Jacksonville: Where Florida Begins

In 1899, Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway bought the defunct Jacksonville & Atlantic Railway, which ran from the Arlington area to Jacksonville Beach. Flagler, the legendary developer, then extended a northward line to Mayport, making all the Beaches communities more accessible.

In 1914, an heiress named Elizabeth Stark bought acreage around Ribault Bay and built an elaborate estate called Wonderwood-by-the-Sea, where several silent movies, including a handful starring Laurel and Hardy, were made during Jacksonville's filmmaking years. The U.S. Navy purchased the Wonderwood property during World War II.

Today, the only historic buildings in Mayport are the Old St. Johns Lighthouse, a 145-year-old tower listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the nearby wood-frame Mayport Presbyterian Church. The eight-block downtown consists mainly of shabby seafood packinghouses and a handful of funky restaurants.

Mayport proper, however, may be getting a facelift. Five years ago, the City of Jacksonville and the City of Atlantic Beach joined forces to form the Mayport Waterfront Partnership, a multi-agency board seeking to revitalize the downtown area. Roads have been paved, sewer lines laid and a proposal is pending to install sidewalks and period lighting in the historic district.

"We don't want Mayport to lose any of its charm," says Ed Lukacovic, a senior planner with the City of Jacksonville. "We want to maintain its character, but also improve it as a venue for ecotourism."

Certainly there's plenty of natural splendor for tourists to see. Just south of the Naval Station is the 450-acre Kathryn Abby Hannah Park, which boasts 1.5 miles of beachfront, 300 campsites and 60 acres of stocked freshwater fishing lakes. And the Poles of Mayport, named for a dividing line of pilings that separate the Naval Station from the park, is renowned as the region's best surfing spot.

But Mayport is still heavily dependent on the Navy, and news that the USS John F. Kennedy may be retired in 2006 has caused local merchants to worry about the economic drain caused by the departure of thousands of sailors.

In contrast to its working-class neighbor to the north, Atlantic Beach began as a lavish playground for the wealthy.

In 1899, when his rail line was complete, Flagler began to develop the area as a resort community, the centerpiece of which was the fabulous Continental Hotel. The hotel, completed in 1901, was at the time one of the largest wooden buildings in the South: 447 feet long and 47 feet wide, with 186 rooms.

But the community's resort heyday was short-lived; the Continental burned to the ground in 1919. By then, Atlantic Beach was attracting year-round residents, thanks in large part to the opening in 1910 of Atlantic Boulevard, which connected the Arlington area to the coastal communities.

Today, Atlantic Beach's tree-lined streets are primarily residential, with funky old beach cottages next to sprawling new mansions. Non-beachfront residents can access the sand and surf from many well-placed, well-maintained dune crossings.

Of course, there's plenty of action in Atlantic Beach if you're so inclined. The area of Atlantic Boulevard between Third Street and the ocean, recently refurbished and dubbed Town Center, boasts some of Northeast Florida's liveliest nightspots. Among the most popular is Ragtime Tap Room and Brewery, Jacksonville's oldest brew pub, known for such foamy concoctions as Dolphin's Breath Lager, Red Brick Ale and A. Strange Stout.

The city, which stretches only 25 blocks north to south, also offers community events such as the annual Dancin' in the Streets festival in May, a Christmas festival and family campouts in the city park. The Atlantic Beach Experimental Theater, housed in the Bull Recreational Area, stages 10 productions each year.

Spunky Neptune Beach, the smallest of the Beaches communities, was originally part of Jacksonville Beach. It was incorporated as a separate entity following a 1931 "tax revolt" by residents who felt they were receiving short shrift when it came to services such as street paving, fire and police protection and garbage collection.

Although it's difficult today for a casual visitor to distinguish between the two communities, Neptune Beach has its own historical commission, operating under the auspices of the city and charged with the task of preserving historical items and obtaining oral histories from longtime local residents.

As Beaches property values increase, Neptune Beach remains a place where diligent shoppers can still find a fixer-upper for around $100,000. Renters, who take up residence in garage flats and duplexes, also have plenty of affordable options.

Neptune Beach has at least one genuine landmark: Pete's Bar, a friendly hole-in-the-wall that was mentioned in the John Grisham bestseller The Brethren. Pete's, established in 1933, is said to be the oldest continuously operating tavern in Northeast Florida, and attracts a loyal clientele with its everybody-knows-your-name ambience and its 25-cent billiard tables.

The largest, oldest and southernmost Beaches community is Jacksonville Beach, which was first known as Ruby, named for the daughter of a pioneering family that settled the area in the 1880s.

Jacksonville Beach has long offered an escape for harried inlanders, first with resort hotels such as the 350-room Murray Hall in the 1890s and later with an amusement park featuring a wooden roller coaster. The city earned international recognition in 1922 when Lt. Jimmy Doolittle broke the transcontinental speed record by flying from Jacksonville Beach to San Diego in less than 24 hours.

But the community really started to grow in 1949 when Beach Boulevard was opened, supplying a second, more southerly route from Jacksonville to the coastal communities.

In 1998, a Mediterranean-style city hall was built and in 2000 four parks were acquired: Latham Plaza with the Sea Walk Pavilion, South Beach Park and a site for a new county pier between Fourth and Fifth avenues. Hurricane Floyd wrecked the old wood pier in 1999, but its 1,300-foot-long replacement is made of concrete.

Jacksonville Beach is also known for its annual festivals, including Fiesta Playara, a celebration of Latin music and culture; Springing the Blues; Cajun Crawfish Festival; The Beaches Festival; Moonlight Movies; and the Key West Conch Festival.

Nightlife options abound. Among the hot spots: the Ocean Club, a noisy disco; the Freebird Cafe, which hosts live performances ranging from Dickey Betts and Blues Traveler to Vasser Clements and Willie Nelson; and Sneakers Sports Grille, a 12,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art sports bar boasting six 38-foot-wide screens and five plasma televisions surrounding the bar.

Cultural offerings include the Beaches Fine Arts Series at St. Paul's-By-The-Sea Episcopal Church and theatrical productions by Players-By-The-Sea, which moved into a new performance space off Beach Boulevard last year.

The lively lifestyle has helped fuel a condominium boom. Five multifamily developments have been built in the past two years, four are under construction and at least 20 others are on the drawing board. That's remarkable considering that no new complexes were built in Jacksonville Beach between 1987 and 2002. Now, they can't be built fast enough to keep pace with demand.

DOWNTOWN JACKSONVILLE

On May 3, 1901, a family living in a shanty at the edge of downtown Jacksonville began to prepare a midday meal. An errant cinder leapt from the chimney of the stove and floated west, landing on a pile of moss in the yard of a mattress factory at Davis and Beaver streets.

That spark began a cataclysm that would remake this rough-and-tumble port city into a modern metropolis. The Great Fire of 1901, as it would come to be known, destroyed 2,368 buildings-most of downtown-and left 10,000 people homeless.

Then, no sooner had the smoke cleared than a new Jacksonville quite rose, quite literally, from the ashes. Within five years, 1,500 new buildings had gone up, including several designed by nationally recognized architects energized at the prospect of helping to rebuild a major city.

In the decades that followed, Jacksonville has, in turns, been characterized as a resort destination, a movie capital, a golf mecca, a manufacturing center, a progressive business center and, as of this February, a Super Bowl city.

The world got a good look at downtown Jacksonville during Super Bowl XXXIX, when the Main Street Bridge was closed to traffic and recast as a promenade for events along the St. Johns River and docked cruise ships provided lodging for visitors.

Also during the big game, vacant tracts along both sides of the river were transformed into entertainment centers, including the NFL Experience interactive theme park on the Northbank near Alltel Stadium. It all looked grand on television, and the city received high marks for its organization and hospitality.

But will the hoopla bring lasting change? Although it's too early to tell what the long-term impact will be, it's clear that downtown was a region on the rise well before the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles came to town.

In addition to 5.6 miles of water frontage, Jacksonville's urban core boasts 256 acres of parks and public spaces, at least 90 eateries of every type imaginable and numerous galleries, museums and theaters.

To prep for the Super Bowl, Alltel Stadium underwent more than $59 million in improvements while the red brick, Triple-A-eligible Jacksonville Baseball Grounds has replaced 45-year-old Wolfson Park. And construction was completed in 2003 on Veteran's Memorial Arena, which plays host to major concerts and sporting events.

Additional downtown projects include a $268 million federal courthouse at Hemming Plaza and a $95 million replacement for the circa-1950s public library. Also in the works: a $250 million renovation and expansion of The Jacksonville Landing, a struggling riverfront entertainment and retail complex originally opened in 1987.

Developer Tony Sleiman, who purchased The Landing two years ago, plans to update the exterior, build a 120-slip marina and ultimately add a 25-story tower with retail space, offices and condominiums. Although Sleiman has encountered the inevitable disputes with city officials over financial incentives and the project's scope, he remains optimistic.

So does Mayor John Peyton, who recently reiterated the city's commitment to a more vibrant downtown when he told a women's business group he believes the city needs 8,000 to 10,000 housing units in the area. So far, more than 2,000 condominiums and rental apartments have come online, both in new buildings and renovated structures.

As of today, the number of residents in downtown proper is just 1,200. But 25 percent of those city dwellers relocated within the past two years, according to Lyn Briggs, director of marketing at Downtown Vision, a business improvement and advocacy organization.

"We're becoming a residential community," says Briggs, who hopes downtown can reach a critical mass of 10,000 residents within nine years.

Briggs' group defines downtown using the following boundaries. On the Northbank, the boundaries are State Street to the north, A. Philip Randolph Avenue to the east, the St. Johns to the south and I-95 to McCoy's Creek on the west. On the Southbank, the boundaries are the St. Johns to the north, Prudential Drive to the south, the Fuller Warren Bridge to the west and the Southside Generating Station to the east.

Among the big downtown residential projects already completed is the 22-story, 206-unit Plaza Condominiums at Berkman Plaza and Marina, located on the Northbank.

Another major Northbank initiative, a 45-acre mixed-use residential, retail and office complex on the site of the old Jacksonville Shipyards, has, like The Landing, been plagued with problems and delays.

The original developer, TriLegacy Group, tangled with city officials over the expenditure of city incentive money. As a result, Jacksonville-based LandMar Group has taken over and expects to jump-start the stalled project.

Hassles aside, local leaders have little doubt that this unique swath will ultimately be the jewel of what former Mayor John Delaney dubbed "the billion-dollar mile," referring to riverfront acreage connecting Alltel Stadium and Metropolitan Park.

Across the river on the Southbank, The Peninsula at St. Johns Center has begun presales. American Land Ventures, the project's developer, plans a 36-story tower that will be the tallest residential structure in Northeast Florida, at least temporarily. Retail and offices will take up the first nine stories, so every residential unit will offer expansive skyline and river views.