A canopy of trees hangs over part of Mandarin Road near Brady Road in Mandarin. It is near the home of the man who named the community in 1830 — Calvin Reed. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on July 21, 2026 at 3:10 pm
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Mandarin is beginning an ambitious effort to preserve its unique history and identity while also planning for the inevitable growth that has already begun.
The initiative, called the Mandarin Area Preservation Project, will strive to obtain consensus among neighborhoods about how to preserve the character of the community. The project will look into issues like what balanced growth looks like, how to engage citizens during rezoning issues and how to beautify the area.
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The effort will begin with workshops Wednesday — from 10:30 a.m. to noon at Mandarin High School, 4831 Greenland Road, and an evening session from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at the Mandarin Senior Citizen Center, 3848 Hartley Road.
The workshops will give the public an opportunity to learn about the initiative, share what makes Mandarin special, and learn how to stay involved, said City Council member Michael Boylan, who represents the community.
The project arose out of discussions he has had over seven years representing Council District 6, after trying to kick it off in his first term four years ago.
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“It has taken a long time to get where we are,” Boylan said. “But the intent is to create a vehicle that allows the community of neighborhoods to come together and build consensus on issues, perhaps related to rezoning, or what we can do to help preserve the quality and character of our communities — beautification and those kind of things.”
The workshops will try to find residents, business owners and community leaders who might be willing to be part of a project.
“Are you interested in seeing an entity like this set up in our community, and are you interested in playing a part in that process?” Boylan asked.
Initially, the organizers plan to put together a steering committee that will work on setting up the structure of the organization. The city has retained Halff Associates, a consultant, to lead the process.
“From my lips to God’s ears, I would hope by the end of this calendar year that we have an entity, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit or whatever the organization is, so we can move it forward from there,” Boylan said.
Mandarin’s history
Mandarin’s border is considered to be the communities between Sunbeam Road to the north, Julington Creek to the south and Interstate 95 to the east, with the St. Johns River on the west. That includes communities like Loretto, Sunbeam, Arrowhead and Mandarin itself.
The area was named in 1830 for the Mandarin oranges that grew in its groves along the St. Johns River. More than 25,000 orange trees were growing by 1879 between what is now Beauclerc Road and the area around Mandarin and Brady roads, records show.
The man who named the community — Calvin Reed — lived along Brady Road. Harriett Beecher Stowe, who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, wintered near there between 1867 and 1884.
These days, the many varied former villages are part of the core of City Council District 6, including neighborhoods up and down Old St. Augustine, Losco and Greenland roads, city officials said. But since the last redistricting process in 2022, almost the entire length of Bartram Park Boulevard near I-95 is also now part of Council District 6.
That area faces continuing growth, showing how diverse Mandarin is becoming as a community with more than 40 distinct homeowner associations and neighborhood groups within its boundaries, city officials said.
Boylan acknowledges that the work could take time. But he said he hopes it can start prior to his second and final term in office ending next June.
Future meetings are being planned for Aug. 13 and 27, Boylan said.
