San Marco
San Marco is a neighborhood located in Jacksonville, Florida, just south of downtown across the St. Johns River. The area used to be the independent city of South Jacksonville until 1932 when it was annexed by Jacksonville. While the neighborhood is mostly residential, there is a commercial section known as San Marco Square.
The community of South Jacksonville first emerged after the American Civil War in 1907. The then-independent city saw its most substantial growth in 1921 after the Acosta Bridge was created to connect it to Downtown Jacksonville. Since the 1990s San Marco has seen a multitude of historic preservation and development projects. The neighborhood is now also home to several schools, fourteen city parks, and other buildings and amenities.
Permanent habitation of the area came during Florida’s British period when a ferry crossed at the Cow Ford in 1760. The ship docked on the river’s south bank which became populated long before what is now the area of downtown Jacksonville. When the Spanish took control of Florida in 1783, they built Fort San Nicholas, and in 1793, the Spanish government issued a land grant for a plantation. After the American Civil War ended, the plantations were replaced with residential developments. The eastern part of the tract was sold to retiring Florida Governor Harrison Reed, who moved to the area and established the South Jacksonville development. By 1900 the community that had been growing and developing became generally known as “South Jacksonville.”
Access to South Jacksonville across the St. Johns River was limited to ferries at first, but once the FEC Railway Bridge was created in 1890, several railways were introduced to bring people in and out of the city, contributing to its growth. By 1907, South Jacksonville had become a regional transit hub and had a population of around 600 people, but it still lacked essential things such as electric lights, streets, and walkways. Over the next several years though the town saw considerable growth with the construction of things like a public school, a bank, a city hall, and some industries and amusement parks. In 1910, South Jacksonville cemented itself as a hub for car and ferry traffic when Atlantic Boulevard opened, connecting South Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Beaches. By the time 1917 rolled around, South Jacksonville’s population was ten times what it had been when it was initially founded, and so local leaders planned the production of the original Acosta Bridge.
San Marco is considered Jacksonville’s most ambitious development and construction of the first buildings began in 1926. It was initially planned to be developed in an Italian Renaissance style which is what influenced the name of the development. The commercial district of San Marco is called “San Marco Square” and had a fountain and several Mediterranean buildings. In the late 1920s, a diverse mix of contemporary architectural styles emerged in the development. By 1931, Duval County residents were fond of the idea of merging the municipal and county governments, and as a result, in 1932, citizens from both cities voted for the annexation of South Jacksonville into Jacksonville.