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 from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• First, some national news to give some perspective to the week of Jan. 12-18, 1959: Contracts were awarded to design and build a passenger-carrying space capsule for NASA’s Project Mercury that would eventually put the first American in space. In Cuba, a total of 130 supporters of the toppled Batista regime were killed by firing squad by rebels led by Fidel Castro, who had taken power New Year’s Day. Castro also warned against a U.S. invasion, threatening that, “200,000 gringos will die.” He made his remarks as he left the Hilton Hotel on the way to address the Havana Rotary Club. President Dwight Eisenhower rejected a proposal for federal legislation to enforce public school integration.
• Here at home, legislation to put the County in the garbage collection business was proposed at a meeting of the Duval County Commission. The existing garbage collection franchises had expired at the first of the year and lawmakers were flooded with complaints about increases in fees levied by private collectors. Most of the complaints were about Duval Garbage Disposal Service notifying customers rates were going to increase from $1.75 to $2 per month.
• It was announced a shelter for bus riders would soon be installed on Laura Street between Monroe and Duval streets. Legislation appropriating $1,000 for the project was approved by the City Council after a bill was introduced by Council member Lemuel Sharp, who said he got the idea when he took a trip to Nashville and saw that city’s shelters.
• A majority faction of the City Council also authorized a transportation survey of Jacksonville over the minority’s objection that taxpayers should not foot the $10,000 bill for the study. Council member John King said he believed the fee should be paid by two competing transit companies, one of which was applying for a new bus line franchise.
• A bill to ensure that tax monies would be used to guarantee the County’s share of pension funds was offered to the Duval County legislative delegation. The bill continued the existing language of the law, which required contributions of 6 percent from each participating employee’s salary, plus a matching 6 percent from the County. It was reported there was $625,000 in the County employee retirement fund which was invested by law in only federal, state, county or municipal bonds. Approximately 750 County workers were included in the plan, while others of the total 2,400 County employees were covered by the State and County Officers and Employees Retirement System Act, a state pension plan.
• Jacksonville Beach Fire Chief R.D. Brunson reported a fire caused $600 in damage to the Waiter’s Club at 637 S. First Ave. The club was housed in a two-story frame building.
• Construction was completed on the Ponte Vedra Beach-Palm Valley Elementary School on State Road 210 midway between the two communities. The student body, totaling 127 children, would be transferred from temporary classrooms at Ocean Park Baptist Church. The new school cost $150,600 to build and plans were already underway to add four more classrooms.
• Another “first” in the history of what was called “the fast-growing Jacksonville Zoo” was recorded when a pair of redneck ostriches arrived from the Sudan. City Commissioner Dallas Thomas, who was in charge of the zoo, said the ostriches would arrive by airplane from a game farm in New York and would go on display immediately. The birds got their name from the fact that the male’s neck, bare of feathers, turned red upon maturity while other species of ostriches had gray necks.
• Victor Hruska was re-elected president of the Duval County Republican Club at a luncheon meeting at the George Washington Hotel. New officers elected were John Durrett, executive vice president; Richard Riley, vice president; and Michael Gagliano, secretary-treasurer. New members of the board of directors were also elected: White Moss, Winthrop Bancroft, William Stockton, Ernest Butt and Donald Hunt.
• Carroll Shanks, president of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, came to Jacksonville and predicted the next 50 years would be the “Era of the South.” He added, “Just as New England was built on the age of steel, the South will be built on the age of chemistry.” It was noted Shanks was one of the few people who “steadfastly maintained that the 1958 recession would slack off late last spring, and was right.” He also said his company had more demand for loan money for investment in the South than it had funds available and declared, “The potential here is so very great that we could put hundreds of million of dollars into this area if we had it.”