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 1962. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• As President John F. Kennedy announced to the nation that the Soviet Union had agreed to remove its missiles and nuclear warheads from Cuba, the U.S. Marines landed in Jacksonville.
Several thousand personnel, described as about half a division from Camp Lejeune, N.C., streamed into Jacksonville and the Beaches during a brief respite from troop carriers and assault landing craft.
They wore no unit insignia. Ranks were designated by small metal chevrons attached to the collars of their olive-drab fatigues.
The Marines came from several ships, including high-speed transports, aircraft carriers and landing ships –– all the elements of an invasion task force.
Many sailors, attired in dress blues, also were believed to be experiencing their first visit to Jacksonville.
The Marines apparently had boarded the vessels with only combat gear.
“We didn’t bring our dress uniforms. We were on our way to Cuba, you know,” said one Marine.
• Duval County voters went to the polls and overwhelmingly approved consolidating prosecution of criminal cases in the office of the state attorney.
By casting ballots in a ratio of more than 3-1, voters acted to abolish the solicitor office of Duval County as of Jan, 5, 1965.
The count was 19,450 for and 5,768 against, according to Supervisor of Registration Fleming H. Bowden.
There was no controversy over the issue. Both incumbent County Solicitor Edward M. Booth and incumbent State Attorney William A. Hallowes had made clear they had no opposition to the proposal. The terms of each were due to expire in January 1965.
“My fundamental beliefs in governmental efficiency and economy have long ago led me to advocate the consolidation of the County solicitor’s office and the state attorney’s office,” Booth said when the plan was proposed.
“While I took no part in initiating or suggesting this proposed change, I have felt that the consolidation of the offices in this county is inevitable, especially since similar changes in Dade and Hillsborough counties have been approved and are now in operation,” Hallowes said.
The action transferred prosecution of all crimes in the Duval County Criminal Court of Record to the state attorney’s office as of Jan. 5, 1965.
In 1962, the state attorney’s office prosecuted in Duval County only those crimes for which the penalty was death. The cases were tried in Circuit Court.
• People screamed and cleared out when Esther Williams, 45, walked in the front door of an apartment at 923 Reiman St.
City Police Capt. R.B. Whittington said Williams was reported missing Dec. 15, 1961, by his sister, Alice Mitchell, of 923 Reiman St.
Four days later, a man who was listed on hospital records as Drayfus Williams died in the emergency room of a local hospital. Because he carried no identification, police were called.
The Police Department Missing Persons Bureau, taking note of the same last names and because the deceased had no identification documents, asked Mitchell to view the body to see if it was that of her missing brother.
According to Whittington, Mitchell took a look at the body and positively identified it as that of her missing brother.
The deceased subsequently was buried as Esther Williams.
When her hale and hearty brother walked through the door, Mitchell said her entire family, particularly the children, were frightened out of their wits when their supposedly dead relative walked into the home. One of the children even jumped out of a window, but was unhurt.
Williams had been working in Tennessee, unbeknownst to his family, and decided to visit Jacksonville, Whittington said.
He said he had no explanation for the misidentification of the body by Mitchell, but the next step in the case would be to resolve a legal issue in the affair.
Mitchell had collected on a $1,000 life insurance policy for Williams in which she was named as beneficiary.
• The Barnett National Bank marked moving into its new 10-story, $3.8 million headquarters Downtown with a brief ceremony.
The opening of the drive-in tellers’ cages began when Mayor Haydon Burns cut a ribbon with a huge pair of scissors.
William R. Barnett, bank president, drove the first automobile off Forsyth Street to one of the windows. In the car with him were Burns; Frank W. Norris, chairman of the bank’s board of directors; William R. McQuaid, retired board chairman; and City Treasurer H.S. Albury.
Albury made the first transaction registered at a teller’s window when he deposited $205,589.47 in City funds.
“It is significant that this great financial institution has, with the construction of this magnificent structure, demonstrated in convincing fashion its faith in our city’s economy and in its future development,” said Burns.
• The Jacksonville Beach City Council was preparing to file a foreclosure suit against the buyer of the municipal golf course property.
City Attorney Stephen Strafford told the Council he was ready to file the action in Circuit Court against Holiday Country Club Inc. The corporation was more than $49,000 behind in mortgage payments, according to City records.
Council member Guy Craig told his colleagues he had received a tentative proposal from another party interested in the golf course, but he could not publicly reveal details until he had a chance to discuss the matter with the party in private, Holiday Country Club Inc. purchased on June 3, 1960, from the City approximately 112 acres of land along Penman Road for $174,000. The company agreed to pay $10,000 down and the balance over the next 40 years with 6 percent interest.
On the property was a nine-hole golf course and a pro shop, which were built by the City, and enough land for a back-nine holes.
The layout of the back nine was subsequently redesigned requiring more land, so the City sold the company two more parcels on mortgages totaling just under $9,900 and $18,000.
• U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson set a hearing for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 26 on a plan for racial integration by the local school system. The plan was submitted to the court by the Duval Board of Public Instruction.
Notice of the hearing was sent to the school board’s attorneys and attorneys representing the NAACP. Simpson had issued an injunction requiring the school board to submit plans to integrate their schools by Oct. 30, 1962.
Simpson also set hearings for the same day on the desegregation plans submitted by Hillsborough and Volusia counties.
All three school board plans were similar. They gave students enrolling in the first grade in the three counties in September 1963 freedom of choice as to what school they would attend.
The same freedom of choice, according to the plans, would be accorded to second-grade students in 1964 and to one higher grade each year thereafter.
None of the plans offered any proposals for compliance with other facets of Simpson’s injunction decree, finding of facts or conclusions of law, which dealt with racial integration of school faculties and educational supporting staff and the nonracial preparation of school budgets, curricula and school construction plans.
Both the Duval County and Volusia County school boards, in their answers to Simpson’s decree, said they would submit aspects of a nonracial school system at a later date. While the decree set the Oct. 30 deadline for the pupil integration plans, it did not set a date for action on the other matters.