The former steel fabricating plant of the Aetna Steel Company is located adjacent to Crown Products at 5007 New Kings Road. Aetna Steel was incorporated in 1947 and opened this plant in 1957. Today, the former steel plant site is leased to Copart Jacksonville East Auto Auctions.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway is a 7.1-mile long expressway serving as a limited-access route, connecting TIAA Bank Field with Northwest Jacksonville. It was originally known as the 20th Street Expressway when it was constructed through Grand Park during the 1960s.
The historic Kings Road Railroad viaduct
The 100-acre Expressway Industrial Park was developed by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, which had a continuing program of acquiring land along its tracks to encourage rail-served industrial development. The 100-acre site had the benefit of having ACL rail frontage on the north end of the property and access to the Jacksonville Expressway Authority’s new 20th Street Expressway to the south. Along with the Wiesenfield Warehouse Company, which opened a 200,000 square foot building across the street, Seaboard Allied’s Jacksonville flour mill would serve as the initial anchors of the new industrial district.
Railroad sidings at H & M Warehousing of Jacksonville, Inc. H & M provides 350,000 square feet of contract warehousing, specializing in roll paper, wood pulp and coffee beans. This warehouse at 2101 West 33rd Street was completed in 1964 for the Wiesenfield Warehouse Company.
Opening in 1966, the Seaboard Allied mill at 4325 Spring Grove Avenue was Florida’s first commercial flour mill. Initially, up to 422,000 bushels of grain were stored in its ten story reinforced concrete storage bins with the four story mill producing 250,000 pounds of flour a day. In 1982, Seaboard sold the mill to Cargill, Inc. for $40 million. Over the years, the domestic flour milling industry gradually declined, leading to the closure of this mill after 35 years of operation in 2001. By that time, the mill had been expanded to produce up to 700,000 pounds of flour a day for bulk distribution and institutional bakeries.
The ten story reinforced concrete grain storage bins of the closed Seaboard Allied flour mill near the banks of Moncrief Creek.
The channelized Moncrief Creek forms the eastern boundary of Grand Park. In the event the City of Jacksonville finally gets serious about infrastructure and drainage issues involving Northwest Jacksonville, this creek could become a linear green space that also resolves stormwater problems in surrounding neighborhoods. As such, it could become a nice addition to the proposed Emerald Trail system.
The Emanuel Missionary Baptist Church is located at 2330 West 14th Street. It overlooks the original Grand Park.
The Sanctuary at Mount Calvary is located at 2360 Kings Road. This building was completed in 1972.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com