Jacksonville historian: Hans Tanzler was city's most important mayor since consolidation
A retired UNF history professor and local author suggests city name former Jacksonville Landing site for Hans Tanzler, Jr., influential former mayor. Historian Hans G. Tanzler, Jr., the first mayor of consolidated Jacksonville, has been largely overlooked for his significant role in the city's history since its merger in 1967. He led the consolidation of police, fire services, parks and recreation, libraries, and other governmental services into one unified government. He also successfully addressed pollution in the St. Johns River, the most polluted major river in Florida, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars. He focused on downtown revitalization and urban renewal, including eliminating the remains of Hansontown and building a downtown branch of the community college, senior citizen apartments, a state office building for the Department of Health, parks, and playgrounds along Hogans Creek. Additionally, he created the Jacksonville Community Relations Commission (now the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission) to respond to reports of job and housing discrimination and opened management positions to applicants without regard to race or color. Despite not resolving Jacksonville's racial problems, he made a valiant effort to address issues such as segregation and racism.
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Herman Buckman (left) looks on as Mayor Hans Tanzler kicks off a campaign in March 1969 to help send Buckman to the 11th World Games for the Deaf in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). At right is Jimmy Thompson, then assistant principal at Mathew W. Gilbert Junior-Senior High and chairman of the campaign.
Since Jacksonville and Duval County residents voted to combine their two governments into one city in 1967, nine mayors have served this consolidated city. Four of these mayors have since died, and three have city parks or public buildings named after them. One, Hans G. Tanzler, Jr., (1927-2013), the first mayor of consolidated Jacksonville appears to have been largely forgotten.
The omission is unfortunate because Tanzler is perhaps the most important of the nine mayors. Together with his chief administrative officer, Lex Hester, he successfully led the consolidation of police, fire services, parks and recreation, libraries and other governmental services into one government.
More famously, Tanzler confronted the pollution of the St. Johns River, the most polluted major river in Florida. Not only did riverfront homes dispose of solid wastes into the river, but so did hospitals, insurance companies, railroads, city hall, paper mills and the county courthouse.
Tributaries carried wastes from restaurants, chicken processing plants, dairies, hog farms and other businesses into the St. Johns. The cost or remediation ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Yet by 1977, Mayor Tanzler announced the completion of this major effort.
The city celebrated with the mayor and Cypress Gardens performers water skiing on the river beside yachts, navy jets overhead and 25,000 citizens on the banks cheering this major achievement.
Meanwhile, Mayor Tanzler focused on downtown and the need for urban renewal. With consultants from Baltimore and Washington, D.C., he developed plans to eliminate the remains of Hansontown, built a downtown branch of the community college, senior citizen apartments, a state office building for the Department of Health, parks and playgrounds along Hogans Creek.
Another project brought a smaller urban renewal program to the Cathedral District to renovate housing and secure land for a future police station and riverfront park.
Seen from the perspective of the 21st century, one of Mayor Tanzler's greatest initiatives lay in his efforts to improve race relations and provide greater opportunities for inner-city residents. Even before consolidation, Tanzler had met with Black community leaders and neighborhood youth to listen to their priorities.
He created the Jacksonville Community Relations Commission (now the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission) to respond to reports of jobs and housing discrimination. At City Hall, he opened management positions to applicants without regard to race or color. He also called upon the Chamber of Commerce to create a jobs program for unemployed minorities.
Following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination in 1968, when American cities exploded with anger and grief, Tanzler brought together community members to commemorate the life of America's fallen hero. Following racial strife after a shooting incident on Florida Avenue (now A. Philip Randolph Boulevard), he also met with protesters to listen to their demands.
Clearly he did not resolve Jacksonville's racial problems, but as Alton Yates, one of Tanzler's top aides remembered, he made a valiant effort.
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Years later I had the good fortune to befriend Tanzler and I asked him what prompted him to so visibly reach out to the Black community, listening and looking for ways to make Jacksonville a more open city. His response at first puzzled me. He told me his mother taught him at an early age to respect all people regardless of color or race.
Later I realized that if all of us learned what Mayor Tanzler learned from his mother, we would live in a happier, more caring place.
Still, despite his accomplishments, no one since Tanzler left office in 1979 has recommended commemorating his very productive mayoral years with any sort of public recognition. One wonders now, given his commitment to our great river, whether it might be appropriate to rename the former Jacksonville Landing site as the Hans G. Tanzler, Jr., Memorial Park.
This guest column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Times-Union. We welcome a diversity of opinions.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Mayor Hans Tanzler confronted pollution, segregation in Jacksonville
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