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 published in the Florida Times-Union the week of March 9-15, 1959. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• First, some perspective on this week in 1959 in terms of national news: President Dwight Eisenhower, in response to developments in East and West Berlin, said at a press conference that he had ruled out ground warfare in Europe then added everyone might as well understand that nuclear warfare over the Berlin crisis was “not a complete impossibility.” Also, the U.S. Senate approved a proposal to make Hawaii the 50th state.
• The DeEtte Holden Cummer Museum Foundation was established, the fulfillment of a promise made to Jacksonville two years earlier by Mrs. Nina M.H. Cummer who had since died. She was the widow of Arthur Gerrish Cummer and the foundation was named for the couple’s daughter who had died in infancy.
Included in the foundation gift were the bulk of Cummer’s estate after specific bequeaths to relatives, friends and charitable organizations, the Tudor mansion with gardens on Riverside Avenue and “a notable collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture and other art objects assembled from all corners of the world.”
It was also noted that “Critics who have examined the collection pronounce it one of extraordinarily high quality and unusual variety.” Robert L. Parsons, former director of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. was announced as director of the museum (which opened to the public in 1961).
• U.S. District Judge Bryan Simpson presided over a ceremony to naturalize 43 new American citizens in Jacksonville. The proceeding also included a ceremony presented under the auspices of the American Citizenship Committee of the Jacksonville Bar Association.
• Duval County Sheriff Dale Carson advised members of the Arlington Council of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce to not accept the theory that police protection would improve if the territory was annexed by the City of Jacksonville.
“They’re trying to tell you that the City can enforce the law better than the sheriff’s office and I just don’t buy it,” said Carson. “Arlington’s crime problems right now are mainly breaking and entering and prowling. There have been no rapes, murders or armed robberies in Arlington.” Carson also pointed out that County protection for the Arlington area had been stepped up in the past three months to include three two-patrolman cars and a “special night squad.”
• James Barker, who was described as a “basketball star and student leader,” became the first member of the first graduating class of Jacksonville University to be enrolled in a major firm’s management training program. He accepted an offer from the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company during a meeting of the American Society of Personnel Administrators at which Barker was one of 15 members of JU’s class that would graduate June 6.
• The Duval Board of County Commissioners rejected a request for $2,500 to supplement the free dental service provided to elementary school students under the supervision of the County Health Department. Dr. Thomas Morgan, County health officer, and Dr. R.P. Groome of the Duval County Dental Society requested the money to provide a dental clinic for qualified children to be located in the Riverview area, one of several such clinics in the county. The proposed clinic would replace a mobile dental unit that had been destroyed by fire several months earlier. Commissioner Ray Greene said the implications of granting the $2,500 would be that when the new County budget was made up an additional request of $20,000 or more would be asked to keep the clinics in operation. “This is something we should take under serious consideration,” he added.
• During an address to the Florida Association of County Tax Collectors, Florida Supreme Court Justice Stephen C. O’Connell said the state’s citizens “should urge the 1959 Legislature to approve a sweeping revision of Florida’s judicial system.”
He said the the major defects in the incumbent system were constitutional bans which prohibited the Legislature from changing the jurisdiction of a court, thereby making it impossible for the Legislature to create additional judges except on a population basis. O’Connell also said he supported the “streamlining” of the court system that would pare down the existing 13-court system to three: the circuit court, the county judge’s court and the magistrate’s or small claims court. The reforms would also take all judges off the fee system, place all prosecutors under the direction of a state attorney, require that all judges be lawyers and place the functioning of all courts under the supervision of the State Supreme Court.
• The Winter Visitors Club at Jacksonville Beach held its final covered dish supper of the season at the Recreation Club. Most of the members were regular winter residents of the “resort.” They formed their own organization under the auspices of the Jacksonville Beach Recreation Department each fall and adjourned in March or early April to return to their homes.
• The City Council Finance Committee adopted a resolution to appropriate $225 for use in the observance of Confederate Memorial Day April 26. The Kirby Smith Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans would be allocated $100 and five chapters of the Sons of Confederate Veterans would each be given $25.