Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It may have been 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 1960. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Marion W. Gooding announced he was retiring as a judge of Duval County Juvenile Court effective at midnight Jan. 2. He would be sworn in the next day as a judge of Circuit Court and said he decided on the midnight Jan. 2 resignation date to permit the incoming administration of Gov.-elect Farris Bryant to name a successor to the Juvenile Court bench. The administration of Gov. LeRoy Collins would expire at midnight Jan. 2.
Gooding, 49, was born in Jacksonville and educated in public schools. He graduated from the University of Florida Law School in 1934 and returned to Jacksonville to practice. In 1937, Gooding was named counselor and attorney of the Juvenile Court. He entered the armed services in 1941 and served five years, coming out as a lieutenant colonel.
He re-entered law practice here in 1947. On Sept. 14, 1954, Gooding was appointed Juvenile Court judge to fill the unexpired term of Walter S. Criswell, who retired.
Gooding said Lamar Winegeart Jr., 36, was his choice and would be appointed to the Juvenile Court bench.
• Two cashiers were robbed of about $900 in a bold holdup during the dinner rush at Morrison’s Cafeteria at 122 W. Monroe St.
A young suspect armed with a loaded automatic pistol was apprehended minutes later at the corner of Pearl and Adams streets by two cafeteria employees who gave chase and a passing motorist.
A man who gave his name as Robert Leon Mays, alias Tommy Mays, 23, whose address was listed as 6039 Hyde Park Circle, was booked into the City Jail on a charge of armed robbery, said detective Lt. J.C. Flynn.
Flynn said $763, which had apparently been taken from one of the cashiers, was found in a car in which Mays had been placed before police arrived at the scene. Questioning revealed both cashiers had been robbed simultaneously. The cafeteria manager estimated there were between 200 and 300 persons in the cafeteria at the time of the robbery.
Cashier Mary Peacock said a man approached her with a pistol in his hand and said, “Give me the money you’ve got.” Peacock said she screamed and the man reached over the counter and scooped up the money from the cash drawer.
The other cashier, Elizabeth Lamoreaux, said a youth also wielding a pistol approached her at about the same time and demanded money from the cash drawer. Lamoreaux said as she was stuffing bills into a paper bag, she heard Peacock scream.
The suspect was chased down and held for police by John Glass and Robert Montgomery, cafeteria employees.
The next day, the four employees identified Mays in a lineup as the man who robbed the restaurant.
• The U.S. Navy’s last active PT boat, in which members of President-elect John F. Kennedy’s former crew would ride in the inaugural parade in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20 arrived at Mayport Naval Station.
Among the passengers when the motor torpedo boat would be pulled on a trailer down Pennsylvania Avenue would be John E. Maguire of Jacksonville Beach. Maguire, who served with Kennedy aboard a PT boat in the Pacific in World War II, had received a telegram from the president-elect inviting him to take part in the inaugural program.
• Motorists using Interstate 10, which was under construction between Lane Avenue and Whitehouse, did so at their own risk, said Duval County Patrol Chief W.F. Johnston.
Johnston said the highway was under the jurisdiction of the private contractor until it could be inspected, accepted and dedicated by the state. Even though the contractor had barricaded the stretch of road, Johnston said, motorists were driving around the barricades or moving them out of the way.
• The Duval County Commission approved a 10-month extension of a contract with Gordon Thompson Industries to supply automobiles for the County Patrol.
The contract called for the use of the same cars that were already in service and at the same rate, which was $74.50 per month for each of 36 cars plus 9.9 cents per mile. The County budget included an item of $175,000 for the rental of the vehicles.
Agreement to extend the contract was announced following a “brief closed-door session” between Thompson, Sheriff Dale Carson, Patrol Chief W.F. Johnston, Commissioners C. Ray Greene and Julian Warren and Commissioners-elect Bob Harris, Lem Merrett and Fletcher Morgan.
• The Jacksonville City Council held its last, and shortest, meeting of the year. It took council members just 12 minutes to dispose of the City’s legislative business remaining for 1960.
Actions included confirmation of the City Commission’s reappointment of four members to the Board of Examiners of Ceramic Tile, Marble and Terrazzo Contractors.
Named for one-year terms ending Dec. 31, 1961, were M.V. Costello and Carl V. Cesery, contractor members, and George P. Coyle and W. Mayberry Lee, noncontractor members.
The council also appropriated $95 each to three council members to defray their expenses in attending the Jan. 8 inauguration in Tallahassee of Farris Bryant as governor of Florida.
• Downtown utility poles were decorated with 400 banners heralding the kickoff of the 16th annual Gator Bowl season. The banners were installed under the supervision of Charles Hilty Jr., chair of the Gator Bowl Association street-decorating committee
The banners advertised the weeklong sports program that would end with the football game between Baylor University and the University of Florida.
Paul Acosta, chair of the halftime show committee, said three local high school bands from Terry Parker, Andrew Jackson and Englewood would participate with the bands from the two colleges during the intermission. More than 300 band members would be on the field during the final portion of the nationally televised program. The show would end with the presentation of Lynne Shirley, 1961 Gator Bowl queen, and her court.
• The Baylor band had an unusual housing situation while in Jacksonville. The musicians were guests of the North Jacksonville Baptist Church due to a hospitality arrangement worked out by Rev. Wilbur Herring, pastor; Jim Coram, chair of the band hospitality committee, and Baylor officials.
Band members stayed in the homes of church members and assisted at services Saturday and Sunday. Meals were served at the Baptist Children’s Home.
• By the margin of a two-point conversion pass attempt that slid off the fingers of Baylor halfback Ronnie Goodwin with 61 seconds left in the game, the University of Florida won the Gator Bowl 13-12 in front of 50,112 fans, the largest crowd ever to see a football game in Jacksonville.
• Jacksonville Beach City Manager Walter F. Johnson released a report by Fire Chief R.D. Brunson that declared that part of the boardwalk should be condemned as a fire hazard. Johnson said he would recommend to the City Council that the condemnation be carried out.
Brunson had been instructed along with municipal sanitation and licensing inspectors to investigate conditions in the oceanfront amusement area, particularly the block between Pablo Avenue and North First Avenue.
The fire chief’s report said, in part, “The east portion of the block to the rear of the boardwalk is littered with piles of rotted lumber, timbers, open paint cans, both empty and partially filled crates, rags, canvas, tar buckets, drums metal sheathing, iron pipe and other debris. Also to the rear of the concessions are eight LP gas cylinders, some connected to systems and some disconnected and still containing gas.”