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 1965. The items were compiled from the Jacksonville Public Library’s periodical archives by Staff Writer Max Marbut.
When astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White returned to earth after their Gemini 4 mission, their first stop on land after their space capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean was Mayport Naval Station.
During the four-day, 62-orbit mission, White made history when he became the first American to walk in space.
On hand to greet the pair as they came down the red carpet on the gangplank of the aircraft carrier Wasp were Gov. and Mrs. Haydon Burns, along with an applauding and yelling crowd.
The astronauts spent only a few minutes in Mayport before boarding a NASA jet bound for the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston and a reunion with their families.
Navy officials said 2,500 cars entered the base, but there was no official crowd estimate.
“Welcome back to terra firma,” Burns said as he handed the astronauts duplicate plaques bearing the inscription “A token of friendship from the people of Florida.”
Burns described the gifts as “the first of many accolades you will receive.”
• Several City Council members expressed opposition to the sale of the former city utilities building at Laura and Water streets.
Council member R.B. Burroughs suggested the structure, which was vacated in 1964, could be used as a new headquarters for the city Signal Bureau.
Council members Lemuel Sharp and R. Lavern Reynolds agreed the building should be used for city purposes.
Sharp noted the council Budget and Finance Committee recently approved a $4,400 fund transfer for rental of a storage space required by the Utilities Department.
He said the city was “renting space all over town” and that the vacant building could be used for that purpose, thus saving the city some money.
Burroughs pointed out that the current location of the Signal Bureau at 1066 Laura St. was “falling into the creek,” due to its proximity to Hogan’s Creek.
Repeated flooding during heavy rains had damaged the lower floor of the building and the walls were cracking due to the foundation settling. The hazard was compounded, he said, because so much high-voltage equipment was located in the building.
The commission already had advertised for bids on the building with a minimum required bid of $175,000. City Auditor John Hollister told the commission that in his opinion, the four-story brick building was worth $300,000.
The day after the disposition of the building was brought up by the council members, the only bid submitted was opened. It was for $180,500 from State Investment Co.
Utilities Commissioner J. Dillon Kennedy said it didn’t make any difference to him what was done with the building.
But if the city wanted it for the Signal Bureau, it would have to be purchased from the Electric Department, because money from the sale had to go into the department’s accounts if it were purchased by the city.
He said the money would go into the city’s account if the structure was purchased by a private company.
In other business, the commission received a formal protest from the Perdue Office Equipment Co. over the award of bids on furniture for the new Haydon Burns Public Library (now the Jessie Ball duPont Center along Adams and Ocean streets). The protest was forwarded to the city attorney and the Library Board of Trustees.
Following the regular meeting, the commission met behind closed doors with George Robinson Sr., executive secretary of the city Recreation Board.
Matters under discussion were not made known except Mayor Lou Ritter told members of the media an item of expediting construction of an addition to the Gator Bowl stadium was on the agenda.
Note: So-called “closed door meetings” including public officials were common in Jacksonville 50 years ago. In 1967, Chapter 286, Florida Statutes was enacted to establish the requirement to have government meetings open to the public, often referred to as the “Sunshine Law.”
Florida voters in 1992 approved an amendment to the state constitution that guarantees the public’s right to advance-noticed and open government meetings.
• J.S. Keys didn’t know what to do with about 17,000 sharks’ teeth, but he had them.
Keys, of 1500 Penman Road, collected the artifacts over a 14-year period after he moved to Neptune Beach from Pennsylvania in 1951, when he retired from Sears, Roebuck and Co.
“I got interested when I was operating an oceanfront motel on Jacksonville Beach,” he said. “Guests would ask me what there was to do and I advised them to look for sharks’ teeth. A lot of them started collecting them as a hobby.”
The teeth ranged in size from about one-eighth of an inch to more than 4 inches. The smaller ones were picked up along Jacksonville Beach, which Keys claimed had the best supply in the world. He found the larger ones by excavating a St. Johns River spoil bed near St. Johns Bluff.
“I have hunted sharks’ teeth along the so-called Fabulous West Coast of Florida and on Mexican beaches, but I never have found them in quantity like I have here at home,” he said.
Keys also found horse teeth, camel teeth, whale teeth and spear and arrow heads, which he gleaned from spoil areas with a shovel and sieve.
Keys took some of his smaller teeth on one of his excursions to Mexico, where he had them made into earrings. He gave the jewelry to guests who stayed at his hotel for a week or longer.
“But I had to stop,” he said. “Former guests who heard about it wrote me and demanded their earrings.”
• A total of 442 Duval County teachers received notices with their final paychecks for the 1964-65 school year they would not be reappointed for the next year.
The figure represented about 10 percent of the school system’s instructional personnel.
Of the 3,695 teachers who were reappointed, 178 were asked to sign waivers foregoing pay increases and tenure, said School Superintendent Ish Brant.
He said of the 442 not retained, 320 held teaching certificates that would expire June 30, but they would be reappointed provided they obtained valid new certificates.
Of the remaining 122, Brant said 23 were “unsatisfactory,” 64 were teaching out of their fields and made no effort over long periods to become certified in their fields, and 35 held Rank V teaching certificates, which were no longer accepted in Duval County.
The Rank V certificate was issued to teachers who did not hold a college degree.
• A veteran of 41 years on the Jacksonville Fire Department was going on the auction block.
On recommendation of Fire Chief G.R. Cromartie, the City Commission authorized sale of the fireboat John B. Callahan, which was taken out of service in September 1963.
The wooden vessel was docked along Talleyrand Avenue at Seventh Street. It was leaking so badly, its bilge pumps ran 24/7 just to keep it afloat, Cromartie said.
The Callahan was built during World War I as a submarine chaser and was purchased by the city in 1922 for a fireboat.
When the commission authorized Cromartie to advertise the surplus craft for sale, he said he had been offered $300 for it as scrap.
• The Duval County Budget Commission postponed appropriating funds for additional voting machines until the Board of County Commissioners explained how many were needed and why they were needed.
On a 3-1 vote, the budget group deferred action on a requested $114,652 appropriation labeled “rental and purchase of voting machines” in the supervisor of registrations’ proposed budget for the 1965-66 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
The county commissioners already were considering whether to create more voting precincts, but provided no information to the budget commission concerning the number of new precincts or how many more machines would be needed.