by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Everything is on schedule for the Laura Street improvement project to begin in earnest Jan. 2. The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission is accepting bids on the project until Dec. 2 and the contract will be awarded about two weeks later. Following that will be a public meeting between City officials, the contractor and property owners and tenants on Laura Street. Construction of the first phase of the project, the block south of Bay Street, is set to begin the day after the Konica-Minolta Gator Bowl game. It includes a new roundabout and the relocation of the statue of Andrew Jackson astride his horse that’s been tucked away next to the Landing since the riverfront retail and entertainment center opened.
That phase is expected to take about 90 days and the entire project about a year to realize Laura Street’s improvement from the Landing to Hemming Plaza.
A new element has been added to the original concept of wider sidewalks and more shade to improve the pedestrian experience. The JEDC has enlisted the expertise of the City’s Historic Planning Commission and the Jacksonville Historical Society to create a series of historical markers that will be installed in the sidewalks on Laura Street. The intent is to tell how the street is such an important part of the city’s history.
JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton said the historic markers will be a valuable enhancement because, “This project goes beyond wider, more aesthetic sidewalks and shade trees. Laura Street is more than just a streetscape project. We’re creating an experience and there’s no better way to tell the story than through the history. The historic sites on that street are some of our greatest assets.”
Less than a block east of Laura Street on Adams Street, there’s a plaque on The Carling that indicates the building is where the Jacksonville Historical Society was founded more than 80 years ago.
“This is an exciting project that will allow people to learn more about the historic buildings on Laura Street,” said Emily Lisska, executive director of the society. “We think the stories behind those buildings are something people would like to know.”
Even the street’s name has history behind it, said Historic Preservation Planner Joel McEachin.
“The street was named after one of Isaiah Hart’s daughters,” he explained.
Hart was Jacksonville’s founding father and one of the people who tied a rope around a bay tree near the Courthouse Annex on Bay Street (hence the name) in 1822 to lay out the first streets.
“Laura Street wasn’t on the original plat,” McEachin added. “But it wasn’t very long after.”
McEachin said Laura Street was relatively unscathed during the Great Fire of 1901 but that catastrophic event began a series of changes to Jacksonville in the early 20th century. The commercial district shifted from Bay Street to Forsyth Street. The Atlantic National Bank Building on Forsyth Street near Laura Street was one of the first high-rises in the Southeast. Henry John Klutho, an architect who came to Jacksonville soon after the fire, designed the 10-story Bisbee Building on Laura Street, which McEachin said may have been one of the first framed concrete structures in the South.
Hemming Plaza is at the north end of the Laura Street improvement project and McEachin said it too has quite a bit of history behind it.
“Shortly after the Civil War the Hart family donated the land for a public park. Soon it was surrounded by big resort hotels like the Windsor and the St. James. Tourists walked down Laura Street to visit shops and restaurants on Bay Street. Laura Street is like a journey through time,” he said.
The project will also create some of its own history when next year’s Jacksonville Jazz Festival will be affected by the project. Last year moving the event from Metropolitan Park into the heart of Downtown, specifically Laura Street from Hemming Plaza to the Landing, proved to be a hit with audiences, performers and vendors. The 2010 JJF will remain Downtown, but will have to be relocated due to the construction that will be underway Memorial Day weekend.
“The business and property owners on Laura Street are eager for this project,” commented JEDC Deputy Director Paul Crawford. “Some inconvenience is just part of the process. We have to earn a great street.”
Moving the festival a few blocks away could actually be an advantage said Barton, who added, “What we have is a great opportunity to take something that was successful and make that same thing happen in another part of Downtown.”
This historic marker on Ocean Street at Adams Street commemorates the Tampa to Jacksonville four-day “endurance race” in 1909.
The site of the founding of the Jacksonville Historical Society is marked by this plaque on Adams Street between Ocean and Laura streets.
This marker is affixed to an example of Downtown’s historic architecture, the Greenleaf & Crosby Building on Laura Street between Adams and Monroe streets.
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