Photos of Jacksonville (Stuart: hardwood floors, salons, apartment)

[jsimms3]

I stand reminded by someone on another forum on Metro Jacksonville | Covering Downtown Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Photos that FEC moved their HQ to Jacksonville and their old buildings in St. Augustine are dorms for Flagler College.

[jsimms3]

Someone on Metro Jacksonville | Covering Downtown Jacksonville FL, Northeast Florida, Jacksonville Transit, History, Neighborhoods, Photos also pointed out that the first plant I had a question about was maybe a pecan tree. The second plant I had a question about was a trumpet vine, complete with seed pods.

[jsimms3]

Page 1 was Ortega, Avondale/Riverside riverfront, and a short (still around 50 pictures) tour of Springfield.
Page 2 was a tour of San Marco, Granada, Miramar, and San Jose.
Page 3 was a tour of Saint Augustine.
Page 4 (this page) is a tour of downtown.
Page 5 will be a tour of the JTB corridor from 95 to the beach.
Page 6 will be a tour of random Riverside and Avondale street shots.

On this page you will find pictures of downtown Jacksonville. Some of the pictures are taken from the 42nd floor of the Bank of America tower. Most pictures are taken at street level. A couple of pictures are taken from the 34th floor of the Modis tower. Some pictures are also taken inside of buildings.

Hopefully this photo tour will shed new light on people's impressions of downtown Jacksonville.

[jsimms3]

This is a photographic tour of downtown Jacksonville. My pictures were taken on a rather hot, sultry, and rainy Friday afternoon, therefore there are not so many people out and the weather did not cooperate.

I won’t go into the details of the history of downtown except to say that the Native Americans called the area Wacca Pilatka, meaning cow’s crossing. It is and was the narrowest point in the river, even though the current is very swift here. The first actual road/highway in Florida was constructed in 1763 by the Spanish, connecting the St. Mary’s River at the FL/GA border to St. Augustine with a crossing at Wacca Pilatka.

Eventually downtown came to be known in the English language as Cow Ford. The U.S. acquired Florida in 1821, and in 1822 the current configuration of streets was laid out and built. The first governor of Florida was William Pope Duval, for which Duval county is named. Jacksonville was named after general (and president) Andrew Jackson, who never visited Cowford. In 1847 Florida joined the Union as the 27th state. The first of downtown’s fires wiping out almost all buildings happened in 1854.

Local residents were split between siding with the Union or the Confederacy during the Civil War. More than half of the population fled before the war was over. People soon flocked back and the first major hotel opened in 1869. Tourism was officially the dominant part of the local economy. By 1885, there were more than 100,000 winter tourists (commonly known as “snow birds” nowadays). 25 passenger trains rolled into Union station each day and hundreds of ships filled the wharves.

Henry Flagler built his St. Johns river crossing and opened a string of resorts in St. Augustine drawing visitors further south in the 1880s. In 1888 a yellow fever epidemic ravaged the city, further hurting tourism, and about this point California began to grow as a tourist destination. While tourism declined, residents began to make Jacksonville a permanent home rather than a winter home, and the population soared.

Then came the Great Fire of 1901. Smoke was seen in Raleigh, NC and the flames were seen in Savannah, GA. 2,400 buildings burned down over almost 500 acres. Property damage was over $15M (much higher in today’s money) and almost 10,000 people were left homeless. Chicago’s 1871 fire was much larger in scope (4 square miles, 90,000 homeless), but not too many other fires have been as large as the 1901 Jacksonville fire.

After the fire many prominent architects from New York came to help rebuild the city. The rest is history.

[Lakeland Yankee]

Great pics jsimms3, thanks for taking the time to share and provide commentary. I can't wait to see more.

I can't rep you because I have to spread it around first.

[Ana B]

Jax nature

[Northside904]

Let me show a thread of my world
Moncrief Rd/Myrtle Ave (aka Murder Ave.) intersection, North Jacksonville.

[jsimms3]

I'm going to start bumping this page so I can put more photos up on the next page. People, please leave comments. I work very hard to get these pics and then edit and put them up, and it takes a while. I don't see anyone else leaving pics!

[pollyrobin]

Well done in showing the beauty of JAX - something I don't think a lot of people are aware of when they think of Jacksonville, FL.

We moved here in 2004 for my husband's work. I had
family come visit from CA and MS and they were really
surprised how beautiful it is; from Amelia Island to
St. Augustine. We are very happy it doesn't look like
South FL - and that's a good thing

[jsimms3]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I will be posting some pics again starting on the next page (and a few pics per post so as not to overload the pages).