Jacksonville Beach is a coastal resort city in Duval County, Florida, United States.
[6] The city is part of group of communities collectively referred to as the Jacksonville Beaches on the northern half of San Pablo Island.
American river pilots and fishermen came to Hazard, present-day Mayport, and established a port.
[9] In the late 19th century, developers began to see the potential in Duval County's oceanfront as a resort.
[10] In 1885, the San Pablo Diego Beach Land Co. sold town lots ranging from $50 to $100 each along with 5 to 10 acres (2.0 to 4.0 ha) lots from $10 to $20 per acre within 3 miles (4.8 km) of the new seaside resort "Pablo Beach".
[11] In September 1892, work on the wagon road to Pablo Beach (Atlantic Boulevard) was begun.
[14] After flooding in the camp at Pablo Beach the 3rd Nebraska moved to downtown Jacksonville.
[15] The amusement park phase of Jacksonville Beach began in 1905 with The Pavilion which was later expanded and called Little Coney Island.
It was a popular tourist attraction that had such entertainment as a dance floor, swim room, bowling alley, and roller skate rinks.
An issue with contracting, and constant weathering of its wooden structure aged Little Coney Island, causing it to be torn down in 1925.
Around the same time W. H. Adams, Sr. created the Ocean View Pavilion amusement park on the former site of the Murray Hall Hotel.
The location of the coaster by the beach made it vulnerable to damage and was eventually deemed unsafe.
DeVoe Coney, in a transcontinental flight from San Diego, California, landed at Pablo Beach, having made the flight in 22 hours and 17 minutes, beating the old record, set two years earlier, by 3 hours and 32 minutes.
[12] Coney's record was soon eclipsed on September 5, 1922, by Jimmy Doolittle piloting a De Havilland DH-4 biplane from Pablo Beach to San Diego in an elapsed time of 21 hours and 19 minutes.
Freebird Live, as it later became, was a popular music venue that became a staple for Jacksonville Beach for 16 years until its closure in 2016.
[19] In October 2016 Hurricane Matthew forced a mandatory evacuation for Jacksonville Beach.
[20] Hurricane Matthew came 40 miles off the coast of Jacksonville Beach causing major flooding.
It is the eastern terminus of U.S. Route 90, which ends at an intersection with State Road A1A three blocks from the Atlantic Ocean.
[22] Constructed in 1947, the American Red Cross Volunteer Life Saving Corps Station is an Art Moderne style lifeguard station designed by local architect Jefferson Davis Powell.
The current mayor is Christine Hoffman who was elected to a four-year term in November 2020.
It continues westward to downtown Jacksonville, via the Commodore Point Expressway and Hart Bridge.
SR A1A is a popular seaside scenic route extending from Fernandina Beach to Key West.
In Jacksonville Beach it serves as the main commercial corridor, extending the length of the beachside community.