Treaty Oak Park — Jacksonville, Florida

A Southern live oak estimated at 250 years old anchors Jessie Ball duPont Park on Jacksonville's Southbank — predating the city's founding by decades.

Overview

Treaty Oak Park — formally named Jessie Ball duPont Park — occupies a site on the Southbank of downtown Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, where a single Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana) has stood for an estimated 250 years. That age, documented by News4Jax, places the tree's origin roughly seven decades before Jacksonville's 1822 founding. The park owes its existence to a 1964 private land purchase by philanthropist Jessie Ball duPont, who conveyed seven surrounding lots to the City of Jacksonville with the condition that the site be maintained as a public park in perpetuity, as recorded by the Historical Marker Database. In the early twentieth century, an amusement park occupied the same ground, according to the Treaty Live Oak Historical Marker — a contrast that underscores the deliberate civic effort required to keep the tree standing.

Estimated Age
~250 years
News4Jax, 2023
Park Established
1964
Historical Marker Database, 2024
Governing Body
City of Jacksonville
Historical Marker Database, 2024

Origin and Preservation History

The site's transition from threatened land to protected public park involved two distinct moments of intervention separated by roughly three decades. The first came in the 1930s, when Pat Moran, a journalist at the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union, fabricated an account of a native-settler peace treaty having been signed beneath the tree. Moran's intent was not historical accuracy but civic mobilization: the invented story gave the oak a name — the Treaty Oak — and generated enough public sentiment to stall development pressure at the time, as reported by News4Jax. The name persisted even after the story's origins became known, and the park retains it today alongside the formal Jessie Ball duPont designation.

The second, legally durable intervention came in 1964, when Jessie Ball duPont — a lifelong member of the Garden Club of Jacksonville — purchased seven lots surrounding the tree and conveyed them to the City of Jacksonville, according to the Historical Marker Database. The conveyance stipulated that the land be used only as a public park, removing it from the development market permanently. The Treaty Live Oak Historical Marker records that duPont's bequest extended to the city for perpetual care of the tree itself. The Garden Club of Jacksonville's role in the oak's survival is documented alongside duPont's, with the club's multi-decade advocacy representing one expression of a broader urban tree tradition that, according to the Jessie Ball duPont Park Historical Marker, dates to Jacksonville's 1822 founding, when live oaks and palms were planted along residential streets.

Before either of these preservation efforts, the surrounding site had a commercial history. In the early 1900s an amusement park stood on the ground that now forms the park, as noted on the Treaty Live Oak Historical Marker — indicating that the tree survived the development of that earlier era intact before the naming campaign and eventual duPont purchase secured its long-term protection.

The Tree and Its Dimensions

The Treaty Oak is a Southern live oak, Quercus virginiana, whose documented physical scale reflects centuries of uninterrupted growth. According to News4Jax, the trunk exceeds 25 feet in circumference, the tree rises to a height of 70 feet, and its crown spreads more than 145 feet — a canopy footprint that occupies a substantial portion of the park's seven-lot footprint. The tree's estimated age of approximately 250 years, as reported by News4Jax, places its origin in the mid-eighteenth century, predating both Jacksonville's 1822 founding and the establishment of Duval County, which the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation dates to 1822.

Trunk Circumference
Over 25 ft
News4Jax, 2023
Height
70 ft
News4Jax, 2023
Crown Spread
Over 145 ft
News4Jax, 2023

Legacy and Propagation

In 1986, JEA — Jacksonville's community-owned utility — launched a preservation program centered on the Treaty Oak's own seed stock. The program grew seedlings from acorns collected from the tree, and those seedlings were made available through Greenscape, a Jacksonville nonprofit focused on urban tree planting, for replanting throughout the city. By the time of News4Jax's October 2023 reporting, hundreds of Treaty Oak seedlings had been planted across Jacksonville through this effort, as documented by News4Jax. The program represents a documented strategy for genetic continuity: even if the original tree were lost, its descendants would persist in the urban landscape.

This propagation effort connects the park to a longer municipal tradition. The Jessie Ball duPont Park Historical Marker records that by the post-Civil War era, Jacksonville was described nationally for its tree-lined streets — a reputation built on deliberate planting of live oaks and palms beginning in 1822. The JEA and Greenscape seedling program effectively extends that tradition by distributing the genetic material of one of the city's oldest documented specimens into neighborhoods across the consolidated city's 841-square-mile footprint, as reported by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Civic and Cultural Context

Treaty Oak Park sits within the Southbank district of a downtown Jacksonville that has undergone significant publicly documented investment in the years since the park's establishment. The Downtown Investment Authority documents an $8.8 million Artist Walk opened in August 2024 as part of ongoing riverfront development, while News4Jax reported in April 2026 on major residential and tourism growth in the downtown corridor through 2025. The park itself predates all of these projects by decades, having been secured by Jessie Ball duPont's 1964 conveyance at a moment when the Southbank was subject to development pressure rather than public investment.

The tree's survival also resonates against the backdrop of Jacksonville's 1968 city-county consolidation. That merger, which took effect on October 1, 1968, following a referendum approved 54,493 to 29,768 on August 8, 1967, as reported by News4Jax, dramatically expanded the city's governance responsibility. The Treaty Oak's protected status — legally established four years before consolidation — passed intact to the consolidated City of Jacksonville, which remains the governing authority over Jessie Ball duPont Park today.

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2023 https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs Used for: Population (961,739), median age (36.4), median household income ($66,981), median home value ($266,100), poverty rate (15%), unemployment rate (4.5%), labor force participation (76.2%), owner/renter occupancy rates, median gross rent, educational attainment
  2. First Coast Gems: Discovering the history of The Treaty Oak – News4Jax https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/10/12/first-coast-gems-discovering-the-history-of-the-treaty-oak/ Used for: Treaty Oak dimensions (trunk over 25 feet circumference, 70 feet tall, crown spreads over 145 feet), estimated age (over 250 years), Pat Moran/Florida Times-Union preservation story, JEA seedling preservation program
  3. Jacksonville's Favorite Oak Historical Marker – Historical Marker Database https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=266552 Used for: Garden Club of Jacksonville preservation efforts, Jessie Ball duPont 1964 purchase of seven surrounding lots, conveyance to City as public park preventing further development
  4. Jessie Ball DuPont Park Historical Marker – Historical Marker Database https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=197960 Used for: Jacksonville's tradition of urban tree planting since 1822 founding, post-Civil War reputation for tree-lined streets
  5. Treaty Live Oak Historical Marker – Historical Marker Database https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=142991 Used for: Early 1900s amusement park on Treaty Oak site, Jessie Ball duPont bequest to city for perpetual care
  6. The City of Jacksonville and Duval County consolidated into one government 55 years ago – News4Jax https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2023/09/29/the-city-of-jacksonville-and-duval-county-consolidated-into-one-government-55-years-ago/ Used for: Consolidation referendum vote (54,493 to 29,768 on August 8, 1967), effective date October 1, 1968, Jacksonville's mid-1960s urban challenges
  7. Jacksonville consolidation 50 years later: The great disruptor – Jax Daily Record https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2018/oct/01/jacksonville-consolidation-50-years-later-the-great-disruptor/ Used for: Consolidation history, Hans Tanzler as first consolidated-government mayor, urban sprawl and tax base erosion as drivers
  8. Jacksonville, Florida – Advisory Council on Historic Preservation https://www.achp.gov/preserve-america/community/jacksonville-florida Used for: Post-consolidation land area of 841 square miles; Jacksonville as transportation hub with financial, insurance, and medical sectors; Duval County established 1822; Timucuan Preserve 46,000 acres; Norman studio complex description; founding by Isaiah Hart in the 1820s
  9. Military Presence – City of Jacksonville Office of Economic Development https://www.jacksonville.gov/departments/office-of-economic-development/about-jacksonville/jacksonville%E2%80%99s-military-presence Used for: Named military installations (NAS Jacksonville, Naval Station Mayport, Kings Bay, Camp Blanding, NADEP Jacksonville, Blount Island Command), $6.1 billion annual economic impact, employment of thousands of active duty/reserve/civilian personnel; Port of Jacksonville as Florida's third-largest seaport
  10. Jacksonville Florida Military Bases – Military.com https://www.military.com/base-guide/jacksonville-florida-military-bases Used for: Jacksonville identified as third-largest military presence in the United States
  11. A Mighty Military Presence – Florida Trend https://www.floridatrend.com/article/23647/a-mighty-military-presence/ Used for: Fleet Readiness Center Southeast as largest industrial employer with approximately 3,000 civilian and 1,000 military employees; more than 3,000 veterans per year joining regional workforce
  12. Jacksonville, FL Economy at a Glance – U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.fl_jacksonville_msa.htm Used for: Jacksonville metropolitan area economic tracking reference
  13. Jacksonville, Florida – Ballotpedia https://ballotpedia.org/Jacksonville,_Florida Used for: Strong-mayor and city council government structure; Mayor Donna Deegan (D) assumed office July 1, 2023; mayor as chief executive and administrator of city and county
  14. City Council – Jacksonville.gov https://www.jacksonville.gov/city-council Used for: City Council structure: 19 members, four-year terms, part-time legislators, meeting location at 117 W. Duval St.
  15. Visiting Kingsley Plantation – Timucuan Ecological & Historic Preserve, National Park Service https://www.nps.gov/timu/learn/historyculture/kp_visiting.htm Used for: Kingsley Plantation as part of NPS-administered Timucuan Preserve; Timucua as Indigenous people of the region
  16. Kingsley Plantation – Jacksonville.gov Parks and Recreation https://www.jacksonville.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/jaxparks/preservation-parks/kingsley-plantation Used for: Kingsley Plantation as oldest standing plantation house in Florida; Fort George Island location; tabby slave cabins
  17. I Dig Jax – City of Jacksonville https://www.jacksonville.gov/idigjax Used for: Riverfront Plaza Phase 1 Riverwalk opening target November 2025; Phase 2 $46 million estimated start end of 2025, completion December 2027 or January 2028
  18. Development Highlights – Downtown Investment Authority Jacksonville https://investdtjax.com/why-downtown-jacksonville/major-project-highlights/ Used for: $8.8 million Artist Walk and skate park opened August 2024 under Fuller Warren Bridge
  19. 'Momentum is undeniable': Report finds major residential, development & tourism growth for Downtown Jacksonville in 2025 – News4Jax https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2026/04/29/momentum-is-undeniable-report-finds-major-residential-development-tourism-growth-for-downtown-jacksonville-in-2025/ Used for: Gateway Jax Pearl Square nine-block mixed-use project; MOSH riverfront relocation plans; Snyder Memorial Church restoration; Greenleaf building redevelopment
  20. Downtown's resurrection is on the horizon, city says – Jacksonville Today https://jaxtoday.org/2025/02/10/downtowns-development-progress/ Used for: Riverfront Plaza Phase 1 construction mid-2024; bulkhead, children's playground, café with rooftop garden components
Last updated: May 4, 2026