Yes, Blodgett Homes was the first urban renewal project in that area and residences were forced out. The ideal of creating a super dense environment of poverty and despair ended up in utter failure.
The triangular area in the middle of this aerial is the section of Hansontown that was demolished for Blodgett Homes. The open area with the track was Wilder Park. The city's first branch public library opened in the park. The park and Wilder Park Library were destroyed for the construction of what is now the I-95/Kings Road interchange. Something similar was proposed for Riverside Park but residents there had more political influence with city hall to keep it from happening.
You can see Blodgett Homes serving as the divider between LaVilla and Sugar Hill in this historic aerial.
How residents were forced out of their neighborhood in the 1960s to make way for "progress."
More than 75 percent of the families were relocated outside the neighborhood after their homes were demolished in the late 1960s by the city Department of Housing and Urban Development. The city threatened residents who refused to move by forcing them to remodel their homes and buy more property. Residents whose homes sat on 25-foot-wide lots had to buy additional property to meet the new 50-foot requirement.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-mar-lost-jacksonville-sugar-hillRemember, we're talking about neighborhoods that were as dense as districts found in northern and midwestern cities. Nearly all of the lots were 25' or less in street frontage and occupied by a working class population. Not many, if any, could immediately afford to purchase an adjacent 25' lot (which would have had another residence sitting on it) or remodel their homes. It seems the same is happening today with the code enforcement/demolition issue in areas like Durkeeville.
