Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park in Jacksonville celebrates groundbreaking ceremony

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The city of Jacksonville officially broke ground on phase one of the development of the Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park in historic LaVilla.

City leaders said it’s an important milestone during Black History Month.

On Wednesday morning city leaders unveiled the first tree that will be planted at the park.

Lloyd Washington, the president of the Durkeeville Historical Society, told Action News Jax this park is long overdue.

He spent more than a decade pushing for it to become a reality to help recognize two important members of Jacksonville history.

“Educators think about James Weldon Johnson. Musicians think about Rosamond Johnson. But together they did the song Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” Washington said.

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The civil rights leader and his brother were both born on the corner of Houston and Lee street where the Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park is being built.

Those lyrics to that famous song are now displayed in the middle park, a project that’s expected to cost around $3 million to develop.

The Jessie Ball DuPont fund and Chartrand family announced they would each give $1 million to the help with the construction.

And TIAA Bank is also donating half a million dollars to this project.

Washington told me that the LaVilla area has been dormant for almost 40 years and it used to be a place that thrived.

“It lit up, it had all kinds of energy and it was what the whole neighborhood was about,” Washington said.

Now he’s hoping the park will help the area rise up again.

“It’s starting to come back alive. It’s starting to get its own voice and this will be part of the revitalization of the entire neighborhood,” he said.

The entire project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2022.

Construction should kick off in the spring.

Cox Media Group