The plot of ground bordered by Duval, Laura, Monroe and Hogan streets has been a landmark of Downtown and Jacksonville since shortly after the city was founded.
The 1.54-acre parcel was donated to the people of Jacksonville by Isaiah Hart and established as the city’s first park in 1857 and later legally deeded to the city shortly after the Civil War by Hart’s son, Ossian.
Known originally as “City Park,” then “St. James Park,” the ground wasn’t named as it is today until 1899. That’s the year after Civil War veteran Charles Hemming donated the statue of the Confederate soldier that still watches to the south in Hemming Plaza.
Over the years, the park amenities included bandstands, fountains and restrooms. It was at one time the central transfer station for city buses.
Local and national political candidates, including presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon in 1960, have hosted rallies in the park during their campaigns.
The transition from a park to a plaza occurred in 1978 when the city converted the space into a public space covered with brick pavers. Another renovation in 1986 created the “pedestrian-oriented mall” concept that’s found there today.