Daytona Times Building

Daytona Times Building

429 South Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard

The Daytona Times has owned this building since it was purchased in 1981 by Black newspaper founder, Charles W. Cherry, Sr. from Black physician, John R. Parnell.

A decorated Korean War veteran, Cherry moved to Daytona Beach in 1952, and became one of the community’s leading Civil Rights activists, determined to bring about racial integration and social justice particularly in Daytona Beach and Florida. Before that, Cherry graduated from Morehouse – a historically Black men’s college in Atlanta - in 1949. He attended the small school of 500 attendees with Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was only 15 at the time. Their paths crossed many times after graduating.

As one of the state’s few Black bail bondsmen, he worked to get Civil Rights protestors released from Florida jails in the 1960s – including getting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. out of jail in St. Augustine more than once, according to a January 17, 2021 The Daytona Beach News Journal article.

According to Cherry’s 2014 induction into the Florida Press Association Hall of Fame, ”Charles, Sr. began his newspaper career when he launched Daytona Beach’s Westside Rapper in 1969 “…to have our own Black voice.” The Daytona Times succeeded the Westside Rapper in 1978. In 1989, Cherry, Sr. established the Florida Courier and after his death in 2004, the family, led by Julia T. Cherry, his wife of 52 years, relaunched the Florida Courier as a statewide newspaper with a 90,000 weekly circulation. “Both the Florida Courier and the Daytona Times stay true to the Black Press’s tradition of “…pleading our own cause.” The Julia T. and Charles W. Cherry Sr. Cultural and Educational Center is a community center operated by the City of Daytona Beach named in honor of the Cherrys and is located at 925 George W. Engram Blvd. next to Cypress Park.

Timeline

1949 - Graduates from Morehouse

1952 - Moves to Daytona Beach

1964 - Assists Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1969 - Westside Rapper Launches

1978 - Daytona Times Launches

1981 - Purchases Building

2001 - Largest Black-owned Media Group

2014 - Florida Newspaper Hall of Fame

2020 - Building was damaged by a fire