The Avenue of Progress: Edgewood Avenue

[Metro Jacksonville]

The Avenue of Progress: Edgewood Avenue



Once called the 'Avenue of Progress', Edgewood Avenue serves as Historic Murray Hill's main pedestrian friendly commercial throughfare and is in the middle of a massive makeover.  

Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/667

[second_pancake]

Murray Hill is one of those fortunate areas that already has prospering businesses, and just needs a good scrub and some paint.  The houses in the area are cute as a freakin button, and it's amazing the things you can find in the stores if you can just get past the unappealing aesthetic of many of them (first block excluded on the ugliness factor).

My house is just around the corner from Murray Hill and while living there, I enjoyed the walks to Edgewood Bakery for a coffee and a little cookie goodness, and sitting at Moon River for lunch.  Not to sound like a promotional piece paid for by the Murray Hill Preservation Society or anything, but there is so much more to historic Jacksonville than Avondale, 5-points and Springfield.  I'm glad to see the improvements taking place there.  I hope they include putting a sidewalk on the east side of Edgewood as well as adding some better looking signal posts.

[hank]

Is anyone aware of plans by the city to support this, from the sound of it, mostly private revitalization?  I noticed the newly planted areas and sidewalks closer to 17 but what about further along the strip to NW - the first photo seems to show an old lady about to get bowled-over by a PT Cruiser (What a way to go!)  It'd be great if the planted medians could be brought back.

[fsujax]

second-pancake, at this point Murray Hill far exceeds Springfield with the many retail, restaurant choices you have there. Not too mention you also have the Dreamette ice cream place.  We have nothing like that in Springfield. Sure our homes may be larger, bigger and older but that is all we have going for us Springfield adventurers.  I hope that someday we will have more choices like the residents of Murray Hill do.

[second_pancake]

second-pancake, at this point Murray Hill far exceeds Springfield with the many retail, restaurant choices you have there. Not too mention you also have the Dreamette ice cream place.  We have nothing like that in Springfield. Sure our homes may be larger, bigger and older but that is all we have going for us Springfield adventurers.  I hope that someday we will have more choices like the residents of Murray Hill do.

I agree and that was the point I was trying to make...guess it didn't translate from my head to my fingers   What I meant is that there is a lot of talk and action that has taken place surrounding areas like Springfield.  San Marco is often touted as THE historic place to be because many city council members and our fair mayor live or spend time there.  Avondale is well-established and offers many fine-dining options, Ortega...well, Ortega is ~sniff,sniff~ where anyone who is anyone lives, and Riverside is the eclectic, fun and interesting hang-out.  But Murray Hill is overlooked...which is really sad because like you said, there are so many choices.  Aside from the makeover being done, it really should be promoted more.

[James]

I'm glad that Murray Hill was featured on here.  I've just recently come across this site and have enjoyed going back in the archives and am now a daily reader.  MH is definitely overlooked when people are referencing parts of Jacksonville.  I think that they were supposed to make all of Edgewood match the "First Block" but lost some funding from the city, maybe someone from MHPA could clarify that (?) but the updated area around Post and Edgewood looks really good.  The houses in MH are great starter houses or suitable for young families, plus with the influx of people renovating, the neighborhood has really started to pick up.  Dave's Diner is right on the Post/Edgewood corner, and the Dreamette completes any trip to MH.  I haven't been to 1171 yet, but it has gotten good reviews on the blogs.  What I wonder about MH is is it overlooked because of, or associated with, crime?  I don't think so, but I've heard people make reference to not wanting to be there after dark, or other things along those lines.  Do people see it as an unsafe area? 

[second_pancake]

As with anyplace going through a revitilization, they are hit-and-miss.  There are definitely areas within Murray Hill that I would think twice about exploring.  And as you drive down Edgewood and get closer to Lane Ave., it gets a bit dodgy, but there are places like that in Ortega too. It's mostly, and this is coming from someone who lived just on the other side of the tracks, an ability problem...an ability to keep up the properties, that contributes to the feeling of being in a "bad" part of town.  If you can look beyond junk cars in the drive, shingles falling off houses, and some unsightly metal awnings, then 'those' places won't bother you.  Murray Hill is still legs-up from Springfield in that regard though.  There are blocks in Springfield that are emmaculate, and then turn the corner and you'll see boarded up homes condemned by the city, and 50 people standing on the porch of another looking like they're up to no good, along with what can only be described as crack houses.  Not saying that Springfield is a bad place to be, just that it has a lot more work to do and Murray Hill is doing just fine, just needs some love

You can find a heat-chart of crime statistics in Jacksonville, online.  They usually shade the highest crime areas in red.  I'll see if I can find one for you and post it.

[second_pancake]

http://www.coj.net/Departments/Sheriffs+Office/Uniform+Crime+Statistics++Mapped+Statistics.htm

Here's the city site with the police reports listed by a specified area.

[Charles Hunter]

I remember going to the Edgewood Theater (now Jones College) to watch Saturday matinées (cartoons, a movie, and contests) in the summer, and the Murray Hill for horror triple features.  And of course Toy Town - a large locally owned toy store - just down the block from the Edgewood Theater.

This was back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

[duster1]

I remember when the Edgewood Theater showed those movies and cartoons on Saturdays during the summer. I also knew the people that owned the Murray Hill Theater and the coin shop next door. Those were always great places with a lot of cool junk. My Grandpa would take me over to Wood's Pharmacy when they had a lunch counter too! Murray Hill is a great place.

[James]

SP, that website was good, it is amazing to see the differences in the stats in different parts of MH.  You can definitely see the parts that have turned the corner and those that still have some work to do.  The coin shop still seems to be filled with cool junk.  I knew that MH Theatre used to show movies, but I didn't realize that Jones college had been a theater. 

Charles, where was the toy store located?  I'm always interested in finding where things used to be in MH and what is in its place or if it was torn down, etc...

anybody know a good jax history website (besides this one  ) that might have stuff about neighborhoods?  I went back in the archives and read the stuff on MH in here already

[second_pancake]

The only one I know of is the Jacksonville Historical Society site, http://www.jaxhistory.com/.  There's a bunch of random things out on the net, but you really have to know what you're looking for first.  The historical society site has links to old photos and things. Unfortunately, there really isn't a whole lot though if you're looking for anything other than Bay Street.  I've only found about 5 photos of Murray Hill all from the 40's and 50's, and all of them were of the theatre.

[stug]

After resigning myself to the fact that unless some long-lost wealthy uncle left me his fortune I'd never afford a house in Avondale, I purchased a small home in Murray Hill last June. I LOVE it. I have an adorable house on Dellwood Ave., west of Nelson St., and the neighborhood has been nothing but nice and quite thus far (Sure, there's crime, but I've never felt unsafe in the area). We got very lucky, though â€" because Dellwood doesn't connect to Mc Duff, we have much less through-traffic than roads like Ernest St. and, becuase we're west of Nelson, we have to-the-door mail delivery and therefore no ugly mail boxes marring the street. Our neighborhood is a mix of young families and couples who bought recently, and older people who've lived in the neighborhood forever, both white and black. I'm pleased with what they've done so far as far as improvements along Edgewood, and can't wait until they finish improving the stretch of Mc Duff from 95 to Roosevelt, because right now it looks like total garbage.
Dave's Diner is great, the Dreamette is awesome, I hear 1171 has really good food ...
Murray Hill will never become another Avondale strictly because of the sizes of the homes ... and that's okay. Murray Hill is friendly, quaint and has its own brand of shabby charm. And you just can't beat it as far as proximity to everything goes. Murray Hill is already nice, and continues improving at an incredible pace.

[Charles Hunter]

James, I'll have to go look at the block again, but I  think Toy Town was in "first block" at, or near, the end away from the RR tracks.

[JeffreyS]

And who could forget the days of sneaking high school girls into 17 south.