The National Register of Historic Places has often been called "a roll call of the tangible reminders of the history of the United States." The National Register is a list of properties "significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture - a comprehensive index of the significant physical evidences of our national patrimony."
In 1990, the United States Department of the Interior issued a Certificate of Entry into the National Register of Historic Places for the Mill Avenue Historic District in downtown Jacksonville. The District embraces the principal late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential neighborhood of early Jacksonville, and includes numerous buildings and sites. The neighborhood was platted circa 1890 with streets and blocks running parallel to the right-of-way of the Wilmington, Onslow and East Carolina Railroad (now known as Riverwalk Crossing Park.). The District is the largest and least-altered concentration of historic buildings in the county seat, and represents the original railroad and lumber town of Jacksonville. The District comprises nineteen acres on the south bank of the New River.
The earliest houses in the District were probably built during the three-year period between 1889, when Tomas McIntyre and Richard Ward incorporated the Onslow Lumber Company, and 1891 when it was reported that fifty houses were being built in the town following the arrival of the railroad. In 1895, Dr. Richard Ward, a locally prominent physician, businessman and developer, and others incorporated the New River and Atlantic Homebuilders Company, then laid out the neighborhood and began building the homes.
The original design of the Linear Park in the Downtown Master Plan included a beautiful fountain at the southwest end of the park near the New River. The Riverwalk Crossing Park has become a reality and is today enjoyed by the residents of Jacksonville as well as hosting numerous community events. However, the fountain is still one of the future goals of the downtown vision. The accompanying picture is an artist's representation of what the completed fountain will look like.
Bettering Our Local Downtown (B.O.L.D.) has volunteered to lead the effort to turn this goal into a reality. As a first step Allison Platt and the world-renowned fountain designer, Mahan Rykiel and Associates were hired to design the proposed fountain. The results of their efforts is a spectacular fountain with a working sundial The fountain will be "interactive" and low to the ground, allowing children to step into it on those hot Carolina days. The fountain plaza will include park benches seasonal landscaping and flowering trees. When completed, the fountain will blend seamlessly into the Riverwalk Crossing Park while enhancing the overall experience for those who visit the park.
The working sundial will show the time on the concrete bollards around the transition zone between the large and small pavers as the sun casts the shadow of the gnomon onto the bollards. The fountain will contain 24 computer-sequenced jets in three zones that will shoot water to heights between 0 and 10 feet, and will be lighted at night.
CONTACT US
Bettering Our Local Downtown
B.O.L.D. of Jacksonville, Inc.
421 Court Street ~ Jacksonville, NC 28540
Ph: 910-937-7222 / Fx: Same - please call first.
Email: BOLDassist@eastnc.twcbc.com
