May 20th Stop 17 on the ACCORD Tour 113 DeHaven Street The home of Oscar Turner

Freedom Trail - 113 DeHaven Street

Inscription. This was the home of Oscar Turner (1898-1987) and his wife Mabel (1903-1978). Their daughter, Mattie, married educator and coach A. Malcolm Jones, the principal of Richard J. Murray High School, for whom the recreational field at the nearby Willie Galimore Community Center is named. A native of South Carolina, Mr. Turner came to St. Augustine in the 1920s and worked for 40 years for the Florida East Coast Railway. The family lived for many years on Gault Street in North City, near the Fountain of Youth, before moving to this house in the 1960s. Oscar Turner was active in the civil rights movement, serving as vice president of the St. Augustine NAACP and treasurer of the local chapter of Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He made history in the 1960s when he became the first black candidate for public office in St. Augustine since black City Councilman John Papino was shot during a council meeting by white City Marshal Charles Benet in 1902. Turner ran for the School Board in 1962 and for the City Commission in 1965. Though he did not win either race, his grandson, Errol D. Jones, became St. Augustine's first black elected official in the 21st century when he was elected to the City Commission in 2002. This Historical Marker Presented this 2nd Day of July, 2009 by Northrop Grumman Erected 2009 by Northrop Grumman Corporation and ACCORD. Location. 29° 53.152′ N, 81° 18.952′ W. Marker is in St. Augustine, Florida, in Saint Johns County. Marker is at the intersection of DeHaven Street and School Street on DeHaven Street.