Have you ever wondered what life was like in Jacksonville half a century ago? It was a different era of history, culture and politics but there are often parallels between the kind of stories that made headlines then and today. As interesting as the differences may be, so are the similarities. These are some of the top stories from this week in 1961. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• A 12-year dream came true when the new 25-bed Beaches Hospital was dedicated and held an open house.
Theodore Glocker, chair of the board of trustees, was the principal speaker at the ceremony. He was aided by board members James D. Goodloe, George Mozo and Mrs. Leo Woodard and hospital administrator Harry W. Smith, in cutting a ribbon at the entrance.
The hospital was located on South 16th Avenue in Jacksonville Beach and cost about $500,000 to build and equip.
A donation of an electrocardiograph machine and an oxygen tent, costing $1,500, was made by Mr. and Mrs. A.D. Davis.
• The Duval County Commission received support from the County and state health departments for its stand favoring franchises for garbage collection and disposal problems.
While the health experts were backing the commissioners at a meeting inside the air-conditioned County Courthouse, a group of housewives was pounding the scorching pavement in front of the building along East Bay Street carrying signs condemning franchises as a threat to the free enterprise system.
The controversy surrounded a franchise granted the week before to Consolidated Sanitary Service Inc. The firm was to have the exclusive right to collect garbage in the Harbor View and Sherwood Forest areas.
A number of area residents had protested the granting of the franchise and said they were satisfied with the collection service provided by E.E. Minor. Minor provided service to about 900 customers in the two neighborhoods and had filed suit in Circuit Court to block the award of the franchise.
County Health Department Sanitary Supervisor A.D. Castleberry presented a report to the commission. He said Duval County had a “bigger garbage problem” than any other county similar in size in Florida. Asked why that was true, he said, “more governmental control has been exercised in the other counties through franchises or other methods.”
Castleberry said that of nine sanitary landfills being operated in the county, only two were being operated properly and “seven amount to no more than open garbage dumps.”
J.N. Conger, a sanitary consultant for the State Board of Health, said 7,000 families in the county had no garbage service and many were dumping their garbage along the roads.
Melvin F. Bigness, who lived in Harbor View, said that something had to be done about the unsanitary dumps. He said one dump in his neighborhood “breeds rats as big as alley cats.”
But the granting of franchises, Bigness said, “is not the American way. You’re telling people who they have to do business with and how much they have to pay.”
He told the commission it could control garbage collectors just as well by licensing them and still permit competition. Bigness also told the commissioners that people in his area “simply would not do business with Consolidated.”
• Representatives of 35 civic clubs, making up the Jacksonville People-to-People Council, decided to learn more about the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in order to strengthen ties with it.
Council President B.C. McCaffree reported that little progress had been made in establishing personal contacts between Jacksonville and Porto Alegre, which the council designated its “sister city” in 1960.
He blamed the lack of progress partially on the language barrier and a poor store of local information about the sister city. McCaffree said little enthusiasm had been generated in Porto Alegre over its North American sister city.
The council voted to start courses in Portuguese to break down the language barrier and to gather all available data on the Brazilian city.
• Teenagers were better drivers that their parents but they were more prone to take chances, said Municipal Court Judge John E. Santora.
He was one of two speakers who addressed a meeting of the church division of the Jacksonville-Duval County Safety Council at the George Washington Hotel.
Carl Webb, driver education instructor at Ribault High School, was the other speaker.
“Because of their sharper reflexes, teenagers are better able to avoid traffic accidents, but speed is the password of young people today and they take chances their elders wouldn’t dream of taking,” said Santora.
Thursday was the day when traffic violations not involving accidents were heard in Municipal Court, and on that day teenagers were in the majority, said Santora. On the other days when accident cases were heard, few youngsters were present, he said.
Santora lauded the traffic school operated by the Jacksonville Police Department and said his own children would be sent to it when they were old enough to attend.
• U.S. Rep. Charles E. Bennett gave his own personal check for $1,000 to Treasury Secretary Douglas Dillon for reduction of the national debt.
Jacksonville’s congressman acted under the authority of a law he sponsored and which President John F. Kennedy signed. The law authorized the Treasury to accept personal gifts to reduce the debt, which in 1961 was in excess of $288 billion.
In a brief ceremony in Dillon’s office, Bennett delivered the check to Dillon and said the national debt “imperils our national strength and ability to remain secure.”
Dillon expressed his appreciation and praised Bennett for his efforts to “preserve the fiscal integrity of our country.”
• Registration for the Central Adult School’s summer evening program had doubled compared to 1960, said T.A. Delagal, principal of the evening division of the school.
Enrollment in the night program increased from 874 students in 1960 to 1,571, while the enrollment in the day school was up from 400 students in 1960 to more almost 600 in 1961.
The most popular subjects were mathematics and science and an additional typing class was added to meet demand. A course in speed reading, taught by a machine, was also popular.
Day Principal Harry Kolitz said the school’s students were divided into three types. One third consisted of students ready to enter college in the fall or already in college. Another third were parents interested in receiving their high school diplomas and the final third was composed of high school students taking course credits with special permission from their principals.
The school also tested and placed people in jobs for which they were best qualified.
• The Senate Public Works Committee authorized construction of a new federal building in Jacksonville.
The project, with an estimated cost of $9.5 million, would house six agencies and include a fallout shelter. Among the agencies in it would be the Army Corps of Engineers and the IRS.
The project was to be placed in the president’s budget awaiting appropriation of construction funds by Congress.
• The local field office of the U.S. Department of Commerce reported retail sales figures in Jacksonville were up 16 percent in the first quarter of 1961 compared to the same period in 1960.
In another report, the Federal Reserve Bank reported retail sales in department stores were 13 percent higher for the week that ended June 17 compared to the same period the previous year.
According to the Department of Commerce report, Jacksonville’s increased performance was highest among areas reported in Florida. Miami showed an increase of 10 percent and St. Petersburg-Tampa reported a 4 percent gain.
The figures were particularly noteworthy because the national retail sales increase for the period was 3 percent.