1. Ocean Street Market
*Location: The foot of Ocean Street *
A 1928 Sanborn Map of the Ocean Street market. | Jacksonville Public Library Special Collections Department
Prior to World War II, the foot of Ocean Street was Jacksonville’s answer to the kind of interactive riverfront tourists seek when visiting cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Located along the Northbank, it was home to a large open-air seafood market. Because seafood spoils quickly, commercial fish markets like the one on Ocean Street were historically concentrated in waterfront communities.
After the Great Fire of 1901 a number of businesses clustered around the commercial seafood market along the Ocean Street riverfront. Soon, most of Ocean Street south of Bay Street was lined with produce stands, meat and seafood vendors, dry goods merchants, and restaurants…