The St. Nicholas neighborhood is one of the oldest in Florida and has a rich and exciting history.

Fort San Nicolas was built by the Spanish in 1793 on the site of the present-day athletic fields of Bishop Kenny High School. The triangular battery was extended a few times, and hands were often changed between the Spanish and British during Florida’s colonial period. The fort was abandoned in 1818 and later razed. The surrounding land became a farm. Look for the historic marker about the fort in the Atlantic Boulevard median halfway between Kingman Avenue and Holmesdale Road.

The area called St. Nicholas was initially defined as the land on the south bank of the St. Johns River, generally bordered by the river and what is now Atlantic Boulevard, the WJXT studios, and the Arlington River. St. Nicholas was sparsely populated by recipients of two Spanish land grants, Francis Bagley and Reuben Hogans. The Bagley grant extended from the area where the WJXT studios are now located to Miller Creek, while the Hogans grant stretched from Miller Creek to the Arlington River.

In 1820, citizens in this area petitioned the Spanish governor to form a municipality called San Nicolas. The governor denied their request. If he hadn’t, Jacksonville may well have been called St. Nicholas!

After Bagley’s death, his grant was passed on to his widow, Anna Hogans. After her death, the Bagley grant was divided among her five children, and the area east of Bishop Kenny High School, west of Miller’s Creek, and north of Atlantic Boulevard is today called the St. Nicholas neighborhood.

In the mid-1840s, a church was built, and a cemetery was created at the corner of Olive and Linden Streets, now known as the Historic St. Nicholas Cemetery, for relatives, friends, and neighbors. The church burned, but the cemetery grew from its first burial in 1849. The cemetery is now considered abandoned but is maintained by volunteers and local organizations.

After the Civil War in the late 1800s, several homes, some of which still remain, were built in the St. Nicholas neighborhood for wealthy residents. The neighborhood slowly grew over the years to become a popular and pleasant residential neighborhood. Today, it remains a wonderful mix of new young families and long-time residents.

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