User:Mathew105601/Eastside

Eastside is a neighborhood of Jacksonville, Florida located along the St. Johns River, east of Springfield and the Northbank. Broadly defined, the area overlaps with the Downtown Sports Complex, which includes EverBank Field, Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, and the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, but the term "Eastside" generally applies to the residential portion of the neighborhood immediately north.

Geography
Unlike the similar sounding areas of the city known as Northside, Westside, and Southside, the neighborhood of Eastside is of relatively small scale.

LaVilla lies to the northwest in Jacksonville's downtown. It is bounded by State Street to the north, I-95 to the west, Broad Street to the east, and Brooklyn to the south.

History
The original East Jacksonville development was a small residential community located east of Jacksonville along the St. Johns River, which grew up shortly after the Civil War. Two other communities grew up around this time; Oakland and Fairfield. Oakland, located just north of East Jacksonville, was a working-class, largely African-American community. Fairfield was located farther east, along the northward bend of the river. Its attraction was as the location of Jacksonville's first Fairgrounds, which was the source of its name. These included a racetrack, the forerunner to Jacksonville's sports venues. Fairfield was incorporated as a city; in 1887 all three communities were among those annexed by Jacksonville. They soon grew into one continuous neighborhood.

Eastside has remained the center of Jacksonville's annual Fair and sports complexes, as well as a center of industry in the city. As with other inner city neighborhoods across the United States it underwent precipitous decline since the mid-20th century. For many years, the commercial district on Florida Avenue (now A. Philip Randolph Boulevard) was a major neighborhood center. However, many of its shops were destroyed in a 1969 riot that started when a white cigarette salesman shot a black man he said was robbing his truck. Neither the Avenue nor the neighborhood has recovered, though in more recent times, the Eastside has been the center of urban renewal projects.

Commercial districts
LaVilla is served by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority's zero-fare automated people mover system (known as the "Skyway") and an extensive bus network.

Current Skyway Stations in LaVilla


 * Jefferson at Jefferson Street & Bay Street, serving the Federal Reserve Building and Courthouse.
 * Convention Center on Bay Street serving the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center.

Features
Venues, such as the Ritz Theatre, showcased black entertainers and catered to black audiences. The theatre still host shows and also offers visitors a look at black history.

The Jacksonville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is located on Water Street at the southern bounds of LaVilla. The southern part of the neighborhood was once a major railroad hub, with several rail lines meeting at Union Station (now the Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center), and probably not coincidentally, was also for a period Jacksonville's primary red light district.

LaVilla School of the Arts is a popular magnet middle school in Duval County that follows in the performance and art traditions of the Ritz/LaVilla area. Ritz Voices is a 100-member youth choir in the area.

The Clara White Mission is also located in LaVilla.