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.
• Business, government and military offices were closed Monday for Jacksonville to observe a day of mourning for President John F. Kennedy.
In answer to a request by Mayor Haydon Burns, merchants and businesses did not open until 2 p.m. and the offices of the Jacksonville Area Chamber of Commerce were closed all day.
All city and county government administrative offices were closed, except regularly scheduled court proceedings. Witnesses and jurors were advised to follow subpoena directions.
Most churches conducted memorial services in conjunction with a Requiem Mass in Washington, D.C.
Almost 1,000 mourners tried to crowd into the 500-seat Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Several hundred filled the foyers and spilled out onto the street as the Rev. Michael J. Kelly celebrated Requiem High Mass.
• Donations in Kennedy’s memory were being accepted by Muscular Dystrophy Associations of America Inc. in its annual march for funds, said Gifford Grange, Duval County campaign chairman.
The gifts would be noted on special “In Memoriam” cards bearing the name of the donor. The cards would be forwarded to Jacqueline Kennedy, honorary national chair since 1961.
The memorial contributions followed a request by the first lady that donations be sent to charity in honor of her husband.
• Jacksonville police started a fund for the family of Dallas Patrolman J.D. Tippit, who was killed while trying to arrest Lee Harvey Oswald, the man believed to have assassinated Kennedy.
Capt. E.B. Runyon, secretary of the Fraternal Order of Police, Gateway Lodge 5, said more than $200 was collected from one of the police department’s three shifts.
He said the collection would continue for a few days, and the money would be sent to Dallas.
• The U.S. Navy planned to spend $9 million at Mayport Naval Station over the next five years, said Capt. C.H. Turner, commanding officer of the station.
In a talk before the Jacksonville Beaches-Mayport Council of the Navy League, Turner said an expansion program to cost that amount had been approved by the Department of the Navy and the Secretary of the Navy but was yet to be approved by the Department of Defense.
If the expenditure was approved, the money would be spent to expand and improve destroyer and aircraft carrier berthing facilities at Mayport.
Other elements of the plan included construction of ammunition storage areas, a fire station, a fleet training station, a communications center and supply support facilities.
A new gymnasium, barracks with a mess hall, bachelor officers’ quarters, a chapel, commissary, theater and a naval exchange also were in the proposal.
Turner said Mayport Naval Station had a value of $30 million. He described the base as “a link between ships of the Atlantic Fleet and vast supporting resources in our country.”
“The vital part played during the Cuban crisis of 1962, when a large number of combat ships ‘loaded for bear’ were operating from Mayport, is proof of its strategic value,” he said.
Mayport Naval Station in 1963 was home port for three aircraft carriers, 26 destroyers, two fleet oilers, an ammunition ship and a destroyer tender.
“I am certain that a relative weakening of our military posture would invite ultimate loss of our way of life and our freedom. In short, I believe this generation has not found the millennium and the scourge of war is still with us. I would like to believe that we can keep the scourge of war only as a threat,” Turner said.
• More than 411,000 people — nearly three times more than expected — on Sunday received oral doses of the Sabin polio vaccine.
Health officials were overwhelmed at the turnout even though they were prepared to administer 600,000 doses.
The final count of 411,163 meant that 90 percent of the population of Duval County was immunized.
More than 3,000 volunteer workers, led by the Duval County Medical Society and the Junior Chamber of Commerce, set up temporary clinics at elementary schools. Long lines began forming two hours before the scheduled noon start of immunization.
Calvin Roche, president of the Jaycees, said most clinics opened early due to the large number of people in line to be vaccinated.
• During the annual membership meeting of the Jacksonville Convention and Visitors Bureau, Vice President and General Manager George Tobi said the city had a good year of convention business in 1963.
He reported that 118,000 delegates spent an estimated $10.5 million at 257 conclaves during the year.
Tobi said while it had been a good convention year, “competition is getting keener” and the bureau had to continue enrolling new members to support its program of bringing groups to Jacksonville.
He said he realized that some people might not appreciate the economic impact of the convention business, but it should be measured.
“We have to remember that this is a fine business. It brings everything in and takes nothing out of a community,” said Tobi.
Bureau President John Ingle said emphasis was being placed on bringing more tourism business to Jacksonville.
He reported plans for an exhibit in Florida’s building at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, which he said would influence travel decisions for years to come.
“Some people underestimate our city’s stature in tourism. A survey showed it ranks fourth – only behind Miami, Daytona Beach and St. Petersburg – of cities in the state people want to visit,” said Ingle.
Also at the meeting, Robert Marchant, manager of the Robert Meyer Hotel, and Otis McKinney, manager of Shepard Decorating Co., were elected to the board of directors for one-year terms.
• Duval County billiard parlor operators went to court in an attempt to throw out a Florida law restricting visits to pool halls by people under 21.
Attorney Lacy Mahon Jr. filed suit in Circuit Court attacking the constitutionality of a state law that barred people under 21 — except those married or in the armed forces — from billiard parlors unless they had a notarized permit signed by their parent or guardian.
The complaint claimed the law was unconstitutional because it proposed to make an arbitrary classification of forms of recreation and sport, restricting minors in billiard parlors but not at bowling alleys, miniature golf courses, football and baseball games, or other types of recreation.
The suit also contended the law created an “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” classification of persons under 21 who might be permitted in a billiard parlor by distinguishing between married minors and those in the armed forces on one hand and all minors on the other.
Named as the plaintiff in the suit was Arnold Barnett, owner and operator of Willie Mosconi Golden Cue at 5116 Blanding Blvd.
Mahon said Barnett was one of 17 members of the Duval County Pocket Billiards Association, representing 22 billiard parlors in Jacksonville.
Sheriff Dale Carson was named as a defendant in the suit because his officers had sought to enforce the law.
• Plans to establish a large shopping center at Beach and University boulevards were announced at a City Commission meeting.
The panel approved the recommendation of Commissioner J. Dillon Kennedy for the exchange of city-owned property located within the proposed shopping center site.
The city owned about three acres in the site for a water pumping station and would exchange the land for an equal parcel along the northern edge of the shopping center site.
According to Thomas Ellis, agent representing Center City Inc., the proposed shopping center would be located on a 40-acre tract north of Beach Boulevard and extending from University Boulevard to Spring Glen Road.
Ellis said the shopping center would comprise 430,000 square feet of floor space and 35 retail stores.
He said plans were to “establish one of the largest, fully air-conditioned, mall-type shopping centers in the Southeast” on the site.
Details of the project were being developed and no starting date for construction was announced.
Kennedy said the exchange of property was equitable and “we’ll be glad to sell them water and electricity.”
• The Port of Jacksonville’s facilities were operating at maximum capacity as ships crowded into wharves and docks. Stevedores worked to unload and reload the largest number of dry cargo vessels ever in the city at one time.
Other ships, unable to find berthing space, waited at anchorage in the St. Johns River.
“I’ve never seen anything like it around here. There’s not a dry cargo dock in town. Dry cargo ships are what really generate money in a port,” said David Rawls, managing director of the Jacksonville Port Authority.
Cargo discharged included automobiles, yachts, Italian wines, marble, paper and pulpwood products, bananas, potatoes and citrus fruit.