Lost history: Saving what's left of Sugar Hill

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Prior to largely being destroyed by desegregation, highway construction, medical center expansion, and urban renewal, Sugar Hill was the epicenter of black prosperity in Northeast Florida.

From the late 1800s until the 1960s, Sugar Hill was the neighborhood where Jacksonville's most prominent African-Americans lived. During the Jim Crow era, the neighborhood was black Jacksonville's answer to Riverside and Springfield.

A prestigious upscale streetcar suburb, Sugar Hill was located along Hogans Creek and Springfield Park, just west of Springfield. Primarily developed after the Great Fire of 1901, Sugar Hill was largely a byproduct of the "Colored Man's Railroad". 

Officially the North Jacksonville Street Railway, Town and Improvement Company, this streetcar line was initially a black-owned system connecting Northwest Jacksonville with downtown. Primarily a loop utilizing State Street, Kings Road, Myrtle Avenue, 13th Street, Moncrief Road and Davis Street, it would fuel residential and commercial development in Durkeeville and Sugar Hill.

Read the full article on Modern Cities.