Jacksonville's Dennis Street Warehouse District

[billy]

Thanks! I appreciate the information.
I'm visiting town this week and may poke around.

[LPBrennan]

I went down this morning and poked around... the street trackage on Harper is totally cut from the mainline. It came off the spur that goes down to Cash and Swan Street. There is still a guard rail on the east rail and a few longer ties where that switch was. There is a derail and a track switch further south on that spur. As I said, be careful driving on Harper and Swan. The track is cut but several switches still have their points.

I looked at some of the rail where it was exposed. I found one length rolled by Buffalo dated 1905; another was rolled by Tennessee in 1913.

(For those not aware: As rail is produced by being rolled in a mill from a hot billet of steel, the rollers have the mill name and date and batch number inset, which produces raised letters on the side of the rail- called the web- giving the information.)

[Ocklawaha]

That's some pretty old rail, though the Rock Island and Katy Branchlines in Oklahoma have them beat by a couple of decades! Most of that trackage is now either operated by Shortline's, abandoned, or rebuilt by modern railroads.

It's getting harder to find the really old stuff, the KATY OKC Subdivision, abandoned 1976, had date nails from pre 1900 IN THE TIES! Some really badly maintained (or should I just say NOT maintained) track on a railroad that was once known for it's excellent track and high speed passenger trains. When I last saw her, the track from the Katy Flyer, was at 10 mph or lower for the 140 mile sub. Like Dennis Street, the railroad was the last hurrah for many of the towns along it's route, most of which are ghost towns today. The railroad pulled up, trucking rates went through the roof, the grain elevators closed en masse, leaving nothing but dusty soaped up store fronts in it's wake.  This one abandonment could be the poster child for the damage done a community when the railroad exits.

OCKLAWAHA

[pbmirish]

Hello folks,

My GG Grandfather, Lucius Augustus Hardee, rebuilt his burned down plantation home (Rural Felicity) after the Civil War and renamed it Honeymoon.  He ran a nursery and owned much of the land in this area, the home being described as located about 1 mile west of the terminal.  There is a Hardee St. nearby, and I assume the home was close to that.  That is where the Honeymoon Yards get its appelation.   Back in the mid 1800's the terminal near the home was called Orange Grove.  He had a grove of orange trees, a principal part of the nursery.

If anyone has any other information on this topic, please let me know. 

Paul

[Ocklawaha]

Thanks for the input, the story around the railroads is that 'Honeymoon' was named because of the sleeping cars which were sorted, stored or cleaned there, but the plantation label makes much more sense. This is great information.

I'm sure that several of us would be more then happy to start digging into this new slice of our history, when we do, we'll be sure to share it with everyone.

[Debbie Thompson]

Dennis Street to go dark.  Jacksonville...the city that discourages economic development.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/287656/483/Jacksonvilles-streetlight-reduction-plan-upsets-some-business-owners

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Some streets could soon go dark in Jacksonville. The city has a plan to turn off more than 2,300 streetlights in areas all throughout the City by the end of January.  The plan is to focus on industrial and commercial areas, but not residential ones.

Chris Webster opened Battalion Airsoft Arena just west of downtown less than a year ago. Now, he's learning the streetlights outside of his business may soon be turned off. 

"I'm not happy about it to be honest with you because that means Dennis Street is going to be dark," Webster said.

Webster's is one of many neighborhoods where the city is looking to save money.  By turning off more than 2,300 of the City's 109,000 streetlights, taxpayers will save around $300,000 the first year.  That is, after the city pays the expenses of JEA crews who will red-tag the polls and turn them off.  Last year, the city's total bill for streetlights was more than $9.5 million.

Council President Bill Bishop said he and his peers approved this in the budget.

"We wouldn't have done it if there hadn't been a money problem," Bishop explained.  "This is not new to Jacksonville, there are a lot of cities that have done that throughout the country," he said.

It's a move business owners like Webster are questioning.  Webster said it doesn't seem fair that he's still paying the same amount of taxes, but now, he'll get less for his money. 

"This infrastructure is not supposed to change, and it seems like it is," Webster said.

Bishop added, "Each property is responsible for their own security on their own premises."

That's exactly what the airsoft arena owner did when he opened his business. 

"I have been proactive about lighting the property. We have three acres here and we had lighting calculations done by JEA. So we are really well lit here," Webster said.

If you operate a business in one of the impacted areas, you will soon find a letter in your mailbox that will explain more about the program.  City leaders are still finalizing locations.  Here is a copy of that letter and the maps where City leaders are considering turning off the lights.

First Coast News

[Ocklawaha]

This is the city that won't mow the grass, or pick up the litter and now we're adding 'doesn't turn on the lights.' Just freaking great, this ought to attract a new business and residential boom sending thousands to work. The skyline will sport a veritable superfluity of new skeletal skyscrapers. 

I especially love the lights going off along roadways that visitors might take near the airport or port, that ought to wow them.

This latest in a series of disasters is brought to us by the independent state authorities which bill the city for their services.  City services, produced by the city, for the city, should be provided at cost and supported by our tax base. If we are letting police and firemen go, turning off the lights, etc. we need to revisit our tax structure and fire those who got us into this mess.

Oh and while we're at it, let's light up ALL of the Commodore Point Expressway.

[thelakelander]

We have a serious problem when we can't maintain the basics.  What's the plan for a balanced budget that doesn't include cutting off street lights, not maintaining public ROW, closing schools, libraries, etc.?  I hope we're not counting on the building and road construction industry to pull us out of this?

[Tacachale]

^There's no future planning whatsoever. The city won't raise taxes, and the pension issue will take months to resolve (if it ever is), so the only other option is gutting the government.

[pbmirish]

thanks Ocklawaha for acknowleding my post on Honeymoon Yards. The family story is the home was named Honeymoon because Lucius's wife Esther's brother was staying at the home (I assum shortly after it was built) after his honeymoon.  His name was William Haddock and his picture in his civil war uniform is in the Jacksonville Photo Album coffee table sized book by Wayne Wood.