder of the city\u2019s past and a familiar part of its present.<\/p>\n
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