Brooklyn is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, considered part of the downtown area. Originally a residential suburb, commercial uses became prominent during the 20th century, particularly along the

St. Johns River The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...

and Riverside Avenue, and the area became included in Jacksonville's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

. In the 21st century, it has become the site of

mixed-use development Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...

Location

Brooklyn is located along the

, south of

Lavilla LaVilla is a historic African American neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida and a was formerly an independent city. It developed after the American Civil War and was eventually annexed to the city of Jacksonville in 1887 and is now considered pa ...

and the Downtown Core, and immediately north of

Riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

. It is roughly bounded by McCoy's Creek and the

CSX Railroad CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

lines to the north, the river to the east, and

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

to the south and west. Brooklyn has come to be considered part of Jacksonville's greater downtown.

History

The area was first settled in 1801, when Phillip Dell started a large 800-acre

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

there known as Dell's Bluff. Dell's Bluff changed hands several times before the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. After the war it was acquired by Miles Price, who sold the southern half of the property to be developed as the suburb of Riverside. The northern section he retained and developed himself as Brooklyn.Wood, pp. 105–107. It appears that Price gave Brooklyn its name, but it is not known why a former staunch

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

would have chosen a name so associated with the New York borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. Price's Brooklyn was initially a residential suburb, growing quickly with the establishment of a

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

line. The area held a population of 1,000 and a few hundred homes and mansions. African-American former soldiers (known as

Buffalo Soldiers Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in t ...

) lived in the neighborhood, and one of their houses still stands, though in disrepair. In 1887 Brooklyn and several other suburbs were annexed by Jacksonville. It remained primarily residential into the 20th century, but it eventually developed into a commercial and industrial area with the increasing use of the railway. In the 1950s,

over the

Fuller Warren Bridge The Fuller Warren Bridge is the prestressed-concrete girder bridge that carries Interstate 95 (I-95) across the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida. The current structure was finished in October 2002, replacing the original bascul ...

cut off the historically black neighborhood. In the late 20th century, a number of commercial

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

s and other building were constructed along the river and Riverside Avenue. Subsequently, a rift emerged between the office-centered part of the neighborhood on the river and the traditional neighborhood further inland. As such, the city developed plans in the late 20th and early 21st century to reintroduce residential zoning and mixed-use development. Gentrification is affecting the long-term residents of Brooklyn.

Notes

References

* * {{Neighborhoods of Jacksonville, Florida History of Jacksonville, Florida Neighborhoods in Jacksonville, Florida Downtown Jacksonville