Downtown’s Main Street
Looking north at the intersection of Main and Forsyth Streets during the 1950s. | National Archives Catalog
On February 24, 1893, Jacksonville’s Main Street made history as the site of Florida’s first electric streetcar line, connecting Downtown Jacksonville to the growing neighborhood of Springfield. This pioneering infrastructure spurred rapid development, and after the Great Fire of 1901, Main Street emerged as a central artery in the city’s dramatic revitalization symbolizing a modern and ambitious new Jacksonville.
As the city rebuilt, Main Street quickly evolved into a bustling retail corridor, drawing both residents and visitors. By the 1950s, it had transformed into a congested but vital thoroughfare, channeling thousands of commuters and shoppers through the heart of downtown every day. According to the 1950 U.S. Census, Jacksonville was a dense, pedestrian-oriented city with a population of 204,275. The economy was robust, supported by 24,000 manufacturing jobs across 350 factories.
Main Street’s prominence extended to the downtown waterfront, where the majority of the city’s 78 wharves and port terminals were located—particularly near the intersection of Main and Bay Streets. The city’s key exports included iron and steel, lumber, millwork, naval stores, cotton, and wood pulp, while its imports featured petroleum products, fertilizer materials, gypsum rock, bananas, green coffee, and newsprint.
In this mid-century heyday, Main Street was Jacksonville’s primary shopping street, home to major national chains such as S.H. Kress & Co., Woolworth, Lane Drugs, JCPenney, McCrory, and Grant’s. However, by the 1960s through the 1980s, Main Street’s role as a retail destination began to fade. The construction of Interstate 95 and the migration of commerce to suburban shopping malls contributed to its decline.
By the end of the 20th century, what had once been a vibrant urban streetscape, lined with diverse architecture and a rich mix of uses, was transformed into a one-way arterial “freeway”. The pedestrian-friendly corridor gave way to wide lanes, synchronized traffic lights, surface parking lots, and garages, reflecting a broader shift in priorities from walkability to automobile convenience.
Looking north at Main Street from the Main Street Bridge during the 1950s. | National Archives Catalog
Fletcher Park’s Times Square
A 1951 Sanborn map overlayed over a 2013 aerial of where Times Square used to exist. | Jacksonville Public Library
Nestled just east of San Marco Square, the Fletcher Park neighborhood was named in honor of Senator Duncan U. Fletcher (1859–1936), a two-term mayor of Jacksonville and the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Florida’s history. Conceived as a streetcar suburb, the neighborhood was designed by renowned local architect Henry J. Klutho and constructed between July 1918 and April 1919. At its inception, it was heralded as “a model town” for its thoughtful planning and modern design.
By the time Fletcher Park was annexed into the City of Jacksonville in 1933, a bustling commercial district known as Times Square had emerged around the streetcar terminus at the intersection of Atlantic Boulevard and Kings Avenue. By 1950, Times Square had grown into a vibrant urban node stretching two blocks north and south along Kings Avenue from Landon Avenue to Olevia Street, and two blocks east and west along Atlantic Boulevard from Fulton Place to Truman Avenue.
However, Times Square’s prominence was short-lived. With the advent of Interstate 95, much of the commercial district was demolished by 1960, erasing what had once been a cornerstone of neighborhood life and commerce.
One of the last remaining vestiges of Times Square is the building at 1944 Atlantic Boulevard. Constructed in 1929, it once housed the Daylight Supermarket and today serves as a location for Fresenius Medical Care. Though little remains of the original commercial hub, the broader Fletcher Park neighborhood has retained much of its World War I era housing, along with its historic scale, charm, and character, offering a glimpse into Jacksonville’s early 20th-century suburban development.
A present day view of the former Times Square retail district. | Ennis Davis, AICP