13. Reid Avenue - Lawson Hotel

Reid Avenue, 2006

Reid Avenue has been the commercial heart of Port St. Joe for nearly a century. Although facades and businesses have changed, the outline of the street has remained essentially the same. Unlike that of many towns, Port St. Joe’s main commercial street has not become a thoroughfare for traffic going elsewhere. Reid Avenue was named after John Robert Reid of St. Johns County, president of the 1838 Constitution Convention held in the Old City of St. Joseph.

In 1913 the street was macadamized with a mixture of mud and shell dredged from the bay along the railroad pier, loaded on flat cars and carried down a track constructed for that purpose. In 1922 or 1923 the city installed electric street lights along Reid Avenue. In 1939 the avenue was resurfaced with sand, gravel and asphalt.

Click on the photos below to view some earlier views of Reid Avenue

Reid Avenue, circa 1920 (click image to enlarge)

Reid Avenue, 1947 (click image to enlarge)

Lawson Hotel

302 Reid Ave.

Lawson Hotel

The building was owned by A.D. Lawson and his wife. Mr. Lawson had an office downstairs, he and his family lived in the rear of the building, and they rented the upstairs rooms. The originally building, built of wood in 1924, burned in 1939 and was rebuilt in brick

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