| Introducing The Eastside: Neighborhood Photo Tour |
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| Tuesday, 22 May 2007 | |
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While many are familiar with the rise and fall of LaVilla, not many know about Jacksonville's other historic African-American suburb and now inner city district... The Eastside. The Eastside is the home of the famed Pat Lockett-Felder monument. It is located at the intersection of Philip Randolph Blvd and First Street.
This commercial building sits immediately north of the Matthews Bridge Expressway ramps. When the highway is eventually expanded, this structure will be demolished to accommodate additional lanes.
A. Philip Randolph Blvd Formerly known as Florida Avenue, A. Philip Randolph Blvd. is the main commercial corridor running through the Eastside community. A. Philip Randolph was the first African-American attorney in Jacksonville and a noted Civil Rights leader. A. Philip Randolph Blvd. has been in a decades long struggle, since the Race Riot of 1969. The riot was sparked by the shooting of an African-American male by a white truck driver on the street. When the male ran into a crowd of school children, the truck driver shot into the crowd, angering many residents and kicking off a full scale riot, leading to the closing of A. Philip Randolph by Mayor Hans Tanzler.
Today, while large segments of the commercial strip are vacant, the urban building fabric still remains in place.
A few years ago, the City of Jacksonville improved the look of the area with an extensive streetscape project.
While the commercial strip has fallen on hard times in the last few decades, Buster's has been a mainstay in the community and is still open for business.
The new headquarters of the Jacksonville Children's Commission on A. Philip Randolph Blvd.
Looking south along A. Philip Randolph Blvd., from the Pat Lockett-Felder monument.
The Mount Olive A.M.E. Church, at the corner of Franklin & Pippen, was designed by Richard L. Brown, in 1922.
The Gothic Revival styled Pleasant Grove Primitive Baptist Church was constructed in 1908. It is located at 740 Van Buren Street.
The single family shotgun house is the dominant historical housing style in the Eastside.
An available commercial building along North Florida Avenue.
The streets, north of First Street, are still lined with densely packed frame residential structures.
Like many other older urban communities throughout the city, the Eastside has its fair share of mixed-use structures as well.
Klub Casual Korner is located near the neighborhood's northern border at 7th Street and Florida Avenue. Just north of this is the CSX rail line that serves the Tallyrand Port Terminal.
This brick residence is located on Evergreen Avenue.
A row of single family structures on Evergreen Avenue.
The Eastside is separated from Springfield, to the west, by the old St. Johns Terminal Railroad spur. This area is lined with mid/early 20th century industrial structures.
One of those industrial structures is the old Union Terminal Warehouse on East Union Street. If this structure stays in tact, it would be a great place for a loft conversion.
This image captures the old Union Terminal, from Union Street during the early 20th century. Today, while the building and street remain, the tracks no longer run in this area.
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May 22, 2007, 9:08 am
Union Terminal
Man, what an amazing structure that could be, and used to be. Not only would it be a perfect retrofit project, it's convenient to just about everything - downtown, springfield, lavilla, etc etc. Anyone know where I can get more information on that building?
May 22, 2007, 12:01 pm
Great tour of the Eastside
I don't know much about Union Terminal, but I believe that it's across the street from Old City Cemetery; Hopefully the building won't be too creepy for a loft conversion. As for the building itself, I agree that it would make a good loft. People complain about DT not having enough restaurants; How bout the Eastside. While the Eastside does has some family owned restaurants, they hardly have any fast food restaurants; The only one that I can think of is Church's Chicken on Phoenix Avenue and East 8th Street; If anyone can think of anymore please chime in. It seems like all of the franschise restaurants are on Main Street. I think it would be great if East 8th could have franchise restaurants similar to Main Street.
May 22, 2007, 12:03 pm
As a Springfield resident, I mean this from the bottom of my heart... THEY CAN HAVE OURS!!!
I don't mind a few fast food joints peppered in, but we are at a greasy critical mass.
May 22, 2007, 12:10 pm
for rizzel
i really wish there was a place to get a healthy, fast meal in springfield. i head on down to BR fairly often, but it would be nice to have something closer.
May 22, 2007, 5:28 pm
The "Eastside" aka East Springfield was not only a black neighborhood historically. It had both white and black neighborhoods years ago. The white ones were mainly lower middle class when compared with Springfield which was more middle to upper middle class. Either way, it is a great area with a rich architectural heritage and lots of potential IMO. It obviously suffers from commercial intrusion and the proximity to the port and the railroad lines leading there but it could be revived one day once Springfield is fully restored. Right now, it is mainly potential. Thanks for the tour y'all.
May 22, 2007, 10:10 pm
Actually, your history is a little off RG.
the Eastside is the remnants of three different communities. East Jacksonville, which was at one point its own township was working class, blue collar, and predominanty white. That is the area around the Ballfield. You have Fairfield, which is the area NE of the stadium, it was also predominantly white, though I am not entirely sure of the social economic make up. I seem to remember reading that a lot of the shipping captains lived there.
Then you have Oakland. This is the bulk of the area highlighted. It was actually a black settlement almost as long as its been settled. Someone told me its roots actually go back further than LaVilla, but again I am going completely on memory.
There was no "east springfield". There is a "new springfield", which is the area platted just north of the Railroad tracks near 12th st and was built as Springfield filled in after the great fire.
Springfield was really more of a farming community before the great fire. It was sparsely populated, and didn't even get trolley service until after the building boom of 1901 and 1902. It was so sparsely populated in 1898, that the US Army was able to station thousands of troops along Ionia St for the Spanish American War effort, at the behest of the citizens of Jacksonville.
May 23, 2007, 9:37 pm
urbanjacksonville.info
Ha ha ha. Dan, you are a walking encyclopedia. Glad you're around to set us all straight. Lots of potential over there on the eastside. Lots.
May 23, 2007, 9:42 pm
Yeah, Thats two nights in a row that I started a post with "Actually..."
I am rapidly becoming the Cliff Claven of Springfield. A regular cesspool of trivia...
Did you know that Main St in Springfield used to be Pine St (pre-1900), and the Street numbers dropped by 200 in the 1940s???
AHHHH Im DOING IT AGAIN...
May 27, 2007, 7:35 pm
Operation New Hope
Check out some new and rehabbed homes not included in the photos above at...
http://www.operationnewhope.com/ONH_redesign/EastJAX.html
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