--- title: "The History of Jacksonville’s Norwood Neighborhood" url: https://stacklist.com/card/959b0e77-e37e-4e9c-b21a-95d14cf580b9 source_url: "https://jaxtoday.org/2024/09/18/the-jaxson-the-history-of-jacksonvilles-norwood-neighborhood/" stack: https://stacklist.com/stack/713b4ecc-096c-4d6e-9412-7e51cd07e42b summary: "Norwood is a Jacksonville Northside neighborhood laid out in 1912 and developed between the 1920s-1950s, with notable historical significance including being the site of an 1888 Yellow Fever epidemic that killed 400 people. The neighborhood later became home to Gateway Shopping Center, one of Jacksonville's early retail centers that challenged Downtown's commercial dominance when it opened in 1959." tags: "norwood-neighborhood, jacksonville-history, yellow-fever, gateway-mall, urban-development" key_entities: "Norwood neighborhood (location), Jacksonville (location), Moncrief Creek (location), Ennis Davis (person), Dr. Neal Mitchell (person), Richard McCormick (person), Sam Morris Spevak (person), Sand Hills Hospital (organization), Gateway Shopping Center (organization), Federal Housing Authority (organization), 1888 Yellow Fever epidemic (event)" classification: "reference" content_hash: "sha256:1aa361733abaec88b419e038ccf09ec8ad34dfc6e6b7e65fc674a8f444bc7da3" acp_version: "0.2" token_counts_approximate: 592 visibility: public agent_accessible: true status: "final" --- # The History of Jacksonville’s Norwood Neighborhood Distribute on Jacksonville Today THE JAXSON | The history of Jacksonville’s Norwood neighborhood By Ennis Davis Published on September 18, 2024 at 10:01 am Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the Jacksonville Today newsletter. Located along the banks of Moncrief Creek, Norwood is a Northside neighborhood that was laid out in 1912. The neighborhood was largely developed around Norwood Avenue between the 1920s and 1950s, with many residents taking advantage of the Federal Housing Authority’s guaranteed mortgages. Here are a few historical facts about the development of Norwood. An 1880s Yellow Fever epidemic site Dr. Neal Mitchell and the Sand Hills Hospital in Harper’s Weekly , 1888. | The Jaxson Then located in the pine woods several miles north of the city, the Sand Hills Hospital was built as a pest house for smallpox cases during the early 1880s. On July 28, 1888, Tampa saloon keeper Richard McCormick became Jacksonville’s first confirmed case of Yellow Fever . Despite attempts to prevent an epidemic of the disease, 130 additional cases and 20 deaths had been reported by Aug. 29. Yellow Fever struck Jacksonville with so much force that The New York Times ’ front page reported it was “every one for himself” in the city. Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one. Facing the epidemic, Sand Hills Hospital was expanded with a 40-foot pavilion fitted with beds and several other buildings. Yellow Fever peaked in the last week of September, with 944 new cases reported and 70 deaths. When it was all said and done, of the estimated 14,000 people who did not flee the city, more than 4,700 ended up suffering from Yellow Jack, leaving 400 dead. Many of those lost souls were buried in graves in the elevated pine woods near the hospital. This forgotten part of the city’s history eerily resurfaced in Norwood with the construction of Gateway Shopping Center. Once home to Jacksonville’s largest shopping mall Gateway Mall during the 1980s | City of Jacksonville Developed by Sam Morris Spevak, Norwood’s Gateway Town Center was one of Jacksonville’s early shopping centers to challenge Downtown as the city’s retail epicenter. Gateway opened in 1959 as an open-air strip shopping center. Article continues below More from Jax Today Duval Schools rolls out 26 electric school buses for upcoming year