Neptune Beach is a beachfront city east of Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida, United States.
Through its development, the part of Jacksonville Beach north of 20th Avenue North was sparsely populated, with a brick road (First Street) connecting the more populated southern area with Atlantic Beach.
The name "Neptune Beach" originated in 1922 with Dan G. Wheeler, one of the few residents.
A friend who worked for the railroad informed Wheeler that if he had a station, the train would have to stop for him, so Wheeler built his own train station near his home and named it Neptune.
[1] Neptune seceded from Jacksonville Beach and incorporated as its own municipality in 1931, following a tax revolt.
The comparatively few residents of the area were largely cut off from Jacksonville Beach city services such as police, fire, garbage collection, and road developments, though they paid taxes in equal share.
The first mayor was O. O. McCollum, and the government met in Wheeler's old train station until a new town hall was completed in 1935.
[3] Neptune Beach is one of several towns on San Pablo Island, which stretches through two counties (Duval and St. Johns) and extends from Naval Station Mayport at its northern tip to Vilano Beach in the south, across from St. Augustine.
[9] The top five reported ancestries (people were allowed to report up to two ancestries, thus the figures will generally add to more than 100%) were English (94.2%), Spanish (5.0%), Indo-European (0.5%), Asian and Pacific Islander (0.0%), and Other (0.4%).
31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.