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. 26-Feb. 1, 1959: At a meeting of the Communist Party in India, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev said he “wanted to thaw out the Cold War” with the United States. He also objected to having American military bases close to the Soviet Union and added, “We have plenty of rockets in position.” A few days later, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Bernard Schreiver testified at a Senate hearing that funds should be appropriated to increase production of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). He also reported the first squadron of missiles would be ready to launch by July.
• Here in Jacksonville, City Attorney William Madison filed a bill with the Duval County legislative delegation asking for authority to issue revenue bonds to finance up to $2.5 million worth of construction for the proposed $3.5 million waterfront City auditorium. General revenue from various sources would be tapped to amortize the bonds, excluding utility taxes.
• Attorney Olin E. Watts was appointed to chair a citizen’s committee that would advise City officials on the planning and construction of the proposed auditorium. Mayor-Commissioner Haydon Burns squashed a rumor that the project would be a “convention hall-type facility” and assured concerned arts groups that plans called for a 3,600 seat “theatre or concert” type of auditorium plus a separate exhibit area. Burns said he had received messages of concern from the Jacksonville Council of the Arts, Jacksonville Art Museum, Friday Musicale, Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Jacksonville Civic Ballet, Ballet Guild of Jacksonville, Mandarin Players, Jacksonville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and Dr. Franklyn Johnson, president of Jacksonville University. Burns also said, “Only four out of 400,000 people” in Jacksonville opposed the theatre-type facility.
• Another bill filed would enact a law requiring that any surplus airport income be set aside in a special fund for improvements to the City’s airport or to use for construction of a new airport. A bill was also filed that would authorize the County Commission to appropriate money for free library service. (At the time, the commission did not provide funds for libraries.) The proposed legislation called for a state appropriation of $450,000 over a two-year period to provide matching funds through which local units might receive state funds.
• At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson, the attorney for the unionized employees of the Florida East Coast Railway Company (FEC) filed a last-minute objection to a plan proposed by the Interstate Commerce Commission for the reorganization of the bankrupt railroad. Edward Hickey, who represented the Railway Labor Executives Association, charged that the ICC plan was “contrary to law” and “unfair and inequitable” because it failed to give the FEC employees job security he said was previously agreed upon by the parties interested in the FEC’s reorganization. Hickey did not oppose the feature of the plan that would give control of the FEC to the St. Joe Paper Company, which was owned by the Alfred I. duPont estate.
• Business executives Fred Bultman and Sam Wolfson were elected directors of the Barnett National Bank. Bultman, a wholesale appliance dealer, was a past president of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville and a past district governor of Rotary International. Wolfson was a trustee of Jacksonville University and of the Wolfson Family Foundation, Inc. as well as a past president of the Gator Bowl Association and the South Atlantic Baseball League.
• The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office received its first rescue boat, a donation from businessmen C.E. Horne and R.L. Millican. The 16-foot fiberglass vessel was equipped with a canopy, two 35 h.p. engines, a two-way radio, searchlights and a 1,00-pound lift magnet for recovering weapons or other metal objects from the water. A trailer was also included to move the boat overland and Patrol Chief W.F. Johnston said it was hoped to soon equip the boat with a resuscitator and also acquire a vehicle capable of towing the boat. It was noted that prior to the donation, officers had to “search out and borrow a boat” in the event of a water emergency.
• Roy Rogers, “The King of the Cowboys,” and his palomino horse, “Trigger,” led the March of Dimes Children’s Costume parade through the streets of Downtown. While in town, Rogers held a press conference, spent two hours at Hope Haven Children’s Hospital and made a television appearance at TV-12.
• It was announced the annual “Welcome Day” program at Jacksonville Beach was set for April 19. It would include a parade of bands and floats, a fashion show and a Boy Scout good posture contest.
• Architect Franklin Bunch was elected president of the Florida State Board of Architecture. He was a member of the Jacksonville firm of Kemp, Bunch and Jackson. It was also announced that four local men were among 36 in Florida who had been granted registration as architects: Frank Roberts, Inman Leff, James Kemp and Dan Branch.
• Duval County Judge McKenney Davis proposed that he and his colleagues on the bench be allowed to delegate some judicial functions in noncontested probate matters to County Court Clerks. The key language in the proposal stated that clerks “May be authorized by the judge, in addition to performing all nonjudicial functions, to appoint administrators, executors and perform other functions now in the sole province of the probate judge.”