Hurston Flower Shop demolished.

[sheclown]

In Jacksonville, for the first time, she encountered racism, which, in her words, "made me know that I was a little colored girl.

And yesterday we tore down the flower shop.

[thelakelander]

That house appears to be 1477 Evergreen Ave. The article says the Hurstons (including Zora) lived at 1663 Evergreen, which looks like an industrial site now. So now both are gone now.

Your comment is highly interesting.  What would be the 1600 block of Evergreen today has always been industrial. This particular subdivision never extended north of the old ACL tracks (now CSX).  So after reading this, I immediately had a feeling the block addresses were changed at some point in time.  Checking the 1913 Sanborn map of this neighborhood this appears to be true. 





What is 5th Street today, was originally Lorne Street and 4th was Argyle Street.  In 1913, the 1600 block of Evergreen was between Lorne and Argyle Streets. Today, this is the 1400 block of Evergreen.  In short 1913's 1633 Evergreen is 2013's 1431 Evergreen.  This residence is owned by the Robert Dobson Estate. Property appraiser records claim this structure was built in 1919.  I'm still digging to solidify my belief but 1431 Evergreen is definitely 1633 Evergreen of yesteryear.  This 1951 Sanborn map below shows the new address and the old address:



This will call for a trip to the public library or Jax Historical Society's Archives to verify but I suspect if the 1633 address is correct, the home Zora Neale Hurston grew up in on Evergreen may still be standing. The easy thing to do is check city public directories between 1903 (the year she arrived in Jax) and 1914 or so see which Evergreen address checks out to be her brother, John Hurston, Jr.

Below, the site of 1913's 1633 Evergreen today.  If the address in the book mentioned in Sheclown's post is correct, then this is the house that Zora Neale Hurston lived in during her stay in Jacksonville:



Just goes to show how much we don't know about the history of these neighborhoods and the unknown importance of what code enforcement randomly demolishes at will around the Northside.

[sheclown]

And it needs to be landmarked IMMEDIATELY.

[thelakelander]

^The last photo is from Google Earth Streetview.  I have a historical society board meeting on Monday.  I'll stop by the archives then and verify if 1633 Evergreen was John Hurston's actual address in 1903.

[sheclown]

This house directly next door is most likely significant as well.

[thelakelander]

I have a feeling several structures in this neighborhood have high historical significance.  The Eastside was just was vibrant as LaVilla.  We've completely destroyed LaVilla but most of the Eastside is still intact.  The same goes for Durkeeville. I need to get a copy of the book you posted in the first post of this thread. I met the author at one of my book signings last fall but she didn't have any copies on her at the time.

[Tacachale]

Lake it would be great news if that's the house. I'll do what I can to find out. It's also unlikely to be the only place she lived in Jacksonville considering she was in and out of the city. Wouldn't it be great to find multiple of them? We could have something like this or this.

[sheclown]

We need a push to landmark important structures in the city.  Now with the mothballing ordinance, we can protect at risk structures.

[Ocklawaha]

Just to add another chunk of coal to the fire, yes Lake, the addresses all through that area were changed. I ran into the same thing with tracing the streetcar line from North Main to the old Horse Track near Gateway Mall. The numbered streets around and behind Andrew Jackson have been shifted and many names changed.

[sheclown]

 Topic: Zora Neale Hurston. Recordings, work here in Jacksonville

http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=5777.0

[thelakelander]

This house directly next door is most likely significant as well.

I stopped briefly by the library today.  The house in this photo was the home Zora Neale Hurston lived in at times, when in Jacksonville.  It was her older brother, John Cornelius Hurston, Jr's house.  John came to Jacksonville after a fallout with their dad around 1908/09 and initially lived a 808-810 Market Street (between State & Union), which is a parking lot today. He quickly worked his way up to being a manager at the Charles Anderson Fish & Osyter House at 1127 Florida Avenue in the Eastside, moving to this residence somewhere around 1911.  Before then, the house was occupied by Joseph and Minnie Watt.  After living with her older brother Bob, a short time in Tennessee, she moved to this house in 1914, at the age of 23.

Zora had grown from the sassy, strong-willed girl Bob (her older brother) once knew into an independent-minded young woman, and she chafed at her brother's efforts to govern her.  Her is an interesting look into her life at this time:

Soon, she fled. By 1914, Zora was back in Jacksonville, living with her brother John Cornelius and his wife, Blanche, at 1663 Evergreen Avenue. That year she was listed, along with the couple, in the directory of Bethel Baptist Institutional Church - the same church at which the Florida Baptist Academy, her former school, had been founded. Zora had journeyed to Jacksonville not just to elude Bob's authority but also with the hope of returning to the academy and finishing high school.

This was not to be. Yet what happened next is the most mysterious gap in the narrative of Hurston's life.

From the time she was a little girl, dogged by clairvoyant visions of her future, Zora knew that (in her words) "a house, a shot-gun built house that needed a new coat of white paint, held torture for me, but I must go. I saw deep love betrayed, but I must feel and know it. There was no turning back.

From Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Valerie Boyd

[Tacachale]

So they lived in the flower shop house? That article made it sound like they were two different buildings.

[thelakelander]

They lived in the shotgun house (still standing) next door.  Blanche Hurston's flower shop (the demolished building) was later constructed next door to it.  Regarding the quote from the Hurston book, the shotgun could have been someplace else or just a play on words from challenges she may have had to overcome within a shotgun house.  The book's author seemed to be unclear and just said it must have been someplace between Jacksonville and Tennessee.

[Tacachale]

Ahh okay. Let's save that thing!

[Cheshire Cat]

Ahh okay. Let's save that thing!

Agree!  This building needs to be saved and restored.