Downtown’s Primary Avenue
Wanting north on the intersection of Primary and Forsyth Streets in the course of the Fifties. | Nationwide Archives Catalog
On February 24, 1893, Jacksonville’s Primary Avenue made historical past as the positioning of Florida’s first electrical streetcar line, connecting Downtown Jacksonville to the rising neighborhood of Springfield. This pioneering infrastructure spurred speedy growth, and after the Nice Fireplace of 1901, Primary Avenue emerged as a central artery within the metropolis’s dramatic revitalization symbolizing a contemporary and impressive new Jacksonville.
As the town rebuilt, Primary Avenue rapidly developed right into a bustling retail hall, drawing each residents and guests. By the Fifties, it had reworked right into a congested however very important thoroughfare, channeling 1000’s of commuters and consumers by way of the center of downtown on daily basis. In keeping with the 1950 U.S. Census, Jacksonville was a dense, pedestrian-oriented metropolis with a inhabitants of 204,275. The financial system was sturdy, supported by 24,000 manufacturing jobs throughout 350 factories.
Primary Avenue’s prominence prolonged to the downtown waterfront, the place nearly all of the town’s 78 wharves and port terminals have been positioned—notably close to the intersection of Primary and Bay Streets. Town’s key exports included iron and metal, lumber, millwork, naval shops, cotton, and wooden pulp, whereas its imports featured petroleum merchandise, fertilizer supplies, gypsum rock, bananas, inexperienced espresso, and newsprint.
On this mid-century heyday, Primary Avenue was Jacksonville’s major purchasing avenue, dwelling to main nationwide chains corresponding to S.H. Kress & Co., Woolworth, Lane Medicine, JCPenney, McCrory, and Grant’s. Nevertheless, by the Sixties by way of the Nineteen Eighties, Primary Avenue’s position as a retail vacation spot started to fade. The development of Interstate 95 and the migration of commerce to suburban purchasing malls contributed to its decline.
By the top of the Twentieth century, what had as soon as been a vibrant city streetscape, lined with various structure and a wealthy mixture of makes use of, was reworked right into a one-way arterial “freeway”. The pedestrian-friendly hall gave strategy to huge lanes, synchronized site visitors lights, floor parking tons, and garages, reflecting a broader shift in priorities from walkability to car comfort.
Wanting north at Primary Avenue from the Primary Avenue Bridge in the course of the Fifties. | Nationwide Archives Catalog
Fletcher Park’s Occasions Sq.
A 1951 Sanborn map overlayed over a 2013 aerial of the place Occasions Sq. used to exist. | Jacksonville Public Library
Nestled simply east of San Marco Sq., the Fletcher Park neighborhood was named in honor of Senator Duncan U. Fletcher (1859–1936), a two-term mayor of Jacksonville and the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Florida’s historical past. Conceived as a streetcar suburb, the neighborhood was designed by famend native architect Henry J. Klutho and constructed between July 1918 and April 1919. At its inception, it was heralded as “a mannequin city” for its considerate planning and fashionable design.
By the point Fletcher Park was annexed into the Metropolis of Jacksonville in 1933, a bustling industrial district referred to as Occasions Sq. had emerged across the streetcar terminus on the intersection of Atlantic Boulevard and Kings Avenue. By 1950, Occasions Sq. had grown right into a vibrant city node stretching two blocks north and south alongside Kings Avenue from Landon Avenue to Olevia Avenue, and two blocks east and west alongside Atlantic Boulevard from Fulton Place to Truman Avenue.
Nevertheless, Occasions Sq.’s prominence was short-lived. With the appearance of Interstate 95, a lot of the industrial district was demolished by 1960, erasing what had as soon as been a cornerstone of neighborhood life and commerce.
One of many final remaining vestiges of Occasions Sq. is the constructing at 1944 Atlantic Boulevard. Constructed in 1929, it as soon as housed the Daylight Grocery store and at present serves as a location for Fresenius Medical Care. Although little stays of the unique industrial hub, the broader Fletcher Park neighborhood has retained a lot of its World Warfare I period housing, together with its historic scale, appeal, and character, providing a glimpse into Jacksonville’s early Twentieth-century suburban growth.
A gift day view of the previous Occasions Sq. retail district. | Ennis Davis, AICP