10 Potential Uses For The Jacksonville Landing

[sandyshoes]

I am not a downtown dweller, but I can see where some limited retail (drugstore, hardware, maybe a smaller Pbx or something, and maybe a dry cleaner?) would make good sense.  It's just a heckuva wasted view of the river, tho.  Also, there is not a Panera downtown, nor any Chinese restaurants that I know of.  Thinking of more stuff to serve downtown workers / jurors / downtown and Springfield residents.  Sometimes everybody needs quick, cheap meals somewhere;  a can of paint; more aspirin...and those things don't seem readily available downtown.  Yet. 

[sandyshoes]

Just had another observation - can anyone tell me where, in this city, there is any mention made of the Great Fire and the rebuilding of Jacksonville by Klutho?  It would be nice if there were space dedicated somewhere, maybe in whatever the soon to be former Landing site becomes, detailing this with photos and some stories about our history.  Maybe just start from the Cowford era and everything else along the way.  Signing off, thanks for allowing me a nickels' worth today. 

[KenFSU]

^The MOSH has a pretty extensive exhibit detailing what you describe.

It's pretty cool, well worth a visit.

[thelakelander]

Currents of Time captures white history in this town up till about the 1960s/70s. The history of people of color and immigrants....which made up the majority of the city for most of its years prior to consolidation.....not so much. With that in mind, there's a great temporary exhibit about black masonic history in town that's currently at the Ritz. For anyone wanting to know more about Jax's history on the other side of the tracks, it's a must see.

[heights unknown]

Other side of the tracks?

[thelakelander]

It's a reference back to small southern city development patterns during Jim Crow. It means the black side of town, which was typically located on the other side of the railroad tracks from the white side of town. A good example is Parramore and DT Orlando or Overtown (originally Colored Town) in Miami.

[heights unknown]

I knew what it meant. I wanted to see if you really knew what it was, and still is in some parts of the United States. I'm black, so I've lived it, and know all about it; believe it. Carry on my Friend.

[Kerry]

Just had another observation - can anyone tell me where, in this city, there is any mention made of the Great Fire and the rebuilding of Jacksonville by Klutho?  It would be nice if there were space dedicated somewhere, maybe in whatever the soon to be former Landing site becomes, detailing this with photos and some stories about our history.  Maybe just start from the Cowford era and everything else along the way.  Signing off, thanks for allowing me a nickels' worth today.

It would be nice to have more historical markers around downtown.  At one time Jacksonville was a walled city.  I always thought it would be neat to have some kind of line on the ground that marked the wall location.

[thelakelander]

I knew what it meant. I wanted to see if you really knew what it was, and still is in some parts of the United States. I'm black, so I've lived it, and know all about it; believe it. Carry on my Friend.

Of course I know! I grew up across tracks and lived it as well.

[Charles Hunter]

Until they started removing the old Court House parking lot, there was a sculpture on the River Walk dedicated to the Great Fire.
https://www.publicartarchive.org/work/memorial-great-fire-jacksonville

[thelakelander]

Any idea of what happened to it?

[tufsu1]

hopefully just in storage while they rebuild the riverwalk

[heights unknown]

I knew what it meant. I wanted to see if you really knew what it was, and still is in some parts of the United States. I'm black, so I've lived it, and know all about it; believe it. Carry on my Friend.

Of course I know! I grew up across tracks and lived it as well.

Yeah right!!!

[thelakelander]

I'm a six generation black Floridian with multiple lines of family ties tracing back to plantations in the Panhandle, GA and SC. Personally, not the Jim Crow part. That's my parent's, grandparent's and older neighbor's stories who beat their experiences into us as kids and continue to do so today. My generation got to live in the same hoods through the crack cocaine epidemic and after the economic foundation of them had fallen apart after desegregation. We didn't get the heyday of black-owned theatres, shops and restaurants. We got the drugs, joblessness, decay and stories of what was.

[MusicMan]

I've seen on FaceBook a couple bits about a new reproduction  WWII  PT boat. Would love to see 2 of those picking up riders at The Landing and taking them on a fun trip around the St Johns river, ending at The Shipyards where REAL Liberty Ships were built, before docking back at  The Landing.