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 then and today. As interesting as the similarities may be, so are the differences. These are some of the top stories from the week of April 27-May 3, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Criminal Court Judge William T. Harvey was the guest speaker at the Exchange Club meeting at the George Washington Hotel. He told the members “Jury duty is a wonderful opportunity to study human nature.” Instead of trying to get out of jury duty business men would be wise to use a week of such service to learn about problems the court faces, he added. It would also pay citizens, Harvey declared, to spend a week in each of the major departments of county government, observing how things are done.
• The Duval County Board of Commissioners held a special meeting to turn down an invitation to join an association that would be comprised of the 10 largest counties in Florida. Board members said they thought the organization would tend to split the large and small counties when relations between the two were harmonious. The invitation came from Broward County Commission Chairman Gordon Peterson who said the organization would “help the larger counties solve their mutual problems and receive a larger portion of their taxes back in state appropriations.” In a letter to commissioners, Peterson said the 10 largest counties had only 25 percent of the legislative representation. He also pointed out those counties paid 67 percent of state gas taxes, 89 percent of intangible taxes, 81 percent of sales taxes and 84 percent of total ad valorem taxes, but received only 34 percent of the state’s services and subsidies. Despite all that, Duval County Commissioner C. Ray Greene said, “I can’t see any need of creating bad feelings between the large and small counties. Cooperation is better than fighting with each other.” He added Duval County had a legislative delegation in Tallahassee that was “well and ably representing the people.”
• News stands in Jacksonville were “flooded with magazines full of nude or semi-nude pictures” and the U.S. Postal Service, which in the past had been “one of the major barriers in the obscene literature market,” was showing signs of relaxing its policies, at least locally. Jacksonville Superintendent of Mails W. L Peyton said, “Actually it is dependent on the postmaster at the office of mailing whether he considers the publications obscene. It is a question generally of whether the material is art or objectionable.” Of particular concern was the publications’ availability to minors at the news stands. Titles available in April, 1959 included “Star of 10,000 Bedrooms,” “Soviet Sex Spy” and “A Pill a Day to Keep the Stork Away.”
While some copies of the magazines were sealed at the opening edge to prevent anyone from reading them prior to purchase, it was observed at several news stands that boys in the 15-year-old range were able to leaf through some of the magazines. “If they don’t see it here,” said one news dealer, “they will look at their father’s copy at home.”
• Students were evacuated from Kirby-Smith High when word was received that a bomb was planted somewhere in the building. Without incident more than 1,600 students exited the building for reasons unknown to them as calls were placed by school administrators to police, fire department and the ambulance service. As soon as the building was cleared, firemen began a room-to-room, closet and hidden passage search of the building.
It was the second such evacuation in the secondary school system that year, following a similar incident at Fletcher High several months prior. It was also the second bomb scare at Kirby-Smith, which also had once been evacuated in 1958. One fireman, in explaining the precautions for what may have been an ill-advised prank, said, “Chances are there is no bomb, but since the scares in other cities, we are taking no chances.”
• Golfer W.E. Jackson killed a wild hog when it charged out of the woods at Par Three golf course on Beach Boulevard. He was playing with friend Dan Ripley when their efforts to shoo the hog away were ignored. Jackson “bagged his first hog with one blow from his trusty nine iron.”
• The largest sign tower in the Southeast, a 10-story, 30-ton structure on top of the George Washington Hotel was dedicated by State Hotel Commissioner Richard Edgerton. The top of the sign was 103 feet above the roof of the hotel and the longest word on the sign, “Washington,” was 70 feet long. Load problems caused by the sign had resulted in strengthening the building in some cases all the way to the basement, said Thomas Evans, the engineer who designed the sign.
• Bold safecrackers looted a bus change booth at Laura and Monroe streets and escaped with $3,000. It was the second time the booth had been burglarized and it was noted that both thefts occurred on Tuesday. It was described as a “small booth with glass from the waist up.” The thick glass on the Monroe Street side had been smashed leaving a hole about 12 inches in diameter. Detective Sgt. Harry F. Branch said the thieves reached inside and unlocked the door, then began working on the heavy safe. Also investigating the crime which was discovered at 6:30 a.m. were Patrolmen J.T. Lowe and H.H. Leprell.
A three-foot long crowbar was found on the floor inside the booth next to the safe which was bolted to the floor. Also left behind were three large bags of coins, amounting to $203. In the previous theft the safe was taken from the booth and found abandoned at Boone Park, said John Newsome, who worked at the booth as cashier. M. C. Haines, office manager for the Jacksonville Coach Company, said the large amount of cash left in the booth was due to the Monday was the day when many people purchased bus tickets for the entire week.
• Frank H. Brownett received the Ted Arnold Award from the Jacksonville Junior Chamber of Commerce. The award was bestowed each year to a former Jaycee over age 45 who had distinguished himself in the community since leaving the organization. Brownett had served as the Jaycee representative on the City Planning and Advisory Board and immediate past president of the Meninak Club. He was also one of the organizers of the River Club and served on its board of directors.