Live in Panama Park
A river town older than most of Jacksonville, where the Trout meets the St. Johns: cheap houses, a majority of renters, and a grocery the City Council had to fight to keep open in 2026.
Panama began as Charles F. Sibbald's sawmill on a Spanish land grant of 1816, and was platted as Panama Park in 1879, a few miles north of downtown at the mouth of the Trout River. This guide takes as its boundary the area the Panama Park NHD Association filed with the City, 917 acres between North Main Street and the St. Johns, some of it river surface; the Panama Park Community Corp filed the same ground. The 2020 census counted 2,809 residents there, against 2,736 on about the same ground in 2010, and owners lived in 44% of the occupied homes. Zillow's typical value for ZIP code 32208, which holds every resident, was $149,376 in August 2026, down 1.8% on the year, but the ZIP held 33,286 people in 2020 and is not a Panama Park price.
A river town older than the city that swallowed it
The area the Panama Park NHD Association filed with the City of Jacksonville (OBJECTID 185 on the City's Neighborhood Associations layer), about 917 acres; the Panama Park Community Corp filed the same ground (OBJECTID 490). The City publishes no neighborhood map of its own and does not say it checks these lines. Traced against the Census Bureau's road and water files: North Main Street (U.S. 17) on the west, from the Trout River south to about East 43rd Street; East 44th Street on the south, east to Buffalo Avenue and the St. Johns River; the St. Johns on the east; and the Trout River on the north. Interstate 95 is about 1.7 km west. No City or National Register historic district covers it, and one City landmark is inside, the former Panama Park school. All of it is in Duval County, Duval County Public Schools, the consolidated City of Jacksonville and City Council District 10.
Panama was a mill before it was a neighborhood. Charles F. Sibbald founded it on a Spanish land grant of 1816 at the mouth of the Trout River, and by 1828 it ran what Metro Jacksonville calls Northeast Florida's first steam-powered sawmill. It was platted as Panama Park in 1879, a small place a few miles north of Jacksonville, and grew after 1910, when George W. Clark Sr. sold improved lots on fifty acres. In 1916 the county opened a school here designed by Henry John Klutho, with two towers topped by terra cotta eagles. When the city took it in is not settled: the City's own parks history says it annexed the area in 1925, the year the zoo moved to the far bank of the Trout, and a history of the school says 1931.
This guide's line is one an association drew, not the City. It takes the area the Panama Park NHD Association filed with the City, about 917 acres between North Main Street, East 44th Street, the St. Johns and the Trout; the Panama Park Community Corp filed the same ground. The City publishes no neighborhood map of its own, and part of the acreage is river. No historic district covers it, but the Klutho school, which closed in 2008 after 92 years as Lola M. Culver Elementary, became a City landmark in 2012; the City's layer spells the name "Lola Carver". Exterior work on it needs a certificate of appropriateness; no source read here says what the building is used for now.
The census found a small place holding steady, mostly renting. It counted 2,809 residents in 2020 against 2,736 on about the same ground in 2010. Owners lived in 44% of the 1,090 occupied homes and 611 were rented; 184 of the 1,274 homes, 14%, stood vacant. Every resident is in ZIP code 32208, where Zillow's typical value was $149,376 in August 2026, down 1.8% on the year. That ZIP held 33,286 people in 2020, almost twelve times Panama Park, so treat it as a regional figure.
Low prices make the fixed charges loom large. Every address pays the same four levies as the rest of the consolidated city, 17.7412 mills for 2025. A homesteaded buyer at the ZIP figure owes about $1,922 a year on the base exemption amounts; a landlord owes about $2,650 on the same house. The City's solid waste and stormwater fees, about $414 a year for a house in 2026, arrive on the same bill and no exemption reduces them. Save Our Homes caps a homestead's assessed value at 3% a year and resets on a sale, so the seller's bill understates yours. The arithmetic is on the Jacksonville page.
Two rivers decide the risk. FEMA puts 27% of the filed area in its 1% annual chance zone, but most of that is the river inside the line; 111 residents live on blocks in it, and the reference point is in zone X. JaxReady puts the reference point and 2,412 residents in hurricane evacuation zone C and the 397 on the water in zone A, the first called out. When Irma passed in September 2017 the Trout River poured onto nearby streets and filled the lot of the Trout River Fish Co. A homeowners policy does not cover rising water.
- Look the address up in JaxReady's evacuation zones and on FEMA's flood map: zone A runs along the water
- Price flood insurance separately; a homeowners policy does not cover it
- Ask the seller for the last tax bill and read the non-ad valorem lines
- File for the homestead exemption with the property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy
How Panama Park got here
- 1816Charles F. Sibbald founds Panama and a sawmill on land granted from Spain, on the Trout River.
- 1828Northeast Florida's first steam-powered sawmill runs at Panama; a fire destroys it in July and it is rebuilt a year later.
- 1879Panama Park is first platted, a small community a few miles north of Jacksonville.
- 1910Real growth begins when George W. Clark Sr. sells improved lots on fifty acres, subdivided into two hundred lots.
- 1916Panama Park School opens, designed by Henry John Klutho with two towers topped by terra cotta eagles; it later becomes Lola M. Culver Elementary.
- 1925The City annexes the area, by its own parks history, and the zoo moves to the far bank of the Trout River in July. A second source dates the annexation to 1931.
- 1929The City buys ten acres on Buffalo Avenue from developer Charles E. Bell for Panama Playground and Buffalo Park.
- 1968After consolidation the City combines the two parks into Panama Playground, later Panama Park; a major improvement follows in 2003.
- 2008Lola M. Culver Elementary closes after 92 years; in 2012 the City designates the building a landmark (ordinance 2012-0687-E).
- 2020The census counts 2,809 residents and 1,274 homes inside the filed area, 184 of them vacant.
- 2026Winn-Dixie announces in March that the supermarket at 201 West 48th Street will close; after Council objections it delays the closing in May, and in October lists the store as an open Winn-Dixie. JTA announces Route 1 drops to every 30 minutes on weekdays from 2 November.
A ten-acre park from 1929, a fishing pier, and the river beyond
Panama Park on Buffalo Avenue gives the neighborhood its name and its courts: about ten acres the City bought in 1929 from developer Charles E. Bell, laid out as a playground and a wooded passive park, joined after consolidation and improved in 2003. It now has baseball, basketball, tennis, a splash pad and picnic shelters. The Trout River Pier at the Main Street bridge is for fishing, and the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens sits on the far bank of the Trout, here since 1925.
What the map does not show: the zoo is a short drive, not a walk, because the nearest road crossing is the Main Street bridge, and Heckscher Drive past it is the road east to Huguenot Memorial Park and the ocean.
Elsewhere in Jacksonville, not Panama Park
18 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 18 places, nearest first.
Method: straight lines from OpenStreetMap's Panama Park point near Buffalo Avenue, times a road factor, with a tiered speed model: honest ranges, not routed times.
Every gym within reach
The courts in Panama Park are the nearest exercise, a short walk from the reference point. The City's nearest community center with a court is the Joseph Lee Center on Perry Street, its nearest pool is at Andrew Jackson High, open in summer only, and the nearest YMCA is the Johnson Family YMCA on Cleveland Road, across Interstate 95.
- Panama Park: tennis and basketball, about 0.5 km
- Andrew Jackson High School Pool: about 4 km, June to early August
- Johnson Family YMCA: about 9 km, closes at noon Saturday
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Panama Park courts open | The free option, a few minutes' walk from the reference point: two tennis courts, basketball, a baseball field and a splash pad in the City park on Buffalo Avenue. The Charlie T. Joseph Community Center across the street is now a senior center. | 2–4 min |
| Joseph Lee Center open | The nearest City community center with a basketball court, at 5120 Perry Street on 42nd Street, opened as a teen center in October 1962. | 5–8 min |
| Andrew Jackson High School Pool open | The nearest City pool, at 128 West 30th Street: outdoor and summer only (6 June to 2 August in 2026, 1 to 7 p.m. on weekdays). | 6–10 min |
| Johnson Family YMCA open | The nearest First Coast YMCA branch by straight line, at 5700 Cleveland Road: 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, to 7 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday. | 10–15 min |
The free option is Panama Park's two tennis courts and its basketball, and the Charlie T. Joseph Community Center across Buffalo Avenue now runs as a senior center.
One zone for every address, and a high school rebuilt in 2025
Every address is in Duval County Public Schools, and the whole filed area falls in one set of zones for 2026-27 and 2027-28: North Shore Elementary on Silver Plaza, graded C for 2026, 2025 and 2024; Matthew W. Gilbert Middle near downtown, C; and Jean Ribault High, graded A for 2026 and 2025 and moved into a new campus built with the half-cent sales tax in August 2025.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| North Shore Elementary School | Duval County Public Schools | 5701 Silver Plaza, prekindergarten to grade 5, about 1.7 km southwest of the reference point. The 2026-27 and 2027-28 elementary zone for all 2,809 residents. Graded C for 2026, 2025 and 2024. |
| Matthew W. Gilbert Middle School | Duval County Public Schools | 1424 Franklin Street, grades 6 to 8, about 5 km south near downtown: the middle school zone for every resident in both years. Graded C for 2026 and 2025, D for 2024. The reference point also has magnet priority for Springfield Middle. |
| Jean Ribault High School | Duval County Public Schools | 3701 Winton Drive, grades 9 to 12, about 6.5 km west, rebuilt on a new campus that opened in August 2025: the high school zone for every resident in both years. Graded A for 2026 and 2025, C for 2024. The reference point also has magnet priority for Andrew Jackson High. Run your own address in the district's Neighborhood School Locator. |
Run your own address. The district's Neighborhood School Locator gives the zoned schools for both years; at the reference point it also shows magnet priority for Springfield Middle and Andrew Jackson High.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Highs near 19 °C and lows near 6 °C at Jacksonville International, about 13 km north, with about six nights at or below freezing on the 1991 to 2020 normal
- If you bought last year, the homestead exemption is due with the property appraiser by 1 March
- Highs near 21 °C and about 73 mm of rain
- Portability of a Save Our Homes benefit from a previous Florida homestead is a separate application, also due 1 March
- The City's World of Nations Celebration ran on 28 February and 1 March in 2026; the 2027 dates are not posted
- 1 March is the deadline for the homestead exemption and portability
- The Gate River Run, the 15K downtown, is on 6 March 2027
- Highs near 24 °C and about 84 mm of rain
- Highs near 27 °C and about 74 mm of rain, one of the drier months
- Lows near 14 °C
- About 87 mm of rain before the summer storms begin, and about eight days reaching 32 °C
- The Jacksonville Jazz Festival fills downtown over Memorial Day weekend; the 2027 dates are not posted
- The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November; the reference point is in JaxReady's evacuation zone C and the waterfront blocks in zone A
- The wettest month on the normal, about 193 mm, mostly in afternoon thunderstorms
- The City's outdoor pools, Andrew Jackson High's among them, start their regular season (6 June in 2026)
- Highs near 33 °C and lows near 23 °C, with about 24 days reaching 32 °C
- About 172 mm of rain, most of it in short afternoon storms
- The property appraiser mails the TRIM notice of proposed taxes in August, and a petition to the Value Adjustment Board is due 25 days after the mailing (8 September in 2026)
- The City pools' regular season ends in early August (2 August in 2026)
- Highs near 33 °C and about 175 mm of rain
- The Atlantic season peaks around 10 September; on 11 September 2017 Hurricane Irma pushed the Trout River onto the streets nearby
- About 192 mm of rain, nearly as wet as June
- Nor'easters can start in September: in 2025 they brought tidal flooding along the St. Johns basin
- Highs near 27 °C, lows near 16 °C and about 102 mm of rain
- A northeasterly wind pushes tide up the St. Johns and the Trout; in October 2025 it brought widespread moderate tidal flooding
- Hurricane season still has two months to run
- On 3 November 2026 Duval voters decide whether to continue the school board's 1-mill levy, approved in 2022
- JTA's weekday cuts start on 2 November 2026: Route 1 goes to every 30 minutes and the Green Line stays at 20
- Hurricane season ends on 30 November; highs near 23 °C and the driest month on the normal, about 51 mm
- About 71 mm of rain, one of the drier months
- Highs near 20 °C and about four nights at or below freezing
- Lows near 8 °C; the winter dry spell is the time to clear gutters and check a roof before the next storm season
Every photograph in this guide's library is above
This library holds one photograph and the page has already printed it. The credits are in the footer.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Panama Park, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Jacksonville library.