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 1963. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library's periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
• The Gulf Life Insurance Co. announced plans to build a 25- to 30-story headquarters skyscraper on the Southbank Downtown.
Gulf Life President M.H. Niehaus made the announcement to a group of local directors of the company, its vice presidents and other executives who were in Jacksonville for a meeting.
Niehaus said the company had purchased six city blocks along the St. Johns River. The property was 11 acres with 1,150 feet of waterfront east of the Main Street Bridge.
The site for the structure was acquired from Gibbs Shipyards Inc. at a cost of $1.5 million.
Plans for the project included a home office tower with at least 300,000 square feet of space for the home office staff of 475 people, with room for future expansion and rental space. Niehaus said another multistory building planned for the site would likely be a hotel to be operated by a national hotel chain.
Preliminary plans for the new structure (now Riverplace Tower) included an auditorium suitable for company use and for community organizations.
Other features detailed were a vault for the company's $205 million securities and mortgage portfolio and a specially-designed area with extra air-conditioning capacity for Gulf Life's $1 million "magnetic tape electronic data computing system."
"A great deal of credit should go to Mayor Haydon Burns for this and the other Downtown developments in recent years. He has done a great job in rebuilding Downtown Jacksonville. We will do our part in helping Jacksonville achieve its destiny and become the business and financial center of the South," said Niehaus.
"This new complex will be the center of a dramatic picture. It will be flanked on the west by a beautiful new municipal park, on which work will soon be started, and it will overlook, on the north side of the St. Johns, a new waterfront parking area now in the design stage," Burns said.
• Pledging his dedication to "the cause of justice and the compassionate administration of the law," Tyrie A. Boyer was sworn in as a Circuit judge.
Standing before his 10 black-robed fellow judges, Boyer's oath was administered by Circuit Judge Albert Graessle, presiding judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit.
Graessle described Boyer as "a man who had judicial ability, temperament and integrity – all the things that make for a good judge."
Graessle said that Boyer, 38, was one of the youngest, if not the youngest, judges ever to take the bench in the Circuit.
Boyer had served as judge of the Civil Court of Record since January 1961.
He was appointed to the Circuit Court vacancy created by the resignation of Circuit Judge William Maness by Gov. Farris Bryant.
The Civil Court of Record was in the process of being abolished by the Florida Legislature.
Before the administration of the oath, Nathan Wilson, president-elect of The Jacksonville Bar Association, paid tribute to Boyer.
Wilson detailed Boyer's scholastic record at the University of Florida Law School, his service in charitable and fraternal organizations and his contributions as a leader in the Methodist Church.
"Judge Boyer is worthy of the success he has achieved. He has intellect, integrity and spirit. He is a scholar with boundless energy. He loves the law and will serve with honor," Wilson said.
• The 13-story, 260-room George Washington Hotel Downtown was sold to William Johnston, a Jacksonville businessman, by Robert Kloeppel Jr.
It was the second local hotel purchased by Johnston, who acquired the Roosevelt Hotel (now The Carling) in 1960. He operated kennel clubs in Jacksonville, Orange Park and other Florida cities.
"I have a lot of faith in Jacksonville. I love this city where I have made my home since 1933, and I want to invest what I have in Jacksonville," Johnston said.
"It was necessary for me to curtail some of my activity in the hotel business, yet at the same time, I did not want to see the hotel get out of local hands, and to make sure it would keep the reputation it has maintained for so many years under the management and ownership of the Kloeppel family," said Kloeppel.
He said he and his family had no intention of going out of the hotel business and the sale of the George Washington would allow them to concentrate on their other properties.
"My son and daughter are being trained to follow in this business and now are enrolled at the school of hotel management at Cornell University," Kloeppel said.
The George Washington Hotel was built by Kloeppel's late father, Robert Kloeppel Sr. It opened for business Dec. 13, 1926.
Johnston said he and Kloeppel believed that the Roosevelt and George Washington, under one ownership and general management, would help enhance Jacksonville's convention business.
• An exhibit of paintings by Jacksonville artist Lee Adams opened at the Cummer Gallery of Art.
Several of the 30 paintings were in the private collections of local residents.
Included in the show was a painting of the Pacaya palm of Guatemala, similar to the paintings of palms for which Adams received the Robert H. Montgomery Palm Medal from the Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami for outstanding contribution to the study of palms.
"Lee Adams is one of the outstanding artists in his filed. We welcome the opportunity to give a full-dress showing of his works," said Joseph Dodge, gallery director.
• The officers and enlisted men of Heavy Photographic Squadron 62, based at Jacksonville Naval Air Station, received the Navy Unit Commendation ribbon.
The award was presented by Rear. Adm. Joseph Carson, commander of Fleet Air Jacksonville, on behalf of the secretary of the Navy.
The squadron was cited "for outstanding and meritorious service in the performance of classified aerial photographic reconnaissance missions of paramount military importance to the security of the United States" from Jan. 18, 1960, through Oct. 25, 1962.
The nature of the reconnaissance was classified in 1963. It was later learned the squadron's missions involved photographing Russian military installations and missile sites in Cuba.
Commanding officer of the squadron was Cmdr. Robert F. Roemer of 560 Laurel Grove Lane in Orange Park.
• The Bolles School made history by establishing the first high school rowing program in North Florida.
The student-athletes were coached by Richard Zahner, a former crewman at Yale, who began teaching at Bolles in fall 1962. He invited a group of rowers from a high school in Massachusetts to visit Bolles and work out in the St. Johns River near the school. That's what got the Cadets interested in the sport, said Zahner.
"I've taught a lot of boys since I started instructing, but this is the most enthusiastic and eager crew I have ever worked with. I require that the boys do not smoke and observe the best training habits," he said.