Cosmo Landmarks

Cosmo Landmarks. . , Alexander Memorial Methodist Church , Community life revolved around Alexander Memorial Methodist Church. Founded as Alexander African Methodist Episcopal Memorial Church in 1878, the first settled pastor was Rev. John Wilson. Services were initially held in a wood frame building that was 500 yards south of the present site until it was destroyed by a fire in 1899. Services were then held in homes until a new church was built on the present site in 1900. That building was later razed and replaced with a white, rectangular, meeting-hall type, wood-frame structure that was dedicated in 1930. (Leevon White), The Church of the Living God and the Pillar and Ground of the Truth Inc. , The Church of The Living God and The Pillar and Ground of The Truth Inc. was founded in 1903 by Mother M.L. Tate and Bishop F. E. Lewis. The first building used for services was an old schoolhouse donated by the pastor, Elder Dennis Bartley. The present temple was dedicated to the members in June 1946 and it has been renovated several times. Six of the past ministers were from the Cosmo community including Reverend Joe Lee Cooper (1943-2021) who presided for approximately 20 years. (Ennis Davis), Jacksonville, Mayport and Pablo Beach Railroad , The Jacksonville, Mayport and Pablo Beach Railroad (JM&P) played an important role in the early development of Cosmo. It opened in 1888 and connected Arlington with Mayport. On its inaugural run, the train broke down earning it the nickname, "Jump, Men and Push." The railroad had stations in Cosmo and the formerly nearby communities of Idelwilde, Mt. Pleasant and Greenfield Plantation. It became known as the "tram road" after the tracks were removed. The "tram" road later became McCormick Road. (Ennis Davis), McCormick Cemetery , McCormick Cemetery is located along a portion of the original Fulton Road and it dates back to the 1800s. This one-acre, private burial ground is associated with the family of local White settlers, John Benjamin McCormick and William Henry Elliott. (Ennis Davis), Fulton Landing Boat Ramp , The nearby community of Fulton was established in 1883 on the St. Johns River by Robert Fulton Cutting, a wealthy financier and philanthropist. It was developed on what was an antebellum shipbuilding plantation with a focus on improving the economic condition of the formerly enslaved. The Fulton community was home to a post office, general store, church, school, and cemetery. It’s riverside businesses shipped processed seafood, fruits and vegetables to local and Northern markets into the 1960s. (Ennis Davis), Palm Springs Cemetery , Like many African American communities during the era of segregation, the people in Cosmo, Mayport, and the beaches created the Palm Springs cemetery to provide deceased family members with a level of dignity in death they were often denied in life. The cemetery was laid out in an open, rural area, with primary access via a small dirt road that ran to the east. In total, there are roughly 150 known burials, with the oldest-known, marked graves dating to 1942. Many prominent ancestral family names are represented including White, Anderson, Bartley, Demps, Brown, Cooper, Key, Brooks, and Kearse. Palm Springs was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. (Heather Hodges) , (caption) Present day map of Cosmo. (Ennis Davis, AICP)