Tolomato Street

In the 18th century, where Cordova Street is today was roughly the Cubo Line Defenseworks along the western side of the city with the marshes around Maria Sanchez Creek on the other side. In the 19th century, as the breastworks broke down, a footpath along the eastern side of the creek developed. This footpath/street was called Tolomato Street (or Road).

On February 2nd, 1885, Dr. Andrew Anderson was a part of a group to present a petition to clean up and widen Tolomato Street. He hired the town's only engineer, Frederick Bruce, to undertake the work. There remains debate on if Henry Flagler was secretly involved in the creation of this petition due to his arrival in St. Augustine only two weeks later to begin purchasing the land for the Hotel Ponce de Leon.

The proposal was accepted and the street was widened at the same time the Maria Sanchez Creek was filled in to become the Maria Sanchez Lake. During this construction, Flagler requested the street be renamed to the more pronounceable name, Cordova Street.

Following the construction of Henry Flagler’s hotels, health concerns regarding the waste and disease-breeding sandy streets prompted action by Henry Flagler himself. Henry Flagler paved and asphalted the streets surrounding the Ponce de Leon Hotel, including a section of Cordova Street in 1888.

For part of the 20th century, all the important city/county government buildings were located along Cordova Street, but starting in the 1980s through to the early 2000s, many government functions moved to other parts of St. Augustine, but City Hall is still located off Cordoa Street in the Lightner Museum.

Cordova Street, bordering the Hotel Ponce de Leon to the east and although located to the west of St. George Street, is a part of the St. Augustine Colonial District. The northern terminus of the street is Orange Street (also part of the Cubo Line Defense in the 18th century), and Lake Maria Sanchez in the south.