page_title: Hanna Park
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hanna Park / History
context_page_description: Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park is a 1.5-mile public beach and city park in Jacksonville, Florida. It is located at Mayport in the Jacksonville Beaches area. It consists of 447 acres of mature coastal hammock, which is increasingly rare along Florida's heavily developed Atlantic coast.
context_section_description: Part of what is now Hanna Park was formerly Manhattan Beach, Florida's first beach community for African Americans during the period of segregation in the United States.  around 1900s by blacks working on the Florida East Coast Railway. At its height the beach included amenities such as picnic pavilions, cottages, and an amusement park. It flourished until around 1940, when it was superseded as a day-trip destination by the larger American Beach in nearby Amelia Island.
  In 1967, 5 acres (20,000 m²) of land for the park was donated by Winthrop Bancroft, who required that the land be named for Kathryn Abbey Hanna (November 8, 1895 – 1967, a Chicago-born educator and author who had settled in Florida and served on the board of Parks and Historical Places.
  Following the Jacksonville Consolidation, the area became part of Jacksonville. The city purchased the surrounding property in the 1970s during the administration of Mayor Hans Tanzler, expanding the park. The first general purpose trail was constructed by Michael Long in 1987 as his Eagle Scout service project. Most of the land has been left in its natural, wooded state. Boardwalks were constructed over the dunes to protect vegetation.
caption: Shelters on the boardwalk
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