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Jacksonville Historical District
Helping to keep our City's History intact for future generation
DID YOU KNOW ! The first original plat of the town of Jacksonville was dated January 2, 1872. It showed the town as consisting of eight full blocks and four partial blocks extending from the railroad tracks to one block east of Oak Street and from one block south of chestnut to one block north of Pine. The street names were Front, Oak, Pine, Chestnut, and Walnut and consisted of 120 lots.
In 1873, Lonoke County was formed and the county lines included the Jacksonville area, during the two years Jacksonville was located in Lonoke County another section was added to the town, this section consisted of eight full blocks and nine partial blocks. The new streets were named Division, Mulberry, Locust (now Main), Hickory, Elm, First and Second.
The Jacksonville Historical District Mission Statement :
The Jacksonville Historical District Committee's mission is a community-based vision for the preservation of our historic building and homes, focusing on its strengths, addressing its weaknesses and maximizing its potential
With its mix of housing and businesses, its walk-able, human scaled streets and a desire to grow offer a glimpse of the area's historic urban-ism and a way of community building that can address the need for the preservation of the original, downtown Jacksonville.
The area is approximately 8 blocks and will include a replica of the original Jacksonville Train Depot which originated when the land along Front Street was leased to the former Cairo-Fulton Railroad and thus, the town of Jacksonville began and grew outward as a result of land owner Nicholas Jackson's agreement with the railroad company.
Along with this we aim to revitalize our Main Street to make improvements so people will want to come to our part of the city. Join with us and bring back our Main Street and Historical buildings and homes.
Master Plan Goals:
Details goals are being developed to guide the master plan, including to:
- Preserve, extend and enhance its Historic character.
- Provide a mix of retail, cafe's, office, employment, cultural, housing, and open spaces for outdoor dinning
- Build and promote a positive identity and brand.
- The Historical District is rich with historical resources but damaged by urban renewal and auto-oriented development.
This area suffered retail decline in 70's and 80's as suburban growth forced retailers to move out of the area. The Jacksonville Historical District's mission is to bring back our Historic part of town back to life.The Jacksonville .
Historical District will serve to:
- Maintain and encourage a balanced mix of uses.
- Increase the number of shops and cafe's, outdoor dinning
- Redevelop parking lots and vacant sites
- Protect and Preserve historical buildings and homes in the area.
- Incorporate sustainable development practices.
- Support pedestrian-oriented commercial activity.Projects:
- Restore old Train Depot building as a Replica of our Train Depot.
- Install a cafe with Wi-Fi.
- Redevelop the area with outdoor sitting and dinning, cafe's, retail stores, art galleries and a Jacksonville Historical Museum.
- Update and improve the way our Main Street looks, which in turn will help our stores in the area grow.
Founded in July 7, 2014 as a nonprofit organization with 15 board members, to revive and preserve the history, culture and historical buildings of our original part of town and main street, we strive to bring back a replica of the original Train Depot and to provide a tourist attraction and Welcome Center and Museum to keep the history of our town intact for future generations.
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