Have you ever wondered 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 differences. These are some of the top stories published in the Florida Times-Union 50 years ago this week. The items were compiled by Staff Writer Max Marbut from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives.
• Tax Collector Clyde H. Simpson announced that beginning in 1959, vehicle owners would be able to purchase auto registration tags through the mail for the first time in Duval County. Motorists were also notified they could reserve the same tag number for 1959 as they had in ‘58. Tag rates were determined by the weight of the vehicle from lightest (sports cars, etc.) to heaviest (Lincolns and Cadillacs, for example) and were charged as follows: Series T, $5.25, Series D, $10.25, Regular, $15.25, Series W, $20.25 and Series WW, $25.25.
• Bridge Superintendent L. E. Radcliff reported that the automated toll booths on the Fuller Warren Bridge were becoming very popular with drivers. After four weeks in operation, the automatic coin counter lanes were being used by 28 percent of motorists, who preferred tossing coins into the hopper over handing the money to a human toll collector. Assuming the trial remained successful, plans were in the works to install automatic lanes on the Mathews and Trout River bridges as well.
• The County Commission approved plans to provide an outdoor exercise area for inmates at the new Duval County jail. Chief Deputy Sheriff William F. Whitehead and Chief Jail Warden Thomas C. Heaney Jr. obtained permission to remove two steel doors and 90 feet of bars from the old jail on East Beaver Street. Whitehead explained the new jail had no exterior windows and that 90 percent of prisoners in the jail were incarcerated for six months or more without ever seeing daylight. Heaney said outdoor exercise would be offered to prisoners who earned “extra privileges.”
• The first Fall Arts Festival presented by the Jacksonville Council of the Arts attracted more than 12,000 people to the Prudential Building on Sunday afternoon. After complimenting the arts council on their success, Mayor Haydon Burns said festival attendance pointed up the need for a municipal auditorium where events of a cultural nature could be held. Burns arrived at the event joined by William Johnson, executive vice president of the Chamber of Commerce; Roger Main, vice president of the Jacksonville Symphony Association; B. Harris Robson, president of the Little Theatre of Jacksonville; and Adm. H. S. Duckworth, president of the Jacksonville Art Museum.
• People who were interested in hearing the latest thing in home entertainment technology – stereo – were invited to go to the Southside Woman’s Club to pick up tickets for a demonstration of what was described as “the most fabulous development on sound reproduction since invention of the phonograph.” Western Auto stores, the sponsor of the demonstrations, were selling a small unit with six-inch speakers and four watts of power for $99. If you wanted a really big rig, for $329 you could own a console with four speakers and 40 watts of power.
• Police apprehended a band of youths who had become known as the “phantom switch switchers.” Detective Sgt. Charlie Porter of the juvenile division of the City Police Department said five boys aged 9 to 12 admitted they preferred playing with real, live trains rather than the toy models. The group also admitted causing the derailment of a switch engine near First and Phelps streets that took almost an hour to untangle.
• Funds which had been standing idle for more than three decades became a $51.37 donation to the Community Chest and United Fund. In August, 1923, Jacksonville architect Mellon C. Greeley collected $30 in dues for the creation of an alumni group of the Jacksonville Light Infantry. The JLI was formed in 1857 and became part of the Third Regiment of Florida Volunteers at the outbreak of the Civil War. There were four officers, nine sergeants and 30 privates in the unit which was made up of sons of Jacksonville’s most prominent families. It disbanded in 1865 after the Confederate surrender and was reorganized in 1880. In addition to being a fighting unit, the second-generation JLI was also an “outstanding social organization with many parades and dress balls.” Greeley collected the money at the first meeting of the Jacksonville Light Brigade Old Guard Association and deposited it in the Barnett Bank. The group disbanded soon after and the funds remained in the bank for 35 years drawing interest until it was withdrawn and donated.
• The groundbreaking ceremony for the new 17-story headquarters building of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was held on the “northwest side of the St. Johns River at the foot of the Acosta Bridge.” Opening remarks were made by Prime F. Osborn, vice president and general counsel for the railroad. (Today we know the structure as the CSX Building.)
• Two “self-styled” private investigators observed outside the Duval County Courthouse were subpoenaed on the spot and hauled before investigators probing an alleged traffic ticket fixing racket. Deputy Sheriff Harry Moore went to the front of the Courthouse and served the men, who were then interrogated by Assistant State Attorney Nathan Schevitz and County Solicitor Lacy Mahon Jr. “in a closed-door session.” No charges were filed against either of the men.
• The tanker Amoco-Maryland, which had been damaged by Hurricane Janice, was stranded in the St. Johns River. The ship arrived at the mouth of the river drawing 36 feet of water, two feet more than the 34-foot depth of the shipping channel. Much of the cargo was unloaded but not enough to avoid running aground.