Neighborhoods
As the largest city in land area in the contiguous United States, Jacksonville is informally divided into four major sections; Downtown, which forms the urban core of the city, lying on the north bank of the narrowest part of the St. Johns River, Southside, which refers to everything between the St. Johns River and the Intracoastal Waterway; Northside, which is generally considered to be everything north of the St. Johns and east of New Kings Road; and Westside, which consists of everything west of the St. Johns River and south of New Kings Rd. (There is also a distinct part of the city known as "Eastside" which is actually part of Downtown.) Additionally, with the rapid growth in the eastern parts of Duval County, the Intracoastal/Beaches area has emerged as a major section as well, but is not generally included in a Jacksonville list, since the Beaches communities lie outside of the Jacksonville city limits.
Each of these sections is divided into many neighborhoods. Some of these neighborhoods, such as Mandarin and Dinsmore, had existed previously as independent towns or villages, prior to consolidation, and have their own histories.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
