Skip to main content

Ghost Town Tuesday; Yukon, FL (Abandoned brick roads and suburbia)

By
Alongside US 17 in Southwest Jacksonville is the ruins of a ghost town called Yukon.


Yukon was a small town of about 300 that was located in Duval County before the consolidation with the City of Jacksonville.  Yukon was founded some time in the mid-19th century and was pretty much just another nameless Florida community.  Yukon had rail service and the northern extent of town was selected for Army post Camp Johnston in 1917 during World War I.

The streets of Camp Johnston were laid with brick despite it only being open until 1919.  The Florida National Guard began to use Camp Johnston in 1928.  The Navy became interested in a base near the St. Johns River and created Naval Air Station Jacksonville in 1940.  The vast majority of the military installation was moved to the east side of US 17 where it remains to this day.

Yukon in a way was fortunate that it was close to NAS JAX but it ultimately proved to be the down fall of the town.  In 1963 the town of Yukon was declared a hazard to the flight path of NAS JAX and eminent domain was declared.  All the residential structures in Yukon were removed and the former streets were allow to overgrow.  The commercial district was allowed to remain which is the only evidence of the town of Yukon if you are not willing to look back in the growth west of US 17.

Entering the ruins of Yukon on Norman Street the site of the former rail depot can be seen alongside the tracks.


Yukon is filled with obvious road grades that are starting to fill in with plant growth after half a century of neglect.










Much of the old businesses from Yukon still remain on Yukon Road.




More abandoned roads which were once lined with homes.







Stray pieces of utilities like yellow fire hydrants are still present.


The abandoned brick roads of Camp Johnston remain back in the woods but are gradually subsiding into the terrain.








I visited Yukon back in 2013, at the time it was part of some sort of regional park.  I'm unsure if Yukon Road was once part of US 17 but it should have been routed south to Punta Gorda and been in close proximity to Yukon by 1932.   Unfortunately, the only 1932 Duval County Map I could find doesn't provide insight.

1932 Duval County Map 

The 1956 State Highway Map shows US 17 running through Yukon.

1956 Florida State Highway Map


Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
This post is is somewhat incorrect. In 1938 my father in-law was assigned to Camp Blanding for military instruction(boot camp).As part of physical training recruits were assigned to build a road from Camp Blanding to Camp Johnston at Yukon Florida. Previously before the creation of Blanding Blvd. The US Army was forced to travel to Green Cove and change rail lines to Starke Florida. Then had to transport men and materials by a chain driven Mack truck. My father in law enlisted Feb.1938 for 4yrs. Unfortunately the Japanese extended his discharge till 1945. In 1942 my father flew Y2b4c's out of NavAirSta Jacksonville down to Banana River NavAirSta (now named Cape Canaveral)and back on ASW Patrol. And he participated in the search for fliht 19 in a PBY5M out of Nas Jacksonville. I am a little familiar with the area.
7:52 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hawaii Route 8930

By
Hawaii Route 8930 is a 2.5-mile State Highway on the Island of O'hau.  Hawaii Route 8930 is aligned over Kualakai Parkway over the course of its entire alignment south from Interstate H-1 to Kapolei Parkway.  Hawaii Route 8930 is one of the newest Hawaii Routes only having been completed during 2010.   This page is part of the Gribblenation O'ahu Highways page.  All Gribblenation and Roadwaywiz media related to the highway system of O'ahu can be found at the link below: https://www.gribblenation.org/p/gribblenation-oahu-highways-page.html Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 8930 The history of Hawaii Route 8930 is brief given it is a modern facility.  Hawaii Route 8930 and what was known as "North-South Road" were built to facilitate the developing areas of Kapolei on western O'ahu.  According to hawaiihighways.com the first stage of Hawaii Route 8930 was completed from Kapolei Parkway north to Farrington Highway as a four-lane highway during November...
Post a Comment
Read more

Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road

By
Madera County Road 607 is an approximately seven-mile rural unsurfaced highway which spans from Road 600 near Raymond west to Road 29.   Road 607 west from Raymond Road Cemetery (established in 1905) is part of the Stockton-Los Angeles Road corridor surveyed in 1853. The corridor lies in the gap between Fresno Crossing at the Fresno River west to Newton's Crossing at the Chowchilla River. The Buchanan Copper Mine would be along what is now Road 607 in the namesake Buchanan Hollow during July 1863. The Buchanan Mine is thought to have once had a population of between 1,000-1,500 residents by the early 1870s. Copper prices would decline in the decade after the Civil War and much of the activity at Buchanan shifted towards cattle ranching. The last businesses in the community would shutter during World War II and it is now a true ghost town. Part 1; the history of Madera County Road 607 and the Stockton-Los Angeles Road What is now Road 607 was a component of the larger Sto...
Post a Comment
Read more

Old US Route 60/70 through Hell (Chuckwall Valley Road and Ragsdale Road)

By
Back in 2016 I explored some of the derelict roadways of the Sonoran Desert of Riverside County which were part of US Route 60/70; Chuckwalla Valley Road and Ragsdale Road. US 60 and US 70 were not part of the original run of US Routes in California.  According to USends.com US 60 was extended into California by 1932.  US 60 doesn't appear on the California State Highway Map until the 1934 edition. USends.com on US 60 endpoints 1934 State Highway Map Conversely US 70 was extended into California by 1934, it first appears on the 1936 State Highway Map. USends.com on US 70 endpoints 1936 State Highway Map When US 60 and US 70 were extended into California they both utilized what was Legislative Route Number 64 from the Arizona State Line west to Coachella Valley.  LRN 64 was part of the 1919 Third State Highway Bond Act routes.  The original definition of LRN 64 routed between Mecca in Blythe and wasn't extended to the Arizona State Line until 1931 acc...
3 comments
Read more