ORANGE PARK – Garry McIntyre always believed the Orange Park Mall was going to be the economic hub of Clay County – so much so, he tried to annex it into the town limits.

“That was 50 years ago,” he said. “The county was growing very rapidly. Orange Park was already servicing the fire and police and all that kind of stuff for the mall, so why not make it part of the town?”

McIntyre said in 1975, the Orange Park Police Department consisted of two people - a chief and one officer.

“The town was small, but it was growing,” he said. “The EMT was servicing the area, too, at a big cost for the town. That was a big area we had to service. The mall was booming, and it just seemed like a good idea.”

But not one that resonated with most of the town council, McIntyre said.

“I could count to three, but I only had one other (Charlie Barker) who was in favor of annexation, so we never even got a motion,” he said.

“Anytime you annex something, the people in the town would all vote on it,” McIntyre said. “And, of course, the people that were going to get annexed in, would they even have a chance to vote on it? Well, the mall didn't have restricted voters. We thought there would be a simple way to annex them all if we could service it with our fire, our police and our rescue that would help pay for it. But we never could get that passed. You know, one thing in politics to learn is how to count to three, and we never could get to count to three on annexing it.”

The one chance the Town of Orange Park had to attach its name to the mall officially never materialized. McIntyre still believes it was an opportunity missed, as the revenues generated by the mall would have covered the costs of the town’s police, fire and rescue departments.

The county took control of law enforcement and fire/rescue services for the mall shortly after it opened, as the town would have been required to purchase a ladder truck at a cost of nearly $1 million to continue servicing the 953,000-square-foot building and the surrounding parking lot.

McIntyre said the mall, which will celebrate its 50^th anniversary on Sept. 24, was extremely popular when it opened.

“I know during Christmas time, you had to wait in line to find a parking space,” he said. “It was always busy, too. And during the Fourth of July, they had one of the best fireworks shows in the area."

And 50 years ago, the festivities could have officially been part of the town’s holiday celebrations.