7 Popular Jacksonville Names That Aren't Around Anymore
December 15, 2014 4 comments
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Several businesses and major chains have come and gone over the course of Jacksonville's 182 years of existence. Here's a couple of names older generations of Jaxsons will vividly remember.
7. Charter Company
The Charter Company began in 1949 and grew to become a Fortune 500 conglomerate with of over 180 subsidiaries. Raymond Knight Mason was the founder of The Character Company, who was rooted in North Riverside's Mason Lumber Company and had just graduated from college. Mason was an apprentice, and friend, of Edward Ball, too, who was an extremely powerful and important figure in business and politics.
The Charter Company began with a group of Florida mortgage, banking, and land development firms. The company bought 60 small gas stations. Mason would then buy a petroleum operation in 1970. The company would also purchase the a portion of the Florida National Bank group, and would also come to own a portion of the St. Joe Paper Company.
The Charter Company would continue to expand through the 70s, with purchases including: Redbook, Downe Communications, Ladies’ Home Journal, and the Carey Energy Corporation. In 1980, Charter purchased Commonwealth Oil Refining Company.
In the 1980s, trouble ensued. A tragic helicopter accident killed four senior executives of the company. The Charter Company was then slammed with a $1.8 billion lawsuit. The company would end up filing for bankruptcy. Entertainment giant Viacom purchased Charter's last remaining assets in 1999.
Article by Kristen Pickrell
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