Fairfield Photograph Tour

1. This two-story vacant brick building was orginally constructed as the Fairfield Public School in 1910. In 1919, it was remodeled by local architects, Mark & Sheftall. Due to desegregation, it closed in 1971 and was converted into the Fairfield Correctional Institute to house over 100 prisoners.

2. The Commodore Point Expressway was completed in 1967 to connect the Hart Bridge with the Haines Street Expressway. To make way for the expressway, Fairfield’s commercial district along East Church Street was razed.

3. Fairfield Stadium opened in Fairfield Park in 1928 with a seating capacity of 7,600 to serve as a home football field to Lee, Jackson and Landon High Schools. In 1948, it was expanded to 16,000 seats and renamed the Gator Bowl. Additional expansions in 1949, 1957 and 1984 increased its capacity to 80,126, eating the Fairfield Park in the process. In 1994, it was largely razed and replaced by EverBank Field to accommodate the Jacksonville Jaguars was an NFL expansion team.

4. Fairfield Park opened as the city’s 7th park in 1916. Situated between Adams, Church, Weare and Victoria Streets, the 4-acre park featured several pedestrian promenades, a fountain and a pond featuring an island. The park was lost to the continued expansion of the Gator Bowl. Today, a small section of former parkland is used as a surface parking lot across the street from EverBank Field.

5. Originally known as Fairfield Street, Haines Street served as the dividing line between Fairfield and East Jacksonville. In 1962, the Jacksonville Expressway Authority reopened Haines Street as the Haines Street Expressway. Forming a bypass around, then inner city Jacksonville, with the 20th Street Expressway, the pair were renamed after Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2000.

6. This building was once a part of the Holiday Motel. Featuring 36 units, the Holiday Motel opened in 1958, at the base of the Mathews Bridge.

7. This East Duval Street residence was completed in 1924 and originally overlooked Fairfield Park.

8. Located at 444 Talleyrand Avenue, Hot Mess Food Trucks is a custom food truck manufacturer and another example of how embracing food trucks creates jobs and adaptive reuse of existing building stock in older neighborhoods.

9. Located at 1711 East Church Street, the Barton Printing Company, occupies the last remaining retail building in Fairfield’s Church Street commercial district. The Church Street commercial district was largely lost to the construction of the Hart Bridge Expressway and the Commodore Point Expressway. 1711 East Church Street was completed in 1909.

10. 1718 East Beaver Street was completed in 1903.

11. Adams Street Station is a collection of railroad cars serving as a private entertainment facility for pre-game gatherings and post-game parties along East Adams Street.

12. Land formerly occupied by industrial plants, such as Niagara Chemical, is now used for tailgating and parking related to sporting events at nearby EverBank Field.

13. This office building was completed for the Commodores Point Terminal Company in 1915. Along with Maxwell House, the Commodores Point Terminal Company has outlasted all of the industry that onced lined the downtown riverfront between the Mathews and Fuller Warren Bridges.

14. Lafarge North America’s cement terminal was constructed in 1962. Lafarge is the largest supplier of quality cement products in the United States and Canada. With more than 20 types of cement and engineered blends, Lafarge provides innovative solutions for customers who include ready-mix producers, concrete product manufacturers, contractors, masons, builders, and municipal authorities. To access the 37,000 ton capacity cement storage silos, four 12-inch pipelines extend from the facility to the Commodores Point Terminal wharf. The site occupied by Lafarge North America was originally developed by Commodore Point for the Naval Stores Warehouse Company.

15. Founded in 1897 in Allentown, PA, the Lehigh Cement Company operates this 1963-era cement import terminal where East Beaver Street meets the river. Four 10-inch pipelines extend from the Commodores Point Terminal wharf to six concrete, bulk- cement storage tanks with a total capacity of 31,950 tons. Like its neighbor Lafarge, it sits on land originally developed in 1915 for the Naval Stores Warehouse Company.

16. North Florida Shipyards, Inc. is a privately owned ship repair and conversion company with facilities at Commodores Point and Mayport Naval Station. Founded in 1977, the main 25-acre Commodores Point facility has approximately 3,600 feet of bulkheaded wharf, a floating dry-dock, marine travelift, and 210,000 sq. ft. of warehouse and shops.

17. 1730 Albert Street was completed in 1904.