• An early 20th century map illustrating the redlining of neighborhoods and industrial areas east of Downtown Jacksonville, including Glen Myra. The dashed black lines represent streetcar routes throughout the city.*

Wilson & Toomer Fertilizer Company

Predating the development of Glen Myra by decades, the Wilson & Toomer Fertilizer Company opened along Talleyrand Avenue just north of Deer Creek in 1893. From 1893 to 1978, the 31-acre industrial complex at 1611 Talleyrand Avenue operated as a fertilizer formulating, packaging, and distributing facility. During the 1950s, it was taken over by Plymouth Cordage and expanded to included pesticide formulation operations. After being acquired by the Kerr McGee Chemical Company in 1970, operations were incrementally phased out. Sulfuric acid production was discontinued in 1972, superphosphate fertilizer production was discontinued in 1976, and fertilizer-blending operations ceased in 1978. With the exception of three raised foundations, the fertilizer plant’s buildings were demolished in 1989. In 2010, it was declared a Superfund site by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, a long-awaited $69 million clean-up of the contaminated site is underway.

The former site of the Wilson & Toomer Fertilizer Company today

The Armour & Company Fertilizer & Chemical Works & Interstate Stockyards

A Sanborn map illustrating Armour & Company’s facilities at the intersection of East 8th Street and Talleyrand Avenue. Courtesy of the Jacksonville Public Library Special Collections Department.

While the meat packing industry is well known for its impact on the American Midwest, Glen Myra was an important early 20th century meatpacking center. In the midst of a cattle shortage, Florida jumped on Chicago-based Armour & Company’s radar in 1912 when the company was offered 5,000 heads of grass cattle in Kissimmee. After purchasing the cattle and shipping it to St. Louis, Armour sent representatives to scout the area and found prospects for beef production so good that they considered locating a plant in the state. Once this became known, prominent businessmen of Jacksonville reached out and convinced the company to open a meatpacking plant at the intersection of Talleyrand Avenue and West 8th Street. To ensure a regular supply of livestock for the plant, Armour also established the Interstate Stockyards in Glen Myra in 1916. The Armour plant was designed to receive livestock direct from the St. Johns River for immediate slaughter. By 1917, it had a daily killing capacity of 500 cattle, 1,500 hogs and pigs, 300 sheep and the production capacity of 15,000 pounds of sausages. Meat products produced in the Glen Myra plant was consumed either in the State of Florida or in the States right adjacent to Florida. Mid-century restructuring led to the relocation of meatpacking operations in urban areas like Jacksonville to rural areas.

Now the former site of Armour and its stockyards is occupied by Southeast Toyota Distributors’ port processing facility. Here, the 75-acre site prepares new vehicles delivered by ship or rail for distribution throughout the southeast. A subsidiary of JM Family Enterprises, Inc. that was founded in 1968, Southeast Toyota is the world’s largest independent distributor of Toyota vehicles. With 177 independent Toyota dealers in the five-state region of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina, Southeast Toyota’s sales outpace Toyota sales in every other part of the U.S.

C.I. Capps Foundry

Dating back to 1919, 1727 Bennett Street was the long time site of the Charles I. Capps Foundry. Developed along the former Seaboard Air Line’s track to the Wilson & Toomer Fertilizer Company, master molders cast steel and iron products, including bronze ornamental screens, around the teller cages for branches of the Florida National Bank. Today, Phoenix Products occupies the former foundry’s 6.5-acre, 100,000 square foot plant site. Phoenix Products is a leading manufacturer of custom generator enclosures, fuel tanks and fueling systems for standby power, prime power and peak shaving power applications.

Ambrosia Cake Bakeries Corporation

This rusticated block industrial building at 1741 Danese Street was completed in 1925 for E.L. Green’s Sunshine Potato Chip Company. By 1928, it had become the home of the Ambrosia Cake Bakeries Corporation. Founded by Earle P. Colby in 1923 and originally located at 2917 Main Street, the bakery produced cakes which were then distributed along with bread to merchants. By the time it was acquired by Kansas City-based Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC) in 1954, the company had grown to also operate bakeries in Birmingham and Greensboro.

Before its 2012 closure, IBC had become Hostess Brands, owning Hostess, Wonder Bread, Nature’s Pride, Dolly Madison, Butternut Breads, and Drake’s brands. However, by 1960, this building was occupied by Clayton-Willard Bicycles after IBC ceased operations in Glen Myra. Today, this architecturally unique historic industrial site is occupied by the Emory Manufacturing Company. Emory claims to be the first manufacturer of beach cruisers in the United States.