Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park in Jacksonville, Florida

This City of Jacksonville specialty park and nature center sits at 7000 Roosevelt Boulevard, Jacksonville, FL 32244, and is open daylight hours.

The City of Jacksonville lists benches, bike racks, a bike trail, car parking, a community center, a dog park, a drinking fountain, grills, a hiking trail, a nonmotorized launch on the water, picnic shelters and tables, a playground, restrooms, a scenic overlook, security lighting, trash barrels and wheelchair access. JaxParks files it under its specialty parks, a separate heading from the long list of preservation parks such as Camp Milton, Cedar Point and Reddie Point.

The park has an unusual pedigree for a city park. It sits on land the City first leased from the Navy, it holds the brick remains of a road used while a World War I Army camp was built, and it carries the name of a Jacksonville City Council president who went on to represent the city's Navy bases in Congress.

The park began as Navy land the City leased in 1979 and developed in the 1990s after a push by then-Councilwoman Tillie Fowler.

According to the City of Jacksonville, the land was first leased from the Navy in 1979. A decade later, then-Councilwoman Tillie Fowler, later a U.S. Representative, began to push hard to develop the land. The first big result came in September 1996, when the observation tower, nature center and outdoor classroom were dedicated. In 2005 the park was renamed for Tillie K. Fowler, and the City notes that an entry sign into the park now bears her name and honors her efforts.

The Jacksonville park has kept growing since the renaming. The City reports that in more recent years it improved and expanded the hiking and off-road bike trails and added a dog park and kayak launch, and that a new playground was installed in fall 2024.

The brick road is a 16-foot wide road that linked Ortega to Jacksonville and carried heavy traffic while the Army built Camp Johnston for World War I.

The City of Jacksonville states that remnants of the road can be found at several locations in the park. The road pre-dates 1917 but was heavily used when Camp Johnston was built as part of the preparations to train American troops during World War I.

Camp Johnston was the Army's name for the ground that is now NAS Jacksonville. The Navy's NAS Jacksonville history page explains that the land was purchased for military use in 1907 and was originally known as Black Point. Florida National Guard troops started arriving in June 1909, and in October 1917 the U.S. Army took over and renamed the site Camp Joseph A. Johnston, also home to the second largest rifle range in the United States. In 1926 it was turned back over to the Florida National Guard, which renamed it Camp Clifford J.R. Foster, and the Navy dates the establishment of the air station to 1940.

The Navy is still the park's dominant neighbor. Navy Region Southeast describes Naval Air Station Jacksonville as the largest installation in Navy Region Southeast, occupying more than 3,800 acres along the west bank of the St. Johns River.

Tillie Kidd Fowler was a Jacksonville City Council member from 1985 to 1992 and a four-term member of Congress from 1993 to 2001.

The U.S. House of Representatives historian (archived copy; the live page returned an error on October 18, 2026) records that she was born in Atlanta on December 23, 1942, earned degrees from Emory University in 1964 and its law school in 1967, and worked as a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill and in the White House Office of Consumer Affairs before the Fowlers moved to Jacksonville in 1971.

On the Jacksonville City Council, the House historian notes, she was its first female and, later, its first Republican president, in 1989 to 1990. It was in those council years, by the City's account, that she began pushing to develop the Navy-leased tract. She also chaired the Duval County tourism development council from 1989 to 1990 and the Florida Endowment for the Humanities from 1989 to 1991. In 1992, when Charles Edward Bennett, a 22-term Representative, announced his retirement, she won the northeast Florida seat with 56 percent of the vote, and she served from January 3, 1993 to January 3, 2001. She ran unopposed in the succeeding three elections, served as a Deputy Whip in the 105th Congress and was elected vice chair of the GOP Conference in the 106th.

Her congressional work ran straight back to the bases next door to the park. The House historian writes that she served on the Armed Services Committee, a key assignment since her district encompassed the Jacksonville naval facilities, and that much of her concern about defense cuts came from the heavy naval presence in her district, including the Mayport Naval Station. She retired after four terms, honoring a pledge, and died in Jacksonville on March 2, 2005. The City renamed the park for her the same year, describing her as an advocate for issues important to the City of Jacksonville and for the needs of the United States Armed Forces, particularly the U.S. Navy.

The nature center is open Friday through Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., while this Jacksonville park and its trails are open daylight hours.

The City of Jacksonville says the nature center is reached by following the park road until it ends at a loop, that hours are subject to change due to staff availability, and that visitors coming only for the nature center should call ahead at (904) 255-6877. The same City page lists the trail improvements of recent years, the dog park and the kayak launch, and offers a narrated video of a Tillie Fowler hike.

The Timucuan Parks Foundation, a nonprofit, includes the park on its own list of the parks it supports, alongside City of Jacksonville preserves and state and national park sites in Northeast Florida, and links to the JaxParks profile page for current details.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against the JaxParks park and specialty park pages, both Navy Region Southeast pages for NAS Jacksonville, the House historian's Fowler biography (archived copy) and the Timucuan Parks Foundation park list, all re-read that day.