Landon Park, in the San Marco section of the City, takes its name from the John and Mary Landon family who moved to the area in 1867. Their daughter Julia became the teacher for South Jacksonville’s first school, and she taught continuously for 36 years until her retirement in 1919. After the area’s first high school was constructed in 1926-27, on the site of her old home, it was named Landon High School in her honor. The original park was established on the 1925 plat of the San Marco subdivision, and it more than doubled in size by the closing of an adjacent street and an additional land purchase in 1939. The nearby commercial district was modeled after St. Marks Square in Venice. Today several large magnolias and oaks canopy the park grounds, and a butterfly garden brightens the southwest corner.
