Baldwin is a town in Duval County, Florida, United States. When the majority of communities in Duval County consolidated with Jacksonville, Florida in 1968, Baldwin, along with Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach, and Neptune Beach, Florida, remained quasi-independent. Like the other towns, it maintains its own municipal government but its residents vote in the Jacksonville mayoral election and have representation on the Jacksonville city council; unlike the others Baldwin no longer supports its own police force. The population was 1,634 at the 2000 census.
The Town of Baldwin was first settled under the name of Thigpen in 1846. The name was changed to Baldwin in honor of Dr. Abel Seymour Baldwin, the president of the Florida Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad, a railroad that ran from Lake City to Jacksonville.
Florida State Law in 1948 required new school buildings be placed on lots not less than ten acres in size. As the existing lot was not large enough, a property search began and the present day site on Mill Street was chosen. A $50,000 school was erected during the winter and summers of 1948 and 1949. In 1950, an auditorium was completed. At that time the school enrollment was 365. In 1964, a Music Suite was added.
In 1967 Baldwin became the first Duval County School to be integrated. In April 1975, Community Education came to Baldwin under the direction of Mr. Michael Minton.
The First Baptist Church of Baldwin was built in 1904 as a small frame building on two lots deeded to the church by Mr. and Mrs. D.J. Parish at 97 Center Street.
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