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 the week of Feb. 15-21, 1960. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
Greens fees doubled to $2 at two golf courses, zoo gets first rhinoceros in Florida
• It was revealed that the cost of playing golf at the Hyde Park and Brentwood golf courses under private management would be more than double what the City charged when it owned the courses.
Golf professionals Fred Ghioto and Roland Hurley, prospective owners of the Hyde Park and Brentwood courses respectively, jointly announced each course would have annual memberships of $10 with a $15 fee for dependents of members.
They said holders of membership cards would pay a $2 greens fee and fees for guests would be $3.50 each and membership cards from one course would be honored at the other. Under City management, greens fees at each layout were $1.
Sale of the Hyde Park course to Ghioto for $615,000 was supposed to have been closed the day before the fee increase announcement but Ghioto inadvertently failed to produce a $5,000 cashiers check as a down payment and had also failed to complete arrangements for delivery of a fire insurance policy covering the buildings at Hyde Park. City Attorney William Madison said that all the arrangements had been agreed on and the sale was expected to be closed within a few days.
The fee increase announcement, though premature, was made at a ceremony at the Hyde Park clubhouse during which City Commissioner Dallas Thomas turned over the keys to Ghioto.
The City Commission voted to close the courses and advertise them for sale in April 1959 after a federal court ruling granted African-Americans equal playing rights with white golfers. African-Americans had been allowed to play one day each week at Hyde Park and one day at Brentwood.
• The annual Rotary Charity Foundation Ball sold out four days before the event Saturday night at the George Washington Hotel.
The recipient of funds was the Boys Home Association of Jacksonville and entertainment was provided by the Dean Hudson Orchestra and singer Vaughn Monroe.
• Jacksonville University’s four-day homecoming celebration began Wednesday with a “required student assembly” at Swisher Auditorium. Other events on the schedule included a speech by Sir Harold Caocia, British Ambassador to the United States, at the Homecoming Banquet at Wolfson Student Center, the “Dolphin Deluge,” a skit program in the auditorium, a basketball game vs. the Stetson Hatters and a student-alumni dance after the game. The program was capped by the Homecoming Ball Saturday night at the Robert Meyer Hotel Downtown.
The weekend was also highlighted by events sponsored by campus organizations including JU’s three fraternities and four sororities.
At the “Dolphin Deluge,” students spoofed their colleagues and school administrators. Objects of satire included University President Franklyn Johnson, Dean of Students Erwin Stacek, Alumni Secretary Gene Shea and Student Government President Bill Foley.
Entertainment was furnished by a JU Dixieland band and vocalists Sandy Poynter and Marcia Edenfield.
• The Jacksonville Zoo took delivery of the first rhinoceros at any zoo in Florida. The 1,200-pound, two-horned mammal cost $4,750 and had arrived in Jacksonville from Africa on a steam ship.
“She arrived on good shape. A little wobbly from lack of exercise, but well,” commented Newton “Doc” Baldwin, the zoo’s director.
• The Duval County Beaches Public Hospital Board called for bids to be opened March 15 for the construction of a new 25-bed hospital in Jacksonville Beach. Officially named the “Beaches Hospital,” the building would be erected on a 10-acre site on South 16th Avenue, said Hospital Administrator Harry Smith.
• Russell Hickox of Hilliard pleaded guilty to two counts of a 21-count indictment charging him with violating federal liquor laws.
He entered one plea to a count of possessing 19,000 pounds of sugar on May 3, 1957 and to another count of disposing of sugar intended to be used in the manufacture of moonshine without notifying the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax unit of its disposition.
The government moved to dismiss the other counts against Hickox after he entered the guilty pleas. The original indictment charged him with possession of sugar and listed the total as 156,700 pounds.
• A County Commission ruling against installation of additional telephone service in the County Courthouse for the rest of the budget year was backed by Budget Commissioner Edward Acosta. The budget request was for four installations totaling $705.
Following a discussion of overloaded service in the building the commission ruled it would not add more phones until a survey had been made to determine what should be done.
Building Superintendent B.M. Hooper said the switchboard service at the courthouse should be increased by 50 percent to handle the calls.
Appropriations approved included $2,000 for Circuit Court office supplies, $2,000 for Civil Court of Record office supplies and $5,676 for an accounting machine for the Sheriff’s Department.
• Night club operator and entertainer Sammy Serpa was fined $250 on charges of unlawfully selling a half-pint of whiskey at his Harem Club without a license.
Sentence was imposed by Criminal Court Judge William T. Harvey, who gave Serpa the choice of paying the fine or serving 60 days in the County Jail. Serpa, who appeared under the stage name, “Sammy Sweet,” paid the fine.
He had been previously convicted by a jury in Harvey’s court on a charge of selling the whiskey for $3 to an undercover agent for the State Beverage Department at the Atlantic Boulevard club which featured live entertainment.
The county solicitor’s office had dropped a charge that Serpa had agreed to secure a 22-year-old woman for prostitution purposes at the club. Also nol-prossed in Judge A. Lloyd Layton’s division of Criminal Court was a charge that Serpa contributed to the delinquency of his 18-year-old son by causing the youth to frequent a house of ill fame.
A mistrial was declared by Layton on Nov. 18 when a jury could not agree on a verdict for Serpa in the prostitution case. Harvey had deferred sentence for Serpa on the whiskey conviction pending disposition of the morals charge in Layton’s court.
• Neptune Beach Marshal James Jarboe investigated the theft of seven women’s wallets, containing a total of about $45 cash, and some jewelry from members of the Neptune Baptist Church choir. The Rev. Carroll Kendrick, pastor, reported the money and jewelry were stolen during Sunday morning’s worship service.
All the missing items except the cash were found by two youths later in the day wrapped in clothing lying along the Expressway near Arlingwood.
• It was reported that the pilot of a transport plane that landed at Cecil Field Naval Air Station with a load of undeclared liquor that had been put on the plane at Guantanamo, Cuba Naval Station would be fined. The duty and tax due on the seized spirits, 100 cases of assorted liquors and 80 gallons of rum, amounted to $4,000.
Rear Adm. Kenneth Craig, commander of Fleet Air Jacksonville, said, “The pilot of the plane, who is always held responsible for the cargo, will be fined. The Navy is making further investigation and all personnel implicated will face appropriate disciplinary action.”