Springfield

Springfield is emerging as the area’s new arts hub as well as a residential neighborhood rediscovering its heritage. After a catastrophic fire destroyed much of downtown Jacksonville in 1901, many residents decided to build new homes just north of the city in Springfield. Since many of the displaced were quite wealthy, they built spacious homes in an array of architectural styles, including Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School. A number of these homes have been lovingly renovated and lend abundant charm to this neighborhood.

Springfield's 12-block Main Street has also been updated and now boasts a tree-filled median with antique-style streetlamps and brick crosswalks. Along the neighborhood’s primary thoroughfare, locals dine and drink at Boomtown, and listen to live jazz at the Epicurean Market and Café. At Henrietta's restaurant there's an art gallery and a theater that screens unusual movies. New businesses are continually moving into formerly vacant Main Street storefronts and the street’s renovation has jump-started construction of 80,000 square feet of retail space and condominiums in adjacent areas.

A wonderful time to see Springfield at its most appealing is during the neighborhood's annual holiday home tour, when horse-drawn carriages rumble past restored homes.

Springfield is the artistic capital of Jacksonville. The heigborhod is an up and coming renissance district filled with artist studios and loft apartments. Downtown and Springfield offer opportunities for entertainment and the convenience of living near Jacksonville's business district

Springfield and Downtown Jacksonville Demographics