Summer 2019

JEFF DAVIS
as Jacksonville was taking shape, according
to Wayne Wood’s book, “Jacksonville’s
Architectural Heritage.” It served as a corn
and cotton plantation until it was put up for
sale in 1858.
This newspaper ad promoted the appeal
of Brooklyn that endures today: “This tract of
land is valuable not only for planting purposes
but, owing to its immediate vicinity to the
flourishing and growing Town of Jacksonville,
is well adapted for private residences
— its position being on the River — the Bluff
high and commanding an extensive view
of the River St. Johns. That portion adjacent
to the Town of Jacksonville and lying on
McCoy’s Creek will at once find ready purchasers
at good prices, if lots are laid out and
offered for sale.”
During the Civil War, the area served
as the encampment for black and white
Union troops for the fourth occupation of
Jacksonville, and a garrison stayed after the
war to help restore order. Beginning in 1868,
it was named “Brooklyn,” subdivided and
developed. Black Union veterans stayed or
returned and were joined by former slaves,
creating a black community. Wood’s book
says an 1885 map shows numerous two- and
three-room wooden cottages. Apparently,
328 Chelsea is the only one remaining and,
obvious by its condition, is listed by the
Jacksonville Historical Society as one of our
“most endangered buildings.”
For a century, Brooklyn remained a
“vibrant” black community, said Ennis Davis,
an urban planner, student of local history
and co-founder of Moderncities.com and
TheJaxson.org, websites about urbanism and
culture. “If you were black, no matter how
much money you had, you had to live in a
black neighborhood.”
Desegregation beginning in the 1960s
allowed black people to live anywhere they
could afford, and Brooklyn — deteriorating
because of lack of infrastructure investment,
Davis said — withered rapidly, down to perhaps
40 residents in the 2010 census.
What has happened in the past eight
years could be an example of urban gentrification,
but Brooklyn was so down and
out, it’s more like a rebirth, akin to a trend
identified by The New York Times of “predominantly
minority neighborhoods near
downtowns growing whiter, while suburban
neighborhoods that were once largely white
are experiencing an increased share of black,
Hispanic and Asian-American residents …
(A)s revived downtowns attract wealthier
residents closer to the center city, recent
white home buyers are arriving in these
neighborhoods with incomes that are on
average twice as high as that of their existing
TRACKING BROOKLYN’S TRANSFORMATION
ELM ST.
PRICE ST.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
N
JACKSON ST.
FOREST ST.
PARK ST.
CHELSEA ST.
11 3
13
12
8
9
220 Riverside
A six-story, 294-unit apartment complex
opened in 2015
Brooklyn Station
A shopping center anchored by The Fresh
Market opened in 2014
Brooklyn Riverside
A five-story, 310-unit apartment complex
Vista Brooklyn
A 10-story, 308-unit apartment complex,
with retail, under construction
Lofts at Brooklyn
A 133-unit apartment complex to be
under construction this summer
Brooklyn Place
A proposed 12,500-square-foot dining
and shopping center
Winston Family YMCA
New facility opened in 2016 to replace
the Yates Family YMCA
neighbors, and two-thirds higher than that of
existing homeowners.”
“In the places where white households
are moving, reinvestment is possible mainly
because of the disinvestment that came
before it. Many of these neighborhoods were
once segregated by law and redlined by
banks. The federal government built highways
that isolated them and housing projects
that were concentrated in them.”
The Brooklyn version of that trend is
that the newcomers are “wealthier” only in
relation to traditional residents, and they are
apartment renters rather than homeowners.
But Brooklyn is quickly transforming into
5
1
4
2
7
McCoys Creek
MAGNOLIA ST.
6
RIVERSIDE AVE.
Northbank Riverwalk
8
9
10
11
12
13
10
St. Johns River
WATER ST.
ACOSTA BRIDGE
Residence Inn
A six-story, 135-room hotel planned to
open next summer
Brooklyn Park
Small but with a basketball court and
baseball field
Old Times-Union Building
Now empty, as owners plan
redevelopment
328 Chelsea
Last home from the community
settled after the Civil War by black Union
veterans and freed slaves. “One of our
most endangered buildings.”
331 and 339 Park
Empty commercial buildings envisioned
for adaptive reuse as a food hall
260 Park
Commercial building owned by the
developers of the possible food hall
a neighborhood that is younger and more
affluent — and into a real community.
a new Brooklyn
The renaissance began only five years
ago when The Fresh Market bravely opened
its doors as the anchor for Brooklyn Station
shopping center at 150 Riverside. Downtown
cynics and naysayers speculated on how long
it would last.
Then the next year, NAI Hallmark Partners
opened 220 Riverside, the six-story,
294-unit apartment complex a block south.
The units quickly filled, but the restaurants
SUMMER 2019 | J MAGAZINE 67