LaVilla’s Broad Street

A mid-20th century view of LaVilla’s Broad Street. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

At its peak, Broad Street stood as a thriving center of Black economic empowerment, cultural expression, and Civil Rights activism in Florida. Lined with Black-owned banks, insurance companies, restaurants, theaters, mutual aid societies, boarding houses, seafood markets, grocery stores, hotels, furniture stores, and professional offices, the corridor was a vibrant hub of African American life and resilience.

Originally known as Bridge Street, it was renamed Broad Street during the 1920s. A defining moment in its history came in 1898, when Patrick Henry Chappelle opened the Excelsior Concert Hall at 132 Broad Street, marking the establishment of the South’s first Black-owned theater. Two years later, in 1900, Chappelle launched the famed Rabbit’s Foot Company, a pioneering tent show that became a cornerstone of Southern vaudeville entertainment. Known affectionately as “The Foots,” the troupe toured extensively from 1900 into the late 1950s, headquartered in LaVilla prior to World War I.

Dubbed the “Black P.T. Barnum,” Chappelle was one of the largest Black employers in the entertainment industry. The Rabbit’s Foot Company served as an early stage for future legends such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Louis Jordan, and comedians Tim Moore and Butterbeans and Susie.

South of Adams Street, Broad Street’s businesses also served LaVilla’s red-light district and its Greek and Syrian immigrant communities. Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s Orthodox Jewish community established kosher butcher shops, clothing businesses, and dry goods stores along the corridor. During an era of segregation—when Black residents were barred from entering Downtown Jacksonville—Broad Street became a crucial commercial lifeline for the African American community. Black restaurant owners along nearby Ashley and Davis Streets were key patrons of many Broad Street markets.

Broad Street’s prominence declined following the end of Segregation. Despite significant loss of building stock during recent decades, today Broad Street retains the highest concentration of surviving historic structures in LaVilla.

A current day photograph of Broad Street. | Ennis Davis, AICP

LaVilla’s Davis Street

824 North Davis Street awaiting demolition during the 1990s as a part of the River City Renaissance urban renewal plan. | City of Jacksonville

Originally known as Second Street before LaVilla’s annexation into Jacksonville in 1887, Davis Street emerged as a vital commercial and cultural corridor following the devastating Great Fire of 1901. In the decades that followed, it flourished with hotels, restaurants, theaters, and retail businesses, becoming a centerpiece of Jacksonville’s Black business and cultural life.

A year after the fire, in 1902, the North Jacksonville Street Company, a Black-owned enterprise, began operating a streetcar line along Davis Street. This line, known locally as “The Colored Man’s Railroad,” linked the growing African American neighborhoods of Sugar Hill, Moncrief Park, and Durkeeville, encouraging their expansion along the corridor. This early 20th-century growth helped shape what is now recognized as Northwest Jacksonville.

Davis Street was home to several prominent Black-owned businesses and institutions, including Nick’s Pool Parlor, the Flagler Hotel, Boston Chop House, the Ritz Theatre, and the Cookman Institute. Notably, in 1923, the Cookman Institute merged with Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune’s Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, eventually evolving into Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach.

Davis Street’s prosperity began to decline after 1950, as it became a focal point for urban renewal and highway construction, including the building of Interstate 95. Further transformation came in 1993 with the City of Jacksonville’s River City Renaissance plan. This initiative led to the demolition of a 50-block section of LaVilla, bounded by Interstate 95, State Street, Broad Street, and Forsyth Street. The current landscape of Davis Street, including institutions like the LaVilla School of the Arts, emerged largely as a result of this redevelopment.

A current day photograph of Davis Street. | Ennis Davis, AICP

Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com