Jacksonville’s working waterfront in 1930

[thelakelander]

Today, the Jaxson takes a look into the working waterfront history of Jacksonville's urban core. Produced by the Jacksonville Port Bureau and the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, this collection of historic photographs capture the maritime and industrial character of the city's riverfront in 1930.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/jacksonville-s-working-waterfront-in-1930/

[jcjohnpaint]

Amazing Article.

[thelakelander]

Thanks! Its pretty interesting to see how much the downtown riverfront has changed over the last century.

[Jason]

Damn Ennis!  Great article!

I've seen many of the images in other photo collections but your commentary really brings the history back to life.  We can only hope that we one day have a downtown district that is as lively and productive as is was back then.

[jcjohnpaint]

The Municipal Lights Plant blew me away. Just visited the restored one in London.

[thelakelander]

Its unfortunate that was quietly torn down within the last 15 years or so. We definitely don't have as much pride in our local industrial history and sites as other communities do. Here's a few pictures of an old blast furnace in Pittsburgh I took a tour of earlier this week. It closed in the late 70s. A local nonprofit is working on its restoration as a cultural heritage site.

[jaxlongtimer]

Great article, Ennis.



You can tell from the spread of "high rise" buildings in the above photo how widespread the activity was in Downtown in 1930.  I feel this made Downtown look more like a big city than today, with our much taller, but fewer, high rises.

When the Downtown and other riverfront areas got bulkheaded, replacing the piers, where was the bulkhead line placed?  At the land connection of the piers, the end of the piers (with backfill), or some other spot?

And, love the pix from Pittsburgh.  It's incredible the size, scope and amount of steel old industrial sites and products used in their day.  Real feats of engineering, manufacturing, and quality construction.  Nothing today will hold up like these things from our past.

So sad the little love Jax shows for its glorious history and buildings.