$\"logo\"/$ The Jaxson on Jacksonville Today

Analysis and original reporting from the team behind The Jaxson, which is dedicated to urbanism and culture on the First Coast. The Jaxson explores the big issues facing Jacksonville in the modern era of urban growth, with a look at today's development in the context of yesterday's history. The Jaxson is a partnership of Modern Cities and WJCT Public Media.

The Jaxson on Jacksonville Today

Analysis and original reporting from the team behind The Jaxson, which is dedicated to urbanism and culture on the First Coast. The Jaxson explores the big issues facing Jacksonville in the modern era of urban growth, with a look at today's development in the context of yesterday's history. The Jaxson is a partnership of Modern Cities and WJCT Public Media.

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 5 things you didn’t know about Bayard”

THE JAXSON | 5 things you didn’t know about Bayard

Located 18 miles southeast of Downtown Jacksonville, Bayard is a historic community with a rich cultural story.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “The Jaxson | One year of Cafe Resistance”

The Jaxson | One year of Cafe Resistance

Rep. Angie Nixon, D-Jacksonville, opened Cafe Resistance as a bookstore, coffee shop and community hub that highlights African American authors…

By Jalicia Lewis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Jacksonville’s wholesale baking legacy”

THE JAXSON | Jacksonville’s wholesale baking legacy

While Jacksonville is associated with pungent paper mills and roasted coffee, much of the city was once defined by a…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The historic coffee roasters of Jacksonville”

THE JAXSON | The historic coffee roasters of Jacksonville

Maxwell House was neither the first nor the only company to fill Jacksonville’s air with the fragrance of fresh-roasted beans.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Jacksonville dentist E.A. Welters took tooth powder and justice to Chicago”

THE JAXSON | Jacksonville dentist E.A. Welters took tooth powder and justice to Chicago

Dr. Walters created one of the earliest Black-owned antiseptic tooth powders in the U.S.…

By Jerry Urso

Featured image for “OPINION | UF campus land swap is best deal on the table”

OPINION | UF campus land swap is best deal on the table

Between buying the land and trading for it, the land swap is the better deal by far.…

By Kelsi Hasden

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Milldale: A long-forgotten early Jacksonville mill town”

THE JAXSON | Milldale: A long-forgotten early Jacksonville mill town

Five facts about Milldale. a long-forgotten industrial mill town born from Panama Park’s Cummer Lumber Co.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | From bacon to BUBBA Burgers to Peterbrooke: Jones-Chambliss meat packers”

THE JAXSON | From bacon to BUBBA Burgers to Peterbrooke: Jones-Chambliss meat packers

For nearly a century, Jones-Chambliss Meat Packing was a major employer and smelly beehive of activity in Jacksonville’s Mixon Town.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The rise, fall, and rebirth of West Adams Street”

THE JAXSON | The rise, fall, and rebirth of West Adams Street

Before-and-after photos of a street that was a vital artery in Jacksonville’s LaVilla for over a century.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Streets of memory: Jacksonville’s forgotten urban commercial hubs”

THE JAXSON | Streets of memory: Jacksonville’s forgotten urban commercial hubs

Once vital arteries of Jacksonville’s growth and cultural identity, here are four historic commercial corridors that have been forgotten and…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The rise, fall and rebirth of Duval Laundry”

THE JAXSON | The rise, fall and rebirth of Duval Laundry

For nearly a century, Duval Laundry stood not just as a place of work but as a pillar of community…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Emanuel Fortune: A legacy of resilience in Reconstruction-era Florida”

THE JAXSON | Emanuel Fortune: A legacy of resilience in Reconstruction-era Florida

Emanuel Fortune was warned that his political prominence as a Black leader made him a target in post-Civil War Jacksonville.…

By Lynn Humphrey

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | From rust to revival: 5 dream adaptive reuse projects”

THE JAXSON | From rust to revival: 5 dream adaptive reuse projects

Here are 5 early 20th century buildings that combine architecturally unique features with deep connections to Jacksonville’s history.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Before and after: The S-Line Urban Greenway”

THE JAXSON | Before and after: The S-Line Urban Greenway

S-Line Urban Greenway opened in 2008 as Jacksonville’s first dedicated urban multi-use trail. Here is a before-and-after look at the…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | When the machines stopped: Jacksonville’s forgotten industry”

THE JAXSON | When the machines stopped: Jacksonville’s forgotten industry

Here is a look at seven major industrial structures that were demolished, marking the end of an era in Jacksonville’s…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | History of the West Jacksonville Rail Yard”

THE JAXSON | History of the West Jacksonville Rail Yard

For much of the 20th century, the West Jacksonville Yard and its locomotive shops served as a key economic anchor…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The story of Dr. Julia Walker-Brown and Walker’s Business College”

THE JAXSON | The story of Dr. Julia Walker-Brown and Walker’s Business College

For nearly 50 years, Walker’s Commercial & Vocational College was a major Jacksonville educational institution. In honor of Women’s History…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | Before and after: The rebirth of Downtown Hastings”

THE JAXSON | Before and after: The rebirth of Downtown Hastings

Located in southwest St. Johns County, Hastings is experiencing economic rebirth. Here’s a before-and-after transformation of this new Florida Main…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | How a skate park was built under a bridge”

February 25, 2025

THE JAXSON | How a skate park was built under a bridge

This is the story of how the Artist Walk Skate Park under the Fuller Warren Bridge was born.…

By Mike Field

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | 5 forgotten Black-owned businesses in Jacksonville”

February 19, 2025

THE JAXSON | 5 forgotten Black-owned businesses in Jacksonville

Here are five early 20th century African-American-owned businesses associated with Jacksonville.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | The Great Migration and Black Jacksonville”

February 12, 2025

THE JAXSON | The Great Migration and Black Jacksonville

In honor of Black History Month, here are six ways Jacksonville reshaped the cultural demographics of the entire country.…

By Ennis Davis

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | When Jacksonville became a Super Bowl city”

February 4, 2025

THE JAXSON | When Jacksonville became a Super Bowl city

These are the lasting effects on Jacksonville of hosting the Super Bowl in 2005.…

By Mike Field

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | How Downtown’s train station was saved”

January 28, 2025

THE JAXSON | How Downtown’s train station was saved

This is the story of the Station Celebration, a forgotten dispatch that rallied thousands of Jaxsons together to help save…

By Mike Field

Featured image for “THE JAXSON | A trip down memory lane: 1970s Jacksonville”

January 22, 2025

THE JAXSON | A trip down memory lane: 1970s Jacksonville

Here’s a visual history of seven sites photographed as a part of a 1970s city of Jacksonville planning study.…

By Ennis Davis

The Jaxson