The Jacksonville Consolidation was the

city-county consolidation In United States local government, a consolidated city-county is formed when one or more cities and their surrounding county ( parish in Louisiana, borough in Alaska) merge into one unified jurisdiction. As such it has the governmental powers o ...

of the governments of the

City of Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

and Duval County,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. It was effected on October 1, 1968.

Background

In 1934, the Florida Constitution was amended to give the Florida Legislature the “power to establish, alter or abolish, a Municipal corporation to be known as the City of Jacksonville, extending territorially throughout the present limits of Duval County," but for many years thereafter, the Legislature did not exercise the power. Through the 1960s, Jacksonville, like many other large cities in the US, suffered from the effects of

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

, with the city losing tax base to new residential and business development in the suburbs, which also drew out jobs. Both the city and county suffered corruption scandals, following virtual one-party rule by Democrats since the turn of the century, when the state legislature had disenfranchised most African Americans and effectively hollowed out the Republican Party, with which most blacks had been allied since they were granted the franchise as

freedmen A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), abolitionism, emancipation (gra ...

following the Civil War. In the 1960s, a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

indicted 11 Jacksonville and Duval County officials on 142 counts of bribery and larceny including: * 4 of 9 city councilmen * 2 of 5 city commissioners * the city auditor * executive secretary of city recreation department * 1 of 5 county commissioners * the county purchasing agent The city tax assessor took the Fifth Amendment, refused to testify, and resigned.

Yates Manifesto

Claude Yates Claude J. Yates (December 26, 1899 - October 25, 1988), was a Jacksonville business executive in the 1960s who is known as the ''Father of Jacksonville's consolidation.'' Early years Claude was born in Gibson County, Tennessee, the second of five ...

had recently retired as vice president and general manager of

Southern Bell Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company was once the regional Bell Operating Company serving the states of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina prior to the breakup of AT&T. It also covered the states of Alabama, Kentucky ...

in Jacksonville and been named president of the Jacksonville

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

in 1964 when all 15 public high schools lost their accreditation; they were still segregated despite the 1954 ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

'' ruling by the US Supreme Court. That year Congress had passed the

Civil Rights Act Civil Rights Act may refer to several acts of the United States Congress, including: * Civil Rights Act of 1866, extending the rights of emancipated slaves by stating that any person born in the United States regardless of race is an American ci ...

that ended legal racial segregation of public facilities, and the state was working to adapt to other changes. On January 19, 1965 Yates called a lunch meeting of the chamber at the Robert Meyer Hotel to decide on a course of action for the region. Attendees included Glenn Marshall Jr., Roger L. Main, W. S. Johnson, Charles W. Campbell, Gert H.W. Schmidt, Edward Ball, C. G. Whittaker, Luke Sadler, B. D. Fincannon, George B. Hills, Jacob F. Bryan III, B. N. Nimnicht, James R. Stockton Sr., J. T. Lane, J. H. Coppedge, Gen. Maxwell Snyder, Harold Meyerheim, Joseph W. Davin, Thompson S. Baker, Richard Lewinson, Henry M. French and S. Kendrick Guernsey.Jessie-Lynne Kerr, "Yates' call to meet made history"
''Florida Times-Union'', September 27, 2008 The date was significant as it was the deadline for submitting requests for the upcoming state legislative session. At the time, the legislature met for only 60 days every other year. These business and civic leaders signed a 45-word petition to the Duval County legislative delegation, consisting of State Senator John E. Mathews and Representative Fred Schultz, that would later be dubbed as the "Yates Manifesto". It stated:

We, the undersigned, respectfully request the Duval County Delegation to the Florida Legislature to prepare an enabling act calling for the citizens of Duval County to vote on the consolidation of government within Duval to secure more efficient and effective government under one governmental body.

Under the

Florida Constitution The Constitution of the State of Florida is the document that establishes and describes the powers, duties, structure, and function of the government of the U.S. state of Florida, and establishes the basic law of the state. The current Constitu ...

as it existed at that time, cities and counties had limited home rule powers and often needed special legislation by the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...

to accomplish many objectives. The Legislature generally deferred to the decision of the county delegation on whether to enact such special legislation, which gave the county delegation in a particular county great political influence. Following the adoption of a new Constitution, effective January 7, 1969, home rule powers of cities and counties were expanded, and the influence of the county delegation declined.

Commission established

In response, the 1965 Florida Legislature created the Local Government Study Commission (LGSC). The legislature chose J. J. Daniel as chairman to design a new government and write its charter. Daniel was known, according to '' The Florida Times'', for his "powerful personality, unquestioned integrity, strong leadership and history of civic involvement."

Lex Hester Lewis Alexander Hester, III (December 24, 1935 – October 7, 2000) was a public administrator in Jacksonville, Florida. He "was the consummate no-nonsense administrator, the very best in his field," according to M. C. Harden III, past chairman of ...

was hired as the executive director of the LGSC. He was the "key architect of Jacksonville's consolidated government", transition coordinator and chief administrative officer following consolidation. Claude Yates was among the 50 business and civic leaders invited to participate; elected officials and government employees were intentionally excluded. On October 1, 1965 the commission was established and given until May 1, 1967 to complete their work. In January, 1967, after 15 months of effort and three months ahead of schedule, the LGSC submitted a consolidation proposal entitled, ''Blueprint for Improvement''.Florida Times-Union: Jan 15, 2000-Banker, city leader James Lumpkins dies
/ref> The legislative delegation altered the plan slightly to make it more appealing and ordered it to be placed on a referendum in 1967.Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940-1970 by Abel A. Bartley, 2000 pages 111-113

Plan promotion

Claude Yates also helped promote the government merger plan. Yates led the ''Citizens for Better Government'' committee, which successfully disseminated information about the advantages of consolidation to voters who had consistently defeated consolidation referendums since 1935. Lower taxes, increased economic development, unification of the community, better public spending and effective administration by a more central authority were all cited as reasons for a new consolidated government. Influential individuals who supported consolidation included: * Earl M. Johnson, a lawyer, served as secretary of the LGSC. He was the first black member of the Jacksonville Bar Association, and had worked with

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

and

Constance Baker Motley Constance Baker Motley (September 14, 1921 – September 28, 2005) was an American jurist and politician, who served as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. A key strategist of the civil rights mov ...

to sue the

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

on behalf of the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

in 1960, seeking integration of schools and better funding for improvement. * Sallye B. Mathis, a retired teacher, dean, and civic activist, was "one of two black women elected to the old City Council in 1967", along with Mary L. Singleton, the first women and the first blacks in 60 years to be elected to the Council. She supported the consolidation as more efficient. She was also elected to the new City Council, where she served for 15 years. * W. E. "Ted" Grissett was vice chairman of the LGSC. He was elected as the first City Council president under consolidation. * Mary L. Singleton was a teacher and restaurant owner who was elected to the old City Council in 1967, the same year as Sallye B. Mathis. Singleton was initially opposed to consolidation, but changed her mind and was influential among the black community. She was elected without opposition to the new consolidated City Council, where she served for two terms. In 1972 she was "the first black and the first woman to be elected to the Florida Legislature from North Florida since Reconstruction." She was the third black in the state elected to the legislature in the 20th century. She later held statewide appointed positions, and died at age 54 in 1980. * Gert H.W. Schmidt was a German-born immigrant and Jacksonville business executive on the executive committee of the Local Government Study Commission. He also served on the

Florida Board of Regents The Florida Board of Regents was from 1965 to 2001 the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida, United States. It was created to replace a predecessor body called ...

and was board chairman of the Jacksonville branch of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, (informally referred to as the Atlanta Fed and the Bank), is the sixth district of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States and is headquartered in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Fed covers ...

.Jessie-Lynne Kerr, "These people helped consolidation come together"
''Florida Times-Union'', September 28, 2008

Results

Duval county voters approved the consolidation referendum 54,493 - 29,768 on August 8, 1967
but the old government did not go quietly. A lawsuit was filed by a few elected officials contesting consolidation because their term in office would be shortened and they would be required to face re-election after one year in office. Other elected officials attempted to pass zoning changes or sign long-term government contracts for their cronies.
After a year of transition, the consolidated government went into effect on October 1, 1968. Jacksonville celebrated with a parade and fireworks that attracted 200,000 spectators.

Hans Tanzler Hans Gearhart Tanzler, Jr. (March 11, 1927 – July 25, 2013) was an American politician and judge. He served as Mayor of Jacksonville, Florida from 1967 to 1979. During his administration, the City of Jacksonville consolidated with Duval Coun ...

, elected mayor of Jacksonville the year before, became the first mayor of the consolidated government. Jacksonville became the largest city (by population) in Florida and the 13th largest in the United States. According to the

Jacksonville Historical Society Jacksonville Historical Society (JHS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Jacksonville, Florida, begun by 231 charter members on May 3, 1929 at the Carling Hotel.Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

. All land in Duval County is considered part of Jacksonville except the four independent municipalities of

Jacksonville Beach Jacksonville Beach is a coastal resort city in Duval County, Florida, United States. It was incorporated on May 22, 1907, as Pablo Beach, and would later change its name to Jacksonville Beach in 1925. The city is part of group of communities coll ...

, Atlantic Beach,

Neptune Beach Neptune Beach is a beachfront city east of Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida, United States. When the majority of Duval County communities consolidated with Jacksonville in 1968, Neptune Beach, along with Jacksonville Beach, Atlantic Beach ...

and Baldwin. Residents of these towns vote in city elections and are eligible for other services. Jacksonville was the second consolidated government in the state of Florida and one of ten in the nation.

References

External links

Jacksonville Historical Society: Consolidation
{{City of Jacksonville Government of Jacksonville, Florida History of Jacksonville, Florida 20th century in Jacksonville, Florida 1968 in Florida Government in the Jacksonville metropolitan area