Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It was a different era of history, culture and politics but there are often parallels between the kind of stories that made headlines then and today. As interesting as the differences may be, so are the similarities. These are some of the top stories from this week in 1961. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Money moved along the streets Downtown in what was described as “the largest corporate movement of currency and silver in the history of Florida banking.”
The occasion was the relocation of the Florida National Bank of Jacksonville to its new headquarters building, now known as the Ed Ball Building, which had been under construction for 18 months.
Movement started Dec. 2 when more than $500 million in stocks, bonds and securities were transferred from the trust department vault in the old building to the new underground vault.
On the final day of the move, more than $3.5 million in currency and silver was transferred by armored cars to the new bank building.
Securities such as stocks, bonds and notes were also transferred, worth “hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to E.B. Kirkpatrick Jr., the bank’s vice president and cashier.
T.L. Bush, vice president of Guy Marvin Inc., was in charge for the armored car firm.
The transfer was planned as a one-trip move. The armored cars and more than 40 special-duty police officers, armed with submachine guns, were stationed at the old bank during the loading, along the transfer route and at the new bank when the money arrived.
The morning after the money, securities and silver were transferred and safe inside the new vault, the bank was dedicated by Mayor Haydon Burns, Bishop Hamilton West of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, FNB Chairman Edward Ball, bank President D.T Ehrmann, City Treasurer H.A. Albury and Kirkpatrick.
“We have attempted here to build a structure to serve the city and the state. We are just trying to keep up with the progress this city is making under the leadership of Mayor Haydon Burns,” said Ball.
The first official deposit was made by Albury, with Kirkpatrick handling the transaction.
• Thanks to the Jacksonville Junior Chamber of Commerce, a 3-year-old girl in Massena, N.Y., received the toys she wanted for Christmas and the last wish of her 7-year-old brother was fulfilled.
Frederick Downer, 7, was crossing the street in Massena to use a pay phone in a grocery store when he was struck by an automobile and killed. He wanted to call Santa Claus to remind Santa of the letter he had written to him.
In the letter, Downer asked for a bicycle for himself and for his sister Vicki, he asked for a doll, doll clothes, children’s dishes, a high chair and a carriage.
“She’s a swell sister,” he wrote. “Even if you have to leave me out, Santa, please don’t forget my sister.”
The children’s father was in a New York state hospital.
After reading news reports about Downer’s death and his request to Santa Claus, John Southwood, chairman of the Jaycees’ Toys for Tots annual campaign, and John Harvin, president of the Jaycees, swung into action and the items on the youngster’s list for his sister were shipped by the Jaycees.
Toys that had been collected throughout the year for the Toys for Tots drive would be distributed at the Jacksonville Baseball Park Dec. 21-22. All had been repaired and put in good condition. The wheeled toys were repaired at the state prison in Raiford.
• Col. J.V. Sollohub, U.S. Army District Engineer, said a survey of large public and private buildings for use as radiation fallout shelters in the event of nuclear attack would begin immediately in 22 North Florida counties.
Contracts for the survey were awarded to architectural-engineering firms Kemp, Bunch and Jackson and Reynolds, Smith and Hills of Jacksonville and to Barrett, Daffin and Bishop of Tallahassee.
Sollohub said the surveyors would not make immediate visits to potential fallout shelter locations, but first would map locations of large buildings that could serve as shelters for 50 or more people.
• Lithonia Rozier, 1961 Gator Bowl queen, appeared on the nationally televised “The Bob Hope Show.”
The show presented skits starring Hope and actor James Garner, comedian Danny Thomas and actress Nancy Kwan.
• Jacksonville’s sports and entertainment complex was given an official name by action of the City Council.
The council enacted an ordinance naming the area bounded by Adams, Victoria and Georgia streets and the Expressway “The George G. Robinson Recreation and Sports Complex.”
Robinson had been executive secretary of the Jacksonville Recreation Department since September 1941.
During his tenure, the complex had grown from a concrete stand erected in 1926 to a “massive facility” including the Gator Bowl, Jacksonville Baseball Park and the new sports coliseum.