I was looking back at photos for my new http://www.freewebs.com/lightrailjacksonville website (under construction - but readable)... All of the conversation about the poor construction of the Riverwalk, the dangers of not being able to build a convention center at the old City Hall Site, wall's falling, pavement failures and even a comment, look through the grate and you see WATER! Well, guys, when I first came to JAX as an infant, in my earliest memory's, The area of Crown Plaza to School Board was full of FLORIDA-CUBA railroad car ferry ships and other rotting maritime junk in a facility called Atlantic Marine? The Northbank wasn't much better, it was still a wall of wooden piles, junk old warehouses and dock's at least from the FEC/Acosta to Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc (THE SHIPYARDS to you newbies). I started looking at just how much we have "stolen" from the great river and it isn't pretty! Considering the flow Northward, and the great bend in downtown, the area of roughly FEC bridge to about the Hyatt is always going to be eaten away through the natural forces at work. Here is an old Photo circa 1945/50 and I marked out where we have "covered or filled in" the river.
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/WaterfrontencroachmentinJAXmygraphi.jpg)
Ocklawaha
Yes, it's amazing how we, as well as other waterfront cities, have filled in their waterways. For example, did you know that Manhattan once had seven rivers? As for Jax, a part of me has always wished a few of those old wharfs could have remained and been converted into something like Seattle's Pike Place, San Fransico's Fisherman's Wharf or Chicago's Navy Pier.
Pike Place
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Pike_Place_Market,_Seattle,_WA,_2004.jpg/800px-Pike_Place_Market,_Seattle,_WA,_2004.jpg)
By the way, great site. Its loaded with a lot of good information.
Its amazing howmuch wider the river used to be. There are some photos floating around of the fill process for the CSX building and Landing areas.
Southbank waterfront in 1962
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/commerce/c039004.jpg)
Northbank watefront in 1960 (notice the courthouse lot and Hyatt sites don't exist)
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/general/n033030.jpg)
CSX tower and surrounding fill in 1959
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc17894.jpg)
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc17893.jpg)
Northbank in 1955
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/commerce/c021768.jpg)
CSX site in 1953
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc11601.jpg)
Hey Y'all, using the above 1953 photo, I marked out the river shoreline as it is today. Finding a clear photo of the Southbank today, was tough, but finally got it.
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/463767729_f277f46087MainStreetBridg.jpg)
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/c021768DowntownJaxMainSt.Bridgei-1.jpg)
I could not find a technical data page on the bridge, but looks like only one panel (span) remains on the Northside from the tower to the first bent (support) which is on land BEYOND the walk. The Southbank appears to have been altered when the expressway system was built because the bents and panels are not uniform. I did locate an original FDOT paper that said the bridge stretched from Prudential Drive to Bay Street! From the South Tower there is one complete "original" panel, one bent in the water, then another bent at a much closer distance, really weird unless it was changed, because it is followed by yet another longer panel of a more uniform distance, one more bent, then land. Anyone know if the Northend was like that before the changes? Usually bents and panels are VERY uniform. In any case they make great markers to see where the shore is or isn't today. Bet that old Cow Ford is deeper then S--t!
Ocklawaha
Here are a couple shots of the shoreline from June 2004. The Main Street Bridge was looking pretty bad at this point.
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/images/riverwalk_infill/DSC00581.jpg)
(http://www.metrojacksonville.com/images/riverwalk_infill/DSC00582.jpg)
The CSX building was in the process of getting its new black tiles also. And notice the gap in the Brooklyn skyline where the Fidelity expansion and Everbank Plaza are sitting today.
Quote from: thelakelander on July 23, 2007, 04:26:09 PM
Southbank waterfront in 1962
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/commerce/c039004.jpg)
Northbank watefront in 1960 (notice the courthouse lot and Hyatt sites don't exist)
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/general/n033030.jpg)
CSX tower and surrounding fill in 1959
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc17894.jpg)
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc17893.jpg)
Northbank in 1955
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/commerce/c021768.jpg)
CSX site in 1953
(http://fpc.dos.state.fl.us/reference/rc11601.jpg)
Some nice old pics.
Great Pics, thanks :)
Brings back memories! My father-in-law had his food brokerage business in that warehouse next to the old Acosta Bridge and I saw bananas and coffee being unloaded by hand from those white boats beside the water front warehouses.
Containerization changed the whole shipping industry in just a few years and made our waterfront obsolete.
I've always been under the impression that our Northbank waterfront was destroyed before containerization. Malcolm Mclean established SeaLand in 1960.
QuoteTrailer Bridge was founded in 1991 by Malcom McLean, who invented containerization when he formed Sea-Land Service in 1960.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php?topic=17405.0
Most of our downtown wharves had already been destroyed in the name of redevelopment. Sears purchased SCL's offices, yard and warehouses in 1956 and the area where the Landing is today was transformed into a parking lot around 1955.
QuoteMuch has been mentioned on Metro Jacksonville about the destruction of the Northbank's organic economic base during the mid-20th century that would lead to the death of downtown hotel and retail industry decades later. Ironically, one such unfortunate acts was committed by a major retailer in 1956. That year, Sears made the decision to purchase 8.5 acres from the Seaboard Coastline Railroad (SCL) for $1 million. To make room for the store and it's 700-space surface parking lot, SCL's railroad freight station and divisional offices were demolished and relocated to Warrington Avenue in Westside's Lackawanna. In addition, several SCL tenants were forced to either close or relocate their activites from the site. These tenants included the Union Bus Terminal, Tyler Produce Company, New York Terminal Warehouse Company and the Swift Company. Furthermore, to facilitate the development of the new store, Julia Street was abandoned and closed between the river and Bay Street.
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jun-sears-the-cadillac-store-of-the-south
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1341914284_WQWNXKL-M.jpg)
The SCL divisional offices, freight station, wharfs, adjacent tenant warehouses and businesses in 1953. The area highlighted in yellow would become the location of Sears. (http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1341914315_64rBhVS-M.jpg)
Northbank waterfront around 1955.ACL's headquarters opened next door in 1962 and by that time, all we were really left with were a few major shipbuilding companies. However, Commodores Point and Talleyrand had both been around for a long time by then.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1397420984_qnkkmss-M.jpg)
Commodores Point in 1939. These buildings are now used by the North Florida Shipyards.http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-jul-exploring-downtowns-commodore-point
The way we ship eventually changed but those two changed with it. Talleyrand now accommodates containers and Commodores Point is a ship building operation. Also, in recent years, a smaller shipbuilding operation has opened at the Ford plant's wharf just north of the Mathews. My guess is if we had left the Northbank wharves alone, the waterfront would have adapted into various forms of maritime related uses as well. That's pretty much been the case in places like Norfolk, San Francisco and Seattle.
So COJ caused the wharves to go away but we are looking forward to COJ via DIA to make downtown better? I think organic change would give us better hope.
Those warehouses over the water were really temporary structures anyway. They may have lasted a couple of decades at best but they were on wooden piles in the water and were wooden structures.
They also took a beating from the ships docking. I can remember being in one that shook and swayed when a boat came in.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1397420984_qnkkmss-M.jpg)
Commodore Point in 1939. Warehouse pictured below can be seen in the background.
Here's the warehouses from the 1939 photo at Commodore Point. They're being used by North Florida Shipyards.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1397420989_N2mNC4n-M.jpg)
Inside of a Commodore Point warehouse in 1943.
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/1011656905_yawvU-M.jpg)
One of the Commodore Point warehouses today. Gritty, but still in use.
My guess is the construction of Jacksonville's waterfront was not dramatically different from those in other waterfront American cities of that era. Over time, while you'd lose some, others would survive from being better maintained. Unfortunately, Jax was never afforded the chance of organic change and adaption. Today, the only wharves we have left sit in abandonment at the Shipyards site. I know everyone has their own ideas for that property, but it would be nice to see those old piers utilized for a new use as opposed to demolition.