JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As one of the city of Jacksonville's projects gets delayed and another, set to break ground alongside the Jacksonville Jaguars with early construction beginning in February 2025, the Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park nears completion.
Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park is currently under construction in the historic LaVilla neighborhood of downtown Jacksonville and pictures of its progress were posted onto the city of Jacksonville's Facebook page Saturday.
The park honors two of Jacksonville's most famous residents, James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson, according to the non-profit Jessie Ball Du Point Fund. The Johnson brothers wrote the song, "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" at their home in the LaVilla neighborhood between 1900 and 1905, as it became widely known as the Black National Anthem.
Community stakeholder meetings to discuss and plan how to best revitalize the LaVilla community began prior to 2020 to a once vibrant and thriving neighborhood with arts, culture and entrepreneurship.
In 2020, the city of Jacksonville hired Walter Hood, a renowned landscape architect to conceptualize the park based on stakeholder input. On Oct. 1, 2020, the city revealed its design plans for the park at the Jessie Ball DuPoint Center in downtown Jacksonville. The park incorporates elements of the Johnson brothers' and LaVilla's cultural history while making space for a more inclusive future.
Furthermore, the park will feature an infinity fountain, terrace seating, an entryway onto a stage, historic building footprints, a poet's walk, a passive garden with seating, festival lights and "a commemorative element which pays homage to the brothers and their musical history," said Hood in a video posted to the Jessie Ball Du Point Fund's website, describing the design elements.
On Feb. 24, 2021, the city along with several donors including the Chartrand Family, TIAA, Jacksonville Transportation Authority, Florida Blue, Walter Hood, Jessie Du Point Fund, First Horizon and the Jaguars Community Impact Foundation, began groundbreaking the project, spearheading in fundraising efforts.
Over the past two years, the preliminary design and engineering plans were finalized and Acon Construction was selected as the design-builder for the park. And in July 2022, construction on the park finally began.
The city is expected to have the park's grand opening by the end of the summer and will be located at the entrance of the Emerald Trail pedestrian and bicycling walkway.
Click here to visit the Jessie Ball Du Point Fund's website.
