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 July 27-Aug. 2, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• The largest Sears, Roebuck & Company retail store in the world, described as “a multimillion dollar salute to the future of Jacksonville as the gateway to one of the fastest-growing states in the Union,” opened Wednesday.
Tuesday evening the store was launched informally into the stream of commerce by business and civic leaders from the community at a dinner in the Skyroom of the Mayflower Hotel.
Years of planning and more than 14 months of construction had gone into the store which was the latest addition to “a string of imposing structures fast making the city’s Downtown waterfront one of the most impressive in the nation.”
Company executives and local leaders hailed the building as a monument to Jacksonville’s progress, a victory for urban renewal and a symbol of a great company’s faith in the future of the area.
Roy G. Harrell, manager of the new store, presided at the speaker’s table at the dinner and said the store was the “pinnacle, the finest effort by Sears to put up a store any place, in any city, any state or country anywhere.”
Among the many persons to whom Harrell gave credit to have the new store built here was Mayor Haydon Burns who would cut the ribbon on opening day.
Burns said, “With the opening of the store we can write ‘finish’ on another chapter in the Jacksonville story. The largest Sears store in the world is something we can truly boast of.”
Burns added it was “significant that Sears had chosen the Downtown location, was not attracted to suburbia but rather had invested its faith and dollars in the heart of the city.”
• One out of every 10 persons in Duval County went to see the store the day it opened according to estimates by Sears officials.
Crowds on opening day were estimated at 40,000 and many of those who didn’t go in the store said they were waiting until the crowds thinned out.
A police officer at the corner of Bay and Julia streets yelled at a motorist, “Stop looking at the building and look at the light.” It was also reported that “an attractive matron” stopped another woman on the third floor because she had to tell someone, “Now Atlanta has nothing on Jacksonville.”
• A 12-year-old boy from Woodland Acres, driving a racer bearing the number 13 won the annual Soap Box derby.
Jimmy Lucas, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lonnie Lucas of 8000 Free Ave., drove his green racer across the finish line just ahead of Gary Purcell, 14, son of Mr. And Mrs. W.L. Purcell of 2754 Arapahoe Ave., to win the final contest.
He covered the 800-foot track, set up on a portion of the unopened Jacksonville Expressway in Lake Forest, in 30 seconds.
Lucas won for himself and his parents an all-expense paid trip to Akron, Ohio where he would compete in the 22nd annual All-American Soap Box derby Aug. 16 for a $5,000 scholarship and other prizes.
John Harvin of the Jacksonville Junior Chamber of Commerce, derby director, estimated that the overall crowd for the day was 7,000 but many of the spectators remained to see only a portion of the derby due to the 92-degree afternoon temperature.
Sponsors for the derby included the Jaycees and three local Chevrolet dealers: Burwell Motor Company, Gordon Thompson Chevrolet and Riverside Chevrolet Company.
• City Council approved by a vote of 5-2 a law opening the way for machines to vend almost anything edible including ice cream, pastries and sandwiches. The measure would erase an existing City ordinance banning the sale of cooked foods and perishables through vending machines.
The Council’s committees on Laws and Rules and Health and Sanitation approved the proposed legislation after hearing favorable testimony from City Health Officer Dr. E.R. Smith, K. Fricton, territorial manager for Sears, Roebuck & Company and Fleming W. Conyers, general manager of Kwik-Kafe of North Florida, Inc., a vending machine operator.
Smith told the Council members the proposed law had been drawn to conform with a national vending machine code approved by the Public Health Service.
“We knew the time would come when we’d have to adapt our ordinance to the growth of the vending machine industry,” he said.
Fricton said Sears would like to see the law adopted so that its more than 1,000 employees in the new retail store on Bay Street could be served by machines sandwiches, ice cream and pastries.
Council rules provided that five members of the “nine-man” body had to vote favorably on an ordinance before it could be enacted. Voting against the vending machine were Council members J. Marvin Sweat and Cecil F. Lowe. They explained they hadn’t read the bill and would never vote for an ordinance they weren’t familiar with.
Brad Tredinnick, serving his first term on Council, passed when his name was called and did not explain his reason for not voting. Voting in favor were Council members Ralph N. Walter, John F. Lanahan, James M. Peeler, Clyde C. Cannon and Lemuel Sharp. Council member W.O. Mattox Jr. was not present.
• A naturopathic physician was arrested on charges of unlawfully dispensing drugs.
Paul Robert Palma, 61, was picked up at his office at 1120 N. Myrtle Ave. by federal, state and local officers. He was first taken to the City jail but was then transferred to the County jail after County Solicitor Lacy Mahon Jr. filed two direct criminal informations against him as the basis for prosecution in Criminal Court. Judge A. Lloyd Layton set bonds at a total of $1,000.
Mahon named the agents who participated in the investigation as W.B. Logan, federal pure food and drug inspector; W.H. Finigan, an agent with the State Board of Health’s Bureau of Narcotics; and City Detective Sgt. R.K. Rand, who was assigned to work with the narcotics bureau.
One information filed stated that Palma had sold 157 tablets of amphetamine to Logan for $15. The other information charged that Palma had sold 99 tablets of amphetamine and 24 capsules of barbiturate to Finigan for $20. Mahon also said Finigan made his purchase in the company of a taxi cab driver who was in jail awaiting trial on charges involving minors, drugs and prostitution.