JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There is a growing effort to protect a historic and endangered Jacksonville neighborhood.
The Oneida Bungalow Court was recently named one of the 11 most endangered historic sites in the state by the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation.
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Four women took a stroll down Wade Drive and reminisced about what they remembered about the neighborhood.
In the group was 91-year-old Carolyn Hill.
“It was so much love, and everybody cared for everyone around here,” Hill said. “It’s just so joyful. I get so happy. I get so thrilled when I walk through. It just brings back so many memories.”
This area, near Edison Avenue and Forest Street, was home for her. The houses were so close to each other that kids could jump from one porch to the next. Hill described what neighbors would do when someone became sick.
“They would get around the bed and pray and sing,” she said. “Wash [clothes]. Do whatever they could to help each other.”
The neighborhood is officially named “Oneida Bungalow Court.”
It was established in 1925. There are still close to 30 houses. At that time, it was a flourishing, working-class neighborhood.
Streets like Wade Drive, Goodwin Street, Lewis Street made up the neighborhood.
Those who lived there knew it as West Lewisville or Mixon Town.
Patricia Henry met her husband there and called the area “prosperous.”
“My favorite thing about Mixon Town was every Sunday when it was warm weather, not during the wintertime, at the park there on Forest Street, we would have baseball games,” Henry said. “The Gaffney family sold hot dogs and Cokes.”
Constance DeVaughn showed News4JAX the house she lived in for 11 years. She recalled the one night in the 1950s, when she saw the KKK marching down Lewis Street, just yards away from her bedroom window.
“Flames. A cross burning. Feeling fear and nervousness,” DeVaughn said. “I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was just thinking, ‘Gosh people just don’t like me. I wish there was something I could do about the color of my skin.’”
Spencer Fletcher owns the property now.
For the last three years, he has been working with the four women and several others on a plan to preserve the historic neighborhood.
“Hear these people’s stories here,” Fletcher said. “How much the neighborhood means to them, how much it means to the greater and broader Black history of the city here, and what they can do to save it. They have an unbelievable amount of culture and historical value. That means something to the community here. It is the last of the last.”
Fletcher detailed some of the conditions people lived with decades ago in Oneida Bungalow Court, but made do.
“They never had hot water out here,” Fletcher said. “They had limited electricity. They had ice boxes, they had wood-burning stoves. The ice man would come around. If he did not, you would not have ice for the refrigerator. You did not have cold goods.”
News4JAX reached out to the City of Jacksonville about potential funding. In a statement, it said:
“The City of Jacksonville Housing Division, and several City Council Members, have had numerous meetings with the property owner and offered funding solutions. We believe it’s an important project and have asked the developer to meet the requirements that are necessary for any city investment. We are always happy to continue those conversations to work out an agreement that works for both the city and neighborhood.”
When News4JAX asked Fletcher about the requirements, he said he would bring up fixing infrastructure problems during different meetings — including adding sidewalks, stormwater drainage, street lighting, and road repairs.
Fletcher said the city offered to loan money from its “revolving loan fund” in 2025, but a contract was never produced.
He and the city said they are open to more conversations that could lead to a resolution.
As that happens, people like the four women in this story said they will continue sharing how they feel about preserving the neighborhood.
“We really glorified this area because it was just so nice,” Henry said.
“This was a place of love,” Hill said. “It is just a part of my heart.”
A place they want to keep around for centuries ahead.