In 1952, Murray Hill was considered to be Jacksonville’s westernmost neighborhood.
Incorporated as a town of its own in 1916 and annexed into Jacksonville in 1925, Murray Hill is now considered to be an up and coming historic neighborhood.
East Jacksonville in 1943. During the first half of the 20th century, the riverfront east of downtown was dominated by heavy industry and maritime related uses.
Today, this former industrial area is known as the Sports & Entertainment District and the site of Mayor Curry’s heavily subsidized proposed legacy project, Lot J at TIAA Bank Field.
Named for Samuel and Ida Kooker, Kooker Park’s baseball diamond can be seen in the right side of this 1943 aerial. The park is located in Longbranch, a community that was platted during the 1880s.
During the 1960s, the 20th Street and Haines Street expressways were constructed, severing Kooker Park from the adjacent residential area. In 2000, the Jacksonville City Council voted to rename the two expressways after the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
Originating in June 1941 as an outlying field of NAS Jacksonville, Cecil Field was commissioned as a Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) in 1943.
On June 30, 1952, it was redesignated as a Naval Air Station Cecil Field.
In 1993, NAS Cecil Field was identified for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). NAS Cecil Field closed in 1999. Today, the property is home to a mixture of aviation, military, industrial and recreational related uses.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Historic aerials courtesy of University of Florida Map & Imagery Library. 2018 aerials courtesy of Google Earth. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com.