Baldwin (Florida)

Baldwin is a town in Duval County, Florida, United States. When the majority of communities in Duval County consolidated with the city of Jacksonville in 1968, Baldwin, along with Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach, remained quasi-independent. Like the other towns, it maintains its own municipal government, but its residents vote in the Jacksonville mayoral election and vote for the Jacksonville City Council; unlike the others, Baldwin no longer supports its own police force. The population was 1,425 at the 2010 census.HistoryThe town was first settled under the name of Thigpen in 1846. Mr. Thigpen had opened a tavern to benefit the stagecoach line at the crossroads of what is today Baldwin. He supplied horses for the stage and shelter and food for the passengers. The first railroad was built in Thigpen in 1857 with a second crossing it in 1859. The name was changed to Baldwin in honor of Dr. Abel Seymour Baldwin, the president of the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, a railroad that ran from Lake City to Jacksonville. Further development in Baldwin led to the establishment of a telegraphic line running from Jacksonville to Baldwin.On August 10, 1864 during the Civil War a skirmish occurred between a Confederate cavalry and the 102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops. A section of railroad tracks were destroyed by the Federal troops. Two days later the Federals dispatched cavalry troops from Baldwin to drive Confederate forces back. One Federal soldier was killed and four were captured in the process. Baldwin was then burned down by the Federals. From 1865 to 1875 Baldwin was rebuilt reaching a population of 250.