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 1962. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• Navigating the halls of the Duval County Courthouse would soon be easier after the Board of County Commissioners called for bids on a system of lighted directional signs for the interior of the building. The cost was estimated at $8,450.
After hearing complaints from County officials who worked in the building and from Circuit judges in March, the commissioners authorized a study of the problem.
Building Supervisor Bert Hooper reported that a committee had surveyed several buildings Downtown and decided that a lighted sign system similar to the one in the Robert Meyer Hotel would best serve needs in the building, which opened in 1958.
“A directional system in the courthouse now is simply nonexistent,” Hooper said.
He recommended the installation of 12 lighted signs on the first floor, 37 on the second floor, 11 on the third floor and 12 on the fourth floor.
Part of the problem stemmed from there being only one information desk in the building, in the central lobby, and no assistance for visitors entering at the east or west entrances.
County Judge Page Haddock, whose office was near the west entrance, said his receptionists spent a large part of their time directing citizens to other courthouse offices.
People who came in the main or east entrances had trouble finding his office at the other end of the hall, Haddock said.
Hooper said most of the signs would be 40 inches long and 8 inches high. They would protrude from the walls and point out the direction of the various offices.
No mention was made of lighted signs for the fifth floor, which housed some administrative offices of the Board of Public Instruction.
• Described as what “may well be the finest stage production by amateur and semi-professional thespians in Jacksonville’s history,” the musical spectacle “Next Day in the Morning” opened its 17-day run at the Municipal Coliseum.
In 1 hour and 45 minutes, the pageant told the story of French explorer Jean Ribault’s attempt to establish a colony in Florida and the tragic ending of the effort in a massacre led by Spanish Adm. Pedro Menendez.
The cast of more than 175 actors and dancers performed on a 92-foot stage constructed for the production. While most of the action took place on the first level, a platform suspended above the stage depicted the courts of Spain, France and England, represented by the thrones of the monarchs, attendants-in-waiting and the rulers themselves.
Phil Munier played the part of Ribault and Brad Grinter portrayed Rene Laudonniere, builder of Fort Caroline.
Dan Matison played Saturiba, chief of the Timucuan Indians, who was known for speaking better English than most Englishmen.
The dancers, who were members of the Ballet Guild of Jacksonville, received some of the most enthusiastic applause.
Of special note was the brief massacre scene, in which about 150 French men and women were hacked to pieces by the Spaniards.
It was noted that with explosions, flashes of light and quick stabbings, the scene was portrayed in “vivid but not horrifying fashion” and the scene served to “tell the story and convey the proper image without too much sordid detail.”
At the first performance of the pageant, U.S. Rep. Charles Bennett hosted a group of foreign dignitaries, including Gerard de la Villesbrunne, counselor at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.
• Fifty members of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce and its World Trade Committee set sail on an international trade mission aboard the cruise ship MS Victoria.
The vessel pulled away from the Municipal Docks and Terminals Downtown escorted by a “bon voyage display” of fireboats spewing water.
The trade mission delegation was part of a large group of passengers who embarked on the four-day cruise to Nassau in the Bahamas. It was the first in a series of four cruises scheduled to leave Jacksonville in 1962.
Members of the chamber’s committee had been working to re-establish Jacksonville as a cruise port. Their efforts resulted in Caribbean Cruise Lines Inc. booking the four departures.
The world trade group, led by W.S. Taylor Jr., committee past chairman, was expected to make “several business contacts” in connection with trade activity between the Port of Jacksonville and the Bahamas.
• A teenage girl was killed and her brother wounded by a Jacksonville police officer during a high-speed motorcycle chase on Main Street.
Mona Sue Houston, 16, was dead on arrival from a gunshot wound at St. Luke’s Hospital about 10:30 p.m. She had been shot once under the right shoulder, the bullet exiting her chest.
Her brother, Eddie Houston, 20, who was driving the motorcycle both were riding, was wounded in the right shoulder, apparently by the same bullet.
According to police, the girl was riding in the sidecar of the vehicle operated by her brother.
The shot, fired by Patrolman O.K. Koon, was intended as a warning shot, police said.
The chase was believed to have begun at the intersection of 19th and Main streets. Witnesses said Koon and two other motorcycle officers started after the motorcycle driven by Houston and two others after all three passed through a red light.
After Koon fired, the motorcycle occupied by the brother and sister veered off the right side of Main Street at 31st Street and collided into the intersection curb.
Koon and the other patrolmen were sent back to the police station after homicide investigators arrived at the scene.
A crowd gathered at the intersection after the incident and several people were arrested for interfering with officers in the performance of their duties.
• The City Commission authorized preparation of plans for acquiring property surrounding the Treaty Oak on the Southbank so the site could be developed as a historical attraction.
It was noted that Mrs. Alfred I. duPont had many years earlier purchased the land on which the tree stands to preserve it against possible destruction as the city expanded.
City Commissioner Lou Ritter told his colleagues that a group of citizens was interested in beautifying the site and the surrounding area and making the tree a tourist attraction.
As for the historical aspect of the issue, there was not then, and is not to this day, any historical documentation that early settlers and indigenous people brokered peace agreements under the
tree.
• A Circuit Court jury found James Matthew Land guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal beating of an 80-year-old widow during a robbery attempt at her home.
Since the jury did not recommend mercy, it set the death penalty for Land unless Judge William H. Maness granted the 39-year-old ex-convict and construction worker a new trial.
Maness gave defense attorney Sam B. Wilson 15 days to file a motion for a new trial. No date was set for hearing arguments on the motion or for sentencing.
The jury ended the weeklong trial after deliberating for about two hours before returning the verdict, which Land accepted with no outward show of emotion.
He was charged with causing the death of Mattie Altman Grooms by beating her with his hands and fists in her home at 659 Birch St. on Dec. 11, 1961.
One of the strongest points in the prosecution’s case, by State Attorney William Hallowes, was a confession Land gave to investigators the day after the crime.
In the confession, Land said he went to Grooms’ home on the pretext of renting a room, but actually intended to commit robbery.
Land was quoted as saying that he seized Grooms by the neck, dragged her into the bathroom, choked her, beat her and tore off her clothes in a search for valuables.
He was further quoted as saying he found no valuables, although a daughter who lived with the victim said her mother’s wristwatch was missing from the house.
Grooms was alone when the assault occurred.
Hallowes called as witnesses three doctors who testified that the beating set off a series of infections that resulted in Grooms’ death on Jan. 25.
Land’s principal defense was that he was insane at the time of the beating. Despite his confession, Land took the stand at the trial and claimed he remembered nothing about the assault.
Hallowes, however, drew from three psychiatrists who had examined Land the opinion that the accused was sane at the trial and at the time of the assault.
• A report prepared by Duval County Recreation Supervisor Tommy Boney for presentation to the County Commission showed that Duval had more recreation areas and playgrounds than any other municipality in Florida.
In the county, there were more than 100 softball and baseball diamonds, including 12 lighted diamonds, more than 50 play court areas, 11 community centers with restrooms and 14 storage buildings with restrooms.
The report listed 88 playgrounds and 17 public boat landings under County supervision for a total of 115 recreation areas, Boney said.
He said the Duval County department in 1961 and 1962 had partnered with the Jacksonville Jaycees and the public school system to promote a youth fitness program that was rated No. 1 in the nation both years.