BRICK STREETS, PART 2

(Source of image: Florida State Archives)

When this photo was snapped in 1948, La Villa shook after dark with the sounds of jazz and the blues from its numerous nightspots.  Note the girl on the right corner in the mostly African American neighborhood.  We're looking north up Broad Street at its intersection with Church Street.  About a block behind the camera's view to the left would have been the stately Masonic Temple, a 1912 building that still stands.  Next to the Temple is the old Richmond Hotel, which was one of the city's premier African American inns.  The 1909 structure remains, although most -- if not all -- of the buildings in the picture have been razed.  In addition, Broad and Church are no longer brick.  

Jacksonville paved most of its brick traffic ways as the mid 1900s progressed.  Among other reasons, heavier & faster vehicles made it necessary to utilize modern asphalt and concrete surfaces.  Nevertheless, a few brick streets still exist in the River City.  According to the 1996 edition of the incredible book Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage, local traffic ways that remain brick, at least in part, include May Street (in the Riverside neighborhood ), Aberdeen Street (Avondale), Elizabeth Place (Avondale), Perry Street (Springfield), Caroline Street (Springfield), and Flagler Street (South Jacksonville). 

CLICK HERE FOR BAY STREET

CLICK HERE FOR LIBERTY & MONROE

CLICK HERE FOR 3RD STREET

CLICK HERE FOR 17TH AND SILVER

A SMORGASBORD OF TOPPINGS -- Like other American cities, Jacksonville tried hard to pave its streets four or five generations ago.  Shells and wood blocks were among the materials tried during the late 1800s.  According to the Jacksonville Journal of August 9, 1926, Jax contained 150 miles of paved streets out of a total mileage of 650 within the city limits.  The Gateway to Florida was undertaking the state's most ambitious paving project, boasted the Journal.  Materials to be used included vitrified bricks, which show few, if any, visible pores.  Impervious to water, these bricks are heated to a near-liquid substance, which then slowly hardens over a seven- to ten-day period.  

In 1931, the Comprehensive City Plan of Jacksonville stated that Jax had about 53 miles of vitrified brick streets.  Other surfaces were as follows: About 29 miles of asphalt paving, around 4 miles of asphalt blocks, almost 19 miles of concrete with bituminous material, about 20 miles of lime rock with macadam surfaces (pavement made of layers of compacted broken stone, now usually bound with tar or asphalt), and 41 miles of "hard surfaced roads." ("Included within the classification of hard surfaced traffic ways are all surface treated roads, i.e., shell or rock treated with asphaltic or oil compounds.") 

As the mid 1900s rolled on, however, the city increasingly turned to asphalt and concrete instead of brick.  According to the 1949 Jacksonville Yearbook, the city highway department that year "repaired 443,585 square yards of asphalt streets, fixed 159,523 square yards of brick streets, and graded 1,987,396 square yards of sanded streets."

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