university park
University Park had its first plat recorded in 1922. The neighborhood continued to expand westward after World War II when the University of Florida experienced a sharp increase in enrollment and Gainesville’s population grew rapidly. It is bounded on the east by NW 13th Street from 8th Avenue to 7th Avenue and NW 15th Street from NW 7th Avenue to NW 5th Avenue, on the south by 5th Avenue from 15th Street to 19th Street, 4th Avenue from 19th Street to 20th Street and University Avenue to its western edge. Properties accessed by NW 22nd Street form its western boundary and NW 8th Avenue forms its northern boundary. It is included within the boundaries of the University Park Neighborhood Association (a voluntary 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established to protect and improve its neighborhoods www.upnagnv.org).
The neighborhood is comprised almost entirely of single-family residences. Its proximity to the house used by the President of the University of Florida as his residence until approximately 2010, lent prestige to the neighborhood. Residents have included numerous University administrators, faculty and staff. J. Wayne Reitz and family lived in the neighborhood until he became President of UF (Reitz Union). Others included Dean Lester Hale and family; Dean Winston Little and family (Little Hall); and Dean L.E. Grinter and family (Grinter Hall). Many of Gainesville’s attorneys, physicians, business people, and elected officials have also called University Park home. Another of its notable residents was Alfred A. Ring, an educator, realtor, businessman and philanthropist whose gifts included funds for the University’s varsity tennis complex, and the land for the City of Gainesville’s Alfred Ring Park. Singer-songwriter Steven Stills of Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young fame lived here, as does Bernie Machen, former President of the University of Florida.
It is also home to the highly regarded Parker Elementary School (originally J. J. Finley Elementary founded in the 1930s). The school serves a diverse student population attracting families from around the world to its English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program.
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