(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/History/1930s-COJ-Property-Values/i-TPKjPXp/0/LVm7bLVGJXFmRD5q8zzqrKDm2fNwLcmHGQ8fSmhLV/X3/06-13-01_03-X3.jpg)
A 1939 map prepared by the Research Division of the Federal Housing Administration colored coded by average monthly rental rates for each city block. Did you know that Downtown's highest rents were in LaVilla's red light district? This series of maps reveal long lost economic conditions of neighborhoods throughout the City of Jacksonville prior to World War 2. Take a look and let us know what stands out the most to you!
Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/1939-jax-rental-rates-colored-coded-at-block-level/
So interesting.
Interesting...
Also, that it is in color. I would think that was somewhat unusual back in those days for something like this. If hand colored, someone was really good staying in the lines... 8)
I wonder what these blocks look like today. I'd love to see these statistics updated by block with Census data between 1950 and 2020.
It's interesting to see, in Lake Shore, what the street layouts & names used to be. I knew there used to be a road that connected Blanding to Fremont through Sunderland, or as the map shows, 69th to 68th through Yancy Street. I looked on Historic Aerials a lot back in the day after finding it on here and noticed that. I did Not know that the streets were numbered back then, as they are in Springfield. Also, where the bend on Lake Shore Blvd. is, looks like there used to be a street on the bottom right on the map, called Edgewater Street. Almost similar to River Blvd. in Riverside and River Road in San Marco. THIS is why I love the work y'all do here and why I've been here for nearly 20 years!
From what I remember about rental rates around there when I was looking, it looks like the relative pricing is still similar to how it was before haha
Prompted by deathstar's comment, I took a closer look at the Lake Shore area, where I grew up
Interesting findings:
- Blanding Boulevard used to be St. Johns Avenue
- the gap in St. Johns between Blanding and Cassat seemed to exist back then
- Cassat Ave., south of Shirley Ave., used to be Fuller, although to the north, around Euclid, it is Cassat
- between Shirley Avenue and the east-west westerly extension of St. Johns Avenue, and west of the north-south St. Johns Ave. (Blanding) - there were no streets (including the one I grew up on). Only some of the streets east of the City Limits eventually continued to the west.
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 16, 2025, 04:05:25 PM
Prompted by deathstar's comment, I took a closer look at the Lake Shore area, where I grew up
Isn't it fascinating? I've always been so curious about what our city used to look like, right down to the street layouts and now, even the names. For example, near Hyde Park Road & Blanding Blvd is a road titled Old Orange Park Road. Or what about Ortega Park, the former Roosevelt Shopping Square? Deloriane Street?! Not even a Google search returns any results, although there is plenty of history on that plot of land before it became a shopping center on this very site & forums. One more thing I Just noticed is Herschel from San Juan to Shelby was named Lake Shore Drive. Just incredible stuff, I keep seeing something new every time I look at it!
Here are some things that pop out to me that I find interesting:
1. The amount of value on 56th/Oakwood Street in Panama Park
2. The red light district's block bounded by Forsyth, Madison, Houston and Davis streets having the highest rents in the Northbank. Those cribs made some property owner a ton a money.
3. The amount of undeveloped land in what is now Durkeeville and Grand Park.
4. Woodlawn Avenue being the racial demarcation line in Mixontown/North Riverside.
5. The higher value cluster of blocks in the Eastside bounded by 1st, Florida Avenue, 5th Street and Palmetto Street.
6. The amount of heavy industry along Talleyrand.
7. Seeing the amount of rail lines along the Northbank riverfront.
8. The Philips area on the Southbank.
9. The pre-interstate era street grid in general.
Quote from: deathstar on July 20, 2025, 12:10:35 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 16, 2025, 04:05:25 PM
Prompted by deathstar's comment, I took a closer look at the Lake Shore area, where I grew up
Isn't it fascinating? I've always been so curious about what our city used to look like, right down to the street layouts and now, even the names. For example, near Hyde Park Road & Blanding Blvd is a road titled Old Orange Park Road. Or what about Ortega Park, the former Roosevelt Shopping Square? Deloriane Street?! Not even a Google search returns any results, although there is plenty of history on that plot of land before it became a shopping center on this very site & forums. One more thing I Just noticed is Herschel from San Juan to Shelby was named Lake Shore Drive. Just incredible stuff, I keep seeing something new every time I look at it!
That piece of road called Old Orange Park Rd is the original alignment of what is now Blanding Blvd. When they built the 4 land bridge they built it east of the original bridge and straighted the road out. That piece is all that's left.
Herschel in that section used to be called Lake Shore Dr and originally connected all they way to the Lake Shore neighborhood as basically one road. When they build 17 along the railroad tracks it severed that connection and the roads were renamed.
Quote from: acme54321 on July 21, 2025, 09:27:41 AM
Quote from: deathstar on July 20, 2025, 12:10:35 PM
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 16, 2025, 04:05:25 PM
Prompted by deathstar's comment, I took a closer look at the Lake Shore area, where I grew up
Isn't it fascinating? I've always been so curious about what our city used to look like, right down to the street layouts and now, even the names. For example, near Hyde Park Road & Blanding Blvd is a road titled Old Orange Park Road. Or what about Ortega Park, the former Roosevelt Shopping Square? Deloriane Street?! Not even a Google search returns any results, although there is plenty of history on that plot of land before it became a shopping center on this very site & forums. One more thing I Just noticed is Herschel from San Juan to Shelby was named Lake Shore Drive. Just incredible stuff, I keep seeing something new every time I look at it!
That piece of road called Old Orange Park Rd is the original alignment of what is now Blanding Blvd.
I had always wondered if that road was somehow something left over from the past! Also, I found this map from 1950, showing the bend in that 4 lane bridge on Blanding Blvd:https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/FL/FL_Jacksonville_346809_1950_24000_geo.jpg (https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/FL/FL_Jacksonville_346809_1950_24000_geo.jpg). In that link, look at where Hamilton makes a left turn onto Sunderland because of the creek. It also appears to show Colonial not quite a roadway at that time, possibly a dirt road? Birkenhead didn't take you to Roosevelt and it looks like Cambridge dipped down into the Lake Shore Middle School grounds, where that weird bend at Hamilton and Lake Shore is.
Interesting the differences between the 1939 map and the 1950 map, deathstar.
The street where I grew up still isn't there, but the next one over is. Must be coming soon, the Property Appraiser says the house was built in 1950!
Relating to the Paxon thread where I posted about an airfield in Paxon, I see "Williams Flying School" in the Paxon area on the 1950 map.
Quote from: thelakelander on July 21, 2025, 07:43:17 AM
Here are some things that pop out to me that I find interesting:
9. The pre-interstate era street grid in general.
From all the attention you've brought to this over the years, I've always wondered.. what would it have looked like if someway, somehow.. all of those neighborhoods weren't wiped out or divided by I-95. If it would've stayed on the other side of the river and possibly gone farther East towards the coast, or through Arlington. So many what ifs.. and I know I could very well go back and look through all the years of journalism done on this very topic, but this is such a stark reminder of what they took away, in these maps.
Quote from: Charles Hunter on July 22, 2025, 03:32:03 PM
Interesting the differences between the 1939 map and the 1950 map, deathstar.
The street where I grew up still isn't there, but the next one over is. Must be coming soon, the Property Appraiser says the house was built in 1950!
My house was built in 1941, I do however see a huge blank canvas in the neighborhood situated where Park Street, Lake Shore Blvd, Cassat and San Juan sits. Just looked up the Van Zant house, also built in 1950! By the way, all those new homes over there now have completely erased any familiarity I had with that neighborhood from my childhood.
Quote from: jaxlongtimer on July 23, 2025, 11:12:08 PM
Relating to the Paxon thread where I posted about an airfield in Paxon, I see "Williams Flying School" in the Paxon area on the 1950 map.
Finding all sorts of Easter eggs!