Ever wonder what stories made headlines in Jacksonville 50 years 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 the news in 1958 and today. As interesting as the similarities may be, so are the vast differences. The following are some of the top stories printed in the Florida Times-Union printed 50 years ago this week. These items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives.
• Conrad Mangels, who owned a bar at 4403 Roosevelt Blvd., was robbed over the telephone. Police reported he picked up his ringing phone and heard a man say, “I’ve got a rifle trained on you.” The voice demanded Mangels empty his cash register and place the money in a bag next to a telephone pole near the store. Police estimated the robber netted $85.02 less a dime for the phone call.
• The Duval County Budget Commission held a public hearing on the proposed $25 million school budget for 1959. County Tax Assessor Leon Forbes said the proposed budget would require three-tenths of a mill less from local tax money than the 1958 budget.
• Bolita, an illegal lottery scheme, was again in the news. The FBI arrested Winston M. Reynolds, a North Florida “bolita kingpin” in San Antonio, Texas as he stepped off a plane from Mexico City. Reynolds had been convicted of operating a lottery and failing to obtain a federal gambling tax stamp. He was sentenced to serve seven years and fined $12,500 in U.S. District Court Sept. 27, 1954. After his conviction was upheld by the U.S. Circuit Court in New Orleans, he jumped bond and was a fugitive until he was apprehended.
• Bids received for the construction of a drainage project to serve the Myrtle Avenue overpass were rejected when they appeared to be double the engineering estimates of the cost. Duval Engineering and Contracting submitted the low bid of $197,923.24 but P.M. Huddleston, consulting engineer for the Jacksonville Expressway Authority, said the City’s estimate for the project was $100,000 and agreed to pay half the cost based on that estimate.
• Traffic began flowing over the new Intracoastal Waterway channel bypass bridge on Atlantic Boulevard. The concrete and steel structure cost $107,533. It was built because currents were threatening the old Pablo Creek Bridge. Work was set to begin on excavating a 21-foot deep channel under the new structure.
• County Plumbing Inspector J.S. Wimpee went before the County Budget Commission and requested a supplemental appropriation to pay for the department’s automobile allowance for the last two months of the fiscal year which would end Sept. 30. He explained the $279.31 left in the account would only pay for gasoline through the end of July and if no additional funds were made available his inspectors would be desk-bound for two months. The event was described as an “element of a new drama in the many-faceted business of running the Duval County government.”
• The Donaldson department store held its grand opening at the Hotel Roosevelt Building at 35 W. Adams St. (now The Carling). The store carried what an advertisement described as “the finest nationally-known menswear in our nation” including Arrow shirts and Jockey underwear. Not to be outdone, Green’s department store at 17 W. Bay St. was advertising ladies’ blouses on sale for 59 cents while 27 cents would buy a pair of mens’ stretch socks.
• Billy Lee Renshaw, suffering from gangrene in his right hand due to a bullet wound, was chained to a bed in the Duval County Medical Center facing arraignment on charges of assault with intent to murder two road patrolmen. The story began a week before when road patrolmen L.H. Dunaway and R.C. Wilkins attempted to arrest Renshaw on charges of careless and reckless driving. Renshaw snatched Dunaway’s .38 caliber service revolver and shot out a tire on the police car, disabled the car’s radio and fled after he stole a station wagon parked nearby. He was captured in Candler County, Ga. after Georgia officers shot him in the hand and leg during an eight-hour pursuit through heavy woods. It was reported that “two of Sheriff Dale Carson’s huskiest men, Road Patrol Lt. Toby Thomas and Deputy Sheriff Marvin Hayes” brought Renshaw back to Jacksonville.
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