1. Bayard was established in 1884
Bayard was platted in 1884 alongside the brand new Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway (JStA&HR;). The JStA&HR; was a slim gauge railroad that started service in 1883 between South Jacksonville and St. Augustine.
Situated midway between the cities and simply south of Massive Davis Creek, Bayard was one in all a number of small cities established alongside the railroad that have been economically supported by turpentine camps and sawmills within the neighborhood.
A yr later, Henry Morrison Flagler acquired the railroad and transformed the monitor to straightforward gauge. In 1895, Flagler formally modified his railroad’s identify to the Florida East Coast Railway Firm (FEC). After the 1934 completion of U.S. Freeway 1, Bayard advanced to develop into a preferred relaxation cease for vacationers touring by way of the world.
2. Bayard: A reputation shrouded in dispute
The origin of Bayard’s identify has been disputed all through historical past. Some declare the group was named after Thomas Francis Bayard (1828-1898). A pal of railroad tycoon Henry M. Flagler, Bayard was from Wilmington, Delaware and served three phrases as a United States Senator. In 1885, he was appointed Secretary of State by President Grover Cleveland.
Others declare the group is called for Captain Nicholas Bayard Clinch (1832-1888). Nicholas Bayard Clinch was the son of Common Duncan Lamont Clinch (1787-1849). Common Clinch served in the course of the Warfare of 1812 and the First and Second Seminole Wars. He later represented Georgia in the USA Home of Representatives. Nicholas Bayard Clinch was a Accomplice military veteran that handed in Inexperienced Cove Springs in 1888.
3. Bayard’s Gullah Geechee connection
Courting again to the 1870s, the Julington Creek Baptist Church at 12740 Snyder Avenue in Bayard was established by Gullah Geechee settlers from Edisto Island, South Carolina that migrated to Duval County space after the Civil Warfare. They settled close to Lorett and ultimately established a small farming group named Edisto. In the course of the second half of the twentieth century, suburban sprawl ultimately engulfed and erased this as soon as rural settlement from existence. Nevertheless, this Baptist congregation named after the creek that flowed close by, lives on.
4. A. place for Twenties land increase fraud
In early August 1925, J.F. Brandeis made a splash in Jacksonville by saying plans to construct a radio manufacturing plant. After a number of days of wining and eating, he raised the stakes, claiming he had bought a 5,000-acre tract close to Bayard. Not solely would he deliver a manufacturing unit, he declared, however he would additionally construct a whole city dubbed Los Gatos.
By September, Brandeis claimed that six manufacturing companies from New York Metropolis have been relocating to Los Gatos. He boldly predicted the brand new industrial city would swell to 25,000 residents inside 5 years. Nicknamed “The Chicago of Florida,” Los Gatos was closely marketed by way of full-page newspaper advertisements, live shows, and a downtown gross sales workplace run by the Los Gatos Realty Firm.
Even if no development had begun, gross sales of dwelling websites launched anyway. However the hype burned out nearly as shortly because it had caught fireplace. By December 1925, all promoting had vanished, and Brandeis had disappeared from Jacksonville.
Two years later, federal brokers arrested Brandeis in California for mail fraud and returned him to Jacksonville to face trial. He pleaded responsible, was fined, and served a two-year sentence within the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary.
5. Bayard’s Minorcan connection
Genovar Park is the most important publicly owned leisure property in Bayard. Situated at 12810 Genovar Avenue, the five-acre park bears a reputation that dates again to 18th-century Florida. The land was as soon as owned by the Genovar household and was donated to the Metropolis of Jacksonville by Willard Genovar following the loss of life of his mom, Lois Genovar, in 1954. As a part of the donation, Willard included stipulations that the land be used as a public park and that it carry the Genovar household identify.
The Genovar household originated from Palma, a resort metropolis and capital of the Spanish island of Mallorca (Majorca) within the western Mediterranean. They have been amongst a gaggle of individuals recruited by Dr. Andrew Turnbull within the 1760s to assist set up a colony in New Smyrna, Florida. These settlers, also known as Minorcans, entered into indentured servitude with the promise of land and freedom after a set variety of years. When the colony didn’t thrive, a lot of them traveled on foot to St. Augustine and petitioned the British governor of East Florida, Patrick Tonyn, to launch them from their contracts. Tonyn not solely granted their launch but in addition supplied them with land simply north of St. Augustine’s core.
Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com