A & P Southeastern Headquarters
1775 West Beaver Street
A&P’s bakery building was completed in 1932. It was replaced in 2000 with a larger warehouse for BSF that occupies a similar footprint. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
Once the world’s largest retailer, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company established a major Southeastern operations center along West Beaver Street. A&P opened its Eight O’Clock Coffee roasting plant here in 1925 and added an industrial bakery in 1932. The sprawling complex remained an important Jacksonville food-production and distribution center until A&P began relocating operations in 1968; the coffee plant continued until 1990. During the 1980s, Beaver Street Fisheries, now BSF, acquired much of the former A&P complex, continuing the property’s long association with Jacksonville’s food industry.
A 1920s-era warehouse on the BSF property was occupied by the Public Quick Freezing & Cold Storage Company during the 1950s. It was constructed for the Reid Brothers. This structure is currently not used, due to it being functionally obsolete for today’s needs. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
The BSF plant on West Beaver Street today.
Clark & Lewis Company Wholesale Grocers
2481 Dennis Street
The Clark & Lewis Company warehouse on Dennis Street. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
In 1947, Clark & Lewis Company relocated its wholesale grocery operations to Dennis Street, adding to the concentration of food distributors, warehouses and industrial businesses operating in this section of Jacksonville. The move reflected the area’s growing importance as a center for wholesale commerce during the postwar era, when proximity to rail lines and major transportation routes made the district an attractive location for distribution companies. Today, the former Clark & Lewis property is owned by Global Impex Jax, continuing the building’s longstanding association with commercial and distribution uses.
Groover-Stewart Drug Company
25 North Market Street
The Groover-Stewart Drug Company. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
Established by Flavius Christie and Frank Groover in 1900, the Groover-Stewart Drug Company grew into Florida’s largest wholesale drug company. To accommodate its expanding operations, the company constructed this reinforced-concrete office and warehouse building on North Market Street in 1925. Recognizing its architectural and commercial significance, the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The former warehouse has since been rehabilitated as Expansive Workspace, transforming a building designed for wholesale distribution into modern offices, suites and conference spaces.
H.J. Heinz Company
57 Cantee Street
The H.J. Heinz Company at the intersection of Dennis and Cantee streets. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
In 1948, H.J. Heinz Company opened this 13,000-square-foot warehouse, office and shipping facility at Dennis and Cantee streets. Designed by prominent Jacksonville architects Marsh & Saxelbye and constructed by Gillespie Construction Company, the facility distributed Heinz products throughout nearly all of Florida outside Miami. It replaced the company’s earlier Jacksonville warehouse in LaVilla. Today, the former Heinz facility remains connected to food production as the home of Sunshine Peanut Company, Florida’s only peanut-butter manufacturer, which produces peanut butter for the Florida Department of Corrections.
The Sunshine Peanut Company.
Maxwell House Coffee
735 East Bay Street
Designed by architect Roy Benjamin, Maxwell House’s five story coffee roasting plant was built in 1924 by the Turner Construction Company. This plant replaced the smaller, original plant that was located on the south side of East Bay Street near the mouth of Hogans Creek. | Ritz Theatre & Museum.
Jacksonville’s connection to Maxwell House began in 1910, when the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company established a roasting plant along East Bay Street, where coffee beans could arrive by barge. Needing additional space, the company opened its five-story plant at 735 East Bay Street in 1924. The complex eventually expanded to roughly 400,000 square feet. When closure threatened the plant in 1990, Jacksonville rallied behind the “Keep Max in Jax” campaign. The plant survived and remains an active round-the-clock coffee-roasting operation, producing Maxwell House and other coffee brands while employing nearly 200 workers.
This warehouse at 835 East Bay Street was recently demolished by Maxwell House. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
This 4-story warehouse was built for the Laney & Delcher Storage Company in 1926. Located at 659 East Bay Street, it is now a part of the Maxwell House Coffee plant. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
The Maxwell House Coffee plant today includes several multistory industrial buildings dating back to the early 20th century.
Former Pepsi-Cola Bottling Plant
648 King Street
The Southern Packing Corporation operated out of 648 King Street when this photograph was taken. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
This King Street property has played several roles in Jacksonville’s beverage and food industries. From 1933 to 1946, it housed Thomas Beverage Company, a woman-owned soft drink bottler operated by Lois H. Thomas. In 1946, it became the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Jacksonville, which operated the facility until 1957. The building later served as a cold-storage warehouse for Deal-Warren Refrigeration Company. Today, the former bottling plant has been divided among smaller businesses, including Blue Buddha Exotic Foods, Cool Stuff Vintage and Flaire Antiques.
648 King Street in the Cork Arts District today.
La Touraine Coffee / Union Terminal Warehouse
700 East Union Street
La Touraine Coffee at the Union Terminal Warehouse Company. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
When completed in 1914, the Union Terminal Warehouse was Jacksonville’s largest industrial building. Conceived by businessman C.B. Gay, the massive complex offered wholesale companies shared space with convenient transportation access and reduced operating costs. Among its major tenants was W.S. Quinby Company, which roasted its popular La Touraine Coffee here during the 1920s and 1930s. The Jacksonville roasting operation closed in 1935, but its local coffee legacy continued through companies that followed. More recently, Columbia Ventures rehabilitated the landmark warehouse as a mixed-use development combining apartments, retail, offices and makerspace.
This warehouse was built in 1910 for the Groover-Stewart Drug Company. It later became the Jacksonville home of Ballard & Ballard Company. The flour producer grew from a regional milling business into one of the largest flour companies in the world, with its products distributed widely across the country. Ballard & Ballard remained a prominent name in the American flour industry until the company was acquired by Pillsbury in the early 1950s. The East Union Street building remains a reminder of Jacksonville’s early role as a regional center for wholesale trade and distribution. Today, it is a part of the Union Terminal Warehouse Company development. | Ritz Theatre & Museum
The Union Terminal Warehouse Company building in 2026.
Winn & Lovett Grocery Company
1357 West Beaver Street
The Winn & Lovett Grocery Company | Ritz Theatre & Museum
Built in 1919, this West Beaver Street warehouse became an important hub for the grocery business that would eventually evolve into Winn-Dixie. William Lovett established his Jacksonville grocery chain in 1928, and its stores later became part of Winn & Lovett before being rebranded as Winn-Dixie in 1955. The company ultimately became Florida’s first Fortune 500 company. After Winn-Dixie relocated its operations, the building served for many years as the headquarters of Load King Manufacturing. Today, the historic warehouse stands vacant and is offered for sale.
Recently occupied by Load King Manufacturing, the warehouse that became Winn-Dixie’s first corporate headquarters is now available for sale in the Rail Yard District.
Now Available: Jacksonville’s Gullah Geechee Heritage
A Community Story. A Cultural Record. A Call to Remember.
Jacksonville’s Gullah Geechee history lives in the land, the water, the neighborhoods, and the memories passed down through generations. Jacksonville’s Gullah Geechee Heritage brings those stories forward, rooted in place, shaped by community, and preserved for the future.
Jacksonville’s Gullah Geechee Heritage, a new book written by Ennis Davis, AICP and Adrienne Burke, AICP, Esq. and published by Arcadia Publishing is now available.
“An invaluable resource combining extensive research, lived experience and generational knowledge inherited directly from within the culture providing a variety of fresh insights into a truly unique mixture of faith, community, ingenuity and resilience that is definitively Gullah Geechee.”
— Ted Johnson, National Park Service, Retired
Order your signed copy today
Click here to order signed copies of Jacksonville’s Gullah Geechee Heritage book by Ennis Davis, AICP and Adrienne Burke, AICP, Esq. Copies are available in hard and soft cover..
Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com.