Jacksonville's urban core is home to a number of historic pedestrian scale neighborhoods. Many are a direct result of the city's former electric streetcar network that operated between 1880 and 1936. Today, The Jaxson highlights an area known as the District of Soul: Moncrief.

Residences of Moncrief

Developed during a time when local Black community was restricted in where it could reside in Jacksonville, Moncrief morphed into a neighborhood with a collection of housing types and styles. A place where the Black middle class resided alongside the working class, Moncrief is home to one of the most diversified collection of residential types in the city.

Following his 1961 visit at Mt. Ararat Missionary Baptist Church, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was escorted to Isadore Singleton’s residence at 1353 West 33rd Street to meet with local African-American civic leaders. A lasting impact of King’s visit was that it helped inspire African-American’s to continue their quest for local political offices. In following years, Singleton attempted but was unsuccessful in his bids for a seat on city council. However in 1967, Mary Eleanor Littlejohn Singleton (Singleton’s widow) and Sallye B. Mathis, became the first black women elected to the Jacksonville City Council.

Moncrief is home to a large number of small multifamily dwellings. As one of the city’s densest neighborhoods, the renovation and reuse of these “Missing Middle” residential structures is a viable affordable housing solution for the city and revitalization opportunity for the neighborhood.

Built to support a population with twice as many residents, the neighborhood’s residential streets are home to a number of small commercial buildings that once served as corner stores and grocery markets within a walkable setting.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com