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Out East Jacksonville takes big step toward national historic designation

A. Philip Randolph Boulevard is the commercial hub of the Eastside. Some of the commercial buildings here are among the oldest in Jacksonville because they were not destroyed during the Great Fire of 1901.
Will Brown
/
Jacksonville Today
A. Philip Randolph Boulevard is the commercial hub of the Eastside. Some of the commercial buildings here are among the oldest in Jacksonville because they were not destroyed during the Great Fire of 1901.

Residents of Jacksonville’s Eastside want the neighborhood to grow with their input. It’s a desire that was watered late last week when the Florida National Register Review board unanimously nominated the neighborhood for the National Register.

The statewide designation was viewed as the biggest hurdle to the district’s being named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Eastside, just north of Jacksonville’s sports and entertainment venue district, is the only majority-Black neighborhood dating from the late 19th century that neighbors Downtown and has not been gentrified or altered by highways, state employees told the board before their vote.

Read the rest of this story at Jacksonville Today, part of WJCT Public Media.