Hurston Flower Shop demolished.

[sheclown]

from:

[sheclown]

[Tacachale]

So sad.

[thelakelander]

That's insane! I'm sure most people have no idea of this site's potential historical significance. There's an argument that Hurston was a more nationally prominent figure than H.J. Klutho and many of the founding families of Jacksonville.  When I first moved to town, I was disappointed in the omission of the Northside neighborhoods in the Jax Architectural Heritage book. I truly believe we have no idea of the people and stories lurking behind the structures of these neighborhoods.  Was this at the owner's request?

[Tacachale]

I'd like to know how we missed this. This is heartbreaking.

[thelakelander]

^There's a wealth of information out there (like the source shown above) but it tends to be isolated and not shared or marketed to the general population. It's that way for most of these neighborhoods.  The long time locals know and share these stories but there is a disconnect between them and the rest of the city.

[Tacachale]

That house appears to be 1477 Evergreen Ave. The article says the Hurstons (including Zora) lived at 1663 Evergreen, which looks like an industrial site now. So now both are gone now.

[iloveionia]

HOW COULD THIS HAVE BEEN DEMOLISHED???  For shame.  I can hardly read the historical article or watch the video without crying. 

"People ought to have some regard for helpless things." - Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

[sheclown]

probably demolished using federal funds

[Adam W]

It's exceeding unlikely that that's Hurston's "childhood home" considering she didn't live in Jacksonville as a child. She went to boarding school here at Florida Baptist Academy as a teenager, and later lived here as a young adult. I'm not sure anyone knows all the places she would have lived. Most of them were probably in Sugar Hill and are likely long gone.

That's true. Hurston's connection to Jacksonville is fairly brief. She appears to have lived here for a few years as a teenager and then visited from time to time throughout her life.

[thelakelander]

Lots of history most of us known nothing about. However, we can learn through threads and conversations like this, which ultimately grow into enough grass roots support to change destructive public policies and positions that have long been in place.

[Adam W]

Lots of history most of us known nothing about. However, we can learn through threads and conversations like this, which ultimately grow into enough grass roots support to change destructive public policies and positions that have long been in place.

Hi Lake

I don't support destruction of buildings at all. I think it's a real shame that the City seems to follow a policy of demolishing properties as anything other than an absolute last resort.

My comment re Hurston's links to Jacksonville didn't mean to imply that this structure should be demolished or anything like that. It's just that I agree with Tacachale's assessment - Hurston isn't from Jacksonville and has a minor connection to the city (though that doesn't mean we shouldn't be proud of that connection or celebrate it).

I cannot comment on any of the other comments that were posted after my response to Tacachale, as I have blocked that user and cannot view what was posted.

[thelakelander]

Adam W, oh no problem with me.  My comment was mentioned as an "in general" outlook on the unknown history of many of Jacksonville's older black neighborhoods.  Outside of Sheclown's post, literally no one here in our crowd would have known the connection of that building with such a national figure.  It had a stronger connection to Hurston than the skeletal Genovar's Hall had to Ray Charles or the Seminole Club to Teddy Roosevelt and JFK. I wonder how many more out there that are quietly being overlooked have similar stories to tell?

[Adam W]

Adam W, oh no problem with me.  My comment was mentioned as an "in general" outlook on the unknown history of many of Jacksonville's older black neighborhoods.  Outside of Sheclown's post, literally no one here in our crowd would have known the connection of that building with such a national figure.  It had a stronger connection to Hurston than the skeletal Genovar's Hall had to Ray Charles or the Seminole Club to Teddy Roosevelt and JFK. I wonder how many more out there that are quietly being overlooked have similar stories to tell?

And the ones that don't have a particularly important 'historical' connection still are important to the neighborhoods and to the city in general. You figure that this is basically our history and we're destroying it - soon we'll only be left with the stories because the physical locations where those stories took place will all be gone. And that's really, really sad.

[thelakelander]

And the ones that don't have a particularly important 'historical' connection still are important to the neighborhoods and to the city in general. You figure that this is basically our history and we're destroying it - soon we'll only be left with the stories because the physical locations where those stories took place will all be gone. And that's really, really sad.

I assume you're referring to the importance of the makeup of what Jacksonville has become today and not on Hurston and this particular neighborhood of Jax? Jacksonville's influence on Hurston maybe more stronger than we've given ourselves credit for.  She came her at the age of 13 and left when she was in her mid 20s.  It would be hard to imagine that decade in Jax not being highly influential on the woman she became. 

But when her mother died when Hurston was 13, her world was forever changed. Her father hastily remarried, and Hurston and the new bride violently quarreled. Hurston was sent to boarding school in Jacksonville, Florida. She was soon expelled, and had to make ends meet by becoming a maid to a singer with the travelling Gilbert & Sullivan show. Eventually she wound up in Baltimore, where, at age 26, she resumed her high school education.

http://www.legacy.com/ns/news-story.aspx?t=zora-neale-hurston-genius-of-the-south&id=211

On top of that, despite moving to New York and becoming a key figure in the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, she still ended up marrying someone from Jacksonville in 1939.  That strongly suggests she was probably in and out of here on a regular basis over for the majority of her life. 

Zora Neale Hurston moved to Jacksonville two weeks after her mother's death on September 18, 1904. She joined her sister Sara and brother Bob, who were attending school at Florida Baptist Academy. Her oldest brother, John Cornelius also lived and worked in the city. Life was difficult for Hurston during the period that she resided in Jacksonville. Not only did her father refuse to pay for her schooling but he asked her school to adopt her. By late 1905, she was out of school and had to make a living on her own or depend on her siblings for housing and food. Few records exist concerning Hurston's life from 1905â€"14, but she was probably residing off and on with her brothers, Robert and John in Jacksonville. In Jacksonville, for the first time, she encountered racism, which, in her words, "made me know that I was a little colored girl." Ironically, on June 27, 1939, Hurston married Albert Price, III, a member of Jacksonville's black Sugar Hill society. They filed for divorce on November 9, 1943

http://chdr.cah.ucf.edu/hurstonarchive/?p=communities

I'm not an expert on her life in Jax but it could be inaccurate to say it wasn't important in some form or fashion.