31. Inside the New Central Hotel. Courtesy of the City of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department Historic Preservation Office.

32. Inside Hayes Luncheonette on West Ashley Street.

33. A photograph taken in front of the Strand Theater near the intersection of West Ashley and Jefferson streets. Courtesy of the State Archives of Florida.

34. A view inside Manuel’s Tap Room in 1942. Owned and operated by Manuel Riveria, Manuel’s Tap Room was a popular restaurant, bar and live entertainment venue on Ashley Street that was open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Courtesy of the Crisis Magazine.

35. A view inside of the Broad Street Cleaners. Broad Street served as black Jacksonville premier business district during segregation. Courtesy of the Crisis Magazine.

36. The Lawton Pratt Funeral Home on West Beaver Street. This building is one of a few remaining structures built by Joseph Blodgett in 1916. Blodgett was said to be the city’s first African-American millionaire. Courtesy of the Crisis Magazine.

37. The Masonic Temple was completed in 1912 at the intersection of Broad and Duval streets. Princess Laura Adorkor Kofi preached to impassioned followers in the six-story Prairie School building’s Grand East during the 1920s. In 1926, the Negro Blue Book described it as one of the finest buildings owned by African-Americans in the world. Courtesy of the Crisis Magazine.

38. Operated by Mrs. Alice Kirkpatrick, during the Jim Crow era, it was a popular location for African-American celebrities visiting Jacksonville. One block south of Ashley Street, Jazz era entertainers such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzergald, and Billie Holiday stayed at the Richmond, which included a second floor balcony for stars to greet large crowds of fans below. Courtesy of the Crisis Magazine.

39.

This site was the original location of the Stanton Normal School, which opened in April 10, 1869. The school was named in honor of General Edwin M. Stanton, an outspoken abolitionist and Secretary of War under President Lincoln. In 1877, President Ulysses Grant visited the school during a tour of Florida. During the visit a six-year-old student named James Weldon Johnson raised his hand from the crowd and Grant shook it. Johnson would go on to become the school’s principal in 1894 expanding it to become the only high school for African-Americans in the city.

While serving as the principal, Johnson wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” This song would later become known as the Negro National Anthem. Johnson relocated to New York City in 1902, becoming a nationally famous composer, author, poet, diplomat, and civil rights orator.

As a result of one of the first civil-rights litigation cases in Jacksonville and the South, the existing building was constructed in 1917. Today’s Stanton High School in Durkeeville replaced this school in 1953. It then served as the Duval County Vocational School until closing in 1971.

40.

The storefront of James “Charlie Edd” Craddock’s Uncle Charlie Edd’s. Craddock was a controversial character who established the Little Blue Chip nightclub at 426 Broad Street (Richmond Hotel) after arriving in Jacksonville in 1921. During the Great Depression, he opened a bread line for the hungry giving him a reputation as a philanthropist in the black community. A part owner of Manuel’s Tap Room on Ashley Street, Craddock was also known as a local bolita king and forced to pay the federal government $35,000 in back taxes in 1942.

Over the years, he acquired and owned several rental properties, the Charlie Edd Hotel, Young Men’s Smoke Chop, Uncle Charlie Edd’s Barber shop, loan offices, pawn shops, and Mount Olive Cemetery, employing as many as 500. Much of what Ashley Street became during the mid-20th century was directly related to his investments. However, Craddock’s most well-known business was the Two Spot nightclub at Moncrief Road and 45th Street. With a dance floor capable of holding 2,000, during its heyday the Two Spot was said to be the finest dance place in the country owned by an African-American.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com