Where the Hell Was This?

[spuwho]

Ock,

Seeing that the 1904 Treasurer was named "Mason", I am willing to wager that the guy donated the land to be used for the barn/park as they named it in quotes. When Stockton-Budd took over the line, they renamed the park after Teddy Roosevelt since he was very active in those days.

Find a property record in Springfield for "H. Mason" for 1900-1904 and I am sure that will be where the barn/park was.

[thelakelander]

Jax's city limits didn't really extend that far north of DT around 1900.  In 1910, the northern city limit line was around 13th Street.  Thus, "north" during the turn of the century was well south of the MLK Parkway.  We discussed this issue in one of the LaVilla history threads this past summer.  Mason Park was somewhere in the Durkeeville/LaVilla area along Kings Road.  Lincoln Park would have most likely been in this area as well.

For a brief time, the city of Jacksonville boasted two outdoor recreational parks for African-Americans. Each was sponsored by one of the town’s rival streetcar companies. In 1902, a consortium of black and white businessmen organized the North Jacksonville Street Company to compete with the Jacksonville Street Railway Company, which was owned and operated by the Jacksonville Electric Company. R. R. Robinson, the African-American president of the North Jacksonville Street Company, hired black conductors and motormen for their cars and served the African-American neighborhoods in the northern part of the city. The next year, they opened Mason Park on Kings Road at the end of their line through LaVilla. Earlier, Jacksonville Electric had developed the whites-only Phoenix Park in the northeastern part of the city. Three years later in 1904, they opened Lincoln Park at the west end of its run, for black residents. Both of these parks were extremely popular attractions and became important venues for recreation, celebration, and entertainment. However, the ongoing battle for racial equity soon moved into the foreground and the streetcars themselves emerged as the focus of bitter racial contention.

Jacksonville passed the Avery Law, its first streetcar segregation ordinance, in November, 1901. It had been the subject of protests by local black citizens, ever since it was first proposed. The most objectionable section of this statute was the clause that gave streetcar conductors police powers to enforce the ordinance. The constant threat of a black boycott may have been one of the reasons the law was not implemented for almost four years. However, during the mayoral race of 1905, lax enforcement of the ordinance became a bitter election issue, when Mayor George N. Nolan’s challenger accused the incumbent of favoritism toward the streetcar companies.

On July 1, a Florida Times Union headline announced, “Avery Law Will Be Rigidly Enforced: White and Colored Passengers Are to be Separated on the Street-Cars To-day.” The ensuing black boycott targeted the Jacksonville Street Railway lines, which complied by installing moveable signs that read “white” on the front side and “colored” on the other. The North Jacksonville line also installed screens, but by seating their African-American riders at the front of each car, they avoided the boycott. The Times Union reported on the success of the protest: “there has been a great falling off in the receipts of the company on the La Villa and Oakland and the Highway lines, but the patronage on the other lines is as large as ever.” Black owners of other forms of transportation also demonstrated their solidarity: “The usual fare for a trip of a few blocks is twenty-five cents, but since the enactment of the Jim Crow law the negro cab drivers have cut the fare to ten cents for people of their own race, thought they still charge the customary price for white people.” Eartha White vowed never to ride a streetcar again, a promise she evidently kept for the rest of her life.

Attorney Douglas Wetmore, acting on behalf of a group of local black clergymen chaired by Reverend Waldron, immediately arranged to test the legality of the segregation law. Less than three weeks after its enforcement, Andrew Patterson was instructed to sit in the whites-only section of a North Jacksonville streetcar. He was arrested by the car’s black conductor, J. A. Mason, and then delivered to Justice Willard at one of the next stops on the line. Expecting this case to be a prolonged one, opponents of the ordinance raised over one thousand dollars for legal fees. However, Judge R. M. Call, the same white judge who examined James W. Johnson for admission to the Florida Bar, declared the Avery Law unconstitutional. A few days later, the Florida Supreme Court sustained his decision.  The following week, Thomas Dixon Jr.’s play, the Clansman, opened at the Duval Theater.

http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses_1/available/etd-03312006-171940/unrestricted/pds_dissertation.pdf (page 66)

If you want to find the exact location, a visit to the main library's special collections department is in order.  A combination of city directories (between 1900 - 1905 to identify street address) and sanborn maps (they show street addresses), should be enough to find the exact location of these parks.

[thelakelander]

Green lines = historic streetcar lines which fall in line with modern proposals

TEAL = THE HISTORICAL STREETCAR LINES

Red lines = modern PROPOSED streetcar lines which were never part of the historical system

I noticed the proposed don't show the proposed mobility plan, JTA and TPO alignments in Springfield and the Stadium District.  Then I noticed the DT figure 8 in red.  Are you down at the Ed Ball building confusing the GIS guys?

[Ralph W]

Youse guys got this publication on your list?

http://books.google.com/books?id=q6RMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA804&lpg=PA804&dq=jacksonville+abandoned+railways&source=bl&ots=0qy6BvBryZ&sig=qj1lga9sqHR_aOld-h0dN7fg4kI&hl=en&ei=JgtFTZylFYnVgAeUwpz0AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CEQQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=jacksonville%20abandoned%20railways&f=false

Those pics Ock posted are on Page 807 +/-
Editorial on Page 802 re thinkers...

[spuwho]

Good find Lakelander, I have been scouring trying to locate a city property record in Springfield due to the Telfair Stockton connection.

I had found some info on the black ownership connection, but how it related to the rest was a mystery until your post.

I was just about ready to head to the library downtown to help me solve the puzzle.

[Ocklawaha]

Green lines = historic streetcar lines which fall in line with modern proposals

TEAL = THE HISTORICAL STREETCAR LINES

Red lines = modern PROPOSED streetcar lines which were never part of the historical system

I noticed the proposed don't show the proposed mobility plan, JTA and TPO alignments in Springfield and the Stadium District.  Then I noticed the DT figure 8 in red.  Are you down at the Ed Ball building confusing the GIS guys?

Inside a TEXAS ELECTRIC RAILWAY INTERURBAN car. I remember reading an account of the streetcar companies fighting the segregation rulings because it would be costly to provide duplicate services.


I'd love to be able to locate where this was shot, but the double track and stopped car say it could easily be at or near the barn at Masons or Roosevelt Park.

Yup, GIS is working with me on this one. The extra lines I just tossed in for this article, but they probably will not show up on any map of the historical property, which is really what we are attempting to produce. The 8th street line will my bad, just forgot the northern reach. The Bay Street Line, I still don't think it will fly, because Beaver is WAY superior from the standpoint of reaching points north along the old F&J and to Gateway. The Beaver Street Line also gives us a chance to do something with the huge empty jungle that borders Hogan's Creek. Lastly, there is a certain sports franchise that is INTERESTED in seeing the Skyway come on down Bay, which would negate any streetcar line on the east end. JTA has used the figure 8 in some of their drawings but they are holding to MONROE. I think Duval makes more sense certainly more if Monroe is closed, otherwise we could have a trolley plaza at the Courthouse. Coming South on Lee and North on Newnan seems to be a given on everybody's plan. Whatever the case right now it's just a loose recording of what is being talked about in different circles.

The finished product is a map of the JACKSONVILLE TRACTION COMPANY and its several subsidiary operations, IE: ORTEGA TRACTION, DUVAL TRACTION, SOUTH JACKSONVILLE MUNI, ST. JOHNS BRIDGE COMPANY. We have finally located the loop at the NW end of the Myrtle Street/Moncrief Line. There is still some question as to how far up Pearl it was finally extended. Also the San Jose branch is based on some pretty loose information and I'd like to nail the route exactly before we print anything - in any case it was apparently short lived.

I have a photo of a car out on the Kings Road Line, and that line too might have been longer then we know, as at least a half dozen lines were pulled up west of Hogan Street when the companies consolidated. I am pumped about the slim chance that a car barn might survive in the Kings Road Area. I'm sure the old LaVilla Barn was torn down by dynamite Jim and his Wrecking Crew, just as they tore down the master barn in Riverside because, "it got in the way of the Acosta Bridge Ramps," back when JTA was planning a FREEWAY alongside the south end of the JACKSONVILLE TERMINAL from the Acosta to Beaver Street Viaduct. That leaves us with the possibility that NORTH JACKSONVILLE STREET RAILWAY, SOUTH JACKSONVILLE MUNI, or PINE (later-MAIN) STREET RAILWAY, barns might survive in some form.

[Ocklawaha]

Amazing what big business can do to ruin a perfectly good transportaion system.  If you have not been out west to Perris, CA, you are missing great history.  The orange Empire Railway Museum has many of the cars from the great trolly era of Pacific Electric, and many more.  I live not too far from the old right of way in Santa Ana, CA.   Ock, is there a compiled book or something that shows all that was here and where?  I'm currently living on the Northside, but travel all over town.

Yes this is a REALLY delayed response, however...

For the record, my first train ride was aboard a Pacific Electric (monster sized trolley called a 'Blimp') express running from Los Angeles to Long Beach... "Comfort - Speed - Safety."

For Jacksonville, my book, 'Streetcars of Florida's First Coast,' pretty much covers the history of the systems in NE Florida.

For Los Angeles, the classic book 'Ride the Big Red Cars,' and/or 'Henry Huntington and the Pacific Electric' are both massive classic books (attention Ron!).

Orange Empire is a railroad, streetcar, interurban, bus museum not too far from my property in California. It is an amazing collection and has a fantastic group of dedicated craftsmen, including many of the movers and shakers at Disney and other major studios. Currently Ward Kimball's (Disney's early artist-partner)  private train "The Grizzly Flats Railroad," and the star narrow gauge locomotive's Emma Nevada and Chloe are being restored for operation led by friend Ken Mitchroney, program director at Cartoon Network. If your looking for a great place to donate, or to buy a few unique gifts, look up 'The Emma Nevada Project,' on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Emma+Nevada&init=public

Other museums of note with streetcars:
Seashore Trolley Museum - Kennebunkport, Maine
Shore Line Trolley Museum, East Haven, CT
National Capital Trolley Museum, Colesville, MD

Railroad Museums of note:
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, Chattanooga, TN
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum is located in Miami, Florida, adjacent to Zoo Miami

There is a collection of old equipment belonging to the Jacksonville Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society at the old base in Green Cove Springs, but unless a major donation appears, it's a sad state of affairs.