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.
• After causing an estimated $100 million in damage in South and Central Florida, Hurricane Donna struck Jacksonville a glancing blow before heading north out over the Atlantic Ocean.
Local damage was scattered and relatively light, limited to broken trees, broken windows, loss of electricity, streets littered with debris and minor flooding. No injuries were reported.
City Utilities Commissioner J. Dillon Kennedy reported thousands of homes without electricity, which posed a double problem for people with water wells as no water could be pumped without power. He declined to estimate the damage but said it would be at least $50,000 and likely higher.
One of the worst trouble spots was on Atlantic Boulevard near the Intracoastal Waterway where winds had leveled 90-foot utility poles and severed transmission lines, leaving the Beaches without power for many hours.
The situation was made more complicated because many local electrical contractors, whose men could have helped City workers restore power, had sent crews to hard-hit areas in South Florida.
Outside of frayed nerves caused by anxiety over the hurricane’s path and the lack of electricity with which to cook and keep food refrigerated, the Mathews Bridge suffered the greatest damage. A State Road Department spokesperson reported that three World War II landing craft broke loose from their moorings at a pier at the western end of Arlington Road and slammed into a section of the eastern end of the span. One tollkeeper said the bridge and tollbooths were “shaken as if by an earthquake rather than a hurricane.”
The road department spokesperson said the superstructure of one of the vessels struck the bridge, damaging the handrail, the walkway and two light poles. Pending an investigation, he declined to estimate the cost of the damage.
• A vent pipe from a boiler on the 3-year-old County Courthouse was ripped open by an explosion apparently caused by an accumulation of gas, reported chief building engineer J.H. Boggs.
The explosion, which shook part of the building with a large “bang” at 9:38 a.m., spewed soot over most of the boiler room but did not cause any injuries. Boggs estimated damage to the vent pipe at between $500 and $1,000.
After the explosion, electric service to part of the building was shut off for safety reasons, Boggs said. Lights were out in some corridors briefly and two of the three main elevators were out of operation.
The explosion occurred in a breaching line on one of the $6 million building’s two oil-burning boilers. The explosion flung wood and other material into an electrical control panel, which was quickly repaired.
• The Baptist Student Center constructed by the First Baptist Church for Jacksonville University students was dedicated. The building was located across the street from the college on University Boulevard. It was the first phase of a month-long program observing the 20th anniversary of Dr. Homer Lindsay, who during the ceremony sealed a marker on the site.
Dr. G. Kearnle Keegan from Nashville, Tenn., secretary of the student department of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sunday school board, delivered the main address.
He said it was the “decade of destiny” and warned that man had to catch up spiritually with his progress in physical science. Keegan declared that a “tragic lag in the spiritual realm” would result in “hate, suspicion, revolution, the cold war and possible annihilation.”
• Jacksonville Beach ended the first half of 1960 with a $10,888.12 deficit in its general fund operation, even though $60,953.70 more was transferred from utility profits than had been budgeted.
“We are going to have to tighten our belts,” said City Manager Walter S. Johnson of the audit report.
He said he had ordered department heads to cut down on spending for the rest of the year to try to stay within the budget appropriations.
While the resort had $90,364.84 cash in banks in its general fund at the end of the six-month period, there was a total of $101,252.96 needed to meet expenses.
The obligations were $54,904 in overexpenditures in budget appropriations and encumbrances, $11,195 in unremitted payroll deductions and $35,154 in amounts due to other funds.
The latter figured was owed mainly to the City employee pension fund.
• The oldest case in the U.S. District Court files in Jacksonville was among several disposed of during simultaneous sessions held before U.S. District Judges Bryan Simpson and Dozier A. DeVane.
Walter Williams, formerly of Ponte Vedra Beach, pleaded guilty to a mail fraud charge and DeVane placed him on probation for five years after giving him suspended sentences totaling 12 years.
Williams was accused of falsely representing himself as a manufacturer of airplane parts in early 1950 and with accepting orders and advance payments and failing to make deliveries.
The judge explained that most of the facts in the case were the same as those in another case against Williams which DeVane heard previously in Pensacola and for which Williams was sentenced to two years in prison.
In other action, DeVane forfeited the $2,500 bonds of Val Edward Wright and his wife, June Savannah Wright, when they failed to appear to answer charges of violating the white slave statutes. He ordered warrants for their arrest issued for bail jumping, for which they could receive five years in
prison.
The couple was charged with bringing Eileen Britton from Leatherwood, Ky., to Jacksonville in March 1958 for purposes of prostitution. They were arrested here the same month.
Charles Leroy Wood Sr. pleaded guilty to a charge of illegal possession of distilling apparatus and Simpson deferred sentencing until Sept. 23. A co-defendant, Carlton Gainey, was released after Simpson granted a motion by the government to dismiss the indictment against him.
Calhoun Malfours was found guilty on charges of possessing and concealing moonshine. His sentencing also was deferred until Sept. 23.
• A gallon of sea water was sent to Porter Bussard in Worthington, Ind., by H.M. Shelley, executive secretary of the Jacksonville Beach Chamber of Commerce in response to Bussard’s request to the Florida State Chamber of Commerce.
The Indiana resident wrote he had read that sea water contained traces of 44 minerals and a few drops mixed in fresh water was beneficial when taken internally.
Shelley said the chamber was not considering getting into the sea water business, but would send one bottle to the disabled veteran as a service.