What happen to the Old Orange Park Rd. in the Jax Heihts section

[jaxheighshistorian]

Information that I have gatherd it was along the Cedar creek and connected 103rd street. Other i have learned  from was in the yukon section. I have found a little part of the rd that runs into apartments off blanding in cedar hills, and off 17on th other side of Collins rd. Could presen day 295 and 103rd street be where the old orane park rd is today such as Lackawanna ave. that no longer exist?

[RMHoward]

Hi Jax,
I grew up in Jacksonville Heights (tempest and caprice streets) in the early 70s and now live in Orange Park.  I am also an avid history buff.  I would highly recommend you explore the University of Florida web site i am listing below, especially, the GIS link.  With a little patience, you can find excellent overhead imagery of Jacksonville in the 30s,40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s.  It was a eureka moment for me when i found it during my study of local military history.  You can see all of the old roads and how things were laid out.  As far as your question, I  cant help you there.  But, here are some images of the area from 1943:

In this photo from 1943, you can see Orange Park in the south, the southern edge of NAS Jacksonville in the north, and Collins road crossing the Cedar creek to the west. The road alignment is different today, as you might imagine:





In this photo from 1943, you see Blanding Blvd. running North-South in the middle of the page.  Collins road bisects Blanding in the middle of the image and runs East-West and crosses Cedar Creek on the East side of photo.



This image is just a little farther south than the previous image.  Blanding Blvd. runs south, crosses Cedar Creek, and intersects present day Wells Road.


This image shows 103rd street running E-W at top of the image.  The two roads running N-S are present day Shindler and Old Middleburg Roads.  They look today much like they did way back when this picture was taken.  Also notice the old Airfield between Shindler and Old Middleburg roads about halfway down.  This was WWII era Mile Branch airfield.  Used by the Navy for occasional landings or emergencies.

     
The final image is of Jacksonville Heights.  You can see Shindler/Old Middleburg on the West side of this image.  If you live in Jacksonville Heights, i suspect your home site is located somewhere withing this image.




Hopefully, this helps.  The web site for this imagery is:

http://smathersnt13.uflib.ufl.edu/fta2/viewer.htm

A little patience will reward you with just about any image you want.
Rick

[Timkin]

RM... I am trying to use this site and I cannot get anything more than street grids .. 

[ricker]

I can't help but feel like this thread might be merged with the boot legging moonshinin and rum running article and photoessay.
Highway construction no doubt put  perceived undesirables out of business.
Thanks verymuch for you very interesting questions about the old road.
many times roads are named after political adversaries run  >:(out of town.

[RMHoward]

RM... I am trying to use this site and I cannot get anything more than street grids .. 

Timkin,
When you get to the linked page, you only need two of the tools on the left side of the page.  First use the zoom icon to zoom into a particular area.  Second, you click on the "select" tool to encapsulate (for lack of better term) the particular maps you want to see.  Using the "select" tool, you have to hold down on your mouse button and draw a square around a particular geographical area.  Inside that area will be maps from different years, ie 43, 53, etc.  Once you select them, they will appear in the rectangle at the bottom of the screen.  From there, click on the photo icon on the far right to see the image. Hope this helps.
Rick

[mbwright]

I have friends that live near the college in Orange Park.  When they moved there many years ago, they would see drunk hogs, and occationally a fire from a still that was knocked over.