Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jacksonville is the largest city by total area, land and water, in the contiguous United States because of its 1968 city-county consolidation with Duval County, which expanded its boundaries to cover 874.3 square miles. Of that area, 757.7 square miles is land and 116.7 square miles is water.
Jacksonville consolidated with Duval County on the 1st of October 1968, after 65% of voters approved the plan in a 1967 referendum. The merger was driven by school accreditation failures, corruption scandals, an eroding tax base, and broad demand for better public services from both inner-city and suburban residents.
The Great Fire of 1901 began on the 3rd of May 1901 from a wood-burning cook stove in downtown Jacksonville. In eight hours it destroyed more than 2,000 buildings across 146 city blocks, left roughly 10,000 people homeless, and killed seven residents. It is recorded as the largest urban fire in the southeastern United States.
On the 22nd of May 2010, Jacksonville resident Laszlo Hanyecz exchanged 10,000 bitcoins for two pizzas delivered from a Papa John's in Jacksonville, in what is recognized as the first notable retail cryptocurrency transaction involving physical goods. The 10,000 bitcoins were worth about $40 at the time, and the 22nd of May is now observed annually as Bitcoin Pizza Day.
Jacksonville's military installations, including Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Naval Station Mayport, the U.S. Marine Corps Blount Island Command, and the nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, form the third-largest military presence in the United States, behind only Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California. The U.S. military is the largest employer in Jacksonville, with a total economic impact of approximately $6.1 billion annually.
In the 1910s, Jacksonville was known as the Winter Film Capital of the World after more than 30 silent film studios were established in the city. Northern studios based in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago were attracted by Jacksonville's warm climate, exotic landscapes, excellent rail access, and affordable labor. The era ended when Hollywood emerged as the dominant film production center.