River Forest History
In 1912, Frederick Bruce, John Alderman, George Spaulding, and H. L. Sprinkle organized the Alderman Realty Company. Intensive settlement began in the area later known as the heart of Arlington, the blocks to the east and west of the intersection of Chaseville Road, now University Boulevard, and Arlington Road. The company purchased 1,100 acres of land that was part of the original Richard Mill grant north of Strawberry Creek. This property was subdivided into blocks and lots for further development known as Arlington Heights and Alderman Farms. The firm established a ferry service to better market the area to prospective buyers. The ferry landing was located at the west end of SaintXJohns Street, now Arlington Road. The ferry ran to the foot of Beaver Street in Fairfield.
By the end of the boom era, Arlington was a community complete with the infrastructure that defined a community. However, the area we now refer to as Arlington then consisted of scattered communities that did not regard themselves as a part of a larger neighborhood called Arlington. Clifton, Floral Bluff, Eggleston, Gilmore and Chaseville remained distinct settlements connected by roads and separated by wooded and undeveloped tracts and rural areas. The area most closely identified as Arlington was contained within the blocks from University Boulevard to the river on both sides of Arlington Road. Also from University east to Rogero and south along Arlington Road to Strawberry Creek.
Arlington officially became part of Jacksonville with the consolidation of Duval County in 1969. The next year a group of concerned citizens put forth an effort to save the woodlands now known as Tree Hill which was put up for sale due to an increase in property tax.
Historical Plantation Life in River Forest
Floral Bluff (Along the river both north and south of Floral Bluff Road): Originally located in Samuel Potts’ 10,000-acre plantation during the English period, it later was part of a grant known as “Parque” to Francis Richard during the second Spanish period. Richard’s granddaughter Elizabeth, daughter of John B. Richard, was born in the Oakwood Villa area in 1805 and may have inherited this land from her grandmother in 1821. In 1832, she married Robert Bigelow from Connecticut. Robert fought in the Seminole Indian War, and then moved to Jacksonville, buying two plantations along the river. In 1840 he served as executor of the will of Elizabeth’s uncle, Francis II. He was a slaveholder and reportedly treated them kindly. He took no part in the Civil War but was a strong southern man in principal. He resided peacefully at his Arlington Plantation, and over the years had several homes along the river. An 1899 map shows “Bigelow Cove” south of Floral Bluff Road and several docks, one at the end of Floral Bluff Road and one near one of his first homes just north of Arlington Road. Robert Bigelow died in 1868, and both he and Elizabeth are buried in the Bigelow Cemetery on Floral Bluff Road along with other family members. Prior to his death, he homesteaded several parcels of land, one of which included part of Lake Lucina, which may have been named for a member his family. The Bigelow mansion, which burned Christmas Eve in 1950, was well known and was used in early movies. It was located on top of the bluff between what is now Plantation Drive and North River Drive. The Floral Bluff Subdivision was platted in 1887, and has several homes on the State of Florida’s historic list.
For more information....
Visit our resource website, Old Arlington, Inc on the helpful links page. The Old Arlington group was founded by Melanie Cross in 1993 to preserve our history and published a document “Arlington A New History” by William R. Adams, April 1997. Most of the information from the turn of the century forward was taken from this document.