SAINT AUGUSTINE (ante), city, capital of St. Johns co., Fla., on Matanzas sound, 2 m. w. of the Atlantic ocean, from which it is separated by the n. end of Anas tasia island. This is the oldest city in the United States—first settled in 1565 by Menen dez de Aviles, a Spanish navigator, who with 1500 followers arrived off the coast Aug. 28, St. Augustine's day, and so named the new settlement after that saint. The Indian town of Seloy, or Selooe, is said to have occupied the same spot. The early history of the city was a bloody one, the original settlers having a hard struggle to maintain it against the Indians and against French and English adventurers. Twice—in 1586 by sir Francis Drake, and iu 1665 by John Davis, a pirate—the city was captured and pil laged. Still, it grew slowly, and at the time of the cession of the Spanish provinces to Great Britain, in 1763, it numbered some 3,000 inhabitants, besides a garrison of 2,500 men; but it was then partly abandoned by the Spanish settlers; and the last census (1870) rates the population at only 1717—sonie two-thirds of whom are of Spanish descent. The population in 1860 was probably a little over 2,200. The. principal objects of interest are the Roman Catholic cathedral, an imposing structure in the Moorish style,'erected in 1793; fort Marion (originally fort San Marco), which was finished in 1756, after nearby a century of enforced labor by Indian slaves and Mexican convicts; and the U. S.
barracks, one of the finest buildings of the kind in America, originally a Franciscan convent. Besides these there are convents, a custom-house, formerly the residence of the Spanish governors, 2 newspaper offices, 2 public schools, a number of hotels, and 5 churches of the following denominations: Episcopal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Bap tist, and Me:hodIst, the last two belonging; to colored congregations. Along the c. front of the city a sca-wall 4 ft. wide and ahont a mile long, erected at considerable expense by the U. S. government in 1837-42. which is used as a promenade. The private resi delves are mostly quaint and old-fashioned, constructed of a material called coquina rock, a eonolomerate of shells and shell-lime, of which there are extensive quarries on Anastasia island. To many of them are attached high-walled. gardens, enriched with an abundance of tropical fruits and flowers. The mildness of the climate and the historical interest of the place draw to it every winter many invalids and tourists, sometimes 10,000 in a single season. The harbor is good. although the bar at its pout]] prevents the entrance of vessels drawing more than 10 feet. Two lines of sailing vessels run between this port and New York., There is railroad communication to Tocoi, a landing on the St. Johns about 15 m. distant. The manufacture of Palmetto straw goods is the principal industry.