St. Johns, Florida

St. Johns is an unincorporated community in northwest St. Johns County, Florida, United States. The population as of the 2000 census was 18,063, though considerable growth has occurred in the past five or six years. It is located in the Greater Jacksonville Metropolitan area, and lies approximately halfway between downtown Jacksonville and downtown St. Augustine.

St. Johns is made up of the entire 32259 zip code, including the communities of Fruit Cove, Switzerland and Julington Creek. It is known to be an upscale suburb of Jacksonville, with numerous golf courses, boutiques and riverside mansions. Much of the community contains protected marsh and wetlands.

Geography

The community is located at 30.095578 N, 81.621701 W [http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/gazetteer?zip=32259] .

St. Johns is bordered by Jacksonville to the north, Palm Valley to the east, St. Augustine to the south and the St. Johns River to the west. The Atlantic Ocean lies approximately 15 miles to the east of St. Johns.

History

The area used to be known as Jacksonville, despite the fact that it lies just south of Jacksonville's city limits. Residents picked the new name from a list of five proposals in a 2005 poll. Several area activists and other residents, specifically those in the historic communities of Fruit Cove and Switzerland, argued against any new name. However, the chamber council's "Anything but Jacksonville" effort cleared the way for St. Johns' adoption by U.S. Postal Service computers [http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/stories/2005/04/18/daily24.html] .

Jacksonville, Fruit Cove, Switzerland and Sampson are still acceptable names for 32259, according to the postal service, but St. Johns is the top or default name in post office databases.