Mandarin Neighborhood Tour

[billy]

I remember the Ponderosa barbeque.

[stjr]

Mandarin is the southernmost community in Duval County

Bayard may have some contention with that statement. Original Mandarin was at the Pinch a Penny store, former Post Office of Mandarin, as Mandarin was very small in 1980s. Anyone remember Harem's Bar-B-Q, right along 13? Man did those guys make some money off that old shack!

Mandarin Super was the site of the "old train", Mandaring Road and 13 intersection. Loretto used to have more horses than cars. I remember the Cavenaugh estate with pond and stables just west of our Hermitage subdivision,  the fun we had in the old lake, swimming there. Such fun. Parties down Mandarin Road, ice storms, being without power for 26 hours straight, oh the fun!

Satsumas along the river during the winter was worth it!

I know well the area you speak of having lived in your Hermitage subdivision in the early 80's.  At the time, the Hamrick family still had a horse pasture where now sits Hamrick Place.  And, you could still see people horseback riding down Mandarin Road!

I am supposing the ice storm you are referring to is the one in 1989 when JEA managed to come up with still another reason for a power outage: frozen transformers!  (I wonder how they keep the power on in Minnesota?!)

I think you may find many true Mandarin-ites that would consider "original" Mandarin as nothing other than the historic stretch of Mandarin Road from approximately Scott Mill to Brady Road or so.  Mandarin in the 80's may have been "small" by today's standards but us life-longers already considered it far larger than it was in the decades before  .  I remember in high school when Orange Pickers was still a dirt road past the Flynn Road intersection.  As a kid, Mandarin was akin to visiting another town, apart from Jacksonville.  It was nothing but farms, forests, and oranges.

Joe Cury was the proprietor of Mandarin Super Market.  He was well known for having the best meat dept. of any store in the area as well as being a local gadfly having taken on JEA during a round of severe rate increases.  The nearest chain grocery store at the time was the Winn Dixie at San Jose and Old St. Augustine Road, still there.  Today, Publix (following Harris Teeter) sits where Mandarin Super Market, and before that, the Mandarin Train (which also ran through what is now the Ramsgate subdivision), where located.  Across the street was Wilford's gas station and mower shop.

San Jose was widened south of I-295 from two lanes to six in about 1988.  That began another round of Mandarin development.

Unfortunately, like the rest of Jax, many of the historic 1800's era structures lining the Mandarin Road riverfront and Loretto Road were allowed to meet their maker.  Only a very few remain.

[stjr]

"1917, Mandarin, Florida. Detail view from a United States Geological Survey map:"



Shown is Mandarin Road from approximately the intersection with present day Scott Mill Road (upper right edge) to Mandarin Point.  For a link to the source of this map see my post at: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,4663.0.html

[wordsworthcourtmandarin]

i lived in the  Wordsworth Court  neighborhood down in Mandarin for 12 years those oak trees always caused trouble with the power when the wind blew or if there was a minor storm plus the tight curves caused many accidents. its a peaceful area but those trees are a hazard

[Overstreet]

A number of the "old" houses pictured above are new built to look old. For example only two of the four "old" houses on Loretto just before Flynn are old.

[Houseboat Mike]

One of the things I like to do is go back and look at some of the older postings. This one rings true, as in the 70's I lived at the corner of Sunbeam Road and San Jose. One thing that I think would surprise many newer Mandarin residents is to know that there is a landfill off of Sunbeam Road that was not closed due to it being full- Mandarin got so big the odor complaints finally caused it to close.

I remember the First Federal at the corner of Old St Augustine and San Jose, Ronnies Repair Shop- (always wanted one of those go carts), Sears Surplus, Winn Dixie...the list goes on and on.