Urban Neighborhoods: Durkeeville
About Durkeeville
The Durkeeville community was founded in the 1930s, when African-Americans were barred from living in many parts of the city.
This was during the period of mandatory separation of the races and legal discrimination. The people who came together to create Durkeeville were middle class and working class individuals. Some were doctors, lawyers, educators and business people. Others were ordinary laborers. They created a neighborhood that sheltered and nurtured many during this challenging time.
Unfortunately and ironically, the elimination of legal discrimination resulted in the decline of the community. This was due to the relocation of many prominent residents and the flight of much commercial activity from the area.
By the 1980s, Durkeeville struggled with urban blight, poverty and crime associated inner city neighborhoods.
A number of the remaining long-term residents formed the Durkeeville Historical Society and collaborated with city officials to revitalize this historic section of Jacksonville.
-Durkeeville Historical Center
Durkeeville Photo Tour
Myrtle Avenue
Myrtle Avenue serves as the community's central commercial corridor. Although the typical Durkeeville Street is 40 feet wide, Myrtle was once a streetcar line and remains 75 feet wide. Today, Myrtle remains one of Jacksonville's most vibrant pedestrian-friendly streets.
J.P. Small Memorial Park
Originally called Durkee Field, this historic ballpark is the city’s oldest remaining. From 1938 to 1942, it was the home of the Jacksonville Red Caps Negro League baseball team. The city of Jacksonville just recently completed a renovation project that included the addition of a small pocket park between the field’s entry gates and Myrtle Avenue.
For detailed photo tour: https://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/1037
Stanton High School
Stanton has a unique history as an educational institution. Immediately after Emancipation a group of colored people in the City of Jacksonville organized themselves into the Education Society, and in February of 1868 purchased the property on which the Stanton School building now stands from Ossian B. Hart and his wife.
Financial problems, however, delayed progress on the building until December of that year when the first school was built and incorporated through the aid of the Freedman's Bureau. The school was a wooden structure and was named in honor of General Edwin McMasters Stanton, President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of War. It was not only the first school for black children in Jacksonville and its surrounding counties, but was also the first school for black children in the State of Florida.
The first building was destroyed by fire in 1882. Another building constructed the same year was also destroyed by fire on May 3, 1901, a fire that destroyed much of Jacksonville. A new school was constructed in 1902 and remained in operation until 1917.
In 1917, the building, which stands at Ashley, Broad, Beaver, and Clay Streets, was completed. Stanton became the main focus for the education of black children in Duval County and the surrounding areas.
In 1953, the Stanton Senior School name was transferred to a new facility on 13th Street and was re-named New Stanton Senior High School. Charles D. Brooks was the first principal of the "new" school.
Today, Stanton is one of a select few schools in Florida to offer the International Baccalaureate Program, a rigorous college level program that provides course credit or advanced placement for up to one full year in colleges and universities worldwide. The course offerings include only honors-level, Advanced Placement (AP), dual enrollment and International Baccalaureate (IB) classes.
For full history of Stanton: https://www.stantoncollegeprep.org/central/?q=node/21
Durkeeville Historical Center
At the Durkeeville and Northwest Jacksonville Historical and Cultural Center - a shell-pink, one-story building nestled at Myrtle Avenue and 19th Street - children can find a laminated photo and article on Joseph Henry Durkee on the hallway wall. Durkee, a Union Army captain who was a pallbearer at President Lincoln's funeral, founded Durkeeville when he settled in Jacksonville after the Civil War.
Pictures of Sallye B. Mathis and Mary Singleton, the first black women and Durkeeville denizens to be elected to the City Council, also are on display.
And a rare treasure reposes in the exhibit room.
In there, the life and times of John Jordan O'Neill, also known as "Buck," is on full display in a traveling exhibit on the Negro Baseball Leagues. O'Neill, who once played for the Kansas City Monarchs as well as a number of other teams, was instrumental in getting recognition for the Negro Leagues, said Carolyn Williams, president of the Durkeeville Historical Society.
O'Neill got his education at Edward Waters College, as well as his other nickname, "Foots," because he had big hands and feet. O'Neill also made several friends in Jacksonville, as the city had its own Negro Leagues team - the Jacksonville Red Caps.
https://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/080807/new_189444451.shtml
Jax Beer
Years ago, before companies like Busch and Coors dominated the beer industry, Jacksonville was the home of a popular brewery. The Jax Brewing Company was located in Durkeeville and produced the popular brew, until selling its rights in 1956 to the famed Jackson Brewery in New Orleans. Although operations ceased decades ago, the old Jax Brewing Company production plant still remains intact on W. 16th Street.
For more information:
Jax Beer: The Drink of Friendship
https://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/521
Residential Durkeeville
Like many of Jacksonville's more well known urban districts, Durkeeville contains an impressive portfolio of residential architectural structures. The older sections of Durkeeville, south of 8th Street, are dominated by narrow lots with a wide mix of frame housing from the early 20th century. The streets north of 8th tend to be dominated by brick housing from the mid 20th century, residing on larger parcels.
The Oaks at Durkeeville
The original 215 unit Durkeeville housing project opened for occupancy in 1937, as a project built under the Public Works Administration. Like many housing projects, the development would become a place of high crime activity by the late 20th century.
The old projects were replaced by The Oaks at Durkeeville in 1999, as Florida's first redevelopment under the HOPE VI program. HOPE VI is a federal effort to raze brick and concrete warehouses that had come to typify public housing nationwide. The development, in the heart of Durkeeville, consists of 164 apartments, 28 market-rate single family homes, and a 36-unit senior living facility featuring retail space along Myrtle Avenue. Shortly after its completion, the development was identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as one of the top public housing projects in the country for bringing new businesses to a neighborhood.
Edward Waters College
Although located a few blocks outside of the Durkeeville community, Edward Water College (EWC) is a major economic engine for the neighborhood.
EWC was founded in 1866 to educate freed former slaves and is the oldest historically black college in Florida. The original campus was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1901 and replaced by the current Kings Road campus in 1904.
Edward Waters College's Centennial Hall is also the home of the Obi-Scott-Umunna Collection of African Art.
For more information: www.ewc.edu
The Future of Durkeeville
As the urban core continues the revitalization process, many disconnected communities stand to benefit economically from the implementation of a regional rail system in Jacksonville. Durkeeville is no exception. Like Sugar Hill, LaVilla, and Springfield, the S-Line rail corridor provides direct access between Durkeeville and the rest of Jacksonville. If JTA moves forward with a rail plan, this urban community could easily become a hotbed of redevelopment and urban infill typically associated with America's urban rail systems.
Article by Ennis Davis