{"id":397955,"date":"2026-09-12T14:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T14:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397955\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T14:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T14:50:12","slug":"florida-times-union-photos-capture-9-11-from-the-first-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/397955\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Times-Union photos capture 9\/11 from the First Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

From busy blood banks to a contemplative mayor to watching television at work, these pictures tell the story of that day in the River City.<\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 No matter where you were on September 11th, 2001, there were ripple effects in every city that day\u2026 including in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

I pored through the Florida Times-Union Newspaper photo archives at Jacksonville’s Main Library from that day, and I found some remarkable images inside the<\/p>\n

One photo shows a man watches the unfolding story of the World Trade Center attacks on multiple televisions for sale inside a Best Buy in the River City. \u00a0The attacks had just occurred. \u00a0 The word “LIVE” is on the screens along with an image of one of the towers with smoke pouring out of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n This story continues below. <\/p>\n

Another newspaper photo from that day is of the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office in downtown. \u00a0It shows an officer positioned on the building\u2019s outside. The caption read: \u201cHeightened security at the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s office was evident on the roofs of the various levels. The flag at the front entrance flies at half-staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A third photograph shows one employee, sitting along at what looks like a Auntie Anne’s Pretzel stand in an empty shopping mall. \u00a0He is watching a small television, displaying coverage of the terrorist attacks. \u00a0Many of us were glued to our TVs that day, wondering what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

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People around the country went to blood banks on September 11th to donate blood for the victims in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. \u00a0 One Times-Union photo shows a blood bank in Jacksonville, full of people. \u00a0A caption in the newspaper stated that some people waited three hours to donate blood.<\/p>\n

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A different photo was taken at the Mandarin Florida Georgia Blood \u00a0Alliance. \u00a0It shows more people waiting to donate blood while they circle around a television set. \u00a0On TV were news reports of the terrorist attacks. \u00a0 The caption stated there had been a line of donors out the door, waiting to give blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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One photo showed a group of people standing with suitcases. \u00a0 These were people whose flights were cancelled at the Jacksonville International Airport because the FAA suspended all air travel. \u00a0 Some of these folks were reading the latest in an special edition newspaper of the Florida Times-Union. The headline in bold print read, “TERROR.”<\/p>\n

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Transportation for many people came to a stop that day. \u00a0 A photo taken at the downtown Jacksonville Greyhound Station shows a man standing outside of a locked door. \u00a0The station had been shut down in response tot he terrorist attacks. \u00a0On the door was a piece of paper that stated: NO TICKETS WILL BE SOLD NORTHBOUND. According to the photo’s caption, Greyhound had stopped all northbound bus routes and closed down any stations within a mile of federal buildings nationwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Another Times-Union photograph captures the Jacksonville mayor at the time, deep in thought. He shares the photo with a podium decked out with news media microphones. \u00a0He is off to the side of the photo with his face down. \u00a0 The caption reads in part, \u201cMayor John Delany collects his thoughts before making a statement to the press on the terrorist attacks\u201d<\/p>\n

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From that same press conference is a separate photo. \u00a0 This one shows First Coast News reporter Charlene Shirk who is overcome with emotion while watching coverage of the terrorist actions in New York and Washington. She and other media were gathered at the city\u2019s emergency operations center for a press conference with the Jacksonville mayor. The media members in the photo were watching the coverage on a small television. \u00a0The caption stated: Shirk said \u201cI\u2019d better cry now\u2026 I\u2019m on the air in ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another Times-Union photo shows two women sitting together at a the Jacksonville International Airport. \u00a0It was taken two days after 9\/11. \u00a0 Marilyn Hess of Jacksonville sits with her granddaughter. They were waiting to board a plane to New York. \u00a0The caption states that Marilyn\u2019s son, Thomas Gambino Jr., was a member of the NY City Rescue Department and was one of the first units to responded to the World Trade Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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When this photo was taken, he was still missing. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I looked up his name immediately after finding this photo. \u00a0Indeed, Hess’ son was one of those brave men who was killed while responding to the attacks. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When this photo was taken, Hess did not know that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For her son\u2026 Thomas Gambino Jr. \u00a0and all those who died that day\u2026 we will never forget.<\/p>\n

Thank you to the Times-Union and to the staff at the Memory Lab inside the Jacksonville Main Library for help with this story.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From busy blood banks to a contemplative mayor to watching television at work, these pictures tell the story…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-397955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}