South Jacksonville: 1907-1932

The neighborhood now known as San Marco was once an independent city named South Jacksonville. Settlement on this part of the river dates back to 1760 when the British colonial government established a ferry landing at the “Cow Ford” to serve the colonial King’s Road. over the next century the surrounding land was the site of slave plantations, which were broken up and redeveloped after the Civil War. Settlements named South Jacksonville, Oklahoma and Alexandria grew together into a single community that became known as South Jacksonville.

South Jacksonville prospered as a suburb of Jacksonville, especially after the Florida East Coast Railway Bridge connected the Northbank and Southbank in 1890. By 1907, South Jacksonville was home to 600 residents, but despite its growth it still lacked basic amenities like streetlights, sidewalks and paved roadways. The citizens voted to incorporate as a city, and a small government center developed on Hendricks Avenue including a city hall, power plant, ice plant and railroad station. The first three of those structures survive today as the San Marco Preservation Society headquarters, La Nopalera restaurant and Aardwolf Brewing Company.

In 1925, South Jacksonville saw its biggest new development yet as Telfair Stockton transformed the former Gamble and Stockton brickyard into an 80-acre residential development that he named San Marco. To support the development, Stockton established San Marco Square, built San Marco Boulevard and turned the old brickyard claypit into Marco Lake.

In 1932, a measure to annex South Jacksonville into Jacksonville was approved by voters in both cities. In an interesting twist of toponymy, Telfair Stockton’s San Marco development had such cachet that the name “San Marco” came to be applied to most of the former town, while South Jacksonville, or Southside, spread to a much wider area south and east of the St. Johns. Today the lost city remains one of Jacksonville’s most popular urban neighborhoods.

Mayport: 1909-1917

Mayport is a small fishing community in the Jacksonville Beaches, north of the incorporated towns of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach. Like the others, Mayport also had a experiment with self-governance in the early 20th century, albeit briefly.

Situated at the mouth of the St. Johns River, this has been a strategic area for thousands of years. The community, originally known as Hazard, initially grew in the early 19th century as a colony of fishermen and bar pilots, whose services were needed to guide ships through the shifting sand bars that then blocked the river mouth. Early settlers came from Minorca, Portugal and France. In 1841 the village was platted as Mayport Mills, with an economy based on fishing and lumber. In the 1880s, the construction of the Mayport jetties and a railroad connection to South Jacksonville made the community more accessible, and it developed into a resort destination.

Mayport’s growth led citizens to incorporate a city government. The Florida legislature approved the incorporation in 1909. Its fortunes as an independent town would be short-lived, however, as Mayport was largely destroyed in a devastating fire in 1917. Though it no longer had a local government, Mayport persisted as a small but substantial fishing and shrimping community; its reputation as a shrimping hub has led to the phrase “Mayport shrimp” becoming a byword for fresh local shrimp. In 1940, Mayport transformed forever as much of the area became part of Naval Station Mayport. In 1968, Mayport joined the rest of unincorporated Duval County in consolidating with the City of Jacksonville, though it retains much of its historic character as a quiet coastal fishing village.

Murray Hill: 1916-1925

An attractive destination for workers employed at the Seaboard Air Line Railway’s locomotive shops near McDuff Avenue, the town of Murray Hill was incorporated in 1916. Hugh Lauder served as the first mayor of the town bounded by Fishweir Creek, Lenox Avenue, Gilmore, Nelson and Kingsbury streets.

During the town’s formative years, a streetcar connection between Edgewood Avenue and downtown, fueled development and growth. Another anchor, the Florida Military Academy, prospered during World War I. The initial fanfare of Murray Hill being its own incorporated community didn’t last long. Within a decade after electing Lauder, the young city fell into $300,000 in debt and became known as “Murray Bottom.”

Murray Hill’s residents desired annexation into neighboring Jacksonville. At the time, Jacksonville had its problems as well. Long known as the largest city in Florida, Tampa had just surpassed it in population. Adding Murray Hill’s residents would be just enough for Jacksonville to one-up Central Florida’s largest city. In 1925, the town of Murray Hill was absorbed into the City of Jacksonville.

Editorial by Bill Delaney and Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Bill at wdelaney@moderncities.com. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com.