Jacksonville Beach, on the Atlantic in Duval County, lies near the coast where Spanish missions once stretched from Mayport to St. Augustine. After Florida passed to the United States in 1821, river pilots and fishermen settled at Hazard, now Mayport.
More about Jacksonville Beach
In 1883 investors formed the Jacksonville and Atlantic Railroad to develop a resort connected to Jacksonville by rail. The first settlers were civil engineer and surveyor William Edward Scull and his wife, Eleanor Kennedy Scull, who lived in a tent, with a second tent serving as general store and post office. Mrs. Scull was appointed postmaster on August 22, 1884, sending mail by horse and buggy up the beach to Mayport and on to Jacksonville by steamer. The Sculls built the first house that year and named the settlement Ruby, for their first daughter.
In 1885 a land company sold town lots for $50 to $100, and on May 13, 1886, the town was renamed Pablo Beach, after the San Pablo River. Work on a wagon road, now Atlantic Boulevard, began in September 1892. Pablo Beach was incorporated on May 22, 1907, and renamed Jacksonville Beach in 1925.
Sources
Wikipedia: Jacksonville Beach, Florida