6 historical facts about Lake Forest

[thelakelander]

Located five miles northwest of downtown, the neighborhood of Lake Forest has a history and built environment largely shaped by significant housing booms, bubbles and busts of early 20th century Jacksonville.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/6-historical-facts-about-lake-forest/

[Joey Mackey]

This is a good read. I've always been a little curious why the riverfront housing along the Trout Rivers was not as affluent as the housing in some of the other historic neighborhoods along the St. Johns. For Lake Forest at least, sounds like it suffered from being platted to late and ran into a "bust period." Also, the housing was designed and built for working class families.

[Jax_Developer]

This area & Riverview suffer from that same over-platting. A good percentage of the Riverfront lots are 100% low-lying & flood super easily in both areas. In these same neighborhoods, there are lands that lie 30'+ above sea level.

[thelakelander]

The historic aerials show that these developments did not originally build homes in the marshes along the Trout and Ribault rivers. Much of the marshes along these waterways were filled in during the 1950s. Needless to say, the filled in areas are those that happen to flood.

[Jax_Developer]

The historic aerials show that these developments did not originally build homes in the marshes along the Trout and Ribault rivers. Much of the marshes along these waterways were filled in during the 1950s. Needless to say, the filled in areas are those that happen to flood.

Right, and these plats still hinder waterfront development there today. The lack of environmental consideration prohibits new development there. Most of it being clustered where utilities are available, which also lie outside of the flood plains. These areas were all platted within a few years of each other with the better lots actually being built on. Riverview in particular still has dozens of platted lots without "real" access. I haven't seen that around Duval (personally) when the land is high & dry.

[duvaltilidie]

Really wild to see where my grandparents neighborhood is.. before homes & I-95/Trout River Bridge were built.