Around Old Town

OUT AND ABOUT

in the heart of THE CITY

Old Town enjoys quick and easy access to top schools, Midtown dining and shopping, Downtown government offices, healthcare facilities, and parks and cultural attractions. Many destinations are easily reachable by foot or bicycle, while others are just a short drive.

  • Close to Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and multiple doctor’s offices and medical specialists
  • Less than two miles from the Florida Capitol Complex and Downtown
  • Close to Goodwood Museum & Gardens, Cascades Park, Railroad Square and LeMoyne Arts
  • Mimi’s Table and Uptown Café are in our boundaries, and both Downtown and Midtown dining and nightlife options are close by.
  • Numerous neighborhood shops and services along Magnolia Drive and East Tennessee Street and Midtown shopping and dining district are nearby.
  • Four schools in our boundaries and FAMU and FSU are only a few minutes away by car.

Old Town Over Time

Old Town consists of several parcels that were built up over time going back as far as 1929. The largest and oldest of those areas is called Melrose Park, an architecturally connected subdivision that comprises Talaflo Terrace (Miccosuke Road and East Tennessee Street; east of Hillcrest) and Oak Park Properties (Alachua Avenue, Hillcrest and Short streets). 

Talaflo Terrace

516 Ward Street, the “Dixon House,” was built in 1929. (State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)

Although the plat for Talaflo Terrace was filed and recorded in 1925, the first house – 516 Ward Street – wasn’t  bullt until 1929. Called the Dixon house, it was designed by the owner, Cassandra Alice Sweeting Dixon (1883-1948), in the French Eclectic style. Dixon also designed three other homes in the neighborhood. Her granddaughter, Sandra Dixon, still lives on Ward Street.

Construction began on the bulk of Talaflo Terrace homes in the mid 1930s. (“Talaflo” is a portmanteau of Tallahassee and Florida.) According to the Tallahassee Neighborhood Survey, Syde Patrick Deeb (1913-1985), a prominent developer and contractor, staked the property lines of Talaflo Terrace. Homes throughout the area reflect the architectural styles popular of the time: Minimal Traditional, English Georgian, English Tudor Cottage and Georgian Revival. There are also frame and masonry vernacular styles. 

Oak Park Properties is classified as an unrecorded subdivision. Parcels were divided and sold individually using legal “metes and bounds” descriptions. Lots in Oak Park were (and still are) relatively large with generous setbacks. Construction began in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Brockswood Park

Brockswood Park was developed beginning in 1955. While this plat also includes homes on the east side of Magnolia Drive, only the west side is part of Old Town. The land was owned by the Pichard brothers, who ran a large family lumber and construction company. After the youngest brother, Claude, died in 1946, he gave his five children homesites on Magnolia Drive and sold the rest of the property to Julius Parker and Harold Brock, who developed what we now know as Brockswood Park. Homes went up from 1955 through the 1970s. Claude Pichard Drive is, naturally, named after the youngest Pichard brother. Lucy Street is named for Parker’s daughter, and McClendon Drive is named for Parker’s great grandmother. Devil’s Dip earned its name from the deep, plunging dip in the terrain, which before it was filled in was quite steep!

Hillcrest Court & Magnolia PLACE

In the early ’90s, vacant residential property on Hillcrest was developed. The property became Hillcrest Court, with individual homes built between 1990 and 1994. In the late 1990s early 2000s, the property bordered by Alachua and Magnolia was developed as Magnolia Place, though most people call it Chaney Lane. The 1940s plantation style home that was once anchored the land is still there today.

Sources: Tallahassee Neighborhood Survey, Phase IV, performed for the Historic Tallahassee Preservation Board by Archaeological Consultants Inc., October 1997; StateArchives of Florida, Tallahassee Democrat, Leon County Property Appraiser, Realtor.com

  • A close up of the front door of the Dixon house at 516 Ward Street. "Ashtead" derives from Old English, and means "homestead among the ash trees." It's often used in place of "homestead" or simply, "place." Photographed in 1936. (Florida Archives)
    A close up of the front door of the Dixon house at 516 Ward Street. “Ashtead” derives from Old English, and means “homestead among the ash trees.” It’s often used in place of “homestead” or simply, “place.” Photographed in 1936. (Florida Archives)
  • This black and white photo taken Jan. 1, 1940, shows members of the Dixon, Peavy and Akerman families on the stoop in front of a one-story brick house built in 1930.
    509 Ward Street photographed Jan. 1, 1940. The Coleman and Leo Dixon home was built by contractor George Winchester in 1930. L-R (back row): Coleman Dixon, Mary Peavy, Daisy Akerman, Leo Peavy Dixon, Andre Akerman. In center: Warren Dixon.
  • Close-up view of the Akerman family home at 510 Ward Street photographed on December 25, 1940. The home was designed by Cassie Dixon and built by contractor George Winchester for native Scotsman Andre Akerman of Akerman Electric. Leon County Schools purchased the house and demolished it in 2010. (State Archives of Florida)
  • This photo from the State Archives shows Jean Thompson Florist on Miccosukee Road blanketed by snow on Feb. 13, 1958. Thompson lived in the house next door and ran the florist shop until the mid-1960s. It later became Artistic Flowers, then Purple Martin Nursery, and it’s now owned by the church. (State Archives of Florida/Slade)
  • Easter Sunday at First Church Nazarene, 601 Miccosukee Road, photographed April 1, 1956. The building is now Life Changers Church of God. State Archives of Florida/Slade)
  • East Tenn from Hillcreast
    Looking east on East Tennessee Street from Hillcrest, photographed on November 30, 1967. (State Archives of Florida/Slade)
  • Kate Sullivan Elementary School, 1956 (State Archives of Florida)
  • Cobb Junior High School, photographed in 1953. (Florida Archives)
  • Leon High School shown soon after completion in 1937. The establishment of Leon strongly contributed to the growth of the neighborhood. (State Archives of Florida)
  • The Blessed Sacrament Convent on Miccosukee Road, photographed in 1967. The building is now the home of the St. John Neumann Retreat Center. (State Archives of Florida/Parks)
  • In 1952, Blessed Sacrament Parish erected a 500-seat church at its current site on Miccosukee Road and Blessed Sacrament Catholic Elementary School was established. This photo was taken in 1967. (State Archives of Florida/Parks)
  • Commercial buildings on Miccosukee Road, photographed December 7, 1955. (Florida Archives/Red Kerce Collection)