CHA ES NC S COE n RL FRA I , ote d Am e ric an auth o r an d ectu rer w rite s fr l , om his Flo rida h om e $

MIAMI MILLIONS is a hac ki ood b o o In w ng g k . it ou i y w ll find e ve r thin tha t e ve r wa s in a b o o m and y g , that is e e thi we c al s t s s v r n l life . Pe r o nali ie olitic y g , p , o ble o p s , s, e c e ta e s ro nost icatt o ns a r m pr fit p r n g , p g nd pe r cus i n s o s co mbine with lo ve lau hte r lib el lac hr mo s e , g , , y lia bili a ' t nd la o o s li idat io B s $ y ngu r u qu n . oo m a re tricky hi . Read hi t ngs t s b ook and yo u will re cognize the n ext b o o tha t sta e s ou in th e a s s m r f c e . You will al o mile y , h dd e a nd l s u r s a aa m to figures which presaged th e pre se n t e ra o billio s f n .

C H A R L E S R AN I F C S CO B .

o 1 936 C pyright , , by Ke nneth Ballinger G O O D FUN WHILE IT LASTED

0

In the following pages m ay b e fo und the t rue sto ry o the Flo ida la nd b oo o 1 925 he a e illio f r m f , w n p p r m n aires to o k th e la nd of sunshine fro m the S e mi n ole In dia s a nd a e it to he i d e b o s n g v t b n r y .

O rigina lly published und e r the title of BO OMER ANG this acco unt will recall to tho se who liv ed thro ugh the b oom that parad e of e ve nts which c o nvin ced the re st of th e w o rld that we w e re all quite ma d d own he re in

Fl i B a o o hil it la e ut it w s d e s d . o r d a . g fun w t

The autho r d e sire s to expre ss appre c iatio n fo r the in valua ble ad vice and c ounsel give n so free ly by Fra nk l B o e an b elo ed edito o The Mia i He a d . . St n m , v r f m r THE AUTHOR M IA M I M ILL IO N S

THE DAN C E O F THE D O LLARS IN THE G REAT FLO RIDA LAN D BO O M O F

By KEN N ET H BALLIN G ER

1 9 3 6

Prmtcd B THE FRA N KLIN PRESS Inc y , . M IAM I FLO RI A , D o when Mis s R uth Woodall won the 1925 Miami bathing beauty c ntest ,

- o F o o u . th e girl - beach palm picture became the keystone f l rida res rt p blicity M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER ONE

HE most spectacular real estate b oom of modern times was getting ready to sprinkl e its he e dl ess millions over th e state 2 4 of Florida in 1 9 , and Miami , at its very he art , was enter ing up on a decade of growth that has made it headline material wherever newsp ap ers are printe d . The very obvious fact that the dark ye ars of the hang - over from that spree are ended , and Fl orid a again is b eing seed e d with the dollars of rich Yankees and hop eful natives , makes it desir 1 9 24 1 9 2 5 1 9 2 6 ab l e , p erhaps , to recapture the days of , and when Miami was transformed from a sl ee py little town on the edge of Biscayne bay into a M agic City of modest skyscrap ers and l egend ary re al estate profits .

From Miami , the nerves of the b oom spread out into every corner of Fl orida . N o land was too p oor or too remote t o attract b uyers or to b e sub divided , so l ong as it was within the confines of the state of Fl orida . Th e coasts where pirates under M organ and Lafitte once p lie d their evil trade sproute d such riches that in on e p l ace ocean - side devel opers actually ab andoned a pirate chest they coul d fee l with their dre d ges , t o get on with th e m ore remunerative work of b uil ding a sub divisi on to sell . Pirate gold was nothing b ut museum antiques in the days when the binder b oys had money fl owing into Flori da at a rate that woul d have p ut even the New D eal to shame . Just what is a b oom such as Fl orida live d through $ How $ $ l ong di d the b oom , as such , l ast What marke d its limits What makes a boom $ “ Building activities , says Kenneth Keyes , presi dent of the “ ” Keyes Comp any . Profits , asserts G . D . Brossier , who has dealt in Miami real estate since 1 8 9 3 .

C ontinues Mr . K eyes , who today ranks as one of the l argest and b est re alty op erators in the M iami fiel d $ “ In my opini on the real estate b oom which reache d its climax in the summer of 1 9 2 5 b egan to get und er way in the spring of 1 9 23 . Buil ding p ermits in Apri l , M ay , J une an d J uly of that year total ed almost a million and a half doll ars 1 9 24 monthly . Gaining momentum more rapidly in early , b uil d ing permits increase d to almost in the singl e month o f August . “ - 1 9 2 The all time high was reache d in O ctob er , 5 , wh en Greater Miami b uil ding permits f or a 3 1 - day p eriod total e d f r slightly more than the p ermits issued o Miami ,

Miami B each , Coral G abl e s and th e b al ance of th e present Great er Miami area for the entire ye ar of 1 9 3 5 . “ It is my p ersonal b elief th at the climax of th e b oom was 9 reache d in the fall of 1 25 , b ut few of u s realiz ed it at that time .

5 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s

or 1 9 2 6 By January February , , it was app arent to many that the b oom w as over .

. of Mr Brossier pl aces the b eginning the boom in July , 1 9 25 . The upward trend in Florid a re al esta te val ue s b egan as early as “ January , he b elieves , wh en investors coul d purchase prop e rt y and reali ze a quick turnover at a small profit . The selling gathere d m omentum and was at its highest from July unti l O cto 1 3 1 92 5 . In b er , Novemb er there w a s a noticeabl e slackening of of investing an d the stock market crash Novemb er , 1 9 25 , was ’ real ly the finish of M iami s b oom .

H e re calls that ab out O ctob er , lots which ordinarily were of f e r e d f or to e ach were b eing sold f or as much as and it was not unusu al for p e ople with as little as “ ” dep osit on a prop osition t o sell th eir option for The ful l story of th e Miami and Florida b oom has never b een h l written , and so we s a l venture into those uncharted waters with our readers as p artners in an effort to fix it s b oundaries and the me anders , to the end p erh aps that we sh al l b e ab l e the next time to re cogniz e a boom and to navigate it with out s o many wreck s . As Miami and Mi ami B each and Coral Gables an d many an oth er Fl ori da city took a fresh p urch ase on life from the 1 9 2 5 b oom , so The Miami Heral d entered into a new pha s e of existence at that time . It was th e n ewspaper of the b oom , dwarfing all other Fl ori da pu blications , and le aping into a national prominence from th e b oom that has kept it ever since the l argest newsp ap er in th e state .

Under the guiding hand of its owner and p ublish er , Frank B .

Shutts , The Miami H eral d for more th an 1 3 months in 1 92 5 and 1 92 6 b ecame th e l argest newsp ap er in volume of b usiness in th e e ntire worl d . It made The New York Times , The Chicago Trib une and even The L os Angel es Times app ear skimpy and under n ourish ed by comp arison . The Heral d reache d its peak in Jan u ary , 1 9 2 6 , wh en it carried twice as mu ch advertising b usiness as in any m onth of the prece ding year .

Ah , th ose were th e h appy d ays , when customers with cash in ’ t heir fists plead ed in vain f or p age advertisements that coul dn t f - ind sp ace even in an 8 8 p age daily . A woman told a H eral d cir “ ’ ’ c ulation man $ I d like to take Th e Sunday Heral d , b ut I m afraid ” it woul d fall on me . It was n ot unusual for the harri e d staff to turn down as many as 1 5 p ages of advertising in one day . Prin c ip ally in Th e Miami Herald the p urchaser and the sp ecul ator found liste d the opp ortunities they sought s o avidly , not only in

- D ade county prop erty , b ut in l and from Key West to the far off

Perdid o river . F or as Miami was the he art of the b oom , The H erald was the main artery through which the life b l ood of those p ulsing times p oured . Equip p e d in early 1 9 24 to turn out a 24 - page newsp ap er com f ort a b ly , The Heral d w as as unprep ared for the crest of the b oom as were th e railroads , th e steamship companies and the p ublic util on ities and government itself . Th e principal press which the

6 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s as paper was printe d had run night and d ay for 20 years in th e pl ant w a of The Denver Post before it s moved here . To sup pl ement that , another second - h and press was s et u p in a garage across Second street from The Heral d buil ding while new presses were b eing b uilt . These two vali ant old relics were run until they She d b olts ’ - and loose parts like a l ove Si ck maid en s te ars . They kept rolling , 24 - un somehow , on a h our sche dul e through those weary months , - a n til a new four story printing plant e quipp e d with . moder b at ob 1 92 6 t e r y of presses took over the j in . - - h But alack a d ay $ The boom was ende d by then . It as only been in the l ast two or three years that th e complement of print ing e quipment ordered in the ful lness of 1 9 25 hop es h as caught f r its stri de . Now th e plant again is crying o exp ansion as The

Herald leads the state in circulation all the ye ar , and tops the newsp ap ers of all but eight states in the nation in advertising d ur ing the winter and spring . The business that made The Miami Heral d what it is today also made M iami and her Sister cities . We shal l not b ore you much with statistics , f or no tables or charts can give us the story of the i b oom . M en and women , what they sai d and did , mad e the Fl or da l an d b oom . M any of them are here today , ready again to take up the fight for profits an d fame . In th e ensuing chapters we shall attempt to give y ou a chronicle of the lives of th ose who d ealt in millions b ack in 1 92 5 , of the mansions they built and the tower ing b uil dings they p ut up , the hop es they s o freely expresse d for p ublication and the dream of empire th ey nursed as the fl oodgates of cre dit and cash turn ed Fl ori da sand into gold .

’ The fam ous b anker commission head e d Miami s government 1 9 24 - in , having b e en r e electe d the pre ceding year on the p op ul ar assumption that Miami in the hands of its five leading bankers could not fail to assure capital of a safe haven . H ow well founde d was this belief $ w a The mayor s E dward C ol eman R omfh , president of the

First Nati onal B ank , an d today the only one of that group whose institution has survived . The mayor b efore him w as Commission er Charl es D . Leffler ( Miami Bank and Trust C omp any ) , and gen eral agent in Miami f or the Gulf Refining C ompany . The other

l . commissioners were James H . Gi man ( B ank of Bay Biscayne ) , J

E . Lummus ( Southern B ank and Trust C omp any ) , brother of th e of first mayor Mi ami B each , an d J . I . Wilson ( D ade County Se curity C ompany ) , n ow d ead . Nineteen twenty- four was the first of three big buil ding years for Miami , when in construction was starte d . The c l t 8 1 - r - y then covere d 3 squa e miles , ab out one fourth its present f land area , with the towns o Silver Bluff , Coconut Grove an d Buena

Vista clustere d ab out it . The county offices were housed in a t w o - story stone buil ding , begun in 1 9 04 , on wh ose b are and cheer s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

- - less Site th e present 27 Story city county buil ding re sts . The city government w as conducte d in the stone b uilding now devote d t o

the police d ep artment, a structure designe d in 1 9 09 . Two bridges

spanne d the Miami river within th e city , one at Miami avenue and

th e other at Flagl er street .

Across the county causeway , Miami Beach w as concluding its

tenth year of corp orate exi stence . It had first b een linked to

Miami by the long wood en brid ge begun by th e l ate John S . Col lins in 1 9 1 2 and compl ete d th e foll owing year at a cost of

with the financial aid of Carl G . Fish er of Indianap olis , the same C arl Fisher who had come t o M iami to loaf b ut w h o remaine d t o h elp fabricate out of mangrove swamps th e foundations of tod ay ’ s

Miami B each . M iami B each in 1 9 2 4 dangle d b etwe en bay and ocean at the

end of a narrow strip of l and , Since cut through and brid ge d at Baker ’ s Haulover to p ermit th e tides to swe ep up p er Biscayne b ay

cle an . Its m unicip al functions revolve d about th e wooden building

north of Fifth street which houses the Miami B each Athletic club . ’ ’ Smith s an d Hardie s casinos drew the b ul k of th e b athers at south

beach , while the Roman Pools , formerly the Casino St . John , caught

th e winter crowds from the two Fisher hotels , Lincoln and Fla

mingo , from th e Wofford , the Breakers and th e Pancoast . ne d i ar Louis F . S g , former Stetson athlete , had succe eded T .

E . James as mayor . John H . Levi , who handl e d the engineering when Fisher w a s fil ling in the b ea ch and wh o later became presi f ' dent o the M iami O cean View Company , head ed the city coun

ci l th en as now , directing its affairs with infinite humor and good

sense . Although its growth had

b e en exce ptional since 1 9 20, M iami Be ach b uilding really took the biggest sp urt in 1 9 23 with

in new construction ,

mounting to in 1 924 . The Miami B e ach which adde d 1 9 1 9 hotels in 3 5 , w as b eginning then to fe ar it was Slightly over

b uilt .

D uring August , 1 9 24 , Miami had its b est building month of the year with in new per

mits , se cond in the South . The Cl ark Dredging Company b egan p umping in cubic yards of sand and rock t o form Bayfront park o ut of the bay b ottom whose waters lap p ed almost at the front

steps of the M c A llist e r Hotel . D ozens of houseboats t oo infirm t o move were burne d or b uried at

JO H N H. LE V I 8 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

their moorings along what then w a s N . B ay Shore drive . of Elser Pier , fishing and l oafing center for years at the foot

Flagler street , finally was bought b y the city under condemnation i h le a h proceedings from Locke T . H g ym n for althoug the owner bitterly proteste d th e site ha d a specul ative val u e of The pier was leased for the season t o Jack Cleary f or un then d estroyed . M e antime th e white sand p oure d in

w a s . . der it , and the whol e fill finishe d by Nove mb er J Gerry

Curtis soon began t o plant grass over porti ons of it , to stil l th e clamor which arose from eating houses and homes into which th e fine white sand w a s b lown . Parking on the fill was starte d in

1 92 5 . January , Wil liam Jennings Bryan ha d returned to Miami from the turbulent 1 6 - day D em ocratic national convention which nominate d f or John W . D avis and his brother , Charles Bryan , president and vice president . In a colorful sp eech from the Royal Palm Park bandshell , he pre dicted progressive Democrats and progressive

Republicans woul d defe at Calvin C oolidge , and recounte d his su c c e s sf ul efforts to prevent the Democrats from condemning the K u n 2 8 0 Klux Kllan . Before leaving o a speaking tour , he sol d scat t e r e d acres in D ad e county f or retaining 9 0 acres . f Fred L . Wee de , Miami Chamber o Commerce secretary , was planning a 68 - page booklet of copies to mail during O c tober . E . G . Sewell , presid ent of the chamb er , advanced th e Slogan , “ ” A The Season Op ens In Novemb er . hurricane kill e d 8 0 on the

Virgin islands . There were no furth er a dvisory notices . Van C .

Swearingen , attorney general und er former Gov . Sidney J . Catts , ’ delivered the Lab or day a ddress in Royal Palm Park . Gus B ath

- opened its new 9 3 0 foot pier at Palm Beach . It w as destroye d four years l ater . 1 9 24 Miami in September , , was quick to shake off its custom ary summer sloth . Ge orge E . M errick sol d five lots in five days f or in the former M errick p lantation west of Miami where f r w the city o C o a l Gabl es a s b orn eight months later . The Miami Pal m Beach Company divide d l ots within t w o blocks of the dep ot at Boca Raton and announced 5 and 1 0- acre farming tracts on near - b y acres n United States Senator D uncan U . Fletcher , guest of Joh

Gramling , opened Avocad o wee k in Miami , pre dicted President Coolidge woul d not re ceive a vote of confidence from th e p eopl e in Novemb er . Th e Heral d e ditorially d ep lored the occasional wearing of golf knickers in the b usiness district ; w as answered

t w o - by heated letters from knicker addicts . Th e Sweetwater H o tel , was announce d f or construction j ust west of Luna b park on Fl agler street y T . R . Knight and William G . Just . Dr .

. D u P uis and M rs John planne d an home in Lemon City .

Miami was groaning about Fl orida roads . Parts of the Dixie “ highway , complained Th e Heral d , are pave d only with good in

9 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

- tentions . An antiqu e ferry b locked the M elb ourne Kissimme e f r f road , l ater forming the b asis o th e removal o th e sta te roa d de p art m e nt chairman , Judge H . B . Philips , wh en John W . M ar tin “ ” v succee de d G o . Cary A . Hard ee . Th e Miami Theater was b e gun by Paramount Enterprises on th e ol d A ir d om e Site . W e know 1 0 it as t h e Olympia Theater , stories . f r Ground was broken o th e First State B ank of Hialeah . Pl ans were prep are d by Architect M art in L . Hampton for a yacht “ f cl ub buil ding on fill ed l and e ast o th e Royal Palm Hotel . ( The present Royal Palm cl ub . ) Five acres near the Florid a East Coast railroa d at Arch cree k were sold f or Sixteen th ou sa nd a cres in Brevard county change d hands f or Tatums a d ve rtis e d Grove Park lots f or as l ow as Th e Kreu ger b uil ding in Stuart wa s starte d . Miss Laura Cushm an announce d th e b uilding of h er private

- school at N . E . Thirty eighth terrace , B u ena Vi sta . Henry Cop pinger , pione er Miami horticulturist , die d on his Miami river e s tate . Th e B el ch er Asphalt Paving Comp any g ot a p ermit f r o its present office b uil ding near the causeway .

r T a T ai was a ou t o o an d am as G o F. and fo 75 miles the ami mi r l bl sted f r ck sw p , e rge

C ook and the Che velie r C orp oratio n are doin g here .

1 0 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER TW O T IS a far cry from the magnificent B ayfront p ark which makes of up th e front p orch of M iami today , t o th e casual l ett ering an unsung draftsman wh o w as drawing the ori ginal pl at of M iami “ ” in 1 8 9 6 and unthinkingly p enne d in th e word p ark at a c on f ve nie nt blank sp ace on the line o th e b ay front .

The b ay front was n ot in fact a pub lic p ark in the b eginning . out f or When James E . Ingraham came here t o l ay Miami H enry f M . Flagl er , after p lanning the citi es o Tampa and Sanford , h e cannily reserved from 1 0 t o 60 feet ab ove high ti de all al ong th e bay from the north city limits at ab out Thirte enth street aroun d

on of . t o the Miami river , and land b oth b anks th e river Th e Standard Oil fortune that Fl agl er investe d here was not mad e by l eaving water front op enings for comp etitors t o l an d an d store their products .

Charles D . Leffler b egan shipping gr oceri es from New York f f or his Miami store at th e turn o th e century . He foun d th at h e coul d save money by taking advantage of th e water rates of the

M all ory line into Key W est , and bring his goods t o Mi ami on th e

f . vessels o Capt Dick Alb ury and others . Th e littl e schooners woul d come in to the front of on e of th e str e ets at th e b ay front and um ’ L ff l r load , and M r . e e s truck woul d pick up th ere and carr y th e merchandise t o h is store .

Soon , he recalls , the movement b ecam e an epidemic , an d envious checkers f or th e Flori da East Coast railroad sat all day ' al ong the b ay front under the h ot s un an d watch e d b oats unl oad t merchandise that might b et er , in th eir opini on , have come down

in freight cars . One day th e Fl or ida East Coast sent in a crew e quipp e d with second - han d cross

ti es and b arb e d wire , an d ran a thre e - stran d fence from what is n ow B el ch er prop erty to the R oyal Palm cl ub at th e foot of

S . E . Secon d stre et , thereby p ut ting a su dd en stop to the schooner b usiness along that p art f o th e bay . 2 Ab out 7 littl e L e ff ler s , R om Worl eys , fh s and oth ers live d within a b lock or tw o in b ay front hom es north of t h e present o C lumb us Hote l , an d the new barb e d wire fence resulte d in scratche d hid es an d torn britch es a s the chil dren went t o and from their wa ding on th e e dge of the

. of bay Temp ers George A . FRA N K B S H UTT . S 1 1 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

Worley , sr . , and of Mr . Leffl er final ly dictated th e p urchase of on e wire clippers and morning l ong stretches of the fence were cut ,

and th e chil dren romp ed through . B ut another railroad crew ap p eare d with more crossties and more b arb e d wire . Soon after , the fence was cut again . So it went , b ack and forth , during 1 901 9 w a and 1 02 , until the fence s the center of a town row . The matter came to a head in a lawsuit against George

Worley , in which th e State Supre me court finally decide d that the “ ” p art of the bay front m arke d p ark on the original map b elonge d

to the city of Miami , and the p art left b lank b el onge d to Fl agler .

From the center of ol d Seventh street to the center of Third street , f r north o th e present Fifth street , was city prop erty , and the e m in r a d e b elonge d to th e Florida East Coast , and the M od el Land f r Comp any , except o the site of Elser Pier at th e foot of Fl agler

stre et . The city wante d very b adly t o get the b ay front cl oser to the “ ” foot of Flagler stre et than th e park which the Supreme court

hande d it , b ecause the federal government promised to spend

t o start a h arb or if th e city woul d b uil d the docks . Th e Fl orida East C oast railroad had entere d into a contract with the United States to construct a turning b asin and channel across the

b ay to the government cut , b ut after its comp l etion of the rail

road t o Key W est , its interest in channels eb b e d , and it refused t o r l car y on the contract . The fe deral government found it cou d

n ot get satisfacti on out of the courts . ’ w n Miami s only prosp ect for a harb or , therefore , l ay in its o

efforts coup le d with what the war dep artment was willing to d o .

Through Frank B . Shutts , who had founde d The Miami Heral d in 1 9 1 0 and was also starting a law practice , the Fl agler interests in 1 9 1 3 gave Miami a thre e - year - option to b uy all the b ay front from

Fl agl er street to t h e P . O . do cks , inclu ding the channel and a

sp ur track , for in 5 p er cent b onds .

By then , h owever , S . B ob o D ean was in command of the old

- M etrop olis , and he b egan a fire eating crusade against the F . E . C . that soon had much of the town ’ s p op ulation b elieving that this “ ” greedy corp orate m onster was ab out to devour them , b ody and

soul . A S a result , M ayor John W . Watson vetoe d the b ond issue ordinance and the Fl agler sp okesmen retire d into their sh ells in

St . Augustine . The city then b egan suit against the railroad and the M odel

Land C omp any to take the b ay front by right of eminent domain , 1 9 1 7 of b ut A . J . Rose finally had to rep ort failure . In the city

f e r e d the Florida East C oast for th e land from S . E .

Se cond north t o th e P . O . terminals , and got nothing b ut a curt 1 refusal , by l etter . After 5 years of b ickering and litigation , the city and t h e Flagler estate re ache d an imp asse where the trustees finally refuse d even to answer l etters from the city or t o treat with

its sp okesmen . C The deadl ock was broken in 1 9 20 when Mr . Shutts , at the ity

1 2 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

’ council s re quest , went to the Flagler trustees in New York and finally whee dled the trustees of the Fl agl er estate into s e lling the bayfront property f or in 6 p er cent Miami b onds . The actual acceptance w a s made in Miami with Mr . Sh utts , W . A . R ob in a u . . e Blount , wid ely known Flagl er attorney , S P as city ’ li f at attorney and Chester B . M ass ch o New York , Miami s b ond torney , con ducting the negotiations .

The site of Elser Pi er at th e foot of Flagl er stre et , b elong H i h le m an ing t o a company headed by Locke T . g y , was offere d t o the city at this time for but the city fath ers were a 1 9 24 little sl ow in accepting . When they found in that they had t o have Elser Pier , they p ai d f or it at force d sal e . Had the matter of the b ayfront b een p ermitted t o drag two or three years more , until the b oom got well starte d , there is n o question that the M od el Land C omp any and the Fl orida East Coast woul d not have p arte d with the Site of the present p ark f or anything like In fact , it is doubtful if there woul d have been a park along Miami ’ s b ayfront today if the p urchase had not b een made j ust b efore the d awn of the b oom .

The germ of the park id ea , plante d by an anonymous drafts 4 0 of f man , live d through years , which half o it was p assed in bit ter squabbling b etween the city of M iami and the Fl agl er inter ests . Credit and conditions on the eve of the b oom enab l e d th e ’ city of Miami to create one of the worl d s finest parks in pl ace of the scraggly shoreline where the chil dren of the Le ffler s and the R omf h s and the W orl eys spl ashe d s o many years a g o . And the fill which covered that shore line and created B ay ’ front park buri ed more than tangib le evidence of nature s whims . in It buried , probably forever , th e animosity against th e Fl agl er ’ t e r e st s which all the pre ceding years of M iami s existence h ad nursed and fattened .

Paced by the opening of the Miami Shores d evel o m nt f p e , north o Mi ami , prep arati on for the b oom gathered sp e ed 2 4 after the first of Septemb er , 1 9 .

All through the early p art of that year , buying and selling of prop erty by Miamians and the slightly swollen winter crowd had p ushed up val ues in the more settled p arts . C apitalists with money and ideas then b egan bi d ding for acreage which might b e sub divided and improved after p atterns lai d down in Coral Gabl es ,

Miami Beach and l esser Miami sub division s .

S o - it was that Miami Shores came into b eing . It was th e r chil d of the Shorel and C omp any , which meant M s . E . S . Harri s ,

. r ie r Hugh M Anderson , Roy C . Wright an d th e late J . B . J e ff s , e c e nt l y chairman of the Everglades Drainage District . The present

Miami Shores Village occupi es a tract b ought from L . T . C oop er h i out of s l arge holdings in the northern end of M iami . Altogether

acres were pie ced together for this devel opment , which later

1 3 it s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s was even t o reach into Biscayne bay and attach the island on which the exclusive Indian Cre ek Golf club now rests in isolate d p eace .

Al ex Riach returned in September from Italy , where he had studie d architecture and landscaping for Miami Shores . A 000 hotel w as announce d for a Site on the bay j ust south of Arch cre ek . This somehow never took form . But it w as forgotten any way in the rush of b uyers for the b uil ding Sites carve d out of the Shoreland holdings . Elegant offi ces were op ene d with fitting ceremonies in the

Shorel and Buil ding , ne ar the First National B ank , offices that have Since b een sub due d to me et less spectacular re quire

ments . Ten Cadillac touring cars and four de luxe busses were

b ought to assist the sales staff . Th e first op ening earl y in

D ecemb er , with Mr . Jeffries as sal es manager and Hamilton Mi ch elsen directing the field

op erations , brought in

p urchases . Thereafter the new Miami Shores offices had to cl ose f or several d ays to allow the cl erical force t o dig out from un

der the effects of the first sale . r Of course , that was big doings f o

Miami . We live d to see th e day ,

however , when more than $ 3 0, worth of Miami Shores prop erty was sol d in a singl e ’ day s camp aign . D espite the frenzy of that

p eriod , Miami Shores somehow HUGH M A N DE RS O N ' escap ed the issuance of b onds . A fter the water was squeezed out of val ues and the Phipps estate

- had salvaged what w as l eft , Miami Shores emerge d as a debt free s and highly improve d municipality . Some ay the b oys of the orig “ ” inal Shoreland C omp any spent t oo much m oney on their front d owntown to have anything left for the lean years . The Miami Realty B oard decid ed in Septemb er to ere ct a 1 5 story b uil ding across from what then was the Central school prop ert y , subsequently acquired for the present fed eral b uil ding . The name since has b een change d to Postal buil ding . l i r Ge orge W . Langford of the M c A l st e H otel p aid a front foot) f or the strip of land b etween the h otel and the Elks cl ub and began the 1 0- Story M c A llist e r ad dition to cost Fifty - seven b allots were cast by Miamians in a School District

No . 2 election ap proving in b onds , of which went r t o George E . M errick in re p ayment f o the C oral Gables Elemen tary b uilding . A . D . H . Fossey Real Estate C omp any added eight

1 4 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

salesmen , one stenographer . Th e Fisher building , was

nearing completion at Miami Beach . Pub lic resentment flare d up against cl osing O cean drive ’ from the Firestone estate to Baker s Haul over . Sheriff Lo uis on - A . Allen posted arme d guards this long stretch of ocean side

road after a p art of it had b een torn u p by scarifiers . The courts finally were aske d to decide whether the Miami B each B ayshore Company and the Tatums could move the roadway back from the high sandy ridge along the b each to a less exp ensive l ocation ne ar

the b ay . The Tatums contende d they had b uilt it originally . Wit u nesses declared it was constructe d o t of a pub li c b ond issue . By degrees the p ublic b ecame reconciled to l osing its access to the ocean and the first thing anyone knew the ocean front was private i property again and that p art of O cean dr ve was only a memory .

In Miami , the publi c imp atiently receive d the news th at the new redwood water mains from Hialeah to M iami would not b e

complete d until the first of 1 9 2 5 . These wooden conduits were advertised to l ast a lifetime an d promise d Miami and Miami B each the first p al atabl e water out of spigots . The re dwood mains were rep laced this ye ar with cast iron pipe , after numerous l eaks had , develop ed . Civic club s and private citizens comp laine d bitterly ab out ’ the condition of Miami s stre ets , torn up by an ambitious p aving program , the l aying of water mains and extension of th e lines of the Miami Gas Comp any , newly acquired by the American Power and Light Comp any . The city commission was accuse d of going to

- Sleep on the j ob . The city decided to doub l e track Flagler to

Twelfth avenue whil e the p aving w as in progress .

Miss Alice Bri ckell , first p ostmistress of M iami , was kill ed by a live wire at h er Brickel l Point estate . M . F . H . Koch pl anne d a

hotel at N . B ayshore drive and Third stre et , b ut the lot ’ - still is b are . Wal ker S k ag s et h s store w as sol d for Miami 4 1 B each ap prove d , 1 to , a b ond i ss ue f or w ater mains and other improvements . The b each residents , like Miamians , got their drinking water out of b ottles until the mains were ext ende d across the causeway .

A . B . Hurst b ought the nort he ast corner of Evergl ades ave

E . nu e and the Dixie for to p ut there a pharmacy , grocery store and O d d Fel lows hall . Joseph H . Adams arrive d to take p os of h i r session s new Bell e Isle home . Dr . and M s . M . H . Tallm a n on starte d construction their home in Grove Park . Jerry

Galatis (Seven Seas restaurant) , b ought a house on South

Miami avenue . ’ To make room for widening of S . W . First avenue , the farmers market was move d to the b ank of th e Miami river where the S . W .

Second avenue bridge was to go . Frank Smathers sol d 200 acres at the corner of Flagler street and Ludlum road f or hav f or Ing p aid it a month b efore . The Florida East C oast r al lr oa d compl eted to Hialeah a spur that w as intende d to continue up the Miami canal to Lake Okeechobee . R . M . ( B ob ) Davidson ,

1 5 — M I A M I M I L L I O N S

first city manager of Coral Gabl es , dire cted the work . The first p assenger train p ull ed into the Hial eah station in Novemb er , b ut w the line as not b uilt farther north . Later , it was continued around

to rej oin the main line south of M iami and make a shuttl e route , eventu ally dissi pating the irritation of citiz ens hel d up at the Flag

l er stre et crossing by prol onge d switching of freight trains .

City M anager Frank H . Wharton predicted that traffic lights w oul d b e a su ccess , as General El ectric representatives arrived to

conduct a signal survey . Hamilton Mich elsen b egan carl oad ship f m ents o avocados from Miami to C alifornia . The M acon Tel e

graph e ditori ally referre d slightingly to M iami as a frontier town ,

harb oring criminals an d rascals . The Miami B e ach aquarium final ’ l - y was cl ose d by James A . Allison , C arl Fisher s former Prest O

Lite p artner , when Miami refuse d his offer of th e e quipment . ol The ad dition to th e d p ost office , the present home of the M iami Ch amb er of C omm erce , w as b eing rushe d as Postmaster J .

D . Gardner expresse d th e h op e it woul d relieve congestion in mail

ing facilities by January . The nation then was waiting t o see wh at the Novemb er ele c t ions woul d bring forth . C larence Darrow had saved Nathan Le o “ p ol d and Richard Loeb from the ch air f or th e thrill murder of 1 4 - - year ol d B ob bi e Franks . Gen . John J . Pershing retired as gen e ral of the American armies . Red Grange was the sensation of t h e footb all worl d . John Phillip Hill of B altimore discovere d that ' i r p er c e nt c d e was ill egal . The first vi ctim was cl aimed by the n e w r Fl ori da el ectric ch ai . William Lee Popham , the oyster king , ou h is was indicte d for u sing the mails to defraud , growing t of

oyster farms at Ap al achicol a , using a method of bre eding l ater

a dopte d by the United States government . tw On a bright , sunny day in September , o m urders shook r s Miamians out of their l ethargy . M . Hattie Freckl eton Shot an d

kill e d her husb and , J ose ph , on First street across from the p ost

office . She subsequently went free wh en M oman Pruiett , sensa “ t ional criminal l awyer from O kl ah om a , pictured her as the woman ” - scorned and an all mal e j ury agre ed . The same day W . Y . C .

Hume , president of the Tropical Realty C omp any , shot an d kil le d

Re ci o C el ona in the South M iami avenu e restaurant of his father .

H ume cl aime d th e younger C el ona intru d ed in his h ome . H e later

was acquitte d of murd er . 20 Juli an Brain was convicte d , sentence d to years in prison , - f or th e murd er of Raym ond Le e in a brawl . The Ashl ey M obl ey gang of Evergl ad es bank rob b ers h ad sh ot their way out of several d tight sp ots , robbe d th e Pomp ano bank , thumbe their noses at the

l aw from th e dank fastnesses of swamps that sheltere d them . It

was inde e d a lusty p eri od for Fl orid a , th e last fronti er .

1 6

M I A M I M I L L I O N S

broken . The b ody of Mid dleton , product of the Chicago under world , was claimed by rel atives . Back to the rude little burying r ground at Gome z went the other three , b ack to M s . J oe A shley , of mother John an d gran dmother of M obl ey . The two , with the i e o le stranger , Lynn , who had no k np p , were burie d besid e the father , Joe , who had b een Shot to death early that year in a still rai d whi ch also claime d the life of Dep uty Fre d Baker .

Ed and Frank Ashley , brothers of John , had died in 1 9 2 1 whil e running a l oad of liquor from Bimini . They disapp eare d at s e a . , b e lieve d to have b een victims of hij ackers . B ob Ashl ey , an “ ” w in other brother , as kill e d Miami in 1 9 1 5 when he tried to spring

J ohn , hel d in j ail by Sheriff Dan Hardie whil e awaiting trial on a “ ” charge of murder . Laura Upthegrove , queen of the Everglades ’ - and John s sweetheart and gun fighting comp anion , kil l ed he r self ’ in a fit of rage several months after John s d eath , drinking p oison at her filling station near Canal Point . D aisy Ashl ey , beauty of the family , also die d by her own hand . Less er memb ers of the gang have scattere d , or are in prison . Nothing out of the way marke d the life of John Ashley until 1 9 1 1 w as . He a trap p er and wood cho pp er , and one of h is trap ping comp anions w as a Seminol e , D esoto Tiger . A dre dge digging on e of the state canals b ack of Fort Lau d erdal e haul e d out the b ody of D e S ot o Tiger one day , and John Ashl ey w as accuse d of the murd er . He escap ed , travel e d into the W est, and returne d about i r three ye ars later , giv ng himse lf u p to S heriff George B . B ake , whose s on , B ob , then was j ailer . Whil e his trial w as in progress , however , Ashley again escaped , and b egan a reign of terror which is thought to incl ude even robb ery of a Fl orid a East C oast pass en ger train . In 1 9 1 5 the Stuart b ank was robb e d of and an a ccid e n ’ H tal Shot destroye d John Ashl ey s l eft eye . is nee d for medical care le d to his Sp e edy capture and he was lodged in D ad e county j ail , from which h is brother B ob unsuccessfully tried to free him . l The o d charge of murder finall y was thrown out , b ut John was sentence d to serve years in Raiford state prison f or the b ank rob b ery . He escap e d , m ade and ran li qu or b ack in his ol d haunts

9 2 1 . for three ye ars , was recapture d in 1 and returned to the prison

By escap es from various p enal institutions , the augmented 4 Ashl ey gang re assembl e d in 1 9 2 , after M obley and a companion h ad again robbed the Stu art bank . The first maj or achievement after that was th e foray against the Pomp an o b ank , which ende d S O disastrously . “ Only Ol d Lady Ashl ey was left at the littl e home at Gomez ,

S h . south of Stuart , o ut of al l that fierce brood e mothere d Today B s of even o b B aker is dead , passing away re cently from the effe ct an ol d inj ury which resulte d in the l oss of one l eg . H e went quite p eacefully b eyond the p ower of t hat curse calle d down up on him of by Mrs . J oe Ashl ey as she we pt b esid e the graves J ohn Ashl ey “ ’ ’ ” . and Hanford M obl ey $ It s B ob B aker s work , she h ad exclaime d

1 8 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

’ I hope h e s paralyze d tomorrow and they have to fee d him out ” of a spoon the rest of his life .

B ob Baker , during his l ast ye ars , tol d a picturesqu e and Slight ly gruesome story of that final chapter . John Ashley for ye ars had worn a gl ass eye in pl ace of th e one destroye d by acci dent during ’ the first Stuart bank rob b ery . It had l ong b e en B ob B aker s thre at ’ that he would yet we ar Ashley s eye as a watch charm .

After the Sebastian bridge affair , the glass eye found its way ’ into B aker s p ossession . B ut b efore the funeral , Baker recalle d , Laura Upt hegrove sent word to him that if h e di dn ’ t rep lace that “ eye s h e woul d crawl on my hands and knees through h el l to get n y ou ’ I knew that I d have her to kil l if I kept it , he remarked “ r uefully , s o I sent it back . That was p erhaps the only time in B B his life that ob aker backed d own b efore th e threat of death .

they th ought n o thing of spending a million dollars during the b oom for this

Do t o o — uglas entrance C ral Gables . Brower Ph oto.

3; s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER FOUR ’ 1 9 24 ILLE D as Miami s M aster Sub urb in , the present city of w a f n C oral Gabl es s the achievement princip ally o o e man ,

George Edgar M erri ck . This sam e Ge orge M errick has b eaten his way back into a dominating p ositi on in th e g r e ater Miami real f estate fiel d today , after the collapse o the b oom and several years o of adversity had condemned him , some th ught , t o the limb o of developers .

Coral Gable s was the l argest Single unit in the b o om . Roughly speaking , in real estate sal es were made th ere , and w as s p e nt under the p ersonal direction of George

Merrick t o create it . It was a city fully pl anned , and its essential features committed t o p ap er by M errick himself five ye ars b e fore a lot was sol d and nine years b efore it was incorp orate d . To ’ that on e fact al one , the creator today attrib utes the city s steady progress . It may interest those w h o play over th e Coral Gabl es C o untry club or the Biltm o re golf courses to kn o w th at those once were b e glades where the M errick vegetab l e fiel ds were l ocate d . Long n e f fore he b ecame o o th e central figures of the b o om , Ge orge M er rick and the C oral Gabl es p lantation of acres were th e l argest of o producers fruit and vegetab les in south Fl rid a . “ ” The name Coral Gabl es has its history . His father , the Rev . r f 1 6 0 Sol omon Greasl ey Mer ick , b ought the original h omestea d o acres between what is now Ponce de Leon Pl aza an d B alb oa Plaza . l He was a great admirer of Grover C e ve l e n d , whose hom e , Gray

Gabl es , was fame d through o ut the country . Wh en the el der M er rick named his h o me , built out of what they call e d coral rock , it b ecame C oral Gab l es , after the f residence o the former presid ent .

The plantation , then the s ub d ivi o si n , then the city , inherited that name . George M erri ck was e d u c at e d at Stetson , and sp ent o n e year in New York studying law . B ut h 1 s fath er b egan t o fail in 1 9 09 and he returne d t o manage the pl antation . He gradually ev o lved the b elief that in C oral Gables was the place t o b uil d h o mes f or the average p erson w h o wanted t o live in south Fl orida all the year , as opp osed to the other school of resort thought b eing worked out in the winter estates of the wealthy along th e ocean ’ s edge .

w a t o E O R m That idea s transl ate d G G E E . M m cx M I A M I M I L L I O N S

1 9 1 6 p aper ab out , soon after his marri age . A city for p erma nent residence by th e average man was l aid out in detail . At first , in ke eping with th e name , al l houses were to b e b uilt of rock , not actually coral rock but what can loosely b e calle d that . Later , h owever , the l ack of sufficient masons force d a change . The style was Sp anish , the young M errick having observe d in tri ps through the W est In di es an d to C uba that this typ e had b e en f r - evolved o all year residence in tropical countries .

To him , as h e b egan th e moul ding of C oral Gabl es , George M errick drew D enman Fink as artistic adviser and Phineas P aist a s archite ctural director . These were the first of a large group o f nationally known architects and artists wh o were t o have a h an d in the produ ction of the h otels , h omes and business district of that city .

Ever a n aturalist at h eart , M errick already was making the pl ace “ bl ossom like th e rose ” and trees and shrubs were taking root . The original grap efruit and orange groves were a s maintaine d as much p ossibl e , and even today , where the tr ees have receive d any care , they b e ar profusely . Around M errick in th e winter of 1 924 were th e princi pal fig ” o i ures f h s devel op ment . Th ere was D oc E . E . D ammers , wh o was real estate counsel f or M errick and first mayor of the city . In full p age advertisements he pre dicte d th at in eight years the center of the m etrop olitan Mi ami district woul d b e west of C oral

Gabl es . He die d as his dre am of empire stretch ed north , n ot west .

There was Telfair Kni ght , first president of the B ank of C oral w Gabl es , an d chief finan cial lieutenant to M erri ck . There as r Stafford C al dwell , who had come down from no th Florida to b e come assistant general sales manager .

F . W . W ebster , Mi ami Goodyear manager today , had quit th e t el ephone comp any to b ecome exe cutive manager of C oral Gabl es , after op ening an exchange th ere with 3 00 initial customers . Alex as w as ander Ott , prob ably the best Showman south Fl orida h , made sp orts director of Venetian Pool , newly opene d . h is or In the new Coral Gabl es C ountry club , Jan Garb er an d “ c h e str a mad e many a h eart flutter with Wh en the M oon Shines in ” D e s C oral Gables , one of th e theme songs of the b oom . Pete j ardins was sh owing th e p atrons of Venetian Pool how he won

- - second in diving at th e Paris Olympics . Five year old Jacki e Ott , a n ow a stu dent at Miami Senior High sch ool , was back from p “ ” p earing with B ert Lytell in th e motion picture , B orn Rich , and was continuing his sensational ( for that age ) diving an d swim t of ming . Ann B ooker was another of the young s ars that p ool , the g irl wh o came h ome n ot long ag o t o die with a broken b ack ,

- price of high diving fame in Vienna .

Cyrus F . Wicker returned that fal l from Spain an d M orocco with pieces of Sp anish tile f or th e houses and buildings .

New construction worth was going up , incl uding th e old C asa Loma H otel , the b ank building , the p ost office and the

2 2 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

administration b uilding of the Coral Gabl es C orp orati on , where ’ Sam s filling stati on , the new p ost office and the new George M er rick offices hol d forth today . The million dollar entrance gate at

Douglas and S . W . Eighth stre et was yet to come , b ut pl ans were even then drawn for additional h otels , in which were to b e house d the thousands brought to Coral Gab l es from Northern cities by

e s S . busses , by special C lyd Line b oat and e ab oard Air Line trains Coral Way at that time extende d east as a street only to t o Douglas road . It w as made a white way from D ougl as Le Jeune 1 924 road , and l ate in M errick b egan to cut the present Coral Way through toward Mi ami , to j oin with Third avenu e . It fol lowe d a path b eaten long b efore by Indians into the trading p ost of s s e e Fort Dallas , and later foll owed by early tourist eager to the vast Merrick groves .

As the year 1 9 2 5 opened , M erri ck was p utting d own th e rails f or the C oral Gables street car system which h e had to extend from a p oint on Flagl er str e et in Miami out to Ponce d e Leon b ouve lar d ’ and then around a loop within C oral Gabl es . The swan s ne ck curve in the b oulevard as it goes from Tamiami Trail to Flag l er stre et was cause d by M errick ’ s inability to b u y his way straight through th e Sta dler grove , which was then b eing sub divide d . The rapi d transit line down C oral Way , p ut out of business by a storm last November , was j oine d to this system by M errick during 1 92 5 .

Originally 3 , 000 acres , the M errick devel opment w as to grow t o acres at the p eak , reaching far down to the bay and surrounding Coconut Grove . The C oconut Grove section was put on sale ab out this time at a lot an d up . Announcement of the new Biltmore Hotel and Country club w as followe d by the op en ing of several sections near it , in th e C ountry club district . Th e Crafts section south of C oral Way and east of Ponce d e Le on b oule vard w as b eing reserved for a col ony of artists an d craftsmen . r In Miami W . E . Walsh an d F e derick Z eigen were talking

- - about an open air university , to wh ose p alm shade d cl asses some

students might come . Such conversation l ater w as trans r lated into the Unive sity of Miami , in Coral Gabl es . Gen . Gerardo - a Machado , newly electe d president of Cub a , w s visiting Alb erto “ R ui i Coral Gable s , awaiting his inaugurati on and the Trage dy f é i; ” o u a . Sightse eing b oat excursions from Elser Pi er down th e b ay and “ up the Coral Gabl es canal were preliminary to the 4 0 mil es of in ” - land waterway with which home makers were soon to b e lured .

Sales amounting to $ 1 0, 6 1 3 , 8 54 had been made in the first 1 0 1 924 f 4 months of . Ge orge M errick , returning l ate in the all of 1 92 from a financing and sal es tri p t o New York , hope d to do b etter the next year , but even he , dreamer that h e w as , h ad no conception of a the fant stic heights to which h e was to l ead h is foll owers in 1 925 .

Today , nothing but pride p lays on the face of George M er as rick he talks of Coral Gab les . It Is turning out as he p lanne d 20 it years ago , a city of homes . His h air is white , and the recent h i years have not dealt kindly with m , but the great frame which

23 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

h was hard ene d on the rocky groves of is father h as not droop e d . t ’ He , like his city , has ha d o change his Sights a littl e , but h e s still there on th e firing line .

The return of C alvin C oolidge t o the presidency of the United States with the l argest Re p ublican maj ority in history was like a sp ur on a fresh horse to th e Fl ori da real estate market . D ull and i uninspiring even in the hour of h s gre at triumph , President Cool id g e somehow op ene d th e spigots of nati onal b uying to a gol den fl ow that w as to continu e until 1 9 2 9 drie d it up .

Several other factors gave Fl ori da ne w headway in Novemb er , 1 9 24 . John W . M artin , thrice mayor of the b ustling city of Jack c on sonvill e , w as el ecte d governor to re pl ace Cary A . Harde e ,

- s e r vative small town b anker . M artin was el ected on a promise to buil d highways , then th e crying ne e d of the state . In th ese sam e Novemb er el ections Fl orida change d her con i st t ution t o prohibit in come an d inheritance taxes , in a fra n k bi d for wealthy immigrants from oth er states . She also vote d for a reap p ortionm ent of the l egislature , giving south an d central Flor id a m ore representation , D ad e county thre e re presentatives instead of one .

The very air was electri c with promise of good times . Th e stock market soare d , with men rioting in their scramb l e for stocks .

General El ectri c hit 3 00. Alfre d E . Smith was governor of New

York . Fr anklin D . Roosevelt w as fighting for his life in the warm waters of a Ge orgi a spring . The Miami H eral d sent Paul D . M ason to op en a Jacksonvil l e office and rep ort on th e steady stream of im p ortant men and women coming through that singl e entering gate , r b ound for M iami . F e d L . W e e de of th e Miami Ch amb er of Com merce also opene d a Jacksonvill e b ureau . On one Sunday Th e Her al d advertise d for sal e re al estate worth In the mid dl e of D ecemb er the Simmons Hol ding C omp any sol d acres north and west 1 of the ol d Dixie highway for $ , the l argest sal e in Miami sin ce th e original form ati on of d Mi ami Sh ores , which the tract a

- j oine d . Th e D onnelly Realty f C ompany , b uyers o the Simmons tract , refuse d for th e 1 prop erty at one time , with $ , a w in cash , final ly s its O H W MA RTIN G o v. J N .

2 4

s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s 35

Pennsylvania Sugar Comp any was describ ed by Fre d W ee de as “ ” the biggest industry in this section and ' th e r e was a disp osition on the part of Some to stop th e Trail rather than to end anger the “ it s sugar comp any and p ut investment in danger . Citizens proteste d bitterly against gre en fees on the municipal 7 5 course b eing hike d from cents to T . W . ( Tubby) Palmer , f then a noted player and memb er o the city golf b oard , admitte d rather brutally that th e increase was planne d “to keep the dubs ff ” o . The l argest all - cash sale in Miami up to that p oint w as wh en

Val D utt enh of e r , Shoe manufacturer of Cincinnati , bought the r Clyd e C ourt apartments f o from the Sail ors brothers , who had b uilt it in 1 9 1 7 . It w as named for C lyd e Sailors . r l H . H . M ase p ai d for th e G a y n Hotel ab out this 1 9 time , the owner having b een 0 . B . Sail ors . Built in 07 , it w as originally named the Evergl ades .

Heavy rain in north Fl orida isolate d Miami for two days . “ ” C laud e C . M atl ack hinte d darkly that infl uences were hol ding back the building of the Dixie highway . W . S . M axwell , secretary w of th e Miami M otor club , finally reporte d it as p ossib le to get through th e Dixie from Jacksonville to Miami by daylight only . ’ Th e other rout e , over th e C onner s highway , south from Okee h c ob e e around the east side of the lake , w as made passabl e with the ’ ’ hel p of J . W . Young s Hollywood equipment . Conner s highway , costin g was j ust op ene d , linking W est Palm B each and

Okeechobe e . Hollywood starte d the fourth miniature golf course in the H Unite d States . Er nie Seil er b ecame he ad coach at Miami igh school and the footb al l te am b egan to improve . James E . Ingra s ham , president of the M odel Land C ompany , a Flagl er sub idiary , w as die d in Atl anta . Th e present Ingraham bui lding name d for him .

2 6 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s 35

CHAPTER FIV E

USTY south Fl orida had outgrown its p ublic utiliti es early in

1 924 . The American Power and Light C omp any answere d the demand for outside capital and first move d into Mi ami in March with the purch ase of the Miami B each stre et railway and the el ectric plant at the b end of the county causeway . On this and later acquisitions it was to Spend many milli ons for e xp an s ion an d improvements , which only mountebanks during the depths of the d epression contended were sup erflu ous . Purchase of the Miami B each El ectric Company by this great utility system was foll owed by doubl e tracking across th e cause way b etwe en Miami and Miami Beach , wh ere th e viaducts then were b eing doubl e d in width by the county . Ge orge C . E still , w h o today h ol ds th e presidency of th e Florida Power and Light

C omp any , was head of the Miami Be ach system wh en it was taken o ver from the Carl G . Fisher interes ts . O n the day when Calvin Coolidge was ele cted president of the Unite d States the Am erican Power and Light Company an n ounce d it also had b ought th e Miami El e ctric Light and Power

r . Company from th e Flagl er estate , of which William R . Kenan , j ,

' w as trustee . This sm al l utility system was started 28 ye ars b efore with a Diesel engine in the ol d Royal Palm H otel , an engine that f requ ently re quire d the combine d muscle of many of the towns peopl e to start . With the announcement came the further discl osure that American had b ought th e Southern Utilities C ompany with pl ants as far north as St . Augustine and Palatka and extending over most of the eastern part of Fl orida . The W hol e system b ecame the Fl or

1 92 . . id a Power and Light C ompany on D ecemb er 2 8 , 5 , when S R I w as nch mad e the first president . H . H . Hyman , eight years with the M . E . L . P . C o w a s made general manager of the south ern division and Estill b ecame general sup erintendent . In that s ame year Joe H . Gil l came to Fl orida from Texas and was mad e s n vice pre ident and ge eral manager . H e succe ed ed Inch to the p residency in the trying d ays of the depression . As 1 92 5 dawned the giant generating pl ant at Davie was yet unbuilt . Th e p rincipal sources of p ower were th e Miami river Dlant of the ol d company and th e causeway pl ant at Mi ami Beach . T hree substations , at Buena Vista , C oconut Grove and Littl e River , were constructed for The two p ower plants were j oined b y cabl e , and high tension lines were laid up the be ach and out to H Ial e ah . Th e white way on S . W . Eighth street from Miami ave t o nue Fourteenth street w a s start e d . The first street car w as r un down the new Second avenue line . The Miami G as C ompany was the second of th e maj or util I ties to be absorbed by American Power and Light . It w as taken o ver from the St . Louis C entral Power and Light C omp any , which

27 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

ot h eld it only briefly after it g too unwiel dy for the receiver , Ge orge - in - M oore , the fath er l aw of Banker J ames H . Gilman . The p lant 9 1 6 . was starte d in 0 by Howard M Van Court , who op erate d it un til war prices force d the comp any into receivership in 1 9 1 9 . 1 9 24 The new owners sp ent in , ad ding to the equip ment and exten ding fee der lines through the north and west part of Miami , the pip es going down as the city p ave d the streets . A milli on doll ars foll owe d in 1 9 2 5 and in 1 9 2 6 the gas company ex e n d it ur e t p s rose o as b uil ding create d new demand . B ut this was small change comp are d t o the amounts re quired by th e p ower comp any . Ab out was sp ent in the dying f 1 9 2 4 1 9 2 months o , ab out in 5 , and was p oure d into Fl orida by American Power an d Light f or its new c om i 92 r p any n 1 9 2 6 . This 1 6 b udget was the largest construction p o gram ever carri e d out in the Unite d States by a Singl e op erating m “ ’ ” co p any . Shades of Brewster s Millions $ In on e we ek the com 9 2 p any sp ent The D avie p l ant , b uilt in 1 6 , cost 00 0. Every source of tel egrap h p oles from Texas to th e Atl antic i seab oard was sending ts pro du cts into Fl orida . The railroad em i b argo force d the comp any to ch arter t s own ships , and George Esti ll re call s today that nearly 1 0 p er cent of th ese p ol es were lost as b arges unl oade d at se a the vessels Shut o ut from the bl o ckaded

Miami harb or . The South Atl anti c Tel ephone and Tel egrap h Comp any b e gan in 1 9 24 t o fin d its resources t oo limited to m eet the demand .

Frank B . Shutt s , the president , had addresse d a p ub lic hearing an d re ceive d a favorab l e vote to increas e tel eph one rates t o p ermit

n ot o . exp ansion . B ut even that unpre ced ente d response was en ugh A t Southern B ell , with its farfl ung facilities , took over the South 6 l antic j ust b efore the n ew year broke , on D ecemb er .

Amid mu ch p ub li c imp at ience , the redwoo d water mains were 1 9 2 c onne cted in January , 5 , an d soon after p ure an d unsalte d water fl owed through th e m ains of Miami an d Mi ami B each . Other l ocal ow n ities , su ch as Coconut Grove , previously had establishe d their water systems . The town of B uena Vista was incorp orate d , sai d in T . V . M oore , esp ecially to obtain ad equ ate drinking water , and “ ” c id e nt ally t o escap e h eavy Miami taxes . - t Water storage tanks at N . W . Seventh avenu e and Thirty six h o t o street , where M ore p ark later was b uilt , were started , hol d

- gall ons . Miami B e ach b egan a gallon storage tank . W M B F Other utilities were on the move . Radio Station , wh ose call l etters were transl ate d by effusive announcers into

W ond erful Miami B each , Fl orida , was install e d that winter in the of new Fl eetwood H otel by Jesse Jay , son W eb b Jay , auto vacu um tank inventor . It was li cense d as the m ost p owerful stati on in the I D Unite d States and was th e forerunner of W O , which the younger

Jay later s e t u p on Nautil us isl and . of The Tropical Radio Telegra ph C omp any , subsidiary the f r t o 4 3 7 Unite d Fruit C omp any , l et a contract o buil d the

2 8 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

foot aerials at its station in Hial eah , the equipment which fare d so badly in th e hurricane two years later . The city of Miami that winter de cide d to radi ocast the night f or ly concerts of Arthur Pryor , who h ad returne d his eighth sea s on of band concerts in Royal Palm p ark . Fre d Mizer of the El ec tric a l Equipment Comp any was t o handl e the ra di o work . Who - f can forget the heart tingling voice o Rache l Jane Hamilton , soloist “ n with Pryor , as She sang Holy Night t o chil dren o Christ “ ” “ ’ ” S w a nn e $ mas eve , or Dixie or W ay D own Up on the e River w It was sweet , that is , unl ess a seaplane as warming u p its

- motor on the near b y b ay front , or one of th e planes was swooping d own over the b andshell with a mighty roar . Th e Miami B each city council finally p assed an ordinance to ke ep avi ators from sp oil ing the Lummus p ark concerts . The confli ct in Mi ami b etween aviation and aesthetics vanishe d with the new Bayfront p ark and the coming of more mature aviati on .

Miami was prep aring then for her future greatness in the air . Congress enacte d a law all owing the p ost office to contract f or ' e carrying air mail at 1 0 cents a n b unc . The government h ad trie d unsuccessfully to run th e mail across country through the winter , on pl anes equi p ped with skiis . Congressman J o e Sears announce d from Washington that an air mail line from New York t o M iami might b e obtaine d .

Francis M . Miller an d some air enthusiasts forme d the Miami Chapter of the National Aeronauti cal Associ ation and l aid p l ans t o get the 1 9 2 6 international air m eet for Miami . The a ssociati on aske d D ade county for a l anding tract pre p aratory to se eking an air mail lin e into New York . The Greater Mi ami Airp ort Associa tion , which has b een resp onsib le for most of Miami air me ets , was n ot yet b orn . h Edmond D avi d Girardot , w o call ed himself an airp l ane manufacturer from Engl and , told Mi amians that he woul d manu f 1 9 2 facture worth o planes here in 5 , and woul d estab lish a line to C ub a . Two great dirigibles , the Shenandoah and th e

German ZR S , excite d the ambition of those wh o ultimately g ot a dirigib l e b ase l ocated h ere—after b oth these ships of the air had Z R been destroye d . The S was b eing flown to the United States , which had purchase d it from Germany . The Sh enandoah was j ust

- comp leting a cross country flight .

Edward S . Huff , inventor of the m agneto used on

Ford autom obil es up to that time , was thrown out of court when h e f r h o . i sued Ford royalties At s h ome in Miami , he was tol d that f r his action o came too l ate to b e entertained seriously .

In a Fl orida l and b oom there w a s advertising enough f or any of kind p ublication , even a tabl oi d . The ad dition to the p o p ul a tion of restl ess peopl e in a strange setting provided the soil in a 9 4 which sensational press coul d exist . In 1 2 , as now , Mi ami was

2 9 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

open for the temporary white mul e j olt of the tabl oid . r C orne lius Vand erbilt , j . , who turne d informer on his own s et social , arrive d here unheral de d one drenching night in October , 1 9 24 , when more than eight inches of rain fell in 1 2 hours . It w as a memorable d ownp our , flooding the sidewalks kne e deep , filling s - the nearly comp lete d Kress ba ement in Fl agl er stre e t , Short cir cuiting p ower lines and stopping nearly every automobile that trie d to brave it .

In The Herald office when young Vand erbilt appeare d , work w as going on by candlelight until electrical connections coul d b e w as restore d . He a sensation five minutes after he walked in . For he promised that h e an d B arron G . C ollier , advertising magnate of and owner acres in Lee and C ol lier counties , woul d b uil d a railroa d through the Everglades from Miami to Fort Myers and woul d start a ste amship line from Miami to New Orleans . C ol lier previously had prop ose d one - d ay passage to Nassau on h is Fl or ida Interisland Steamship Line . In th ose days th e name of C orne lius Vanderbilt st ill was linked ’ in the public mind with the family s we alth . He p ublishe d two tabloid newsp ap ers in California an d w a s h el d likely to make w money in his own right . He as 2 6 years old . H e even went s o far that rainy night as to declare that 200

‘ mil es of ste el rail s and six locomotives already were l oade d for de livery to th e Fl orida Navigation and Railroad Corporation , headed by C ollier , wh o control l e d the stre et car advertising of the nation . Vanderbilt estimated that would b e sp ent on the enter ’ prise . Only C ollier s word was nee ded , he d ecl ared , to start the actual railroad construction . The word never came .

B ut a month after th e Vanderbilt arrival , while Miami was still b u z zing ab out the incipient railroad , Vanderbilt announce d h e woul d start a tabl oid in Miami , and he b egan to advertise a pri z e of for a name for the n e w p ublication . Whil e waiting for the name to materi alize he occupie d himself in soothing the cham b er of commerce with stories ab out what he and his friend , B ar ron C ollier , soon would b e d oing . Inci dentally he got numerous citi zens intereste d financially in his newsp aper venture .

In b etween times , when he was not motoring at high Speed b ack and forth across the continent with a companion and financial i h is adviser , John W . B r od x , Vanderbilt was penning pieces for

C alifornia pap ers that had an inimical effect when reprinte d here . Chiefly he “ panned ” the Florida climate an d expresse d the view “ that Miami real estate val ues were infl ate d . A p articularly apt “ ’ touch was the statement th at it s dangerous to g o Swimming here

( Miami ) because of the sharks rushing through the foam , and “ ’ - - h h . it s ot h ot ot , j ust as though the ocean were b oiling at midday

Such expressions , duly re corded in the Miami press , cause d Van d e r b ilt t o exp l ain that he was suffering from a b ad col d an d w as not really himself when h e wrote the offending articl es .

The Vand erbilt newsp ap er , calle d The Ill ustrate d Daily Tab , b egan p ublicati on January 1 2 , 1 9 2 5 , with 4 0 p ages . The front p age

3 0 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

f f r carrie d the picture of the winner o first priz e or th e name , M s .

. th e Floris Lambert , Shown starting the presses The p lant was in former home of the afternoon M etropolis , j ust east of th e C entral fire station on Flagler . The M iami advisory board consiste d of

. . . J . O . Harl ey , Lon W orth Crow , E C Gaunt , Clarence M . Busch , C

. . of C . Ausherman and T . B . C Voge s The national advisory b oard n Vanderbilt Newspapers , Inc . , was headed by Alfre d I . d uP o t , s wh o recently die d at h is Jacksonvill e e tate . The Tab tried al l the tri cks of the tab l oid press to gain a foot hold and while business w as on the upgrade , of course , it hel d b oth advertising and circulation . It b egan to fade , however , in P ebru 1 6 1 92 6 ary , 1 92 6 , and on J une , , it vanishe d with the announce ment that E. A . Inglis , then a re al estate operator and now an of ficial of th e First National Bank , ha d been app ointe d receiver . Vanderbilt p ass ed quickly from the Miami mind and the s en sationalism which his kind of p aper retaile d l eft only a d ark brown taste in the public mouth . He is chiefly recalle d as a pretender , trying to us e his tabloid to compe l respect , and failing . One out growth of his effort s was the increase d use of l ocal pictures in Th e

Heral d , decided up on by O . W . Kenn edy , the managing e ditor , as a policy which h as remained to this day . Another b oom j ournalistic product was the afternoon Miami of Tribune , recently reincarnate d into the tabl oid daily th e pres ent prosperous peri od . It is a far cry from the scholarly efforts of

Clayton Se dgwick C oop er , first editor of The Trib une , to the cur rent output under The Trib une name .

92 . The Miami Trib une starte d early in 1 4 with N . B . T . Roney as its first backer . Mr . C oop er , today president of the exclusive C om mi ’ tt e e of 1 00 at Miami Beach , occu pie d the editor s chair and Le o

F . Reardon was presi dent of the p ublishing comp any . It had it s pl ant in th e two - story b uil ding in First street north of th e court “ ’ ” house and carrie d the designation , The Pe opl e s Pap er , at the r masthead . It was gentl e , readab le , but neve abl e to overcome the commanding position in the afternoon fiel d of th e News - M e t r o li o s . p , acquired by James M C ox of Ohio from S . B ob o D ean ,

- l ong time foe of Flori da East C oast domination in l ocal p olitics .

R . M . M onroe , now handling a dvertising an d p ub licity for the of un city C oral Gab les , ran a wi dely read col umn in The Trib une der the titl e of The Lyre . Frank P . Fil des succe e ded Mr . C oop er in charge of The Trib une and through 1 9 2 5 it seemed to prosp er . l of 9 2 6 The chi l winds N ovemb er , 1 , withered The Trib une t o tabloid Siz e , and in February of the foll owing year it shran k to a 2 1 9 . weekly , ceasing p ublication entirely in August , 7 Subsequent ly the name was reb orn on Miami Beach on a we ekly sche dul e an d b ecame a standard tabl oi d daily in Novemb er , 1 9 3 4 .

These p ub lications , with such exotic fl owers as Miami Life , under Wen Phillips and Fre d Girton , hel p e d The Miami Heral d

f . write the saga o the b oom B ut none of them , n ot even The News ’ on e 504 - with its p age sp ecial , could ap proach The Herald s lofty ’ pl ace at the very t o p of the worl d s newsp ap ers

3 1

M I A M I M I L L I O N S 33

then hel d no thrills for him . J oachim Fritz , Bavarian dairy man whose cows once ranged over an extensive acreage in the northwest section , was in the real estate b usiness . His home w as on f the site o the present unfinishe d Fritz H otel , in whose empty corrid ors and sil ent rooms l aying h ens and mushrooms are the only p aying guests . Last re p ort ed running a hotel at Silver Springs , J o achim Fritz hel p ed write b oom history around and b eyond the

Allap attah secti on , where he l ocated when he first arrived in south

Fl ori da , on foot , from Baltimore . From his former dairy com pany we g ot such names as M el rose Gard ens , not far from the hotel , which sol d l ate in 1 9 24 for

- E . D . N o e Son b egan selling l ots in near b y M elrose

Heights , with the promise that a street car line woul d run out “ ” - Thirty sixth stre et soon .

- C urtiss Bright op ened their new C ountry C lub Estates , the

- present d ebt fre e city of M iami Springs . John A . Campb ell start

- e d Paradise Park at N . W . Twenty seventh avenu e an d the Miami “ river , euphemistically describe d as ne ar the center of town . Two 8 0- acre tracts north of the new race track in Hialeah were sol d for Dr . C . E . Tumlin p aid f or 1 20 acres north of the track . Five acres on the railroad near Arch creek brought 250 R . R . B ail ey , former C alifornia d eve lop er , paid $ , 00 f r 9 0 o acres west of D avi e , an d in 1 3 6 may still b e found fighting t o get agriculture out there free from the menace of water or drouth . Th e community of Littl e River d e cide d at that time not to

e . incorp orate , waiting to s e if Miami woul d annex the territory The meeting which reache d this money - saving decision was preside d R over b y S . P . o b ine a u , who had returne d to Miami after th e war

- n in and h is inventi on of the antise ptic , Z o ite , to practice law and vest in real estate .

- The corner at Miami avenue and N . W . Twenty seventh stre et was bought for by T . J . Fletch er and J . C . Johnson , wh o started an ice factory there . J . Ovi d Brooks rep orted that the

M asons h ad b ought property at N . E . Second avenue and Twenty first street for and p lanne d to construct a temple at a cost of This seems to have b een a promotion dream , as no a nd construction of the kind took place . W ebb Jay acquired three a fraction acres on the b ay in Lemon City , south of the Tee House Plantati on for

Everyone , it se eme d , wanted acreage to subdivide , b ut this was only a taste of wh at was to come a few m onths l ater , in the spring of 1 9 2 5 . The tide of sub dividing ran west even faster than of north , until th e swam p l ands the Everglad es stop p ed the b uil d ers of sidewalks and ornamental gates . The forl orn settl ement of u Sweetwater , 1 0 miles o t on the Tami ami Trail , is proof that even ’ muckl and couldn t h alt some enterprise , for sidewalks an d Spanish h ouses sprang u p there , too .

w a s t . The first su b division in Miami , as we know , star ed by B

3 4 s s s M I A M I M I L L - I O N S s s s

n B . Tatum , o the west b ank of the Miami river and named River side . He built a bridge on the Site of the present Fl agler street “ ” as span t o get to his new devel opment , away out of town , he de 1 9 2 scribed it . By the end of 4 , h owever , sub divisions were bl os s oming like mushrooms around the j unctions of Re d Road with S ix Flagler street , S . W . Eighth street and C oral Way , miles west of Riverside .

Miss M ab el Hammond , prob ab ly the outstanding woman de f or 4 n ve lop e r of the boom , p aid 0 acres o the southeast corner of W . Fl agler stre et and Red road , on which the Hammond

Realty Company opened Fl agl er Terrace , and 1 0 acres across Fl ag ler street on which Westgate was laid out . The corner was de ’ scribed as Miami s busiest transfer p oint of the future . Two years r w before , this property had been b ought f o It as p art of the extensive hol ding of W . R . Comfort , wh ose Seminole Fruit and Land C ompany had acquired it$ nearly 4 0 years b efore for

an acre .

With these two sub divisions and Winona Park , west of there o n Flagler , the new addition to Winona Park acr oss the canal , and 4 50 Normandy B each , Miss Hammond directed the devel opment of i l acres during the b oom . As Mrs . Walter S e in today , s h e recalls that S h e arranged to h ave the b uilding restrictions on Fl agler Ter race remove d by 1 9 3 5 to permit the construction of skyscrap ers , ’ S h g didn t want to feel that She was impeding th e growth of ' Mam1 i . ’ Miss Hammond w as handling a man s j ob b efore s h e could vote , managing the public utilities in tw o Indiana towns . She came

t n M r . 1 9 1 o Miami o a visit to s Tom Norfle et in 6 , and remained to set up the first tax b ooks in Broward county . D uring th e war she was engage d in cl erical work at Chapman Fiel d , and later in Fort

Benj amin Harrison .

Fol lowing the armistice , Miss Hammond worke d for T . J . f Pancoast in the devel opment o th e u pper b each , and her father located a real estate office on Fifth street at Miami Be ach when only the p ost office and the Miami O cean View Company buil d ing fronte d on that street . H er experience in real estate w as turned t o more ambitious use wh en sh e put Normandy B each on f or the market Henry Levy , and when sh e later induce d M ortimer G r y z mish and Henry Levy t o s e e the vision of a causeway at Seventy -ninth street an d they b ought the two Normandy Isles on which the present causeway l ands . These islands in upp er Miami

B each were bought first by A . P . Warner and M ead Brothers through Miss Hammond for and sol d by h er to the actual w developers the follo ing year , 1 923 , for

Getting b ack to Flagl er street , we fin d Flagler Lawn spring as Ing up a neighb or to the Hammond subdivisions , with l ots price d

- at and up . Flagler M anor came into being near b y .

Farther south , at what for many years h as been known as the

Wil dcat corner , Red Road and Tamiami Trail , J . H . Pearlman paid 1 0 “ ” for 0 acres of the southwest quarter . Doc Dam

3 5 ‘ s s M I A M I M I L L I O N ‘S s s s

ou M mers increase d the vogue t there with C entral iami . Get a ” “ laugh out of this , he advertise d . In eight years the central p art ” of M iami will b e west of C oral Gabl es . O ne of the last frontiers of was C oral Way Park , at the end Coral Way and Re d Road . F .

B . M ill er C o . starte d lots there at $ 700 each . Recently building has been resume d even in that are a . C oral Gab les had a comp etitor for the yacht trade in Flag ami , at th e western entrance to Miami , where Flagl er street curves around to meet the Tamiami Trail ; The b oat C ol onel actually car ried 2 00 passengers from the b ay up the Miami river and through t o the Tamiami canal to Flagami , and the Tprice of l o s at once r se

50 p er cent . The devel op ers were agitating for a whiteway b elt from Flagler to the Trail , and p lanne d the hotel which today is the first maj or b uilding to meet m otorists coming from the west .

Brooklawn w a s sired by Lee Brooks , Inc . , on S . W . Twenty se cond avenue . Tatum Brothers p aid for C oral Nook ,

- 2 5 acres b etwe en Twenty eighth and Thirtieth streets on th e Trail .

Vedado , south of the Trai l and still enj oying its ow n water system , was advertise d by W arren Brothers as having a whiteway on every street —lots from t o The present town of South

f . o J . Miami was started on acres under the nursing _ R Clute r i n and associates . Even Fre d W . Pine w a s p e s d e t of a real estate company and for the time b eing all owed Herman Swink to b e

county solicitor . n All of th ese sub divisions , and many more , remai today , some

- emaciate d and rattle b oned , others prosp erous , all inviting buil d ing a s Miami takes up the march which those b usy promoters fore

'

an r omis e . tol d . M an y , of course , never did h ol d y p Such as the l ive n a w a development of Flamingo , in which a ot was g y by Wal - s ter R . Early for e ach five year ubscription to the promised p ubli “ ” w cation Happ enings in Fl orida . Flamingo as vaguely l ocate d

as b etwe en Kissimmee and Orl ando . M any other such free offer t o ings were made , the catch b eing that the su cker was exp ecte d f p ay $ 1 5 or s o f or an abstract o t itl e . The l ot and abstract togeth er

usual ly cost the promoter ab out $ 5 . t n t There w a s Wyl d ewood Park , b e wee M iami and D ania , b uil

around a b anyan tree . The price of the tree remains

a mystery t o this day , b ut th e tre e is still there , by the Sid e of the

new Fe d eral highway . Royal Palm Estates was an early blooming l m onstrosity . It w a s south of o d Royal Palm p ark , b el ow Home

stead , and its principal cl aim t o distinction was th e b oast by its promoters that 1 0 railroad tracks soon would run from Jackson

ville right into Royal Palm Estates . O ke e ch ob e e was being b oome d as th e Chicago of the South

by Charl es L . Henck C omp any , whose sal esmen were ab le to p oint t o und oubte d investments in th e Evergl ad es making this app ella

of . tion n ot s o bizarre . Brown C om pany Portl and , M e , was trying t o g e t water control on acres of muck in Palm Beach county

3 6 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

Fi t o grow peanuts f or pap er b lanching . W . J . ( ng y ) C onners was building a sugar mill near his newly opened toll road from Okee ch ob e e to Twenty Mile B end , al ong the eastern shore of the lake . h is n ow Barron G . Collier had b ought vast empire in what is Le e ,

Collier and H endry counties , and was p ushing th e Tamiami Trail u P south from Fort Myers . Henry Ford , Senator C ol eman d ont , the Van S w e r ing e n brothers of Clevel and , Harvey S . Firestone , J . oil S . Cosden , the magnate , the Pennsylvania Sugar C ompany , all came t o financial grief b ucking the Everglades , b ut they were ful l

of h o pe and flushe d with money then . The city of Oke echob ee at the key p oint for E verglades commerce was not without promise .

The promises simply were t oo good .

The lack of an ade quate courthouse and consequent d el ay in

handling the . cl erical work of the b oom contrib uted somewhat to the fever he at to which the b oom ultimately rose . Even in the fall

- of 1 9 24 the two story stone b uil ding , which had served as the seat of county government for 20 ye ars , was considere d much too small . The county bar associati on and the grand j ury made formal statements demanding a new courthouse . J . W . Carey , chairman n of the county commissio , finally heade d a group to make d efinite pl ans for a b uil ding, which Mitchell D . Price b elieve d sh oul d not exceed seven or eight stories . Unhap pily they starte d too late . Long before the present 27-story county- city obelisk reare d its h ead t o become the tallest stru cture in the South , the machinery of court s and clerks was b adly cl ogge d . Business establishments sprang up that winter like toadstools after a rain . The El C omodoro H otel op ene d with S . D .

M c r e r . C a y , recently Miami safety director , as manager , and T . R ’ on A ll Knight s Tamiami Bank th e main floor . The Bank of ap at tah had op ened in the n orthwest section with County J udge Frank

Bl anton as president .

John Seyb ol d , pioneer bakery owner , l et a contract to add eight stories to the C entral Arcade , known today as the Sey

- bol d Arcade . A four story additi on to the B ank of B ay Biscayn e w a 1 - s nearing completion , but the present 3 Story b uil ding w as not planned at that time . The Vand erp ool b uil ding on S . E . First ave nue was finished . The Vail Arcade on E . Fl agl er stre et w a s being pushed to four stories at a cost of to house the Hirsch

- - - - Fauth Harrison Furniture C ompany . Fulford b y the Sea was sp end a- ing mere b agatell e , to enl arge its Fl agl er stre et offices , and the Hollywood Land and Water Comp any p ut extensive a d d itions to its Flagler street showrooms as the Young organization began its third year . ’ W . M . Burdine s Sons Company was finishing the six stories of w as w what then , as n o , the finest dep artment store in the South .

Plans for a Y . W . C . A . downtown were approved by busi ness men , b ut the b uil ding never took form . David Leta w sol d his ’ Fl agler street drug store at a re p orted price of t o Liggett s

3 7 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

i and h s s on , Harry , wh o runs a drug store in C oral Gab les today , was sent t o an Atlanta medical school .

The Miami Tire C ompany built a pl ant on N . E . Sec ond street .

A . A . Ungar had come t o Miami from Atlanta in 1 9 1 9 , and w as l . A tm r j oined here the same year by M S . y e , a native of Ge orgia , w - h o had lived for some time in Jacksonvil le . The Ungar B uick o C ompany grew from the activities f these men , and late in 1 9 24 the present p lant of Ungar- Buick w as opened at a cost of r In a bid f o the downtown dining trade , F . D . Van Vechten started the M arine Roof Garden atop the Profess ional b uil ding with one of ’ those b oom breakfasts which were sup p ose d t o begin at 9 o clock but rarely produced food before noon . Freeman Sons built their “ garage in Buena Vista . P op Groover of the Groover

Stewart Drug C ompany put a addition t o h is pl ant . Thomas

J . Peters began the Halcyon Arcade west of the Halcyon “ Hote l , t o su pply the great demand for shops and offices on Fl ag ” l er street .

Harvey A . Se eds Post of the American Legion de cide d to b uil d a home on Eighth street and the bay front , on the site of _ l an o d h ospital the post had acquired . The p ost stayed there 1 0 years , moving recently t o the new home in the Tee House Plan

- t ation tract , one time pride of Billy Ogden and later owned by Ed

- Ballard , on the b ay at Sixty fifth stre et . The present tax collector ,

H - arry Gol dstein , had j ust succee ded Cliff Reeder as commander

‘ of 24 the post , lat e in 1 9 . The Hassel l - D upre ap artments were constructed at this time where Flagler street j ogs at Seventeenth avenue , costing $ 1 7 Ab e A r onovit z and Leon Lis c h k off p aid f or a b uil ding at N . W . Fifth street and Second avenue . Th e East C oast Jobbing

4 . House , founded 0 y e ars b efore in Key West , op ene d on N . W Third street with Louis Wolfson as president a n d Mitchell W olf s on as general m an ager . The Railey - Mil am Hardware store cel ebrate d its fourteenth year in Miami , partners being F . G . ( Pat) Rail ey , M arcus A . Milam ,

Gaston Drake and R . M . Mil ler . Railey , Milam and Drake also were together in the Milam Dairy and the Drake Lumb er C om pany . The Midtown Realty C ompany took a 9 9 -year lease on the ’

Cheatham and M eeks b l ock , across Miami avenue from Burdine s , at an annual rental of The prop erty had be en le ase d

’ e arlier in the ye ar by th e owners , J . H . Cheatham and C arl M eeks , of t o D avid A f r e m ow and B . F . Schoenb erg . After th e b oom , course . the owners g ot it back .

The wonder of Mi ami then was the Kress b asement . 1 0 feet F b el ow water level and the only one downtown . wd T . Ley

C o . built it despite gl oomy predictions that it woul d be half full

' of w at e r most of the time .

There were many signs that b usiness was excepti onal . The overflow of Christmas p ackages was s o great that Postmaster Gard

3 8 M I A M I M I L L I O N S ner erecte d tw o sheds on the high school grounds to take care of - of it . Miami was twenty fourth in b uilding among the citi es the f r United States . Some genius o figures estimated that the city in f f one year used 4 00 miles o awning , and that cars o lumber 1 9 worth had be en consum ed during 2 4 .

James Cash Penney and James D eering arrived in De cemb er , breathing confidence , the former to g o t o his Bell e Isl e home an d i the latter to h s magnificent estate , Vizcaya . Wrote a commenta “ r t or of that day $ In Miami M . Penney is known and esteemed ” f or the pleasing ap proach abil ity of his personality . This was some time b efore the City Nati onal Bank In Miami had op ene d and ’ “ ” closed , and Mr . Penney s ap proachability had disapp eared .

Fourteen New York b ankers were brought to Miami by A . E .

F itk in Comp any , owners of the Pinellas County Power C ompany , which later b ecame the Florida Power C orp oration . They were h entertaine d by Banker E . C . R omf , by E . G . Sewel l and Frederick i s w in J . O s us , and were properly impre se d ith the soundness of h l vestments in Florida . The First National B ank e d at t h e close of 1 924 , and the B ank of B ay Biscayne boasted $ 1 1 , The Miami Bus Company was carrying from to p assengers a day in the 1 60 passenger automobiles then in us e . Remember the electric shock when you reache d out to grasp a j itney b us door handle on a hot d ay $

At Miami Be ach , N . B . T . Roney was p lanning to spend $ 1 ,

to p ut up the Roney Plaza Hotel . John S . C ollins , who h ad come t o the b each many years b efore in a fruitl ess effort to gr ow coconuts , announce d that he woul d return to his former home in

New Jersey no more . James A . Allison let a contract to

John B . Orr for Allison hospital . It was b uilt on a mad e isl and in s u pper Indian creek , to in ure isolation and quiet , an d was l ater r e name d St . Francis hospital . W ork b egan on the King C ole Hotel .

Julius Fl eischmann pl anned an cl ubh ouse f or p ol o friends .

With 3 3 hotels and 8 0 apartment buildings , Miami Beach estimate d ’ it coul d care for visitors , providing th ey didn t al l come at once .

Up the coast from M iami , the Fl orida East Coast railroad fin i h e s d a roundhouse at New Smyrna . The

Pelican Hotel was starte d at Stuart with John E . Taylor and W . I .

Schumann handling the b onds . The casino at Fort Pierce beach w as under way . The towns of Daytona , Daytona B each and Seabreeze were preparing to merge into the one city of Daytona A S Fl or a Beach . in many other l d coast resorts , the urge then was “ ” “ ” “ ” f or s e a a name containing b each or or ocean . There was real estate gold in them th ere frills .

3 9 tallest public building in Flo rida is this county-city building

s . ( ) The old ou o at Miami in et c rt h use that served through the b oom . s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s river f or and devote d it to the more subtl e caj oling of large investors . f i The backbone o the city s Hollywood boulevard , one of the widest streets in Florida . On the western end is the former Hol ly w ood Hil ls Hotel , built and opene d late in th e b oom at a cost of and now occupied profitably by the Riverside Military ’ Academy . O n the eastern terminus at the ocean s e dge is the b eau tiful Hollywood Beach Hotel , which cost and was

9 2 6 . opened in January , 1

Along the Hollywood boulevard one fin ds the city hall , the building of the First Hollywood Bank , the Park Vi ew Hotel , the r Great So uthern Hotel and the Hollywood C ountry cl ub , wh ose e movab le roof and shimmy dancers were the sensations of 1 92 5 . All these and many more were built by Young as the profits from sal es and resal es pyramided his assets to di zzy heights . By the time the b oom started t o subside , he coul d look with satisfaction up on o a city of resi dences , 1 3 hotels , 63 ap artment buil dings , t w schools and nine churches in addition to the b usiness section .

It was a p eculiarity of Young , the b uil der , that he distruste d and avoided contracts and most of this development became the f wh n personal responsibility o Dickey , o is ow the city manager of Hollywood . Prob ab ly the only maj or contract that Young e u t r e i A e d int o cost him h s city . s the b oom w as fading , Young cast about in desperation f or some means of completing unfinishe d im r p ove m e nts so he woul d have something to sel l . He contracted with the Highway Constr uction C ompany of Ohio to b uild more of than worth streets and sidewalks , and pl edge d his tangible assets t o p ay for it .

Unhap pily for Young , Hollywood property in 1 92 6 could not b e revive d even with such artificial stimulants as the new harb or . 1 9 f S o by 3 0, the thousands o lots and other prop erty owned by th e

Young interests , including the Hollywood B each Hotel , were as sumed by the creditors . These interests merged into Hollywood ,

Inc . , on which much of the future of Hollywood rests today .

The harbor deserves sp eci al mention . The aged Gen . G . W . f Goethals , builder o the Panama canal , was brought to H ollywood 1 92 o in 5 by Young t o make a harb or ut of Lake M ab el , which was se parate d from deep water in the Atl antic only by a narrow strip of l and . The name of Goethals was all Young wante d ; he exp ect ed Dickey t o direct the digging . The general neve r got geare d u p t o b oom tempo and ultimately departed with out having adde d much t o the harb or , except t o inspire the numerous sal esmen then o u t o throwing t the p ublic the l ots surrounding the harbor Site .

The outcome we can s e e today . But Young found the j ob t oo f r e 9 big o his Shrinking p urS , and in 1 27 the cities of Fort La uder dal e and Hollywood were j oine d in a harb or district by l e gisla W o f r tive act , ere b nde d o and the work procee ded .

O therwise , it was whispered at that time , Young would have fall en afo ul of the Unite d States government f or using the mails to de

4 2 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s fraud had he not delivered a deep water h arbor as per his a d ve r tising . r Regardless of the meth ods o the hysteria of those days , Holly wood became a splendid community with good government dat 9 2 A i ing from 1 5 . s evi dence that t had fundamentally strong foundations , we need cite only that the First Hollywood B ank w as one of the very few small town financial institutions in south Flor ’ ida that came through the b oom and hasn t cl ose d since . This was the only bank in Hollywood , started by Young to finance his mush rooming comp anies . That it did not bl ow up in a cloud of ruine d depositors like s o many others may be l aid in part to the fact that f i the First National Bank o Miami hel ped gui de ts course , and in part to the very obvious fact that the b oom did not convert Holly ’ wood s future into its p ast .

It looks like o ld home wee k in Fort Laud erdale these days , r with G . Frank Croissant , W . F . M orang , A . G . Kuhn and othe giants of the boom returning to their former stands and picking u p development of water front lots right where they left off 1 0 years ag o . Croissant Park was the largest and most spectacul ar of th e b oom exp loits in Fort Lauderdal e . It occupies most of th e south central p art of the city and is cut by Andrews avenu e , that broad roadway which angles off from th e Federal highway toward the center of the b usiness district , through wid e exp anses of vacant lots , past the demolished ruins of the Croissant Hotel .

Croissant was a dynamic salesm an and developer . He forme d

Croiss ant Park out of acres , b ought for late in 1 9 24 , and it soon was sol d out . The procee ds of these sales l ater

$ went into a new sub division north of Fort Lau derdale , named “ ” “ ' ” r C oiss ant ania . He lab ele d it My M asterpiece in l avish a d ve r tising but it actu ally was the d ownfall of the b uilder of Calumet

City . After years of residence in Spain , Croissant is b ack at work in Fort Lauderdale devel opment again . L Scarcely less remarkabl e was Lauderdal e Isl es , north of as

Ol as b oul evard , which le ads out to the ocean from the heart of of w a s Fort Lauderdale . Like most these seaside sub divisions , it “ ” based on the water front l ot ap peal . The water front was pr o d u c e d by digging ditches or canals through these various s ub d ivi sions , and thereafter p ostal authorities coul d not arrest you f or ” advertising water front property in the unsusp ecting cities of the nation . Lauderdale Isles is distinguished today by the bridges which

' hang out over the canals with scant b enefit of connecting roadway on f the north side o the b oul e vard . It was a b oom product of Wil liam F . M orang Son , foll owing h is successful promotion of Lau ’ der del Mar , today that city s b est ocean front section . The bridges and the canals were p art of a plan t o produce

water fr ont l ots , by digging th e canals b etween l ong strip s

4 3 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

of sub divided land , two l ots and a street in width , and j oining th em with the waters of the bay , the soun d or Middle river . Recently most of this property h as been dug out from und er the j ungle growth which mantl e d it during the depressi on . P . A . W ells and associ ates of Chicago b ought nearly 7 00 l ots in the west secti on of Lau H D avo d e r d a le Isl es , and . H . c k and associates of Detroit took over th e remaining lots to the east . Some d ay , p erhaps soon , the bridges will lead somewhere and the canals will help the l ots regain some of their value . W e suggest that a shrine b e erected by these d evel op ers to p erpetuate the name of C . G . Rod es , W est Virginian , wh o started 2 the sub division of Venice in 1 9 5 and still is working at it . He is credite d with originating the idea of making a l ot more attractive c by p utting water in front of it . The l ow , marshy l ands whi h lie b etween the b usiness part of Fort Laud erdal e and th e s e a lent themselves admirab ly to this scheme of devel opment .

The l ate Thomas N . Stilwell was anoth er big figure of Fort ’ Lauderdal e s b oom ; not s o big physically as his brother Horace , 9 0 I le w l . 1 2 d d b ut more active in real estate In he starte d y , on New 9 river s o und , still one of th e b est residential sections . In 1 25 he Id le w ld 4 put Riviera , west of y , on the market and sol d it out in 8 hours . The years of inactivity ende d in 1 93 4 when Thomas Stilwell cl eared off one of th e attractive littl e isl an d s south of Las Ol as b oul evard and g ot some h ouses starte d on it . Then he began on an

- other wee d matted island , and at the time of his death last De e c mb e r w as making notabl e contributions to the Signs of progress . h a l His wi dow i s associated with Dr . S or Hornb eck and others in carrying on the i s land improvements . The canal - in- front- of - your- door pl an was carried on b y -M or ang and E . B . Hamilton , b oth of B oston , in Rio Vista Isles in 1 925 . a This devel opment foll owed the Shore line toward L ke M ab el , n ow 1 Port Evergl ades , and was entirely compl ete d in 92 6 , after the ’ r n b oom was ended . M o a g s last effort of the b oom was Lauder d ale Harb ors , around the north end of Lake M abel . He is b ack in Fort L auderdal e sp ecificall y to reop en Rio Vista Isl es . i Pract cally all of Fort Lauderdal e is taking on new life . Even

- Chateau Park is ab out t o awaken from its death like sl e ep . Start a M c r e a e d by H rrison C d y of Miami , it occupies relatively high land in th e northwest section and is b eing eyed today for a building pro r gram that may make it anoth er Riverside . Only C oiss ant ania t seems d oome d o p erp etual rest . R io on 1 9 22 Vista , p ut in by C . J . Hector , and Virginia Park , f ’ o . . product A G Kuhn s efforts , form substantial p ortions of th e ’ city s framework today . Kuhn h as returned re cently from a pr o o i l nged vis t in M exico City . He is a brother of C ount Byron Kuhn P r or a d e y , noted archae ol ogist . The l argest tombstone of the b oom in Fort Lauderdal e is th e

- Wilmar Hotel skel eton , intended to be a seven story hotel , b ut left

4 4 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

t o with only the frame complete d when the b oom b egan collapse . wh It was owned by Wil liam Marshall , o use d in profits e w from land sales t o start it . H a s force d t o stop late in 1 92 5 and w as the property subsequently obtained on tax certificate by H . R .

Marsh of Miami . Recently it was announced that Robert H . Gore , o f u h a former govern r o P erto Ri c o , s b ought the Wilmar . He de “ ” c lare d he acquired it because it is an eyesore and he exp ects t o complete it .

4 5 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

“ W a i B B o O o o l a on a illi m Jenn ngs ryan , y rat r f the P atte , st nding runway over V enetian Pool making ballyh oo speeches for C oral Gables . M I A M I M I L L I O N S 8

CHAPTER EIGH T

f HE shimmying shoulders o Gi lda Gray , shaking over the gl ass

dance floor of the Hollywood Golf and C ountry cl ub , were the sensation of south Fl ori da as the b oom g ot under way ’ sort of a fumigated mixture of Minsky s and the French Casino in

a day when a fan dancer woul d have b een locke d up in j ail . Night life and entertainment w as much simpl er in the winter 4 - 2 in 1 92 5 , with fewer p eop le to pl ease and l ess money th an now

t o lure . The shimmy que en , b orn M ari a Michalski , even then was h e beginning to Show the d esp oiling effects of time , b ut s p acke d

them in that winter . M uch of the charm of the Hollywood resort was derive d from the graceful b allroom dance team of Grace K ay

White and Ral ph Wonders . “ ” H ot sp ots were limited and gambling was und er strict c on y trol . John Olive w as the first big gamb l er of Dade count and for ’ many years his Seminol e cl ub in the ol d officers qu art ers of Fort D all as catered as discreetly t o the p atrons of the Royal Palm Hotel ’ as Bradl ey s d oes to th e wealthy visitors of Palm B each . Local

p eople were n ot p ermitte d to gambl e , and Olive w as known and r e

s p e ct e d as a gentleman as wel l as a gamb ler .

Shortly b efore the b oom got und er way , John Olive b uilt what

has be come the Palm Island club in coll aboration w ith Locke T . H i h g l ey m an , and there also gambling was confine d t o visitors who

wanted excel lent food and p lenty of chips . At ab out the same

time , Ed Ballard of French Lick Springs fame op ene d th e old Tee

House Plantation , present h ome of the Ameri can Legion , as a

g amb ling resort . Later h e took over the Palm Isl and club through the heate d peri od of the b oom .

- b On near y Hibiscus Island , the Club Lido , branch of the same n — ame in New York , opened it s more modest pl ace b uilt 20 — in days as th e new year of 1 92 5 got under way . “ Oklahoma Bob ” Albright p ub lici ze d himself by Singing in l - uncheon clubs that fall , then opene d the Round up at Sixty first “ street and the bay . Rememb er h is Foll ow the Swallow B ack H ome $ ” Evelyn Nesbit Thaw sought a cab aret site in downtown w a Miami , but s refused . Some thought it would hurt the c ommu nity t o let her op erate within sight of that monument to th e dead S tanford White , the Halcyon H otel , whose general outline the noted architect had sketched for the b uilder . She w as later to find a r efuge at the Silver Slipp er in the northwest section of Miami , - where the once famous Fritzi Scheff sang that winter .

The C oral Gables Country club was a favorite with dancers , as Jan Garber and his orchestra made the moon over Coral Gabl es I r r mmo tal . Tina and G h i ar d y were a col orful dance team on th e - palm fringe d dance patio of the club that winter . Over at the V enetian pool w as the younger Henr y C oppinger wrestling an al

4 7 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

’ ligator . We d o not know that it was the same gator h e wrestles today , however .

Ben Bernie and his l ads played at th e W offord Hotel , whose h owner , Mrs . Tatem W offord , b oasted She had opene d th e first o H tel in M iami B each in 1 9 1 6 . The gre at rambling Royal Palm o ’ tel began its twenty - ninth season New Year s day with a b all de ” scribe d as brilliant , b ut whi ch we might consider somewhat

stodgy . The Ur m e y Hotel , another aristocrat , start e d its season

in De cemb er . D on Lanning was a hit at th e Park Theater . Jimmie “ Hodges initi ate d h is Follies sup p er club in Hialeah , with

Lew Hampton as the feature d singer . Kid Canfiel d , the reforme d f gambl er , delivered a well attended l ecture on the evils o games f o chance .

M uch other amusement was avail abl e in Hialeah . By the mid dl e of January the new racing oval of the M iami J ockey

club was ready t o op en . In th e stab l es were such horses as Wise

Counsell or , who had defeate d th e French marvel Epinard , and In

Z e v . M em oriam , wh o h ad b owe d t o A crowd estimate d at packed th e new clubhouse an d grandstand f or the op ening Jan

uary 1 5 . ou The Miami Jockey cl ub was create d t of l ocal capital , for f the most p art . Joseph E . Smoot o B uffalo had b e en in M iami the

year b efore , thrille d t o the prospe cts , intereste d his friend , Nor f man E . M ack o B uffal o , the D emocratic national committeeman ,

in hel ping t o finance a race track . Miami men of imp ortance

j oined . with A . J . Cl eary as the first presi dent of the corp oration . N ow f r the steward o the state racing commission , Cl eary was suc c e e d e d in the Miami Jockey cl ub presid ency by Smoot an d in turn

f . took over the p ost o vice presi dent and secretary . James H

- Bright of the Hial eah Curtiss Bright interests b ecame treasurer . Horse racing b egan with pari mutuel b etting and ran f or three

years until the Fl orida Supreme court rul e d such wagering illegal . The fourth greyhound season op ene d in Hial eah that winter

with J o e Blitz the reigning favorite . The first night racing was 9 1 2 . starte d in January , 5 , by O . P Smith of the M iami Kennel club , f i P r e vi s v . o inventor o th e me chan cal rab bit u l , al l d og races were a r run in the fte noon at th e Hial eah track . M any today will recall the time b efore th ey put mu zzl es on th e racers and it was n ot uncommon t o see a fight start b etween l eaders somewhere al ong

o . th e track , al l owing a rank outsid er t o sneak home with vict ry

The Sp anish game of j ai alai also drew good crowds in Hial eah , l 1 9 2 in th e o d fronton that was wrecke d in 6 . M ovi es were b eing f r made in the Hi al eah studios , lease d t o Path e Exchan g e o the film “ ’ ” of ing Black Caesar s Cl an . They even had a b all oon ascension and p arachute drop in Hol leman Park as part of the winter amuse

ment . Night golf with phosphorescent b alls was b eing tried at H ol l w o o d of r of e s y , where Gene Sarazen had taken u p th e duties p u r sio al after l osing the national p o titl e . The fourth miniature

4 8

is s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

mitt e of . . . . e comp osed G S Fl etcher , A M Wil lets and George A .

' Gill am made advances t o th e county t o d o the p aving in the event

all prop erty owners signed up to provid e th e new width . B ut the f or of pl ans were a little t o o rich the bl ood that section , even in

the b oom , and the pl an gradually fa ded from mind . Clifton Downs was anoth er d evelopment that thirste d to c on

ne et Hial eah with the ocean . Far out at D ougl as road and l 09th 1 92 4 street , Clifton Downs was sel ling l ots even in at $ 7 50 each f o n th e strength o the dream road and causeway . The new cause

- way finally was b uilt at Seventy ninth street , at the insistence of w h T . A . Winfiel d , o once owne d what b ecame Shore Crest . W e think we have congestion in Miami streets d uring the p eak of o ur winter seasons , b ut the sudden descent upon Miami in th e f 924 winter o 1 strained its facilities to the breaking p oint . Condi tions at the Flagler street crossing of the Florida East C oast rail “ road were describ ed as intol erab le . To disp ose of the freight

- haule d in by mile l ong trains , the F . E . C . had to switch b ack and forth almost constantly across that stre et . It w a s common all through the day and night for Flagl er street t o b e p acke d with f or 1 or 20 several hundred motor cars as l ong as 5 minutes , their

- profane drivers , red faced and imp atient , heaping enough curses u p on the unhap py railroad to curl th e rails . M ore roads , more o bridges , more waterways were the framework n which th e b oom was drap ed , and th e urge for their b uilding was very comp elling .

Frank H . Wharton , Miami city manager , aske d Santa C laus at the 1 9 24 Christmas tree f or two more bridges across th e Miami r - b s r iver , in addition to a new city hall . Soon after , the C omer E a y

Foundation Company started to b uil d the Fifth stre et bridge , to cost and was the successful bidder at for wi d e ning the tw o viaducts on th e county causeway to th eir present w - t o lane dimensions .

The S . E . S econd avenu e river bridge was a final outgrowth o f the formation at this time of the Fort Dall as Park Association , which inquired into the p ossibilities of cutting S . E . Second avenu e through the grounds of the Royal Palm Hotel , an d carrying it either over or und er Miami river t o connect with Brickell avenue on the south side . The street stopp e d th en at the north line of the

Royal Palm property , at the corner wh ere the old hom e of John

W . Watson recently was torn down to make a p arking l ot . The Tamiami Trail in this county was a mere trail in fact in 4 those days , sticking 0 mil es westward into th e Evergl ades . J . W . f C arey , chairman o the county commission , announced that 3 5 men were p ut t o work surfacing the Trail 1 5 miles west of the present w a s city limits , partly as a relief proj e ct f or n eedy citiz ens . Relief a small matter then , M iss Elizab eth A . C ool ey of the American Red Cross even going s o far as to say that Fl ori da was the only state in f r the South o two years that had not aske d for assistance .

J . F . Jaud on and R . A . C oachman returned from a trip al ong the W est Coast as far into C ollier county as the D eep Lake railroad

50 g; s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

’ t o report Barron G . C ollier s men were p ushing th e new Trail east w of toward Miami from the no abandone d corner Carnestown , ’ named for C ollier s s on . However , it was not until Gov . John W . Martin made a personal trip into that territory the following year that this p et proj ect of The Miami Heral d w a s j erked out of the ruts by the state and made into the present highway through the lower Everglades . The fact that it took a tractor to travel 2 0 miles out of Miami on the Trail did not stop th e land spe cul ators in those days . As “ - i 1 92 5 opene d , Kincaid Harper was advertising the last close n ” acreage along the Trail at an acre . The Irons Lan d and Devel opment Comp any announced th at all acreage near this route 2 0 f or 3 0 miles west of Miami was worth not l ess than $ 0 an acre , even though th e road that b ordere d it existe d l argely on pap er .

At 1 0 miles out , the price was an acre , with many bid ders . The Everglades Land and D evel opment C omp any temptingly of “ ” f er e d a whol e townsite of acres , close in as the b oys like d t o call it .

Miami was having troub le also with her exit to th e north . In a rare b urst of frugality the voters had refuse d to approve a bond issue for reb uil ding the Dixi e highway northward along the line of the present N . E . Second avenue . O pp osition develop ed from the Charles Deering estate and th e C oop er interests , through whose t land the Dixie was to run . After the b ond election failure , the s ate t W road dep artment deci de d o b uil d th e road anyway , ith of state and federal funds . The county pai d C h ar l e s D eering f or a right of way l through his prop erty for the new Dixie . The county ater con structed the West Dixi e highway out Seventh avenu e ab out the time the new Biscayne b oulevard w as reaching toward Hollywood on the east . The county commission grante d a franchise in the fal l of 1 924 t o the Biscayne Bay Improvement Association to start th e present

Venetian causeway over the Venetian isl ands , whi ch were c om let e d 1 9 2 p by W ald eck D eal in January , 5 . J . F . Chaill e estimated then it woul d require 1 6 months to dredge in the causeway to l repl ace the o d Collins bridge , l ongest wooden bridge in the worl d when it was the only tie b etween Miami and Miami B each .

South of Miami , the city of Key W est was p l eading valiantly f or the fe deral government to b uil d a motor highway across the keys . Sp eaking for the Oversea Highway Association of K ey W est ,

Mayor Frank A . La dd expresse d the opinion that the time was rip e t o approach congress with a prop osition that Uncl e Sam Shoul d a buil d the highway s a military measure . In February , 1 9 2 5 , Key West sent a motorcade of trucks and cars up the East C oast a d ve r tising a b ond issue of to b e devoted to carrying the road ou from th e mainland t over some of the keys . Ten years later the Oversea highway w as finding more re ady sup p ort as a work relief proj ect , a phase which ended so tragically with the hurricane of

September , 1 9 3 5 .

5 1 The East C oast canal from the St . w as a source of so rrow t o all yachtsmen wh o trie d to us e It was star ted as a Shallow waterway years b efore b y Line Canal and Navigation C omp any in exch ange f or thousands of acres of b ord ering l and from the state . The subsequently faile d to complete th e canal and refuse d t the land . r - Late in 1 9 24 F ank B . Shutts was sent by the Miami of C ommerce to the me eting of the Deep er Waterways A t o seek help in improving the East C oast canal . As the interest generate d at that time , the canal finally was take by the state legislature , the Fl orida Inland n e i created , with Mr . Shutts as o of t s first officers , a f canal and additi onal rights o way were acquire d . The fe deral g e rnm e nt complete d th e present waterway d own the East C oast i appropr ations sp onsore d by Congressman J o e Sears .

52 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

C HAPTER NINE

HE OLD FOLKS sat and rocke d as usual on the l ong p orches

of the Royal Palm Hotel during January of 1 9 25 , b ut else where in Miami the winter tourist program was swall owe d

up in the rush of opening sub divisions , drowned out by the d ay and - night staccato of riveting h ammers on a rising forest of steel

frames . Miami w as beginning a building program which was to reach

when 1 2 months had p asse d , whil e Miami B e ach w as

adding in new constru ction . All th e prece ding fal l there had b e en prep arati on , l aying out of sub divisions , announce

ments of great h otels , b ait hel d out temptingly to North ern invest

ors . Lots were the re al commodity , of course , b ut even th e p oorest sub divi sion had to have some kind of b uil ding on it as a sort of

- nest egg . Here was the l and of sunshine where the evidences of Repub lican prosperity coul d b e invested in p erp etual comfort , sai d thou sands of bookl ets an d advertisements broadcast by E . G . Sewel l and the Miami Chamb er of Commerce . Som e of th e finest p ub li city Miami ever got w as p ut out that year by Louise S . M ay of the chamb er of commerce , while Steve Hannagan at Miami Be ach was h i beginning s swift rise as a master p ublicist . Thriving and l avish offices were maintaine d by th e big d evel op ers , Fisher , Young ,

. s Merrick , D P . D avi of Tamp a , Addison M izner of B oca Raton , in New York , Chicago , Atlanta and other key cities . They brought pe opl e in by the thousands on th eir own bus lines , by chartere d “ ” “ ” train and steamship . Th e names Miami and C oral Gabl es particularly b ecame synonymous in the l exicons of th e Shivering

- North with b are l egge d b athing girls , warm days in January , even warmer specul ative opp ortunities . Fre d Rand b egan p ulling attention away from Fl agl er stre et with his spe ctacular announcement that h e owned 2 5 corners in

. . i N E Second avenu e b etween F rst and Fourteenth streets , already 1 4 - had b uildings ready to start . He announce d a tw o year program designed to convert Second avenu e into th e main b usiness artery of the city . His activities range d from the Huntington b uilding to

- - the ill fate d Roosevelt Hotel , and b efore 1 9 2 5 was thre e fourths gone it l ooked indee d a s though the center of Miami b usiness life soon woul d b e where the present traffic circl e on Thirteenth its t o street is adding b it vehicul ar confusion . The Mi ami Daily News Tower and the big B urdine Quarterman b uil ding are th e princip al reminders today of that opinion . Fre d Rand was kille d In an automobil e accident last year as he was prep aring to make

- a come b ack in Miami realty . The New Year brought Sol M eyer from Indianap olis to of 1 5- take over the financing the story buil ding in N . E . First street H i h l planned by Jerry Gal atis and J . E . g e ym an . This

53 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

n venture was only o e of many the M eyer interests handl ed , b ut it was most intimately identified with him . It later house d the - 9 M eyer Kiser bank , b ut w as s o b adly twisted in the 1 2 6 hurricane S i that it had t o b e torn down to its present x stories . The Site of ol d Fort Dallas was sold by the Tuttl e heirs to the Miami Hol ding Comp any f or and the Rob ert Clay Hotel w a s p ut there the following year . The age d rock fort which once commande d the mouth of the Miami river w as given a p ermanent resting p lace in Lummus park , farther up the river , and taken und er the protecting wing of the D aughters of the American Rev o lution . The Alhambra and the C ortez Hotels were finished at this time . Nathan Neufeld was compl eting the Ritz Hotel on Flagler street .

- The two story Flagler Arcade was opened for b usiness by E . B W . e b ing e r and J . P . Simmons , op erating as South Fl orida Prop e rti 1 1 - e s , Inc . Ge orge Langford finishe d the Story D allas Park ap artments and starte d on th e 1 0- story addition to the M c A llist er

Hotel . The Gesu Catholi c Church , formerly the Church of th e Holy

Name , dedicated its new place of worship , m arking a l ong step from the modest mission in Wagner ’ s grove ab ove the present N . W . Eleventh street an d Ninth avenue , wh ere the first

Miami Cath olics gathere d . January saw the start of such imp osing b uil dings as th e Ever

- glades ap artment hotel , the Cromer Cassell d ep artment store b uild ing and the Fritz Hotel , the latter still an orphan of the b oom . Th e

Fre d F . French Comp any had l ooke d on Miami and found it good .

They b ought th e Houston Wyeth homesite at N . B ayshore drive , n ow an Biscayne b oulevard , and Third street , for and n ounc e d that the p ubli c woul d b e allowe d to p articip ate in Shares f r - o the 1 1 Story Evergl ades , to cost Joachim Fritz had made money out of the M elrose dairy and other ventures in Alla att a h p and b eyond , and some of this he b egan to sp en d on the 2 - 00 room hotel which stands where his former home was . It was t o cost and he may yet come b ack an d finish it .

Property b egan m oving briskly right after the h olidays . Lon

n M r s . Worth Crow was presi de t of the Miami Realty B oard , while ’ Crow headed the M iami W oman s cl ub . The b eautiful estate , El ’ B in d l Jardin , d own near Bryan s place , was b ought from th e y r ' 1 4 interests f o sub divi ding . Davenp ort $ Ri ch op ene d Sevill e , of - bl ocks south Flagl er . The 8 0 acre Freeman estate in Little River was b ought by Orvill e W . Ewing of D erry , N . H . , f or M h The Fernie c V e ig estate , 2 6 a cres between El Portal and Littl e w a River , s sol d t o D . C . Cl arke of Louisvi ll e for an acre and b ecame Sherwood Forest in tw o we eks . Hess Slager move d their j ewelry business to Fl agl er street from J acksonville . u os 1 2 6 on Having sol d o t Altos D el M ar N . , , 3 , 5 and upp er

a . Miami Beach , Tatum Brothers threw N o . 4 t o a palpit nt p ub lic Among the mobs of newcomers they capitalize d on long residence “ ’ with their slogan , If the Tatums s ay so , it s so . f Val C . Cl eary contrib uted th e outstanding news bit o Jan

54 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

f or uary . He sol d cash the southe ast corner of C ollins

and Fifth street at M iami Beach , where his modest b ungalow had f stood Since 1 9 20. Later to b ecome mayor o that city , h e had acquired the lot in 1 9 1 4 f or $ 8 00 when he first came t o Miami as f a player with the Pickert Stock C ompany . E . R . D umont o New

York bought it f or a hotel location , b ut only small Shops finally

were built . ’ Hardie s C asino , one of two on south b each , was sol d to Bert l e e r h Schreiber of Chicago f or Joseph E s n , w o today is

engaged in p utting the Cro ker estate at Pal m Beach on the market , paid for fe et of ocean front north of the Allison h e island bridge , b uying from t Fisher interests and p lanning to

construct D eauvill e casino there . The Fle etwood Hotel and new radio stati on WM B F were opene d with oratory from William J e n

R omfh . ning s Bryan , Banker Edward C oleman and M ayor Louis F n S ne d ig ar . Arrivals o the steamship C ub a from New York were prepared f or anything in this new l an d of m agic by seeing Carl ’ Fisher s pet e lephants , Rosie and Nero , haul their b aggage from

the M eteor dock .

John W . M artin heade d the list of new officials wh o too k hol d

at this time . He was inaugurated governor in a col orful ceremony

in Tallahasse e , which a few weeks b efore had cel ebrate d the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of th e state capital

there . Tallahassee l ooke d with tolerant scorn , therefore , up on the fevered antics of the south Fl orida real estate b uyers wh o travel ed n the long dirt road from Jacksonvill e to b uy state l a d . With him

as secretary was Dr . Fons A . Hathaway , former D uval county

school sup erintendent and an ab le administrator , wh o had made

the p olitical mistake of telling p arents to mind their ow n b usiness .

Sam B arco and Roy C . Wright were made lieutenant colonels on ’ Martin s sta ff .

Henry Chase became the new sheriff , succe eding Louis A . wh Allen , o retired t o the comp arative magnificence of his new

Druid Court ap artments on S . W . Sixth stre et to deal in real estate . Le n d Bob Simpson succe ede d R . B . M c on as county tax col lector and James Flood rep lace d J . Bert Hawkins as cl erk of th e Crim inal court . i As part of ts exp ansion program , the Seab oard Air Line rail r oad comp leted its cross - state route from West Lake Wales to

' West Palm B each in J anuary , having sp ent in seven t o . months get there Presi dent S . Davies Warfiel d he ade d the tri um h a l p p arade from West to East C oast , cutting a day from the time require d to go by rail from Mi ami t o Tamp a . The M erchants and Miners Line started service from Phil adel phi a to M iami with

SS . the Berkshire , p arall eling the Clyde Line , which already was

well estab lished here . The city of Miami had deci de d to spend for p ublic 1 92 5 works in , and accordingly asked the voters for the first a p

. a of 58 7 of proval By _ vote to , th e citizens Miami authorize d

for incinerator , public market , street widening , sewers ,

55 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

d ocks , p arks and hospital . Cre dit as wel l as cash was as easy to get in those days as falling off a dock .

’ — That s nothing I parl ayed t w o quarts of synthetic gin into

in eight months . So declared an unname d hero of a Liberty M agazine story

1 92 5 . dealing with Fl orida whi ch ap pe are d e arly in February , There was a great d eal more in this and other publications to th e same general effe ct that men and women were getting rich in “ ” Florida on little or no actual capital . The gold rush w as on . Although the new Pol k directory of that year liste d p ermanent resid ents of Greater Miami , there is n o way to deter mine h ow many more had come in and were arriving dail y to stake ’ u o t cl aims in this new b onanza . W e didn t cal l it a b oom th en . Anyone willing to be qu ote d woul d express th e opinion that Miami woul d have no fewer than p ermanent residents within 1 0 ye ars or l ess . The congestion on the Fl orida East C oast railroad was s o great that H . N . Rodenb augh , vi ce president and general manager , ap p e ar e d b efore the Miami Chamb er of C ommerce to promise that his railroad would lay 2 1 9 miles of d oubl e track b etwe en Miami and Jacksonville by 1 9 2 6 . Trains were late in l e aving Miami , h e expl ained , b ecause cars nee ded t o make them up were j ust as l ate i 5 5 narriving from the North . B etween 0 and 7 p ullmans arrive d every day , p acked to the guards .

T o get an outlet to th e b ay and a p ossibl e b each , C oral Gab les b ought the Mills and Hafleigh estates on the b ay front an d assured the devel opment of the complete control of the Coral Gab les t canal . It was p l anne d to dredge this shall ow drainage ditch ou t 1 5- - o a foot d epth and 1 00 foot width , provide a yacht b asin and dockage back of th e Miami Biltmore H otel and th en j oin th e canal to the Tamiami canal , thus comp leting a l oop waterway which incl uded the Miami river . To make the picture more alluring , a M onte Carlo and country cl ub were to b e b uilt where the canal emptied into the b ay . Announcing sal es for on e month as Ge orge M errick ste p pe d up th e C oral Gables monthly sales qu ota to h r b ino At the Mi ami B each end of th e causeway , Jerome C e , former Texas cattl e rancher , head e d a group whi ch b ought the of site the abandone d aquarium from James A . Allison for $ 500, 000 and started to b uil d the Fl oridian H otel . Fr ed Rand

- and B en She pard b ought the 4 2 2 acre Virginia key , next in the o of chain s uth Terminal isl and , from th e truste es of the Internal Improvement Fund f or In Miami the First Baptist Church b ought the Fiel d apart ments in N . E . Fifth street and d ecide d to remain there and b uil d a l arger church . The Trinity M . E . Church alre ady w as embarke d on a drive f or a building fund . The o ld New York d ep artm ent store in North M iami avenue

56

M I A M I M I L L I O N S

e f or o of The K u Klux Klan ask d the j b p olicing Miami , cl aiming “ ” ou t o have driven the crooks t of St . Petersb urg , b ut was finally w a refused this civic pl easure . The crime wave s about as usual .

The w orst fl urry occurred in Novemb er , when al l the p unch b oards in town were taken in after two Slick strangers had cleane d up

on them . Following that , City M anager Wharton sent a formal demand t o Police Chief Quigg to stop all gambling . v At Tallahassee , G o . John W . M artin had Scarcely warme d the executive chair b efore he call e d the state road department n chairman , Judge H . B . Philip s , o the carp et and demande d a state ment as to what , if anything , was b eing done to reb uil d th e Dixie

- - highway and to op en th e M elb ourne Kissimme e cross state road , then bl ocke d by an ancient p ortage train over the Kissimmee river .

Ju dge Philips did the b est h e coul d , finally op ening the M el b ourne road and scrap ping the ferry , in which it w as hinte d h e had

- more than an academic interest . The 1 8 foot brick road from Jack sonville t o St . Augustine ha d practically fall en ap art and desperate efforts were mad e t o patch it up . At M artin ’ s insistence the state road d epartment decided in M arch t o take over the b uil ding of th e remaining 3 2 mil es of the

Tamiami Trail in D ade county , accepting from th e county as a minor contrib ution in a ddition to the already sp ent there . B ut the road department , which was geare d for th e slow , f ’ l eisurely days o the Catts and Harde e administrations , coul dn t f cop e with this strange new horde o motorists , Shouting from the detours , writing angry letters to newsp ap ers , sending chamb ers of commerce t o new highs of b lood pressure . Judge Philips knew his days were numb ered and h e fought

t o . w as desp erately prol ong them He pitte d , h—owever , against a force he coul d neither m easure nor understand the urge of south r t Fl orida f o more an d b etter roads . M ar in soon took steps to get a b ett er understanding in Tall ahasse e of j ust what it was he prom ise d when he w as elected .

58 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

C HAPTER TEN

1 9 2 IG news studded the Miami firmament in M arch , 5 , with

congress ap proving the Miami deep water harb or bill , the

bandit murder of Police Serge ant Laurie L . Wever , the b urn

f . ing of the old Breakers Hotel in Palm B each , absorption o the E ’ a of B . Douglas store by Burdine s , and the st rt the new D ad e county courthouse . The Miami ship channel and turning b asin was 1 8 fe et deep at that time , the federal government h aving sp ent an d

Miami on dre dging and the stone j etties . The first chan nel across the b ay had stretche d from the foot of Fifth street to

Cap e Florida with a depth of 1 0 fe et to accommodate th e SS . City r of Key West for the Fl orida East Coast railroad . F o m any years no comp eting line coul d come into Miami b ecause the F . E . C . r owned all the bayfront avail ab l e f o dockage . The rivers and h arb ors act of 1 9 2 5 allocated to deepening the Miami Ship channel to 2 5 feet and to widen it t o

500 fe et from deep water to the j etties , 3 00 feet through the j et ties and 200 fe et u p to the turning b asin at the north end of where the city ’ s dredging for B ayfront p ark had created a yacht anchor age . Brought ab out by the untiring efforts of E . G . Sewell and other civi c l eaders , th e new h arb or fund was haile d as a promise that Miami soon woul d b e one of the largest p orts of the South . The Esther Weems of the Baltimore an d Carolina Line b egan the first regular p assenger servi ce b etwe en Miami and a North ern 1 9 23 point , in August , , running from Phil adelphia to Miami . The

Merchants and Miners Line fol lowe d with a Phil adelphia service . The Clyde Line had acquire d the Van Steamship Line from Jack Crosland several years b efore and op erate d b oats from Miami to

Jacksonville . It started a regul ar New York servi ce in Novemb er , 1 92 4 , and the Dimon Line soon was running to New York also with the Cub a . But comp anies with much bigger vessels were impatient t o get in , n ot only with freight b ut with the ever increasing crowds t eager to b uy ticke s t o Miami . Commodore J . Perry Stoltz had be en comp ell e d t o send his cruiser out to the Gulf Stream late in D ecem ’ b er t o take Leon R os e b r o ok s orchestra off the M allory liner San “ Jacinta , whi ch was unabl e to enter th e Miami channel . Your ’ ou orchestra is t here ; come and get it , the San J a cint a s captain e wirelessed Commodore Stoltz , who wanted th e musicians f or t h of h is opening new Fl eetwood Hotel . M ore th an 1 00 other p assen on f r gers b oard wanted to get off at Miami , t o o , b ut had to wait o the first regul ar p ort . At this time a spirite d argument was in progress b etween Miami and Miami Beach Chamb er of C ommerce over harb or de ve l m o e nt . i 2 p Carl G . F sh er announce d that h e woul d Sp end $ , to create $ docks and turning basin at the Peninsul ar Ter of minal island south the Ship channel , marke d today by several

59 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

- gasoline storage tanks . A 2 6 foot channel already was dredge d f w around the edge o the island . Th ere as no questi on that Miami

Beach had a deep water h arb or , if some connection coul d b e e s t a b lis h e d b etwe en docks and mainl and . The idea of buil ding a high level bri dge over th e ship ch an nel finally was regretfully discarded , b ut even today m en still consider a causeway from Virgini a key to th e mainl and at ab out

Point View , and connecting Virgini a key with Terminal isl and . The b est they coul d do then was t o haul freight and p assengers over t o the causeway d o cks on lighters . Sewell strenu ously op p osed th e filling of 4 00 acres of b ay b ottom west and north of i Virginia key b y t s new owners , ostensib ly b ecause it woul d sp oil the Miami vi ew of the ocean , b ut actu ally to check this threat to the future of Miami harb or . ’ In exclusive Palm B each , a crip p le d woman s electric hair r curler hel p ed swell the ti de toward Miami . A Short ci cuit starte d the fire whi ch consume d the giant wooden Breakers Hotel and the newer Palm Be ach Hotel , all on a windy M arch day . Nearly worth of prop erty rolle d Skyward in vast bil lowing

of . clouds bl ack smoke Although H enry E . B emis , vice president of the Fl orida East Coast Hotel C omp any , qui ckly announce d a l new Breakers woul d rise on the site of the o d , a blight w as cast on Palm B each the remainder of that se ason an d the next which of sent thousands the wealthy to Mi ami and Miami B each .

Big p ossums wal k late , as the wise hunts man knows . The ’ of 1 92 5 big p ossums the b oom alre ady were out in M arch . Charles and James De ering sol d acres al ong Cocop lum B each , down t o Chapman Fiel d , to th e Coral Gabl es devel opment . It was t o become the Miami Rivi era and rounde d out acres which

George M errick had bit off . Farther south , acres al ong th e white sand b each of Cap e Sab le were b ought from the Waddell

. . r hol dings by R R B ailey , the Tatums and others , f o a new town site . E . A . Waddell and his broth er had owned C ap e Sabl e f or 4 0 years , and it was then accessible chiefly by b oat .

. . . R L T C oop er , S P . ob in e a u and Neil C onrad were doing well o of with the sub divisi n El Portal , from a p art of which land the of m later d evelopm ent Miami Shores was to come . Joined in a c o pany known as Fl ori da Enterprises , these three and their associ at on e off ates time clicke d sales in El Portal at the rate of $ 1 , a day and gave the princip al outline to th e northern p art of Miami .

. R ob ine a u Mr had wintere d at the Royal Palm Hote l in 1 9 1 5 , o wh en he was invalid ed h me from the French army . He returned t o 1 France with the American army in 1 9 7 , and after the armistice came back to Miami to stay .

He and Mr . Coop er and others were resp onsibl e f or Bay View N R i Estates , aranj a Nook , Del o , and in and around the town of un n Pompano , the sub divisions of S y la , O cean Drive Estates and

Hillsb orough Beach . They dealt extensively in acreage al l over t o Florida , in addition their Miami activiti es .

60 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

Vernon Price - Williams p aid f or the Point Vi ew man

sion of William H . Luden , cough drop manufacturer . It was b uilt i n of by Locke T . H g h ley m a , d evel op er the exclusive Point View t o 1 92 0 H i h le m an im section , and sol d Lu den In when g y b egan the M c r a w o o . G n provement of Palm Isl and . The E C . mansi n Point

r . on View w as b ought f o by J K . D orn , e of the l eading

- real estate m en of the times . His former home at Thirty sixth

f r . street and the b ay went to L . T . C oop er o B B . Ta t f tum move d o ut t o his Grove Park sub division , and Guy S oms o

D l . . the J . A . M c ona d Company b ought the Tatum house in N E First street f or w a E . B . D ouglas at this time s face d with the alternative of expanding his de partment store on what n—ow contains th e east half of the Venetian arca de in Flagl er street or selling . He sold , the prop erty extending 1 00 fe et in Flagl er and 200 in S . E . First St reet and inclu ding the Paramount b uilding on t h e First street corner which he had added to his h ol dings . The b uyers were John

C . Knight , l ater a Miami city commissioner ; S . J . Thorp and R . A .

M c C or d . The price was w f . . a Drygoods o the E B D ougl as C ompany s sol d to W . M . Burdine ’ s Sons Comp any for and consolidate d with the ’ latter establishment . Mr . D ougl as retired after 27 y ears in Miami s h business life to devote is time to the charities he l ove d , an d to the Jackson M emorial hospita l whose b oard he h eade d . The sal e moved B urdine ’ s into a commanding p osition in the mercantil e life of Miami .

Sergeant Laurie L . Wever of the Miami Police D ep artment was p atrolling the downtown section l ate on e night in M arch , 1 92 5 . Petty robberies had been frequent and orders h a d g on e out to keep a tight check on suspicious characters .

A spe eding m otor car p assed Wever and he gave chase , catchi ng up with it near the Savoy H otel and motioning the driver t o the curb . As the vehicles Sl owe d down , however , a pistol was pushe d out of the car window and two Shots sent the p ol iceman t o the p avement , mortally wounded . The car went on . Wever was easily the most p op ular memb er of the force and ’ the manhunt which b egan that night was the greatest in Miami S history . He died th e next day , M arch 1 6 . Tw o days later , j ust of before dawn , Chi ef Poli ce H . Leslie Quigg p ushe d his way into a shack west of Fulford and arreste d two youths b efore they coul d grab sticks of dynamite pl ace d near th eir coats , or draw pistols from b eneath their pillows . They gave the names of Wil

. F ox liam W and John Naugl e , finally confesse d to the Shooting of W ever and were spirite d away to Jacksonville for safeke eping . Information on which the arrest was made was furnishe d by of B ernard Henry Versaill es , O hio , into whose tent at Littl e River the two had stumb led after ab andoning their Essex coach the morn of F x ing the sh ooting . o soon admitte d his real name was Walter

6 1 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

f C . Valiton of Tole do , Ohio , and not even the l egal magic o M oman

Pruiett coul d save him from a life sentence at Raiford state prison .

Naugl e g ot five years as an accomplice . Alth ough there never w as any lynching threat d uring the trial , public indignation against them was at fever he at , e specially after p ub lication of a picture in

Mi ami Life Sh o wing Valiton and a young girl comp ani on , in com l p et e undress , taken b efore the murder when the b oys were c on d u cting a series of p etty rob b ery rai ds to get money to l ive an d o entertain women .

The funeral of Laurie W ever was a mem orabl e one . The mortgage on the Wever home was pai d off by the sal es m e n in Tatum Broth ers real estate office . The Miami Herald o p ened a subscripti on fund for the education of the tw o chil dren

0 n . which reache d in 1 days , and it was al l cash , ot p ap er M r s . W ever later b ecame the Miami p olice matron . From that day on Miami policemen rode in p airs whil e on night p atrol and t h e unusual zeal which Miami p olice today exhibit in running vagrants out of town had its b eginning in the Wever murder .

While all this w as filling the p ub lic eye , the D ade county com m s ub issioners engage d A . Ten Eyck Brown , Atlanta architect , to r - mit plans f o the present l ofty city county b uilding , to cost an esti mate d The city of Miami tentatively agreed to p ay yearly rental f or su ch sp ace as th e city dep artments might require , b ut after th e city g ot instal led in the new building , it was y ears b efore the county coul d get any satisfaction ab out the rent . The new courth ouse was starte d around the ol d two - story b uil ding s o part of the n ew might b e avail abl e b efore the ol d Was f 4 0- inally demolished . In the meantime , a foot square room was added t o the ol d b uil ding to give th e b el e aguered cl erks a little f r f r more sp ace o the real estate p ap ers that p oured in o filing .

Everywhere in Miami and its environs , big changes were in the air that M arch . Except f or the annual regatta featuring the races of the new Biscayne B abies , the winter season was al most ignored ’ and Miamians began t o reach th e conclusion that Ev Sewell s dream

- had come true and Miami was finally a year round city . They ’ didn t like it s o well wh en th e vanguard of the binder b oys b egan old ff p ushing th e residents o the Sidewalks , but that was only a b ir h minor irritation among th e t p ains of a city .

. f Henry H Fil er , chairman o th e school b oard , announced that f r in b onds o new b uil dings woul d b e issued , inclu ding f or the new senior high sch ool which was to re pl ace the ’ outgrown buil ding in N . W . Second street . The Miami W oman s club broke ground on their b ayfr ont tract f or a cl ub h ouse and Flagler M emorial library . The library at that time was con ’ t a ine d in Fort Dallas and b ecause of the W oman s cl ub interest in - t the century ol d for , the cl ub initiated a movement to b uy it from f . o a . Dr . R C . H oge Norfol k , V , w h o was t o buil d the Rob ert Clay

Hotel there . The D . A . R . l ater b ecame p ermanent custodians of t h e transplanted relic .

Mrs . C . H . Watson , operator of the Strand in Miami and the

62 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

t 1 5 Watson House at Niagara Falls , b egan that M arch o pl an the on story Watson Hotel , now the M iami Col onial . Located the b ay

1 500 000. front, buil ding and l ot cost $ , , C onstruction was starte d - n on the Exch ange b uil ding by Palmer Laramore , Inc . C o tract was l et for the 1 5 - story Fi rst Trust b uilding as an app endage t o the First National Bank . The cornerstone of the Trinity Episcopal Church was lai d with the b lessings of the b el oved Rev . Rob ert T . Phil lips an d of a of Senior Warden Frank B . Stoneman , then s now the e ditor The

- Heral d . The groun d was b eing cleared for the future M eyer Kiser buil ding and the O lympia Theater . They had a great ground breaking f or th e Miami Biltmore Hotel . The first tre e was p lante d in B ayfront p ark . f Far out on the M iami canal , acres o Everglad es l and was b ought from the Tatums for by a syndicate heade d by C . Bascom Slemp , former secretary to President C oolidge , and including Harold W . Nichols of Cincinnati , James B . Westcott of

Chicago , Frank B . Shutts and C apt . F . W . Symmes . This was th e last of acres in that area b ought by the Tatums from th e state . M ore than 200 men were as b usy as b eavers on the ri dge south of the James D eering estate , making Silver Bl uff Estates into a s ub f division . The third an d last p art o Gol den B each , up near the

Broward county line on Miami Be ach , was offere d successfully by o h H . G . and R . W . Ralston . Cary A . Harde e f Live O ak , w o had ’ quit the governor s office in January , p ut into two lots in the La Gorce section of Miami B each , although he rej ecte d th e a d vice given him by his successor as they rode together to the in a ug ur ation that he capitali ze on his friendship with state officers and j ump into the Mi ami land game . f w G . L . Miller o Atl anta as in the midst of p ouring money into

Miami b uilding . His comp anies had finance d the Henrietta Tow er s , the Granada ap artments , the C ort e z Hotel and th e Julia Tut tle ap artments , and he then was b eginning the Venetian Hotel at f the Miami end o the causeway . During M arch the Trust C om of pany Florida grew out of the G . L . M iller Bond an d M ortgage t o h Comp any l end a b etter l ocal fl avor to is work . 1 50 In West Palm Beach state le aders met with Gov . John

- W . M artin in an all Fl orida development conference late in M arch , and decide d that wh at the state ne e de d was a advertis ing fund to b e spent by a b oard of citi zens . Subsequ ent failure of the l egislature to provide the money was l ai d at M artin ’ s door an d starte d the bitter enmity which l e d H erman A . D ann , presi dent of the Fl orida Development B oard , and others to help pill ory M ar ’ on of tin s p olitical ambitions the cross Evergl ades drainage . It woul d have b een a great thing for any b oard of expl oiters at that time to have directed th e sp ending of f or advertising .

The big devel op ers were much in th e p ub lic eye . Ge orge E . M errick was qu oted i n four col umns of The New York Times on f o . the wonders Fl orida and C oral Gab l es G . Fr ank Croissant and

63 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

L . T . C oop er were rivals in acquiring racing stabl es to carry their

col ors at the Miami Jockey club track , the former buying M oe ’ S h a p off s stabl e and Kentucky stud farm . J . W . Young announce d

his harbor at H ollywood , Glenn H . C urtiss w a s host to 1 2 army fliers who finally mad e it to C urtiss Fi eld at Hial eah in two

days from Selfridge Fiel d , Michigan . M . C . T eb b etts op ene d radi o sta tion W G B U at Fulford and b egan plans for a hotel

of 1 8 stories .

O ut at Kelly Fiel d , two army stud ent fli ers crashe d in midair

and saved themselves by taking to their p arachutes , the first time in i the history of aviation that such lifesav ng had b een recorded , the M c A li . t . . l s e r pap ers sai d One of the cad e s was C D t . The oth er

was Charl es A . Lindb ergh , who years l ater b l azed the C arib b ean

trail for Pan Am e rican Airways .

fading o utline of th g at w oo R oyal Palm h o t l i Miami th buil i g which sta t t e re den e n , e d n r e the Miami vogue at the birth of the century .

64

M I A M I M I L L I O N S

3 0 t 4 5 f or new roads , increase of the spe e d limit from o miles an hour , creation of a fresh water fish and game commission to protect the diminishing wild life , and in a later sp ecial message a sked f or adoption of a constitutional amendm ent to permit the state t o appropriate money for the sup port of common schools . This he carried b efore th e p eopl e and it was ap proved in the next elec i tion . O n the b asis of that amendment today , the state s prom ising t o pay yearly for el ementary e ducation wh ere then

’ it couldn t ap propriate a dime for the little re d sch ool houses . ’ W e like to boast of no state debt in Fl orida . It wasn t the a d v fault of Representative Charl es W . Hunter of O cala . He o c at e d a state b ond issue to construct miles of “ 9 7 w a p aved highway , but M artin frowned on it . Pay as y ou go , s the motto . Some pub lic clamor arose from th e Singleta ry bill to compel the reading of the Bi ble dai ly in public sch ools . Real estate men from all over Fl orida converge d on the c a p ital when the senate considere d a bill to give the state land c us i t o d ans control of all rip arian lands , that is , th e land between high and low water line all round the state . T . J . Pancoast and Hamil t on Michelsen l ed the l ocal d el egati on , which finally succee de d in diverting wh at they al l felt woul d b e a mortal bl ow to th e b oom by stopping ocean and b ayfront improvements . A great clamor arose in the south end of Dade county at that f r time o a new county of Re dlands , to inclu d e Homestead and even f part o the keys . L . L . Chandler of Goul ds heade d an organiza tion that finally halte d it despite the l obbying of S . A . Livingston f o Homestead . M artin and Indian River counties were carved out of the East C oast in that session , al ong with Gulf and Gilchrist in the western part of Fl orida . There was some agitation for cre ating Conners county out of the western h alf of Palm Beach county , b ut that effort to p erp etuate th e name of th e b uil d er of Conners highway g ot l ost in the Shuffle . The first legislative ste p in the improvement of the East Coast canal was the bill p asse d at this time p ul ling out of the treasury to survey the canal , s e e what coul d b e d one with the Coast r m Line Canal and Navigati on Company , th e owners , an d make e c o m e nd ati s t o on the 1 927 l egislature . On the b asis of the new state census , showing Fl orida with p eople , D ad e county and

Pinell as county , St . Petersb urg , received two more state represent ’ atives , and Senator John W . W atson s district w a s re duce d from s ix south Fl orid a counties t o Dade al one . This was pushed through by th e administration group , in the face of bitter dissent from nort h and west Florid a . ’ Miami s neighb ors began sh oving and pushing f or more room at this time . Miami Beach started t o stretch out its limits t o th e

Broward county line on th e n orth , and to the l ower tip of Virginia t key o the south , but after protest from Miami Shores and the Ta

6 6 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s 35

l n s . tu rn s , d e cid ed n ot t o exte d its northern limit The legislature a incorporated Coral Gables as a city , with D oc D ammers s first of mayor and C onstable M . P . Lehman , later sheriff, as director

public service . In a signed statement , George E . M errick decl are d it was his hop e that C oral Gabl es woul d b e absorb ed by Miami as

s oon as the maj or improvements under h is plan coul d b e completed .

Buena Vista had a small b ut viol ent b oom of its own in April ,

with in construction announce d , principally on the b elief that the Fl orida East C oast railroad woul d b uil d a new p assenger station in the B uena Vista yards , which were to b e abandone d in favor of Hialeah . The F . E . C . already w as putting the drawbridge in place over the Miami canal back of the present j ai alai fronton . Its officers began to Spend on new freight terminals at 20 Hialeah , planning to buil d 1 2 5 mil es of storage tracks and mil es of freight Sheds to handl e the b usiness of the line . They refuse d , n however , to s ay anything abo ut a new p assenger statio , another municipal sore p oint , or about reb uilding the venerable Royal Palm

IIot e l .

’ Miami let nearly a million d ollars worth of paving , sewer and sidewalk contracts while the voters grante d new 3 0-year fran chié es t o the Fl orida Power and Light C ompany an d the Miami

Water Company , the l argest maj ority being 574 to The school board received ap prova l of in b onds by votes of 3 01 to

3 3 . Very few had time or th ought for voting when there were so m any prospects to se e . Fred Rand and Ben Shep ard decide d that the next thing to d o was to widen F irst street from the Urm ey H otel to the we stern city limits , and procee de d to start it . Arcades were built along Bur ’ dine s and other stores , front porches were l opp e d off all down the way , some front yards were pave d and others were not . Even t uall y a new bridge went over the river and First street , at le ast as as far the senior high school , h as all the makings of a b oul evard .

- E . G . Sewe ll was r e el ecte d presid ent of th e chamb er of com merce , in recognition of the work of the chamb er in getting a dee p water harb or and an estimate d visitors th e preceding s e a son . d m r New irectors were George St e b l e , W . W . Culbertson , J .

Avery Guyton , O . A . Sand quist and James D onn . They listene d to a lengthy Sewel l rep ort , which Sh owe d pie ces of Miami literature distrib uted the preceding year and an invitation sent to the Seaboard Air Line railroad to come in ; hel d a great te stimonial D dinner for United States Senator uncan U . Fletcher , who urged ami to strive for 3 0 feet of water in th e harbor . H is advice was tMi a en . h i s Having done share as secretary of the chamb er , Fr e d L . Weede resig ned at this time and j oined the real e state firm of Le e

. w a Brooks He s no exce ption . Nearly everyone in Miami and the

67 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

w environs w h o w a s n ot actual ly licensed t o sell real estate , as act “ ” ing as a bird d og in sniffing out prosp ects an d revealing them t o brokers f or part of th e commission .

1 9 Traffic conditions were s o b ad d uring April , 25 , that m o t or ist s an d officials alike ran temperatures all day l ong .

Originally adapted t o h orse and mul e vehicles , Miami streets during the early motor age had little b othersome conges ti on . B ut sud denly these streets were fill ed with vehi cles from every state , including th e Bronx , al l competing with the home b oys t o get somewhere in a terrific hurry . This conditi on was a g g r a vat f e d by a scarcity o bridges over the M iami river , and the pres ence in the streets of pi les of b uil ding material and trucks b lock ing half the p aving whil e disgorging th eir contents onto th e

Sidewalks .

First light in the civic darkness was cast by Stanl ey Ray , p ublic f - safety commissioner o New Orleans , who suggested one way streets combined with the newly - instal led traffic lights a s a cure f or con “ $ ” gestion . The citiz ens reacted unpleasantly . What some of “ them woul d snort , me an t o s a y driving two b locks out of our way $ ’ t o get by a one - way street will make it e asier to get around T ’ n d on t make sense . But early in April th e city commissi on i stru cte d City M anager Wharton and W . S . M axwell , secretary of

- the Miami M otor club , to work out a on e way stre et system for downtown Miami . Wharton forthwith ap p ointe d as th e first traf fic dire ctor a desk serge ant of the p olice dep artm ent named H . H . “ ” Arnol d , later nickname d Honk Honk f or h is traffi c expl oits , and the evol ution of a on e - way sy s tem b egan . The first sto p - and - g o lights were p ut in Op eration , directe d from a traffic tower on the B ank of B ay Biscayne corner . W e Shall soon s e e h ow even bl ood was she d b efore citizens surrendered their rights t o roam the streets a s they p l eased . M any were of the opin ion that the only way t o relieve the impossib le condition at the F .

E . C . crossing on Flagl er street w a s t o b uild a high l evel viaduct over the tracks . Hearings were h el d on closing the Miami river bridges t o all b ut large yachts , but th e city never exercised the rights which Lieut . C ol . Gilb ert

A . Youngberg told them they had in the matter of requiring masts and smokestacks t o be hinged .

H. H . AR N O LD

68 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

Despite the turmoil downtown , the First Baptist Ch urch de cide d on a new Skyscrap er b uilding on its Fifth stre et and N . E . 1 2 First avenue l ot . It w as to rise stori es , costing and w a seating in th e auditorium . The first million s subscribe d w hen the pl ans were announce d , B . B . Tatum he ading the list with ’

Dr . J . L . White le d his congregation to an evangelist s tabernacl e while the ne w church w as being starte d . Although the abrupt decline of the b oom force d the Baptists to ab andon the s k y scrap er id ea , and b ondholders re cently b ecame importunate to an the point of forecl osure , th e First B aptist Church is soli dly chore d in a much b etter church than it had b efore the b oom .

A S we have recounte d , E . B . Douglas had sol d his store and adj oining property for and retire d to lead the G ommu nity Chest in a su ccessful drive for that year . Less than a m onth after the sale , the former D ouglas h ol dings were leased 9 by the Knights t o Hugh M . And erson and Roy C . Wri ght for 9 years on a $ 3 , 000, 000 val uation . Th e new owners b egan plans to tear d own the ol d dep art ment store an d to p ut thereon the present w Venetian Arcade , which as to b e three stori es for the moment but b uilt for expansion to 1 8 stories later . The same sort of plan

- accounts f or the 3 Story height of the Shoreland Arcade , which

And erson and Wright also p ut up . Hurrying throngs in downtown Miami were entertained during the latter part of April by the p lacing of three 1 8 - ton steel girders spanning the wh ol e b anking Sp ace of the new four- story additi on t o th e Bank of Bay Biscayne , which was b eing bui lt by th e Fre d

T . Ley C ompany . Some of our most exp ert l ookers watche d these giant sup p orts into pl ace . Th ey b ear the up p er fl oors on their mighty b acks , making columns through the main floor unnecessary . This unobstructed vi ew make s it p ossib le tod ay for K enneth Keyes to keep a b etter che ck on the salesmen of his l arge real estate or aniz a tion g , whi ch has taken over the form er b anking room .

Big deals were almost b ecoming commonp lace . The site of the old Trinity Episcop al Church at N . E . Second avenu e and Sec ond w a street s sold by the Ralston brothers to Milton J . K ern of

P a . Allentown , , an d his associates f or Kern also paid for the l ots on Biscayne b oul evard north of the C olumbus Hotel whi ch are grace d today with a soft drink stand and a p ark lo ing t . The Evergre en Gardens of 2 5 acres in Allap attah were sol d for J ohn Sewell disp os e d of five river- front lots of north the Scottish Rite Temp l e to Dr . J ohn W . Shisler for $ 22 5 , 000 ‘ . They h ad cost original ly Farther up th e river th e Waldeck - D eal Dredging Comp any was b uilding the largest dry dock in the South for the yacht and dre dging b usiness .

At a gala dinner in the Ponce de Le on Hotel , M . C . Teb b etts of Fulford - b y - the - Sea was showered with encomiums and assur an oes of l ocal supp ort for decl aring he woul d b uil d a mi le - a - and quarter b oard track for winter automobil e racing . John M . n e lease d the Burdine Quart erman b uil ding diagonally

6 9 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

across from the First National Bank from John B . Reilly , first M iami of mayor , with an option t o b uy at The southe ast corner 1 5 Tenth street and N . E . Second avenue , running 7 feet on the ave f or nue , was b ought by Florid a Enterprises from J . R . Anthony The year- old Henrietta Towers in Dallas Park w as r lease d on a val uation of by J . E . Junkin , s . , E . P . Grimes and T . V . M oore . The Unite d Cigar Stores b ought thre e l ots at t f r N . E . First avenue and Six h street o t o 1 5 Pi l R . J . Marshb urn was pl anning op en more g g y Wiggly grocery stores to reinforce the 1 0 alre ady scattere d about Miami . A t w o- story addition to th e courthouse was h astily thrown up to give - the j udges elbow room . Railey Milam Hardware Company had to have a addition to its b uilding on Flagl er street , and the Miami Furniture C omp any move d into its new building at

Miami and N . W . Fifth street . The biggest society event of the spring was the wedding of f l D orothy Dean , daughter of S . B ob o D ean o the o d M etrop olis , and ’ r Rob ert M . Davidson , soon t o b ecome Coral Gab l es fi st city man ’ D f h i h . r W t e d a u ager Scarcely less stirring was the marriage of . S g w ter , Martha , to R . E . Kunkl e . Ruth Bryan O wen as restore d to “ m M American citi zenship , her arri age t o aj . Reginal d O wen hav ing made her a British subj ect despite her J acksonvill e , Ill . , birth .

Bank d ep osits in Miami had more than d oub led in a year , with 9 4 1 on dep osit at th e end of M arch call in 1 25 , an d $ ,

9 24 . f r in 1 . Ju dge W E . Walsh h ad obtaine d a charter o the prop ose d University of Miami and the new regents were weigh ing the advantages of Sites offered by four big real estate developers .

Circuit Judge H . F . Atkinson refused to dissolve an inj unction against Eugene Couture and 50 other Miami Be ach property ow n ers attempting t o cl ose the O cean drive north of the Firestone e s tate and move it b ack toward the b ay . C outure had starte d a house on what the county commissioners contended had b e en a p ublic f or 4 0 road years and he refuse d t o give way . N ot far from the f ’ scene o this deadlock , J . C . B ail e as chairm an of the B aker s haul over commission pushed a plunger which bl ew o ut the l ast Shre d of dirt b etween b ay and o cean under the n ew bridge , and the ocean ’ tides came in Baker s ha ulover t o sweep up p er Biscayne b ay . This haul over g ot its name from an early Captain Baker w h o found it t o convenient swing small b oats , l oade d with p l under from wrecked o vessels , over the narr w strip of land into the concealing se curity of the b ay . The calm of an April Sunday afternoon was shattere d by a t or nad o which rose over th e municipal golf course at Hialeah , b ounced once on the White Belt Dairy and reduce d a two - story ap artme nt t and several houses o kindling , b ounce d s everal times through th e northwest section with equally disastrous results , and moved out t o r sea , l eaving five dead o dying and 3 4 inj ure d in its wake .

Arthur Pryor , the b and l ead er , said h e was standing on his

7 0 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

front p orch at Hialeah watc hing a hail storm when the whirling black funnel formed alm ost before his eyes on th e golf course and

moved past with a terrifying roar . Roads and streets were blocked f r t o t o f o miles by those trying get the scenes o th e accident , or

away from them , and ambulances frequently had to take t o th e fields on e r r and s of mercy . f 9 The lessons o Septemb er , 1 2 6 , would not have b een s o severe if builders of the preceding year had taken time to s e e what th e power of wmd did t o houses they were so b usily throwing together like stacks of cards .

just before the b oo m these Flo rida costumes were s omewhat daring but the la w ,

o and req uired st ckings style dictated h ats .

7 1 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

and t oday the Miami N ews Bureau advances th is fish - net bathing suit

a o row o o s t o held by m dest f c rk as he pr per beach garb .

7 2 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s decide d to fol low the example of the First Baptist in p utting up a combination commercial and church property at N . E . First avenue and Fourth street . M arcus A . Milam heade d the Trinity M ethodist committee t o raise in ple dges t o finance the 1 0- church part , and the for the Story commercial wing was t o be finance d with b onds . The Baptists were to have 3 75 offices and a gymnasium . It seeme d a very Simple way to get self liquidating houses of worship . 3 00- T . W . Palmer was starting the first room unit of the C o M c A llist e r lumb us Hotel , next t o the , with plans complete for a

buil ding . The Henrietta Towers , one of th e most p op ular hotels in Miami , changed h ands nearly every month , b eing unloade d by the hometown b oys in M ay to Samue l Risman of Buf falo on a valuation of a quarter of a million gain in a month .

' The South Atlantic Telephone and Telegraph C omp any an n ounc e d through M anager Vernon Baird it woul d build a greatly improve d central p lant for in addition to spending

for outsid e b etterments . Recent merging with the South ern B ell system unlocked th e doors of this new capital . f T . O . Wil son b egan to incre ase the C ongress b uil ding rom 1 five stories to its present 7 at a cost of Ge orge B . D unn and the Miami Transit C ompany swept th e jitneys off th e - ss Miami stre ets with 3 0 p assenger b u es , ignoring the anguished wails of th e i dl e j itney drivers . The county commission decide d to sell the C entral school grounds to the school b oard f or t o m eet p art of the cost of th e new courth ouse and to levy taxes for the remainder instead of se lling b onds . h i Just before he left in M ay for s summer vacation , Carl G

Fisher contrib ute d another ch apter to his fe ud with S . A . Lynch , the Atlanta capitalist , over what we know today as Sunset Isl ands . Lynch and his associates owne d the tips of these four nubs that stuck o ut like fingers from the western sid e of Miami Beach n orth of the Venetian islands . Fisher owned the b ase of the nubs and the mainl and . He feared that Lynch woul d hol d him up if h e trie d to ’ b uy them , and h e didn t want Lynch to have a rival d evelopment right under his n ose .

He appe ared , therefore , t o opp ose successfully a p etition by the Lynch interests f or p ermission to b ul kh ead and fill a consider abl e area around the four nubs . Later , Fisher mad e certain that Sunset Islands would n ot trouble him by cutting them off with a canal running along the shore . A S he owne d the lan d on b oth f ’ banks o the canal , Lynch couldn t even p ut up a bridge to reach the Shore . The feu d is over , Lynch having returne d this spring and S uns e t on put Islands the market , but Fisher kept them out of th e last b o om . s s s M - I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

The Minneapolis Journal at this time described the Florid a “ ” movement as a feverish land b oom , which local j ourn alists felt was caused by the Minneapolis writers n ot b eing familiar with local conditions . Perhaps t h e Minneap olis observers had read in the M ay an na ls Of the sale of Silver Crest , for exampl e , a subdivision at Grap e l and boulevard north of Coral Way , which w as completely sold out in 1 0 minutes after the sale starte d . Five binders were offere d on iv every corner l ot days b efore C . Edward C l arke threw the sub d i ’ sio n Op en . Or they might have heard of Addison M izne r s B oca

Raton , where eager b uyers had gobbl e d up in l ots the first d ay they were offered , and took an even greater amount two weeks later . Perhaps they even were informe d of th e Arthur- M anley

Birch sub division of East Shenandoah , which got ri d of in lots the first offering and was comp letely sol d out in two d ays . ’ Perhaps the Minneap olis scrib es did n t think it normal f or whol e sub divisions to b e gobble d up like a June b ug thrown to a duck , but we knew , down in Miami , that it was only o ur way O f growing .

Armstead Brown quit practicing law with John P . Stokes in w as Miami at this time and ap p ointe d to th e Florid a Supreme court ,

t o . succee d Judge Jefferson B Browne of Key West , wh o wante d t o return to the island city to live . A . C . All eshouse resigne d as prin cip a l of Miami High sch ool after 25 years in teaching to look after ’ h is prop erty , and W . R . Thomas stepp e d into the princip al s Office from that of a ssistant .

Roddey B . B urdine was el ecte d hea d of Miami Rotary . John W u C la u ss e n merge d his insurance interests with the St e m b l e r ins ur M a c D on l a d . ance agency , D uncan b ecoming treasurer . M S . Tuck er came to Miami from Jacksonville as Da de county ’ s first au ditor and p urchasing agent , and was e mbroil e d for months in a l eg a l

- fight over his newly create d Offic e . Olli e H Gore , b usiness man ager of The Hollywood M agazine , went to New; York t o represent 50

Fl orida chamb ers Of commerce that summer . Sherman Minton , a now United St tes senator from Indiana , came t o Mi ami t o j oin the f l aw firm o Shutts B owen .

Ed H owe , the Sage Of Potato Hill , was honore d on his seventy f first birthday . C . E . Riddell o Galveston succee de d Fre d L . Weede as secretary of the Miami Chamb er of C ommerce , and brought M ar vin Brown from B eaumont t o e dit The M iamian and handl e M iami p ublicity . Neither seeme d t o fit in with the local picture . John Seyb ol d concluded 25 years in Miami b usiness b y selling his b akery to the Southern B aking Comp any , and retiring to watch his new

Central arcade rise ab ove downtown Miami .

Dan Hardie , long time sheriff, j oine d the caravan of M iamians on worl d trips , visiting the Holy Land an d many other foreign coun tries while new owners took Over the pione er casino at south beach from which he had retired .

75 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

The first warning cl oud in the bright sky of the Florida b oom 1 9 25 was the discovery in the mid dle of June , , of a picke d squ ad of 20 federal income tax specialists in the county courthouse and fe deral b uil ding che cking the profits O f the sp ecul ators .

’

Some m e n b e g an to take stock and to re ef in their sails . They even contemplated the end of the year and th e profits th ey might have to de cl are then . A man coul d make a million dollars profit

on a 20 . . sal e , b ut he woul d b e l ucky to get p er cent of it in cash 50 The remainder w as p ap er , b ut Uncl e Sam dem ande d at least p er cent inc om e tax in cash . M any a luckl ess p ap er milli onaire found himself hard presse d to dig up the real money to p ay taxes r e on his 1 9 2 5 profits . If th at w as done , he found h e had only d uc e d his e quities and might better have waite d to make a fresh start with the new year , instea d O f sel ling S O soon . B ut that was only a small cl ou d and the b ulk O f u s p aid no attention to such remote Signals . Fre d Rand b egan in June to buil d the Huntington b uil ding on the Site of the “ Gab les ” at f S . E . Second avenue and First street . Far out on the other end O his Se cond avenue b usiness strip , at Fourteenth street , he starte d the Roosevelt H otel , whose unfinished walls and ru de interior furnished a haven for hob oes and the h omeless of 1 0 years , whil e two hurricanes did their unsuccessful b est to ruin it . The w a 1 9 6 structure s b ought in J anuary , 3 , for by Lindsey Hop kins , sr Atlanta capitalist , wh o wil l rep air and finish it .

Ge orge E . M erri ck mad e the b est Offer for the prop osed Uni versity of Miami , promising 1 60 acres in the southern part of C oral Gables and a end owment conditioned up on another w being Obtaine d . That as easy , in th ose days , for the men who incorp orated it . The found ers were W . E . Walsh and

- Frederick Z eigen , wh o had nursed the idea of an op en air uni f or versity a year ; William J ennings Bryan , C layton S . C oop er ,

James M . C ox , B ertha M . Foster , Henry Salem Hubbell , Ge orge

M errick , Ruth Bryan O wen , Th omas J . Pancoast , Mitchell D . Price ,

Leslie B . Rob ertson , E . G . Sewell , Frank B . Shutts and B . B . Tatum . The announcement w as blaz one d through 1 6 solid p ages of Coral one Gab les advertising in issue of Th e Mi ami Heral d . Y ou of rarely hear Atlantic Shores today , b ut in June , 1 9 2 5 , it began a campaign O f advertising and promotion se cond only to the on scale which C oral Gabl es and Mi ami Shores were b eing pushe d . Atlantic Sh ores grew out of th e p urchase of 9 60 acres of swamp l and and b each j ust south of Hollywood , from the ocean to the present Dixie highway where it curves into Hollywood . It w a s on e of the l ast undevel ope d tracts in th e b oom - b each z one and had a mil e f o . ocean frontage The b uyers were heade d by Judge T . T . Ans b erry of Ohi o and Washington . They p aid f or the t Z ett r l l and , m ost Of it o Olaf e an d , a former Flagler railroad e n in e e r f or 1 g wh o had acquire d it $ an acre many years b efore .

J o . With y C Clark p ushing the promotion , Atl antic Sh ores g ot of rid in l ots d uring the first three we eks Of July , quite

7 6 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

dwarfing the Golden Be ach devel opment j ust south Of it . At the r e r e height Of th e b oom , it was estimated that was p of sente d in the lots of Atlantic Shores , but all that remains tod ay those values is the l and , a few houses near the Dixie highway , an d the administration building b ack near the ocean . Whil e all these activities on land were absorbing th e steady u inrush of capital , five proposed ne w islands were plotte d in p p er Biscayne b ay , running north from the new Venetian islands .

Soon lots were being sol d on pap er , on l ocations then a dmitted ly t 200 1 0 feet under water . The new isl ands were o constitute a $ ,

development of Hugh M . Anderson , R oy C . Wright , Robert

H . Gambl e Of Jacksonville , J . F . Chaille of the Venetian isl ands , and F . C . B . Le G r O , now a commissioner Of Everglades drainage district . All p ub lic groups and the county commissioners indorsed the new islands and the proj ect was off in a swirl of gl ory . They were to b e part of the ambitious upp er bay devel opment linke d with

- Miami Shores , and p ossibly tie d in with the new Seventy ninth stre et causeway promise d at that time by T . A . Winfield and final ly opened July 1 9 , 1 9 28 . How far the islands got b efore the b oom collapsed may have b een note d any time within the last 1 0 years by the line of pilings outlining th em . Le G r o was l eft h olding the sack . Just h ow val uabl e this b ay b ottom w as considered is evidence d by the storm of protest which arose when the l egislature p assed a local bill l ate in the 1 9 2 5 session t o convey to the city of Miami control over a large part of the submerge d bay b ottom , even that within the l imits of Miami Be ach . Governor M artin listene d to b oth

Sides , vetoe d the bill . The l egislature of 1 925 finally close d after Governor M artin had swung the big stick over them in a on e - d ay sp ecial session to get the biennial ap propriations bill p asse d without making a $ 2 , r cut demand e d by west Flori da conse vatives . The gasoline tax was increased from 3 to 4 cents t o provide more money for highways . A fire b oard w as cre ate d to fight Everglades muck fires . Free textb ooks were provide d in p ubli c schools for the first time . H onk Honk Arnol d g ot his on e - way stre et and traffic light 2 1 i system ready for op eration by June , with through streets d e s g nat e d F - on l agler from the b ay to Twenty second avenue , N . E . Sec

- ond avenue from the Royal Palm grounds t o Thirty Sixth street , an d all of N . B ay S hore drive , which then was b eing p ave d 2 00 feet out on the new fill from the R ova l Palm to Sixth street .

Although the merchants grumbled , the p eopl e of Miami gen e r a ll y approve d the change . The greatest troub le arose from the habit Of pe destrians wal king across on the gre en light . One of the new police contingent from Ge orgia , Patrol man Johnson , b e came s o incense d at a pe destrian w h o disob eyed h is commands to stop cross “ ” ing when the G O light w a s on that he yanke d out his pistol and

77 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

fired , hitting a citi zen name d C . F . M owery half a bl ock away .

Johnson was discharge d for h is mistaken zeal , M owery recovered , and pedestrians b egan waiting for the lights to change b efore

charging into the stre am of traffic . The W offord Hotel decid ed in June to remain op en through the summer , after many requests from former guests . The Fleet wood re op ened with one guest , in re sp onse to the a pp arent nee d f or accommod ations , as did many other h otels . First hints that th e Seab oard Air L ine railroad woul d extend its lines from W est Palm B each to Miami came with a real estate advertisement early in June de claring the Seab oard station woul d b e built at Fl agler stre et and Le J e une road . Although the cham b er of commerce and other civi c b odies h ad b e en urging the Sea ‘ r f b oard to come in f o a year , W . L . Stanl ey o the railroad at that time l ab el ed as “ untrue ” the statement that the Seab oard defi nit e ly had decided to extend its line south from W est Palm Be ach .

The actual announcement came a month later .

Not all n ews then w as buying and selling . Rob ert R . Tayl or , of pioneer stock , b ecame D ade county solicitor , a p osition he again holds this year . Thomas J . O verton resigne d after 22 years with the Miami p ost Offi ce , t o deal in real estate . Horace Stilwell w as organi zing the Rep ub lican party f or Florida at Orl and o , predict ing the state woul d go Rep ub lican within a few years . E . D . Sulli van name d h is Patricia H otel in D all as Park for the young d aug h f ‘ ter o P . E . Hickey , h is financial associate . M . B . Garris , local engine er , was plotting the stre ets in D allas Park .

Eugene Hawkins , young bridegroom of three hours , was shot and kill ed near th e Wildcat in Coral Gables by the enrage d father

of h is d . bri e , Ethel The killer , A . C . Cal dwell , also Shot the d aug h ter , and then disap p eare d into the palmett o scrub where h is dea d b ody was found a week later . Th e dirigibl e Los Angel es made it s first app earance over Mi ami , going from Puerto Rico back to Lake w hurst . It as th e largest thing Miami ans had seen in the air . 0 .

. f B Sailors o Kokomo , Ind . , one of the b uilders of th e Clyde C ourt r ap artments , die d in Ari zona , and M s . John Sewel l died in North

Carolina .

The Scop es evolution trial was ab out to b egin in Dayton , Tenn . , and William Jennings Bryan w as the chief sp okesman for the prose c ut i n o . On th e eve of his de parture th e deb ate ab out evolution waxe d and waned in many a pul pit and e ditorial column . It w as a futil e an d fatal undertaking for th e Great C ommoner .

78 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

FRANTIC scrambl e f or any kind of Florid a acreage ha d 1 9 spread over the sta te by June , 2 5 , and investors newly ar rived from the North s at in Miami an d bid fantastic prices f or enormous tracts of land in north and west Florida that they ’ had never se en and coul dn t imagine what it even looke d like . In “ ” a h k r d e those times , by p op ular consent , it was call e d e g , if that spelling conveys the idea .

Typical is th e case of B ert Schreib er of Miami , who paid $ 1 ,

for acres of forest and swamp l and in Leon , Wa kul la and Jefferson counties , south of Tallahassee , and sol d it that

June within a we ek for profit to Ab e C ohen of Chicago .

Incidentally , Schreib er retaine d the timber rights on the land , the only thing that gave it value , but few of the visiting acreage sp ec ulat or s gave a thought to such small profit features as timb er or turpentine . Jacob Goodman of New York spent only a week in Mi ami b e fore he b ecame the owner of acres in far - O ff Lib erty coun ’ ty , which , had he taken the trouble to inquire , he couldn t even reach by road . A Miami syndicate pai d f or acres in Orange and O sce ol a counties , south of Orland o in what W then w as one of the ildest p arts O f the state . B allard Buch e lew Offere d acres in scattere d and fre qu ently in a c ce s sible parts of the state . For a binder of they woul d con sid er selling acres in Santa Rosa county , this side of Pensa c ola . A binder of w as require d to h ol d acres in

Washington and Calhoun counties . Kincai d Harper w as s ub d i vid in g acres in Holmes county , up under th e Georgi a line , for smal l farms .

Of course , the choice offerings were cl ose to Miami , th e nerve ’ center Of th e b oom . West of D oc D ammers Central Miami and b e yond , where the C oral Gab l es Seab oard dep ot today falls grace fully into decay , someone paid for 4 05 acres . The Ives D airy farm of 4 8 5 acres was b ought b y the D onnel ly Realty Com p any and rename d North Fulford .

Former Sheriff Louis A . Al len w as d oing well in real estate and won some brief fame by p aying f or 1 0 acres west of

- - on . Twenty seventh avenu e N . W Thirty sixth street , buying from

John Givens , a thrifty negro who had pai d $ 2 50 f or it 2 8 years before and lived there comfortab ly ever Since . Tott e ns key , south C oc olob o of the present Cay club , w as taken from Isaac L . Jones for he also having acquired it 28 years before for the s um of $ 2 1 2 . Land which had b e en in the Brickell family Since the original Spanish grant was conveyed by William and George Brickell t o the Brickell Estate C ompany and th e D onnelly Realty

Comp any began sel ling off the 1 92 acres as B rickel l Estates .

The M atheson tract on Upper M atecumbe key , visite d s o d is

79 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

r of ast o usly by the 1 9 3 5 storm , w a s sol d for at the rate o an acre . J . M . Smoot , president f the Miami Jockey cl ub , and h is associates paid f or acres in Lake , Sum ter , Pasco and Hernando counties . evidently in the b elief that they were near Tamp a . The area around O kee chobee City and the up per end O f the big e lake was se ething with sub dividers , map ping out homesites wher the b uyer coul d have from on e t o five acres inste ad of a 50- foot city lot . Advertisement s recalled the al lege d statement from “ Henry M . Flagler , the Oracle of the East C oast , that O kee chob ee ” will b e another Miami . H is railroad at the time was p ushing through O keechobe e down the east side of Lake Okeech ob ee , with the intention of running al ong one of the canal b anks into Hialeah . C urtiss- Bright ranch w as establishe d at Palm Circl e and the settlement of Brighton , name d f or James H . Bright , was in the w making on the state road west Of Okeechob ee . M . M . Hogan as devel oping O keechob ee M anors . Another b oom fl ower west of the city was O keechob ee Highl ands , a e uphemism indicating p os s ib l y a foot rise above the general l evel . On b eyond was Harding

Township . O keechob ee Shores w as starte d as an inland seashore on what they cal le d Chauncey bay .

Allentown , b etween O ke echob ee and Venus , was terme d The ” of City C ontentment , where five acres could b e had for $ 500. Fort Drum w a s b eing changed into a model city an d su ch exotic pro d u ctions as Kissimmee Gabl es trade d on the vast vogue of C oral

Gab les . The Alford Realty C omp any had quite a pl ay with Alford ’ City , in the up p er glades . Fort Pierce Farms declare d sales of

- in the first month . The near b y city of Indrio w as in the making . Industrial City was l aid out on the Palm B each canal , across from Loxahatchee Farms , and b uyers were promise d a forest of smoking industrial stacks almost b efore y ou coul d get a dee d . Even the war d ep artm ent got the fever and w as about to throw H on Chapman e ld the market , after giving 9 5 acres to the de art m e nt f r p Of agriculture o an exp erimental farm . B ut E . G . Sewel l and other Miamians step pe d in and persuade d the war depart ment that the fiel d shoul d b e kept for an air b ase , th e function it served during the World war . It has since been use d f or that pur in 2 p ose again , although D ecemb er , 1 9 5 , Nathan Frie dman of New York enj oye d a brief ownership by Offering to p ay for 8 00 of the acres Chapman Field , which woul d have given the war department a profit of per cent on its original investment .

Wh en Key Largo City coul d b e sob erly describe d as a $ 20,

undertaking , it di d not seem at al l improb ab le th at Miami soon would b e a solid city from C oco Plum b each t o West P alm

as . Beach , C W . M ontgomery , Herald re al estate writer , asserte d was the general b elief .

Accompanying this unreasoning urge f or sub dividing , which resulte d in city lots b eing staked o ut in the middl e O f a hundre d w Fl orida swamps , as a pop ular d emand for guidance in investment .

8 0

M I A M I M I L L I O N S

Miami were humiliated by the pl ain , yellow , wooden F . E . C . d ep ot , and they were irked b eyond reason by waiting in the hot s un whil e endl ess strings of freight cars were shunted b ack and forth across

Fl agl er street .

In June , 1 92 5 , th e Mi ami Chamb er Of Commerce repeate d it s invitati on of a year b efore f or the Seab oard Air Line railroad to extend its new line from West Palm B each to Miami . It also calle d upon the city O f Miami to assist in getting right Of way . 1 3 . By July , S D avies W arfield , the Chesterfiel dian president of w a the Seaboard , s assure d that the right of way was availab le , and tw o days later he finally announce d that h is line woul d come

- into Miami on l and d onate d by the Curtiss Bright interests , by

George E . M errick and by C . H . Perry , the l atter f or a d ep ot Site on f West Flagl er , a bl ock west o Dougl as road . On th e W est C oast ab out that time John S . J ones , the d evelop er of Nap les , was p aying out his ow n money to run a Seab oard extension from Fort M yers into Napl es , which was bill ed then as a second Miami B each . O f course , the W arfield statement precipitate d a mad scram f or bl e choice l ots and acreage near the d ep ot site , around the pro p osed freight dep ot at N . W . Seventh avenu e and El eventh street , and all al ong the line to W est Palm B e ach . Perry very prudently took his 1 20 acres Off the m arket , pre dicting it woul d go to at l east

a front foot as s o on as the rails began to app ear . He waited , h owever , a trifle too long , as the d ep ot never was pl ace d there . It ’ remains today as the Flagl er C ountry clu b , Perry s principal holdings .

Presi dent W arfiel d , with his usual energy , at once mad e ar rangements to market in b onds with Dill on , Read

C o . of New York to pay for the extension . When he ap p eare d in M iami h e was b esieged by delegati ons from Homeste ad and th e

Redlands , demanding that he exten d into th at section . By the end of July title to all th e land needed f or an extensi on cle ar to Fl orida ’ City was l aid in Warfiel d s l ap , and a giant torchlight p arade from Miami to Homestead was arranged to signaliz e his de cision to enter the Redlands . A different kind Of torchlight fl are d into a June night with a

- - fire which d estroye d the S . H . Kress Five and Ten store and gave the wh ole city the nervous Shakes , recalling th at other fire of 1 8 98 wh en most O f Miami was b urne d . B ut firemen kept th e b laze in

- control , and soon after Kress d ecide d to p ut up a five story store and storage buil ding costing on the ash es of th e O ld one . w as Hap pily , he stil l had th e only b asement in town , even th ough it full of water .

The Clyd e C ourt apartments changed hands again at this time , D nh f e r A v going from Val utt e o of Cincinnati to I . r on o it z an d Louis

A f r e m ow for Th e addition to the p ost Office , where the f Miami Chamber o C ommerce today lives , w as nearing comple

t oo . ti on , b ut even b efore it was op ened p eop le knew it was small

William Sydow b ecame the first city manager of C oconut Grove .

8 2 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

Andrew H e e r m a nc e took time out from his hazardous duties as fiel d manager Of Florida Aviation camp at Hialeah to get married . w a n e John B . Reid s o Of the sensations of Miami B each at this period Of the b oom , ranking third to Roney and Fisher in vol ume f f of sales . Reid was more o a broker an d l ess o a b uil der than th e other tw o . Before the b oom reached its crest Reid had b ought worth of Miami property and s et some kind of a rec or d with in sales during one we ek . Burdine ’ s had found their new b uilding was suffering for want of parking space for p atrons and had p ut up a two -story garage s ome time b efore . Boom b usiness w as s o great , however , that th ey began in June to increase the additi on to s ix stories at a cost of

merging it into the dep artment store .

- Any well kn own man came to Miami at his p eril , if he shunne d ’ r p ub li c attention . T . V . O C onno , chairman of the United States

Shipping B oard , was inveigle d into buying some l ots in Winona Park at Flagl er street and Red road and overnight found himself heral de d in full - page ads as a seer and a prophet who had l ooke d into the crucible of the future and discovere d that Miami very soon would revolve right around Winona Park . Brooklyn capitalists b ought the Julia Tuttle ap artments from

Mr . and Mrs . Harry E . Tuttl e for The M arlb orough w Hotel at Miami B each as sol d by P . J . D avis to F . E . D e M urias of Long Isl and for The Roney Plaza H otel b uil ding per ’ f e mit or s t a day s re cord f or Miami B e ach , whil e Miami ’ s daily record was Mitchell Wolfson had turne d from the East Coast J ob bing House of h is father to an intensive acquiring of North Miami avenue f prop erty , in comp any with Sidney M eyer . After getting control o a whol e bl ock al ong Miami avenu e , they started to b uil d the C ap it ol Theater for as the destruction Of the Ol d New York

D epart ment store , not far away , se emed to fore cast a b uil ding b oom that woul d make North Miami avenue the b usiness successor to

Flagler street .

B ut with al l the grasping for l and and money , the citizens had time to crowd th e b eaches daily and to create our first real summer season . Although nothing sh ocking occurre d , Miami Beach de cide d the time had come to insp ect bathing suits . Only a few years b efore it had required all women b athers to wear stockings , and the rep ort that some men had b een seen l etting down their b athing suit tops brought prompt action , believe me . The W offord Hotel announced that th e fashionab l e b athing ’ hour h ad change d from 1 1 O cl ock in the m orning , stan dards set by the Palm Be ach aristocrats , and the hours now were b efore break ’ fast and from 5 to 6 o clock in the evening . Although the residents in these p arts didn ’ t quite know what to do ab out the “ summer ” w season now that it was up on them , it as fairly obvious that the n ewcomers didn ’ t intend to d eny the fact that it was much too hot a t midday t o 1011 for l ong up on the Sands .

8 3 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s

f o a u a B and t s r m mile p , Mi mi each he na rrow trip of sand which o s o o — became the l de t ne oo . Ho t f the b m it Pho o.

8 4 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER FO URTEEN

HE TW O MEN w h o l aid the cornerstone of th e 1 9 2 5 Fl orida

b oom were th e late J o hn S . C ollins and Carl G . Fisher . The one first mad e the ocean b each accessib le to the p ublic ; the

other made the adj oining land habitabl e in wholesal e quantity . We may well conce de that ocean bathing in January was th e sp ark

that inflame d the Northern imagination . n John S . Collins is gone , l e aving his s o , Irving A . Collins , and

- - his son in law , T . J . Pancoast , t o carry on the work that he began

when already a full life was b ehind him .

Carl G . Fisher still is presi dent of th e three comp anies h e

founded here , the Alton B each Realty Comp any , the Miami Beach

Bayshore C ompany and the Peninsul a Terminal Company . Worth at the height Of the Fl orida b oom an estimated in quick

assets and b etween and in equities , Fish er s aw most O f it tied up in the ill - fate d M ontau k Point devel opment on Long Island when the stock market crash of 1 9 2 9 froze the ’ nation s assets . Wheth er h e can emerge to resume th e p osition of leadership he once occupied in Miami B each in this n ew era of

expansion is a questi on widely asked .

C ollins was at heart a horticulturist , a grower . We have se en h ow he came to Miami from New Jersey and with six a ssociates tried t o grow coconuts on a l arge commercial scal e ; of h ow the enterprise succumb e d before the ravages of rabbits and discour a e m e nt o g ; Of how C llins finally bought o ut the hol dings of E . T .

Fiel d and became the owner of acres of M iami b each , his domain reaching from Fourteenth street t o Archway Vill as north f O th e D eauville . In this empire C ollins turne d

to th e growing of vegetabl es , mangoes and avocad os al ong In h i dian cre ek , with s home and farm b uil dings at what is now

- Forty first street and Sheridan . Th e l ong rows O f tre es marking Pine Tree drive were th e first n p l anted o Miami B each , an d line d the l ane l eading up to the

farm b uildings . Pine tre es later were p l ante d in squares else where to serve as windbre aks for

the young orchards . TO make it easier to h aul his

avocad os to market at Miami ,

and to bring in fertilizer , C ollins dug the canal al ong Dade boule C A R L G FIS H E R . s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

vard which b ears his name . H e also b uilt th e first north an d south

str eet in the upp er p art of the b each , to j oin with Atlantic

b oulevard , b uilt from south be ach by the Lummus brothers , the

whol e now b eing name d Col lins avenue . When it was lai d o ut John Collins starte d the two - and - a-half-mil e wooden bridge to connect h is swampy paradise with th e mainland of Miami . M any stories are recounte d of th e courage an d p erseverance o f C ollins . H e and T . J . Pancoast were ab l e to get the bridge p art 1 9 1 2 n s u i way across in , b ut their funds ran l ow an d c o t ct on stoppe d temporarily . In th eir extremity they cal led on Carl Fisher , who was resting in a home near Point Vie w in Miami with a comfortab le

- - fortune from th e Prest O Lite Comp any salte d away . The au dacity of a man then 70 emb arking on th e op ening of a new land intrigued ’ Fisher s interest . He finally agree d t o make a l oan and the bridge

was carrie d to completi on June 2 , 1 9 1 3 . As a bonus f or p aying f or th e p urch ase Of a maj ority of 2 0 the b onds iss ue d to b uil d th e bridge , Collins gave Fisher 0 ’ acres from Ninete enth street at Collins canal south . It wasn t much ’ o of a gift , except the b each . B ut standing n th e ocean s edge

watching the waves rol l in , Fisher caught the same vision that J ohn 2 0 Collins had . He thereup on b ought 0 acres m ore in the Lumm v tract and 60 acres along th e b ay , gi ing him a b elt from Ninete enth street t o Fourteenth , j ust south Of th e Fl amingo Hotel , an d b egan

p lanning h ow t o make it worth something . The only w ay t o use his new gift was to cut down the man groves and t o p ump sand in from the b ay to m ake l and out Of the swamp . Fisher induce d J . E . and J . N . Lummus to j oin him in this

proj ect t o improve their h ol dings as well , and Fisher p ut up the money .

With John H . Levi in charge Of the engine ering , the filling u f an d the b ul kheading b egan , o t o which Miami B each as a city soon was cr e at e d h e Lummus brothers an d their friends call e d their p ortion South B each . Fisher cal l e d his Alton B each and the

Collins group dub b ed theirs M iami B each . T . J . Pancoast recalls today that when the tim e came t o adopt a name f or th e new town , of that Miami B each was finally accepte d , to hitch onto th e Mi ami star already in its ascendancy . The first Fi sher comp any was th e Alton B each Realty C om pany , whil e Collins an d Pancoast h andle d their affairs through th e

Miami B each Improvement Comp any . After the wooden bri dge

was opene d and th e new l and ha d taken form , Fisher and Col lins

combined in the Miami B each B ayshore Comp any , t o develop that of part lying north D ad e b oulevard and west Of Indian Creek . They b ought out the fringes from th e M odel Lan d Comp any of the Flag l er group . Collins p ut in his l and , Fisher put in a like value in money , thereby completing their control of Miami B each as far t - nor h as Sixty ninth stre et . Lincoln road was cut through the mangroves from ocean to bay In 1 9 1 5 and a littl e b ox- like structure call ed the Lincoln Hotel

8 6 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

was b uilt th e foll owing year , next t o wh ere the C ommunity Church now stands . It was moved later and expande d into the present t o large hotel , f or Fisher b elieved that peopl e had have a nice pl ace t o stay as the first requisite to liking Mi ami B each . And as a fur t o ther deft touch , he never allowe d his real estate sal esmen set foot inside a Fisher h otel to get a prospect . The Miami B each municip al golf course was the first on

- Miami Beach . Later , Fisher built the small nine hole Flamingo r course and the Flamingo p olo fiel ds f o his guests , through the 1 9 2 t w center Of his first tract . In April , 5 , Fisher sol d the o city blocks comprising the Flamingo g o lf course to the Shenandoah Devel opment Comp any of Miami f or a rep orte d b ut it 9 1 was stipulate d that it was not to b e sub divide d until 1 3 . Both the former p ol o fiel ds and golf courses today are rapidly filling up with homes and apartment houses . The Flamingo Hotel was b uilt by Fisher and op ene d in th e - o winter Of 1 9 20 2 1 . Charles S . Krom was brought over fr m B ell e f air t o b e manager , arriving a full year b efore the compl etion O the b uilding t o advise on its constructi on . Fisher had investigate d him , found him suitabl e , and he h as b een manager ever Since . Fish er put up thre e oth er hotels—the m agnificent Nautil us in 1 924 , the King Col e and the B oul evard a year later . His l an d development was reaching o ut through the b aysh ore section , h e was constructing the La Gorce and B ayshore golf courses , b uil ding new p ol o fields , running stre et car lines even out as far as the

Nautilus Hotel . ’ It was Fisher s ambition to have a deep - water harb or for

Mi ami Beach , instead of taking th e b ackwash from the ambiti ous

Miami d evel opment . Long years b efore , Miami B each had extende d its swampy way over what is now the government cut to Peninsul a w island , b ut th e t o were divorce d when th e fe deral government found it could reach de ep water through a minimum of hard rock b y the present route , and retained ownership of that territory . of Fisher acquire d much Peninsul a isl and , b ut his probl em , stil l o uns lve d today , was to establish rail and motor c ontact b etwe en a Mi mi B each and the wh arves b uilt on the isl an d . O n e of th e amusing features Of that harb or expansion was th e sinking Of the concrete Ship Sap ona on the north e dge of th e isl and to make a casino . The Sap ona was a nobl e exp eriment of the Unite d

States government during th e war and was b ought che ap . After its it had b een b eached in new home , h owever , Fisher dug it out t again , towed it o sea and sank it .

After le ading him almost t o the verge O f financial ruin , his t o 1 9 new venture b egan yiel d returns in 20, and sal es from th en on - marke d a fast rising curve . B ut Fisher was dubious ab out th e of 1 9 25 effects the boom , and as the fever mounte d his terms tight ened . His prop erty always was sol d on condition that t h e pur chaser b e acceptab le either to him or to his sale s manager , C . W . r Chase , j . They required a 20 per c ent p ayment up on cl osing of a deal , and in the very midst of th e summer of 1 9 25 Fish er made

8 7 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

term s even m ore severe , finally taking some property off the market

entirely , and in other cases requiring the buyer to b uild as an evi

d ence of good faith . It was his idea that prices then were t o o high f or n him t o sell conscientiously , and he knew if he relinquished c o

trol others might take the prop erty on a wil d b uggy ride . Believing that he had his prop erty safegu arde d from the 1 92 f boom , Carl Fisher left Miami B e ach in M ay , 5 , or the auto

mobil e races at Indianap olis , and from there went to his summer

home at Port Washingt on , L . I . While the fever rage d worst down

here , he was p lanning the new summer resort at M ontauk Point , on

the other end Of Long Island , in which he and the Pennsylvania f r railroad were t o j oin forces . He p ai d o the

acres making up that tip Of Long Isl and .

Miami B each in the winter , M ontau k Point in the summer ,

was the Sl o gan . His insistence up on b uilding hotels and re crea tiona l facilities and comp leting l andscaping b efore Selling a singl e l ot almost cost him a Singl e fortune . Be cause of th e stock market

decline , the real estate market refuse d to digest M ontau k Point

when it finally was re ady , and the rapid shrinkage of M iami B each equities foll owing the collapse Of the Florida b oom stretch e d his

cre dit to the limit .

1 3 Com e J uly , his birthday , Thomas J . Pancoast will roun d out 1 5 years as presid ent O f the Miami B e ach Chamb er Of C omm e r c e. ’ He was el ected its first president in Smith s C asino on South B each in the summer of 1 9 2 1 and has serve d so well th at th ere

has never b een any seriou s suggestion O f repl acing him .

According to C . W . Chase , r j . , or Pete t o his friends , th e chamb er was the outgrowth of an i dea h e nursed whil e waiting f or something else to d o i n the Fisher

organization , which h e had for saken his im porting b usiness in

Key West t o j oin . He discusse d th e nee d for a chamb er of com merce with the m erchants Of

South Beach , b ut receive d littl e encouragem ent until he m et up s on - in - with Lamb ert Rook , l aw of

J . N . Lummus , sr . , and at that time the foremost realty exp ert

on the Beach . At a lunch eon h e l d in ’ Hardie s C a s i n O , C ouncilman “ ” Bill Scott , sh owman and Sign

painter , finally made a speech that struck th e p op ul ar fancy and the chamb er Of commerce w a s b e

T. J. PA N C O AS T

s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

put the indelib l e stam p of h is fine p ersonality on the government f r of Mi ami Beach , where o nearly 1 8 years he has been a memb er o of the council , 1 1 years as president f that b ody . Levi w a s superintendent of the Seab ury Shipb uilding Com pany of New York when he first s aw Miami and wire d Carl Fisher to j oin him . When Fisher cast h is l ot here , Levi stayed also and directe d the fil ling and clearing Operations which gave Fish e r h is first l and to sell . Later , Levi and his associates b uilt Star Isl and on 55 acres of bay b ottom and transformed it into a tiny kingdom of excl usive estates . Levi also created the present Firestone estate f r o James H . Snowden on up per Mi ami B each . For seven years 9 until 1 3 0, John Levi was president of the Miami Be ach First

National B ank . w as The Miami Ocean View C ompany , f or which Levi first general manager and then president , was forme d with Snowden , r Fisher , J . N . Lummus , s . , and Henry M csweeney . It control le d that part of Miami B each from Fifth to Fourt eenth stre et and i ’ from —the b ay to Washington avenue . James A . Allison , F sher s - Prest O Lite partner , j oine d them later , b uilt the aquarium on the present Site of the Fl oridian Hotel . B ut these material things tel l littl e of the John Levi w h o today has only to p ut h is name on a ticket to get any honor in the gift f o Miami B each . He was president Of th e council through the trying years of the b oom and thereafter , and the unequ alle d finan c ia l standing of M iami B each today is d ue in no small degree to h is hand at the helm when s o many other Flori da communities were caught in a boom craze that l eft them p aralyz ed with debt . It m ay b e said of John Levi that he has never yet lost touch with the average citizens w h o m ake u p th at community . He is the 1 civic bridge b etween the C ommittee O f 00 an d South B each .

From earliest days , J . N . Lummus , sr . , father Of the present county tax assessor , was a moving force in the growing community . Prob ably his greatest contrib ution was the imp etus he gave to th e O f construction the county causeway , which augmente d the C ollins 1 9 20 bridge in . Although the C ollins bridge first op ene d the

B each , the fre e county causeway made Miami B each accessibl e

. F or n to the b oom some tim e , o e sid e w a s reserve d for p assenger f or vehicles and the other trucks , until the viaducts were double 9 2 4 tracked in 1 . As many as p e op l e a day were che cke d passing b ack and forth across it in 1 92 5 . Others w h o cam e into prominence during th e b oom were the i present mayor , Louis F . S ne d g ar , who also fill e d that p ost in 1 9 2 5 ; the late Frank H . Henning , councilman and assistant t o T . J . Pan coast in the Miami B each Improvement C ompany ; the l ate Walter

Kohlhep p , vice president and general manager of the Alton Beach and B aysh ore companies . K ohlhe pp was city finance director Of 1 9 2 2 Miami in when he came over to j oin th e Fisher group . o f In this recounting early days , some mention shoul d b e made D . oc Of Edward E ( ) Dammers , first mayor of Coral Gables , wh o

9 0 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

sold Miami Beach lots Off the tailb oard of a wagon in 1 9 1 3 . Whe n 1 00 the C ollins bridge was opened , l ots were s e t aside t o b e sol d ’ r t o Miami residents , each buyer getting five years free toll ove the bridge . All through the years that D oc Dammers was help ing George E . M err ick p ull the buyers west toward C oral Gable s w a and beyond , D ammers s constantly trading on the fact that he had once predicted a gol den future for Miami Beach when he w as standing in the middle of a mangrove Swamp pitting his auc ’ tione e r s l ungs against the angry whine O f mosquitoes and th e incredulity of the natives—and now l ook at it $

thirty years ago the y were cutting ari sto cratic Lincoln R oad at Miami Beach ou t

o o e — f this mangr ve jungl Matlack Ph oto.

9 1 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

9 2 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

o E A S UR E D in terms f hope , the crash of the dream city of ’ Addison M iz ne r s B oca Raton was perhaps the greatest 1 9 2 tragedy of the 5 Florida b oom .

Addison Mizner , archite ct , artist and creator , was one of th e f few to inj ect true p oetry o color and line into Fl orida b uilding . ’ He starte d t o d o f or a city on the ocean s e dge at Boca Raton what he had accomplished a s an architect in Palm Be ach on the b eautiful o Everglades club , n the palatial villa Of Mr . and Mrs . E . T . S t ot e s b ury , on the equally gorgeous C osden villa , the mansions of Van

8 0 . d e r b ilt , Wanamaker and oth ers Only one of the incre dib le M iz ne rs coul d have lai d o ut B oca

Raton . Had he start e d a year b efore , we might have there another

Coral Gab les , but unfortunately B oca Raton went on th e market 9 in June , 1 2 5 , sol d in lots in as many weeks , and gently - subsided b efore the great Ritz Carlton Hotel could b e b uilt , or the dozens of mil lionaire stockhol ders coul d b egin to line its C amino

Real with their estates .

Not long a g o , a p aragraph in the newsp apers told of the fed eral c ourt here approving a plan of re organization Of Addison f Mi zner , Inc . , involving refinancing to the extent o The - u Cloister , which Mizner b uilt as a sort Of warming p exercise and h i administration b uilding whil e s bigger plans gaine d momentum , was b ought several years ago by C larence H . Geist , Philadel phi a p ub lic utilities owner , and made into the excl usive B oca Raton club . 9 It w as op ene d in February , 1 2 6 , and cost a room . Th e remainder of B oca Raton is modestly catching hol d again , like s o many south Florida communities in the l ast thre e years . 9 Addison M izner came to Fl orida in 1 1 8 , after association with w a w Stanford White in New York , an d s famous in his o n right long b efore the b oom . Se eing others make whole cities out O f their 1 9 2 5 w dreams , he b e came restless and in April , , b ought t o miles of ocean front and acres from the Southeast Coast Lan d C om “ ” p any , b ack of what then was B oca Ratone . The e was soon dropped . Associate d with him were many Of the b est names in

Palm Beach , England or Paris . Chairman of the b oard of dire ctors

Of the Mizner D evelopment Corporation w as T . Col eman d u P ont ,

United States senator from Del aware . Jesse Livermore , famous

Wall Street operator , was chairman Of the finance committee . The

- youngest Mi zner , Wilson , world famous wit and a uthor , pitche d in

- as secreta ry treasurer and chief b allyhoo artist . “ Pioneering with men of affairs was the Mizner motto , car ried in a s eries Of advertisements whi ch truly were cl assics of the w boom . Whil e Addison as tracing o ut the Utopia , his brother “ Wilson stood t oe to t o e with the loudest liars availab le and o ut ” predicted them , as he declares in his biographical recitals of Flor ” “ w a ida days . It s good fun whil e it laste d , he adds . I l earne d

9 3 “ s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s it with thousan ds of others that braying alone will make an ass ” h oarse . Miami b egan to look up on Addison Mizner as one O f the real h e - m en of th e b oom when he came to Flagl er street and l eased Ye W of aysid e Inn , west th e Halcyon Arcad e , from M ary D odson

S wift , on a valuation of and b egan talking ab out an - 9 1 8 Story b uilding t here for 1 2 6 .

Next to the vibrant Shoreland Company Offices , which n o w ’ c ontain the D uval J ewelry C ompany , Jul es and the Seaboard i offices , Addison Mizner ere cted h s Flagler street Offi ces right over t h e he ads of h is b uz zing sal es force . The Mizner Office was p ut up with out interru pti on of the sales work , and the only p ause in t h e b anging of hammers an d cries of the workmen came when th e

- salesmen had their 1 5 minute daily p ep talk , or when some impetu o us b uyer call ed in by l ong distan ce . It is re counte d that when t h e carp enters saw the age d d oors from some Sp anish castle being w u nl oade d , they thought Mr . Mizner as playing a prank on them .

B ut they qui ckly learne d M izner was not j oking . Even the p atrons ’ of Child s restaurant today , if they take time out from their soup or cocktail to look around them in the former Boca Raton sales r oom , can discover that Ad dison M izner was the p eer of any de s igner in Flori da .

B oca Raton picked up he adway quickly . In August constru o t ion was starte d on The C loister an d in Septemb er M izner let in contracts for the Boca Raton Ritz - Carlton Hotel h e had designe d , and for a bridge over th e East C oast canal to connect

- t h e seash ore with th e 1 60 foot wide Camino Real , to stretch Six m il es across the Dixi e highway and into the Evergl ad es . For th e M iz r n e s were not buil ding on millionaires a lone . They l ooke d t oward th e muck l ands O f the Everglades for sustaining agriculture “ to give their seasi de O lymp us an earthy b ackbone . The citrus f arming outl ook w a s equipp e d with rose - colore d lemons suitabl e ” f - or all day suckers , comments Wilson in retrosp ect . “ Right u p to January , 1 92 6 , it w as only necessary t o p oint carel essly to a mu dhole and tell a prospect that there w as h is f or ” “ tune , goes on this veteran of a th ousand fortune hunts . He coul d n ot deny it , an d even th e salesman w as in deadly fe ar that he Sp oke the truth . F or Fl orida had something to sel l , at that . Something priceless , h owever scan dal ous the actu al sound of prices might h ave be en after vari ous acts of G od and man pl aced a cosmic pin ” into one Of the most p erfectly gassed realty b all oons of al l time . The work of Ad dison Mizner in Palm B each is timel ess and uniqu e . That he coul d not rear even l ofti er mansions in Boca Raton and give to the worl d that further expression of his great mind is t ruly a trage dy of the b oom . But at le ast , as his inimitabl e brother “ de clares , Ad dison Mizner saved this be autiful area from Mi dd le ” W est Queen Anne houses and stark New Engl and architecture , ghich entitl es him to one of the front seats in the Fl ori da halls of ame .

9 4 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

While Paris Singer was far from b eing in the Mizner class , the tw o names were linked s o Often in those times that it is not ina p pr o prlate to tel l here ab out “ Singer ’ s Folly ” and other exp eriences of

this heir t o the Singer sewing machine fortune .

- In the hero worshiping haze of b oom times , Paris Singer came

into public notice with the financing of the Everglad es cl ub , whi ch

Addison Mi zner create d . A few months ago this cl ub was sol d by f the b ondhol ders for a fraction o its cost , and the ol der Beach aristocracy which again controls it hopes to restore within its sacred walls some of the social refinements of other days in

Palm B each . Paris Singer also b uilt the massive display rooms and gal lery

- at the Palm B each end of the viaduct , b ut his b est known expl oit was at Palm B each O cean , where he put up the Bl ue H eron Hotel , most magnificent wreck of the entire p ostb oom peri od . Palm Be ach O cean w as a subdivision ext ending al ong th e s e a shore f or a mil e n orth of Lake W orth inlet , which se parated it from the northern p art of Palm Beach . Practically every l ot was sol d “ ’ and had been p oured into the Blue Heron , Singer s

Folly , b efore his money ran out . Workmen were installing the furnishings and soon it woul d h ave b e en finishe d , b ut there was e f r nothing he coul d us o money at the end . Two h urricanes vir t u a ll y ruine d the Blue Heron , b ut it still is b eing worrie d b y cred it r o s , wh o hope , faintly by this time , to get something out of their investment .

N ot a house was b uilt on Palm B each O cean . But it has one of the fine st san d b eaches on the East C oast , and a causeway built this year gives Kelsey City and Rivi era access to it . S O there is every prosp ect that when an d if the tangl e d titles to the l ots are unravel ed , Palm B each O cean may b lossom with h omes to repl ace the b arren wastes which for s o l ong have serve d as a background for the l onely maj esty of the Blue Heron .

9 5

s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s f r 1 0 f o , s ay , t o p ut u p p er cent or l ess o th e agre ed purchase price t o se al the b argain until the ne cessary formalities coul d b e gone through with to cl ose the deal . Th e b uyer woul d receive a binder receipt , and at the end of 3 0 days woul d pay p ossib ly an other 1 5 p er cent to compl ete th e first p ayment upon the transfer of th e prop erty . B ut the binder b oys w h o came here up on the he els of the a b b r e viat e d 1 9 2 4 - 2 5 winter season found th at bin ders were j ust as good as m oney . Having m ore native Shrewdness th an capital , they first b egan swap ping binders am ong themselves in th e crowds that overfl owed into Flagler street from the Ponce de Le on l ob by . First they made small profits on th e bind ers th emselves , and then quickly worked into the b usiness of running up the price of a l ot through several transactions whil e th e lot still was on one b ind er .

The movement spread like wil dfire , something similar to the i e c u l atin o marg n s p g n the New York Stock Exchange , and for five months at least th e bind er b oys set a p ace th at had the ordinary

- citizens gl assy eye d and breathl ess .

It was not unusu al , re al estate men de cl are , for a lot to ch ange hands as many as eight times from th e day when th e first b uyer got his bind er until the de al final ly w as cl osed . When closing time cam e , th e b uyers would group around th e p ap ers like h ungry b oys

$ around a picnic pi e , each with his real estate man at his elb ow ut f ready to take a Sli ce o o the profits . Usu ally , by tra ding p ap ers , f r it was p ossible o a de ed t o issue only to th e l ast b uyer , b ut it might r have seven o eight mortgages clinging t o it like ticks on a c ow , e ach representing the profit Of one O f th e princip als along th e line .

The real estate brokers usually got most of the actual cash iny olve d . The h ours of the binder b oy were from 9 O ’ cl ock until 2 in the afternoon , when th e b anks cl ose d . Checks were rushe d at once to f r de positories o th e cash . Time was the very essence of su ccess until midafternoon arrive d , when a ch eck be came j ust another pie ce Of p ap er . Several highly entertaining fiction stories w ere printe d after the b oom , attempting to Sh ow that the ph enomenal sal e O f Semi n ol e B each e arly in August was delib erately pl anned t o drive the out binder b oys of Mi ami B ea ch , an d that it really broke the b ack of the b oom . These ap peare d from th e p ens of K enneth Roberts ’ in Th e Saturday Evening Post and Ida Tarb ell in M c C lur e S . Henry ’ n Ford s D earb or Ind ependent also tre ated of the subj ect . Tw o versions were evolve d by these writers . One had it that only alternate strips of Seminol e B each were sol d on th e first day , and that after all th e binder b oys had fl ocked in and were hooke d th e paral l el unsol d strips wer e thrown on th e market a few days later at greatly re d uce d prices , and th e b inder e quities dissolved like snowballs in th e h ot place . The other version said that after

Seminol e B each was sold , th e same interests op ene d adj oining sub of - divisions equal merit b ut much l ower priced , to destroy th e val ue of the l ots on whi ch th e binder b oys had sunk their all .

9 8 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N - s s s s

f Records of the times Show , however , that all o Seminole Beach

r . was sold in one day , and w as e s old within a few days thereafter They also Show that whil e two p arts of Gold en B each were p ut on the market soon after t o capitalize on their nearness to the famous

Seminole Beach , the prices were ap proximately the same and the vol ume of sales inconsi derab le when other contemporaneous sales are considered . B ut it made good reading . The first Signs of breaking in the up ward flight of values occurred ab out the middl e of August on Miami B e ach , where the . very choicest properties were . At th at time an unusually ob servant sales executive note d that one of his lots which had started at an d had gone to on binders was not sold to the last e bid der . Instead , the last on and several b el ow him had to sacrifice their binders and let the lot slide back d own to where it finally was taken . The crest w as passed then , and although they were a l ong time in finding it out in the hinterl and , the sales feature of the Fl ori da b oom was drawing to a cl ose .

- The binder b oy went as he came , only some left on the tie rods and for several years thereafter contrib ute d no littl e to th e un favorabl e attitud e toward Fl ori da that p ersists in some quarters of the country . It is of the bind er b oy th at we think wh en we shud der gently and cry , D eliver us from another such b oom

Whil e south Florid a w as establishing new records for b uil d 1 9 2 ing in J uly , 5 , the b oom had run up th e advertising volume of The Miami Heral d to p ut it in first p lace among the newsp ap ers of f or i the world the first S x months of that ye ar . i s The Heral d le d t nearest competitor , The Detroit News , with an eighth more advertising . The Chicago Tribune and The New

York Times were far b ack in th e field . No other Flori da news ’ pap er came cl ose to The Heral d s volum e .

This is recite d not b oastfully , b ut as another of the almost f ’ unb elievabl e effe cts o Fl orida s lan d rush . From 4 8 to 56 p ages w as d aily the low average up to July , and it went up to 8 8 pages daily quite fre quently until th e fol lowing February . The Sunday 1 1 2 1 Heral d usually ran from p ages up to 68 p ages . At one time there were 25 solid p ages of cl assified a d s al one in a Sunday

Heral d , and it was not unusual in August and Septemb er to see 20 f ’ pages o cl assifieds . Even The Miami News special edition of 504 p ages in July , issue d when that newspap er op ene d its n ew p lant and tower on th e b ayfront , did not owe its unique size to b oom advert ising of general state coverage s o much as to free handed spending on the part of th e many concerns which took part in the constructi on and outfitting of the tower . The lead which The Miami Herald maintaine d through the b oom was due in part t o the j ournalistic genius of O . W . Kenne dy , an the managing e ditor , d in p art to the mastery of circul ation and of classifie d advertising George V . Harp er , the business manager . In revi ewing the columns of th ose days it is significant that the

99 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

‘ devel opers and l and owners wh o coul d afford t o advertise only in one newspap er , picke d Th e Heral d , while those who had plenty of p ublicity b udget adopte d others also . Attracte d to Miami in J uly w as the East C oast Chamb er of

Commerce , which listene d to Fl orida East C oast railroad officials de clare that their railroad woul d b e ready by January 1 t o h andl e al l freight . M ost prominent among del egates was D avid S h olt z , ’ president of Daytona s chamb er , largest in the state . B ecause of h is energy in local civic matt ers , S h o lt z was given th e nickname of ” auctioneer in D ayt ona , a titl e he sh ed when he b ecame th e suc c e ssf u l candid ate for governor seven years l ater . Th e long Simmering fires und er th e state road de partment n broke out in the middl e of Ju e wh en Gov . J ohn W . M artin sum marily dismisse d Chairman H . B . Philips and Will iam M . C orry , no Q uincy memb ers , telling them , You are t in sympathy with this administration in its determination to take Florida out of the sand and the mud and put her pe op le on p ave d highways . The “ sp ecific charges were incomp etency and negl ect of duty . Dr .

Fons A . Hathaway , secretary to the governor . w a s promote d to chairmanship of the state road dep artment , pre dicte d e arly com i ple t on of the Dixie highway and the Tamiami Trai l , an d forthwith b egan calling lagging contractors on the carp et . ’ h e Harvey Bayliss , mayor of Pensacola , took C orry s pl ace in t d e partment an d j oine d Hath away in checking u p on the road con tractors who were incline d to let th e state work l ag while b orrow ing against state contracts to p ush more l ucrative private p aving . They were given the option of prod ucing state roads or se eing their contracts annull ed , and b usin e ss picke d up in that dep artment at xe c u once . Hathaway may have been a p oor p olitician , b ut as an e tive officer h e had few e quals . Among the procession from Georgia note d at this time was

. t o E C . C ollins , prominent citiz en of Macon , who came to Miami make his home for 1 1 years . L . T . C oop er came h urrying back from h is D ayton home to j ump again into the b oom at El Portal . r John G u e ll e arrive d from the North to locate on Miami Beach .

Charles Rod es of Fort Lau derdale , th e man who invente d the 50 synthetic water front l ot in his sub division of Venice , l oade d rel atives in t w o chartere d p ullmans and s et out f or a trip to th e

West that sent b ack echoes from nearly every way station .

- The ill fate d Pompano race track w a s starte d in June , with the purchase of 1 8 0 acres near the town of Pomp ano from L . T .

C oop er . A p erfect rash of sub divisions broke out around it . Joe

H . Adams g ot th e track charter and with him were Charles H .

Hyde , R . E . Hall , J . K . D orn an d severa l Ne w York associates . The w track as to open in February and did enj oy one season , until the was State Supreme court rule d pari mutuel wagering il legal . It then that Governor M art in issued h is famous threat that he woul d “ send the militia down there w ith a tractor and pl ow up th e P om

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- d even M oo rish architecture like this at Opa Locka was not considere — B o o o. t oo bizarre t o entice b oo m custo mers . r wer Ph t

1 02 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

CHAPTER SEV ENTEEN

N ONE of those periodic flare - ups which have kept Hialeah near

the political b oiling point since its founding , J . H . W endler was shot and at first be lieve d fatally wounde d in his Hial eah Heral d f 1 9 office one day in the mid dle o July , 2 5 . The act brought acutely e the strugg l e then in pro gress at the C urtiss - Bright

0 give birth to municipal government . directly connected with the fact “ ” (1 mad e himse lf mayor of th e Town of Hialeah with “ ” short time before , h is town b eing that p art north of

h street . He fell before a revolver handled by William Simpson when Simpson and a companion call e d up on Wendler to make him return a special de puty sheriff ’ s certificate which

Wendler w as reluctant to disgorge .

B ut while Wendler , the firebrand , was out of commission and nursing his wounds , the citiz ens south of the line incorp orated th e 1 0 1 9 25 city of Hiale ah and on September , , formally e lecte d Jack ’ P . Grethen their first mayor . They feared W e n d le r s crowd woul d ill reach down and annex them , willy n y , and more than one angry mass me eting had prece ded the shooting . The charter was p asse d s by the legisl ature in pecial session that fal l . We have observed that Hialeah was running a p olitical tem e r at r e p u m ost of the time during its early ye ars , an d yet this sec tion has never seen two more p acific and kind ly men th an it s founders , Gl enn H . Curtiss , the seaplane inventor , and James H . r B ight , th e rancher . on e of According to the sages of that day , Hiale ah is a Semi “ ” nole word m eaning best pearl in a heap . The townsite was pl atte d on the b anks of the M ia mi canal in 1 9 2 1 fr o m a p art of

- the acres of the C urtiss Bright Ranch C omp any . Bright had come there looking f or a place to fatten cattle and Sheep an d had m et Gl enn C urtiss during the war when th e l atter was training service fliers in and around M iami .

Aviati on , horse and d og racing , movie studios , airp lane fac tories , j ai alai , b ootlegging , gambling and many other activities made Hialeah a melting p ot for divers elements during and after “ ” the boom . Hiale ah rye b ecame a standard grade of refresh l ment in south Fl orida . O d Hiale ah Fiel d was cut into l ots in 1 9 July , 25 , and the present municip al aviation fiel d established 1 by Curtiss on 60 acres north of Hialeah . His administration b uilding on the bank of the canal cost e of Whil Hi al eah was the center all sorts of amusements , C urtiss and Bright were l aying o ut more quiet h ome sectors in

- C ountry Club Estates , j ust across the canal , and in O pa Locka , north of the Tropical Radio Company towers ; C ountry Club E s

- tates in l ater years b e came Miami Springs , a debt free community rapidly making its mark a s a desirabl e h omesite surrounding th e

1 03 3; s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s 3;

Miami municipal golf course , in which are l ocated the wel ls su p plying Miami an d other communities with fresh water . The p ueblo -typ e hotel which Curtiss - Bright erecte d during the boom

- has b ecome the Battl e Creek Sanitarium . Opa Locka went in for a rather garish typ e of M oorish architecture , the first outp ost to i greet the Se ab oard on t s way into Miami . This city w as laid out in M c K e nz ie July by Clinton , who had d esigned C ountry C lub Estates . ’ It occupies what once was C ook s Hammock , west of the Little

River sl ough . B a e d e r M eantime , in Miami , the Properties , Inc . , w as formed t o invest in Miami and Fl orida for the Unite d Cigar w a Stores . H . H . Trice s vice president and princip al b uying agent . One million had gone f or the Biscayne Hotel on th e corner of

Flagl er and Miami avenue . Four hundre d th ousand had gone into thre e l ots at N . E . First avenue and Sixth street . One l ot the comp any stil l owns , 50 fe et on W . Flagler street between Sixteenth and Seventeenth avenue s , cost They offere d for a 50- foot l ot on Clematis avenu e in West Palm Beach and f or another 1 00 feet on Clematis next to the Stanley

Theater . Financial lightning w a s playing all around the Halcyon Hotel a t this time , b ut it never struck . The property was b ought in 1 9 1 1 f or b y Thomas J . Peters and the owner is said to have refuse d for it in 1 9 24 and m ore than in n 1 1 9 2 5 . The income al one o the hotel for 2 months during the p eak of the b oom w as b ut it finally went at force d sal e in 1 9 3 4 for an d today is owned by the d uP ont -B al l group of Jacksonville . The Royal Palm Hotel and its sp acious grounds also came through the b oom untou ched . Located on land donated to Henry r S h M . Fl agl er by M s . J ulia Tuttle when e interested the railroad h i magnate in extending s railroad t o Miami , the Royal Palm and th e adj oining Royal Palm - Park of h is M odel Land Company were

- a constant temptation to every big moneye d character in the b oom . The largest offer f or the p urchase of the hotel site of which m c om e we have kn owl edge was a de by a group p os d of S . P . Robi n eau , L . T . C oop er , M ercer P . M oseley and th eir New York associates , wh o tempte d th e Flagl er trustees with

This was refused , al ong with al l others , and the great Royal Palm , wh ose construction gave Miami it s start as a winter resort , finally

. was torn down as unsafe a few . years ago The Miami b anks were l oade d with by the first of July , 1 92 5 , of which the First National B ank alone had At the sam e time in 1 924 the combined b ank de p osits in Miami were only Re p ort s current that the Miami b anks were s o b usy they had b een comp ell ed to refuse as numerous l arge de posits were emph atically denie d , b ut it w not far from the truth b ecause long lines were strung o ut all day from ’ every teller s wind ow like serpentine streamers in a b allroom . R omfh of Those were the days , it may b e recal l ed , when E . C .

1 04 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

f f b ank on this last o the frontiers o these United States , one has never felt the chill and th e thril l of a flight into th e financial stratosphere an d the tailspin back to realities and headaches . 9 2 1 In a sp eech in Royal Palm park b ack in 1 , I made th e statement ‘ ’ that banks are busted from the inside , not th e outs i de , and that a bank with a b oard of directors of ordinary intelligen ce with an ” honest desire to obey the law does n ot fail . It w as such d octrine that convince d some of the excited public in Miami in 1 92 5 that Ed R omfh w as an ol d fogey w h o might b etter b e retire d on a pension s o some young fellow with the right slant on l ocal conditions could take h ol d and really make things hum . ’ While scores of young men and girls Slept in Miami s city parks because they coul d find no rooms at any price , Miami sud denly sprouted it s skyscraper Skyline in July and August , 1 9 25 . Sixteen great hotels and office b uildings were comp lete d , from the News l Tower to the M c A list e r Hotel al ong th e b ayfront . Fourteen others from the Roosevelt Hotel to the forest of steel girders in th e center

- of the city struck their snaggle toothe d frames higher day by day . The probl em of housing was giving nearly every empl oye and the city fathers d ancing b lack spots b efore the eyes . Chief of Police Quigg tol d the city commission th ey either Shoul d buil d apartments for the policemen or make an extra all owance in p ay t o meet j um ping rents , otherwise h e woul d h ave great difficulty keeping enough p olicemen . Several b usiness houses b ought or b uilt whol e ap artment b uildings so they might have h elp at normal wages . These costly app endages hung on for ye ars to contrib ute m ’ grief to p ostb oo liquidations .

E . G . Sewell urge d th e county commissioners to offer C omer E b sar y Foundation C ompany a b onus to sp ee d th e widening of the viad ucts on the county causeway , which finally were compl eted

1 92 . in February , 6 B ob Simpson , the county tax collector , added his voice to the rest of the county chorus demanding more room . Th e city garb age dep artment w as placing from 20 to 3 5 cans a ' Ifish er 1 0 day in new homes . Carl G . put up 0 army tents at Miami

B each to h ouse his workm en , all other accommodations failing .

The noise of riveting , the dust from great trucks l oaded with cement , the h eat and rush and tension always in the air as men and women straine d toward the acquisition of profits sent many on to the doc—tor with n—ervous indigesti on , whil e others escap e d their first and last trip t o Europe , convince d that the boom still woul d b e there when they shoul d return .

Miami was saddene d l ate in July by tw o deaths , both un e x e p ct e d , b oth striking down prominent figures of the b oom . Wil liam J ennings Bryan die d in the littl e Tennesse e town of D ayton , after winning a conviction in the famous evolution trial of John

Thomas Scop es , the teach er . M ayor Parker A . Henderson die d ’ of ap opl exy n ot long after he had j oined Miami s banker c om m i I s s O n .

Bryan fell victim t o ab out th e only form of intemperance he

1 06 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s — did not fight overeating . His p assing took from Fl orida a great t national character , w h o had come o the state 25 years before when h is cousin , W . S . Jennings of Jacksonvill e , was inaugurate d r governor . F o 1 5 years , Bryan had b e en a Miami resident , living quietly in the b ayfront home he and Mrs . Bryan first made famous ,

Villa Serena and later at Marymont , in C oconut Grove . H e ’ taught America s largest Bible class in Royal Palm park , which 1 9 opened its eighth season in 25 with memb ers . ’ Prob ation of Bryan s will reve aled that he had sp oken th e truth several months before when he sent a p ublic denial t o Th e ’ Tampa Tribune s statement that he w as already a mil lionaire . B e tween and made up the Bryan estate , most of h it going to the widow , some to what is now Bryan M emorial Churc in Coconut Grove , the former Grove Temple . Parker Henderson left nearly as values were com p ut e d then . The Miami commission forthwith call e d o n Banker R mfh t E . C . o o come b ack and b e mayor again , which he final ly agreed to do . The pl easant p ublicity which had starte d the b oom in th e

North had turne d to gall and wormwood by August , 1 9 2 5 . The “ Indianap olis Times , f or instance , complained $ Literally thousands of p ersons are leaving the state in search of something for nothing $ f in the land o orange s and sp eculators . Storage warehouses in

Ohio , Michigan , Illinois , Pennsylvania an d New York were b ulging with the househol d effects of those wh o had p ulled up their stakes and gone to Fl orida , hoping they would b ecome s o wealthy they need never come b ack . B ankers , newsp apers and real estate in t r e f e st s o the Middl e West viewed this wh ol esal e de parture aghast , gn d were not l ong in taking m ore direct means of p utting on th e rakes .

Another novelty gre eted the arrival of August . Large Signs “ began to ap p ear on houses and ch oice prop erty $ This Corner Not ” “ F or Sal e , Not Intereste d In Selling , and the like . Some home owners by then were afrai d to sell , no matter how fancy the price , because they knew they woul d have to p ay even more to g et another roof over their heads . Not a few figure d that b y hol ding n o until the tourists came back , they woul d realiz e even m ore than “ the summer vacationers were offering . The new R ailey- Milam hardware b uil ding was nearing c om ’ le tion n of p o the site Miami s first livery stab le . Two New Yorkers b ought the William Penn Hotel at Miami B each for R Within three days , oy Wright and Hugh Anderson mad e definite announcements of construction of the Venetian Arcad e and the Shoreland Arcade , each to b e three stories that 1 5 ” ’ year , and stories more in the near future , Jerry W . Carter s state hotel commission s e t a new record by approving f worth o Miami hotels and ap artments in 4 8 hours . Fifty freight carl oads of p ortab le one - room school houses were ordere d by the D ade county school b oard t o take care of new pupils that

1 07 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

of fall , as the b oard contempl ate d attendance almost what it is today . The l argest order for homes ever signe d up to that time was p l ace d on the first of August b y Ge orge E . M erri c k of C oral Gabl es with the Ameri can Building C orp orati on of Cincinnati , in a contract involving worth of compl eted houses and prop erty . Th e American B uil ding Corporation was to construct h omes B l n in C oral Gab les , many t o retail at each . R . K . Le o d of Cincinnati he aded the comp any , an d th e constru cti on firm of

Myers Y . C oop er , former Ohi o governor , was brought in for the b uil ding . M errick gathere d 1 2 of the finest archite cts in th e country to plan th e houses , which were to b e Persian , D utch South African ,

French , Italian , Chinese , Sp anish and many other nati onal typ es . It was an undertaking that dwarfed th e a ctivities of Lin dsey H op kins of Atl anta wh o then was p utting 1 00 houses into C oral Gab les .

Actually , 1 00 houses were comp lete d by the American B uild ing Corp oration , inclu ding th e It alian , French , Venetian , South w Afri can D utch and Chinese vill ages in existence today . B et e en an d was sp ent on them b efore the b oom starte d to fad e , selling at from to It is no wonder that C oral Gab l es is a pl ace of magnificent resi dences , even though some of th em are pre tty far out in th e country .

Whil e wh ol e cl usters of h ouses were going up , C oral Gabl es acquire d two of the outstanding white ele ph ants of this whol e

- area , in th e C oliseum an d th e million d oll ar D ouglas entrance gate .

The entrance archway w as b uilt by the J ohn B . Orr C ompany an d F designe d by D enman Fink an d Phineas aist , the head architects o f Coral Gab l es . The C oliseum w as a promotion of a group led by J . K . D orn , and it also was rep uted to cost Built to seat p e opl e , th e acoustics and arrangement were su ch that it was virtually discarde d for years , an d only recently it an d the

D ouglas entrance h ave come into b etter days . Whil e thes e great activities were b oosting th e b oom onward and up ward , th e big money b oys got another j olt ab out the first of

August . The Unite d States commissioner of internal revenue rul ed that th e entire am ount of th e p urchase price f or re al est ate must as b e reporte d as income , n ot th e 2 5 p er cent first p ayment ,

Miamians h ad b elieve d al l al ong . That p ut a new light on the fast approaching time f or incom e tax p aym ent , an d sent many a high financier Off into a corner—preferab ly out of Florida—to think matters over .

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s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

H i h le m an of Locke T . g y , then president the Fidelity Bank and

Trust Comp any . W e h ave already se en how Elser Pier w as condemned and taken over by th e city of Miami after th e rest of what is n ow B ayfront park was b ought from th e M odel Land

C omp any and th e F . E . C . in 1 9 2 1 .

Another early Roney b uy was the Biscayne Hotel , at Bur ’ f dine s corner o Fl agler and Miami avenu e . He g ot it for and sol d it e arly in 1 9 2 5 to th e Unite d Cigar Stores for Thro ugh the b oom h is Signature on signb oards decorating h is prop erty w as lib erally scattered over Miami , b ut his principal w 1 9 1 activity a s on Mi ami B each , where , in 8 , he b egan a seven year campaign of buying which yiel de d him an assort ment of the b est corners in many sections of the city . He started buying at Miami B each with th e p urchase of five f r ocean front lots o through J . N . Lummus , l ots h e l ater 1 9 1 9 sold for In he p urchase d th e J . E . Lummus h ol dings in th e Miami O cean View Company for Ab out the same time he bought th e Miami B each prop erty of the Burrough s estate f o Portl and , M e . , more than four bl ocks on Washington an d C ollins avenu es north of Fifth street . About 1 9 22 or 1 92 3 he was resp onsible for the organization of the Mi ami B each Bank and Trust Company and w as on e of th e l argest stockhol ders , although never active in that institution . At that time he also sup p lie d the first funds that brou g ht ab out the organization of the original Miami Tribune .

By 1 920, Roney b egan b uil ding on a large scal e at Miami

B e ach , principally b usiness structures . By 1 9 25 h e owned buil d ings comprising 200 shop units from Col lins avenu e and Third

- f . stre et t o Twenty third street , all within two bl ocks o the ocean

Prior to the erecti on of th e Roney Pl az a , he p ut up eight smal l r u c h otels . One of his m ost picturesque ventures w as the c onst 1 tion of the Sp anish Village in Miami B each , made u p of 8 b uil d n ings o t w o blocks of Espanola W ay . It w as his idea that pe opl e wanted a touch of old Sp ain , and h e gave it to th em . Roney returne d from th e New York me eting with doubt in his h eart , and b egan to struggl e with th e embargo which had cl ampe d d own in August . They were p ouring the top floor of the Roney

Pl aza H otel , and 3 0 of his other b uil dings were in various stages of construction , with no materials in sight . Five hundre d thousand dollars worth of hotel furnishings and equipment w as on the way , including shipments from five foreign countries . He s aw th ousands ’ of d oll ars worth of his e quipment ruined in b arging it from vessels anch ored al ong Miami B each , unable to get into Miami h arb or . He is of th e opinion the emb argo did him more damage than th e l ater Florid a crash , at which time he had convert e d many assets in vacant lots into income property .

News of the b oom was studde d with big deals involving Roney .

In M arch , 1 92 5 , h e gave this area a thrill by taking a commanding h ol d of the most imp ortant beach section by paying what then w as

1 1 0 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

reported as f or eight homes and th e seasid e holdings f o the Fisher companies from Fifteenth to Twentieth streets . The ’ homes include d The Shadows , Carl Fisher s first home .

Just b efore this , Roney had p aid f or the Roman

Pools , the C asino and adj oining stores . Numerous p urchases of l and north of M iami Beach and scattere d ocean front prop erties

’ in this city brought h is investment al ong the ocean to ab out

During 1 924 and a few years preceding , Roney occasionally

stepp ed over into Miami and b ought l arge tracts , including th e

Milam D airy and the Francis S . Whitten b ayfront property at N . E .

- Fifty fifth stre et adj oining the D eering estate . Th e price on this latter was Only recently it w as p ut on the market

a gain by Whitten through the George E . M errick organization as f or B ayshore Plaza , after the city of Miami b ought a chunk of it a

park al ong the bay . 9 1 When the national depression was making itself felt in 1 3 , Roney spent in constructing the pool and cab ana col ony of the Roney Pl aza in order to maintain his hotel rates and b usi

n ess . In the l ast ye ar of his hotel Op eration , b efore he sol d to a d ver Henry L . Doherty , he conducte d prob ably the largest hotel 8 0 t ising campaign in Fl orida . M ore than was sp ent in 1 5 st a national magazines , more than 1 00 newsp ap ers and radi o s — t ions , all concentrated in a p eriod of s ix week a camp aign that proved highly satisfactory . During this l ast season of manage

ment he also w as president of the Miami Biltmore Ho tel , step ping ’ in when John M cE nt e e B owman die d . After Roney s first deal

- with D oherty , he set up and nam e d the Florida Ye ar Round c lubs . 1 9 ’ In June , 3 3 , D oherty purchase d Roney s control ling interest in the Roney Pl aza , having acquired a minority h ol d two years ’ b efore . Foll owing Roosevelt s inauguration , with Miami Be ach real e state at its lowest point in eight years , Roney b egan b uying

- again . He is reputed now to own one and one half mil es of ocean f rontage in and around Miami Beach . M uch of this is south of

G olden Beach , in which he also has a large number of l ots . 1 9 3 h Since the upturn in 3 he as done no b uil ding , devoting h i imself to th e p urchase of l and , b ut it s generally b elieve d he is l aying plans for an extensive building camp aign in the near future . W hen he sol d the Roney Plaza it w as rep orte d that he had a con t ract with D oherty to do no b uilding for the following few years , a n d is it understood that this period of grace h as ab out expired .

1 1 1 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s

a F o a a a o o V m ost magnificent est te in l rid , the g rdens and m nsi n f iscaya

D I io al Ha o i l . were built by the late Ja mes eering, nternat n rvester ff cia

1 1 2

3; s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

’ difference at that time . W e didn t even miss th ose who were c aught fl at- foote d by the tightening of sales restrictions in the

Fisher prop erties , whose sales manager b egan to e xercise h is right t o rej ect prosp ective p urchasers not conforming to his idea of sound ’ investors . It didn t do a binder b oy much good to take over a kited binder if the actual sale was rej ected . But there were so many whol e subdivisi ons being gob bl ed up elsewhere by the other bind er b oys and the regular b uyers , th at this small p urge p ass ed almost unnoticed at the time .

‘ Tatum Brothers and their far- fl ung organization by August had comp lete d in real estate sales since the first of the D ’ year . A . ; H . Fossey , Miami s present mayor , had made 550 in sal es in the comp aratively quiet se ctor of B u ena Vista d ur

- ing J uly . The Curtiss Bright d evel opments were j ust getting started with in sales in on e month through Bridges

Sinn . The efferves cent prom oters of Atlantic Shores , near

Hollywood , took sol emn oath that their Dixi e secti on had b een sold out comp letely in 4 0 minutes for Bell e M ead was a new sub divisi on which opene d in August on si the b ay eas t of Littl e River , and was half sol d out in x hours for This w as the same tract which set a re c ord of an acre when it w as sol d in January to Walter S . M orrow , developer of Fe deral W ay , for It comprise d the former Ul lendorf and Garrett h ol dings and had b een b ought from W . H . Garrett and the Biscayne Trust C omp any by Web b Jay and others f or Sub division of these areas b egan to op en the way for the l ater e s li f t ab s h m e nt o Biscayne b oulevard .

El Retiro on Belle Isle w as sol d by W arren B . Ferris to a group of Chicago capitalists for one of the l argest individual sales on the b each . The group pl anne d to p ut a hotel on the Six acres , b ut it proved to b e one of those late b looming d evelopments that never got off the bl ue prints . In Miami the big talk then was of annexation and the el ecti on t o b e hel d in Septemb er . The biggest crowd ever gathered here met in R oyal Palm park on the night of August 7 to appl au d D . J .

Heffernan as h e presente d sp eakers urging annexation . The gen eral opinion expressed there w a s that within 1 0years , Miami woul d b e the largest city in the South .

George A . Rubin was b e coming so exclusive with his prop erty that he call ed for se al e d bids on 1 2 5 l ots . W . J . M c C art h y , known “ ” a s th e Smiling C O p , was prom oted to the auto th eft b ureau . D ean Anson M arston was brought from Iowa State Te achers C ol lege to study th e sewage probl em presented by Miami sudd enly doubling in p op ulation and sprouting a thi cket of skyscrapers to p our their raw waste into the b ay .

Harry J . M oyer b ought the C ortez Hotel f or and it later turne d u p among the worth of property owned by

S . M . Gol db erg of New York . The M orris Pl an Bank opene d in

Miami with F . A . Clawson as president . Dr . David E . She ehan ,

1 1 4 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

pioneer Miami dentist , sol d his Alhambra Hotel to a Syracuse syndicate f or A 50- foot l ot j ust east of it on Second street was sol d t o Mrs . Vera Wirick f or and the fact that a seven - room h ouse ad orned it seeme d to make no difference in its value . n Gov . John W . M artin returned from speaking o Fl orida in Chicago and Pol and Springs and decided to call a special session of the legislature in the fall to r e - enact a measure forming a M on r o e county water district to finance the l aying of a water pipeline from the mainland to Key W est . The bill was improperly passed 1 at the regul ar session in th e spring . M ore th an 0 years of litiga tion was starte d by a d ecisi on delivere d by the late Federal Ju dge

R h y d on M . Call when he rul ed on th e provision in the will of

Rich ard Croker , former Tammany le ader , to vest his Palm B each h omestead and other property in J . B . M c D onald and Palm Beach

Estates . The squ abbl e between the widow , Bul a Croker , and the children of Croker by a former marriage was only settle d in favor of the widow last year . Nine large Ships were tied u p in Miami h arb or trying d e s r p e at e ly to unload , with a lab or shortage devel oping faster and faster . C ongesti on in the Jacksonvill e railroad yards forced the ’ Seab oard to start a new freight yard at Yul e e . Miami s p ort had i s F lor i 9 22 b ecome the largest n d a , j umping from tons in 1 2 to in th e first half of 1 9 5 . Al l th e makings for the p aralyzing emb argo and harb or b l oc—kage soon to follow were there , but we were t oo b usy to take notice or to do anything ab out it .

When real estate values on Flagler street reache d a 1 9 2 front foot in the middle of August , 5 , pe ople b egan to think p erhaps th ey were a little steep , b ut they were to go still higher within two we eks .

2 2 - 2 l 1 2 3 . H o At E Fl agler , now occupied by th e sum Cafeteria , C romer Cassell had b ought a three - story building in July on a V al uation of a front foot , which seemed out of al l reason

- at that time . They actually let a contract for a 2 0 story b uilding there , to cost but change d th eir minds b efore the work

- . 1 starte d Inste ad , on August 5 , they announced a two year lease t f - o . . o on 5 00 P J D avis Golf Park a $ 0 0 front foot valu ation , th e site to b e use d for real estate offices In the amb itious devel opment whose principal reminder today is a great d eserted clubhouse northeast of the municip al airp ort .

This same l ease was sp lit up Septemb er 1 to give H . H . Fisher of Fisher Brothers 2 1 feet of the front and all of the rear of the on f ground fl oor a valuation o a front foot . Golf Park 22 retaine d the other feet of the front for their offices . So far as we can tel l , this w as th e high est val uation estab lished during 1 9 2 - the 5 b oom , with the p ossibl e exce ption of the one year lease 1 3 taken on fe et of the Vail Arcade on Flagl er street by M agi d ,

1 1 5 of f Gordon M urray at a rental Al l o these firms , it goes without saying , dealt in real estate . Scarcely less impressive w as the valuation on the former Bur n dine Quarterman corner at Flagler a d S . E . First avenu e now ’ ’ occupie d by Liggett s , which J . W . Young s H ollywood companies leased for two and a half years for $ a valuation of or

- - a front foot . The three ye ar ol d Rob erts Hotel , west of w M iami avenue on Flagler , as sold by J . C . Roberts to Davi d Afre mow and a syndicate for m ore than Soon after , ’ Crocker s C afeteria on the ground floor of th e Rob erts w a s leased ’ ’ for one year t o F . E . Sweeting of Angl er s Park on Key Largo at a valuation of a front foot . J . Harrison M c C r e ad y took half of it for h is Miami office of Chateau Park . Other flights into th e upp er reache s of realty were being made in th e fe w unsub divide d pieces of acreage ne ar Miami . James D onn of the Exotic Gardens receive d for 1 5 acres b ord ering on Grap eland boulevard at Thirty -sixth street from the

Long Beach Comp any . Th e pl ot w as quickly converte d into a M a cf a d e n subdivision . James y a , who made the sale , claims that f or a record in Allapattah acreage .

L . C . Richmond finally parte d with 1 0 acres at N . W . S even

- t e e nt h avenue and Th irty third street for b ought by W .

W . Fentress . He got it 2 0 ye ars before f or $ 1 05 . But that w as smal l potatoes comp ared to what hap pene d soon after , on th e

- Tamiami Trail b etwe en S . W . Twenty third court an d Twenty third avenu e , when R . V . Tays b ought five acres at an acre from George M . O k e ll and Frank W . Hughson . Face d with a shortage of gal lons of milk daily in the 0 r Miami area , 1 men b and ed togethe in August to get a new source of milk to rep lace the dairies being driven out of b usiness by rock e ting realty val ues . A syndicate was formed to finance a

000 dairy , fruit and truck farm , on acres to b e b ought from the Pennsylvania Sugar C omp any west of Hial e ah . Those j oining th e enterprise were M arcus A . Milam , Jame s Gilman , E . B .

R . . D ouglas , Ernest Graham , E . P Frip p , Edward Anderson , J ohn

J . Q uinn , Dr . John R . Pearson , James D onn and Fred Cason .

Graham , wh o w as manager of the Pennsylvania Sugar Com pany , had b een preaching for some tim e th e necessity of making pasture for dairy cows on th e muck l ands of the Everglades . The embargo cutting off the precious imp orte d dairy fee d was to l end adde d weight to his argument a month later , but the cause of imp orted cow fe e d still is b eing uphel d , 1 1 years l ater , by ff state price fixing of milk . The dairy proj e ct got o to a late start , b ut th e idea was roundly ap plau d ed everywhere at the Ime .

Over on Collins isl and near the Nautilus H otel , the Fisher interests were p oking the giant towers of radi o station WIO D into the he avens . Rex B each , the auth or , was a guest at C oral f r Gables and was prep aring a b ook on the glories of Fl orida , o which he was p aid and whose chief merit was the artistry

1 1 6

M I A M I M I L L I O N S

ting up its steam , having come out as early as the prece ding Jan “ a s uary and advertise d itse lf a lavishly endowed town . It had it s first sal e in Septemb er , b ut the fact that Beggs die d soon after on t put a damper the enthusiasm of i s other promoters . W . D .

O utman of St . Petersburg , one of the l eading real estate sp okes of it m en today , was s sal es manager .

- 0. F ut B o Carl isher, right; p Miami each literally n the map S teve ’ H u B a s o $ annagan p t Miami e ch in the dateline f the nation s newsp ape rs .

A

1 1 8 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

CHAPTER TWENTY

HE great railway freight embargo which was finally t o stretch its paralyzing influence over every part of Fl orida began

August 1 7 , 1 9 2 5 , wh en the Fl orida East C o ast railr o ad found itself unabl e t o handle the volume of freight coming down the East

Co ast into Miami . It w as taking S ix d ays to get a b oxcar from Jacksonville t o ’ 20 Miami , and when it arrive d it coul dn t b e unl oaded . With 8 l oaded cars waiting in the Miami yards , and m ore strung n o rt h as far as Lemon City , th e railroad stopp ed taking any cars f from other railroads , an d Shut o f incoming shipments on every ’ thing but fuel , livestock and perishabl es . The officials didn t think 1 the Shutdown woul d l ast l onger than 0 days . But b efore the em bargo was broken the boom had broken with it , while more than seven th ousand southb ound freight cars waite d helpl essly outside of Jacksonvill e as fall reache d on into the winter of 1 9 25 . Work so on stop ped on the Rand b uil dings after the em bargo b ecame effective , although most contractors in south Flor ida rep orted enough supp lies on hand t o last t w o weeks . Ernest f r t Cotton , acting city manager o Miami , b egan at once o use city trucks in unl oading cars , and warehouses kept open all d ay Sun day as b usiness men rallie d t o cl aim their freight .

B ut many found they had no p lace to store their freight , and finally some were arrested by the city b efore they would take “ ” freight o ut of the railro ad warehouses or O ff spotte d cars . An acute l ab or Shortage had devel oped also , and that , combined with c lack of warehouse sp a e , was the princip al cont rib uting cause of the c ongestion $ Soon there was s o much confusion that ship p ers willing to get their consign ments were unabl e t o l ocate them among the hundre ds of cars j amme d into every inch of avail

abl e trackage around Miami .

Whil e b uil ding Sl owed down , Miami was faced with a ne w — f menace l ack o i ce . The city began imp orting 2 50 tons a day e from Sanford , and b fore l o ng ice was b eing ratione d o ut at 2 5

pounds t o the family , like sugar ,

’

in war d ays . Dr . A . W . Zieb ol d , i c ty health officer , ordered the ice com panies here t o quit selling t o fountains and col d drink L T O O PE R . . C 1 1 9 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

stands . Those were the days , you may recall , before mech anical refrigeration was common in h ouse or store . But alth ough builders face d the immediate future with t r e pi vi i i s ub d i s on t s . dation , n ot s o the s Foremost among the new de ve l opm e nt s was Gol den Isles , th e last of the tracts al ong the u p p er b each except th e Isle of Normand y and the Mi ami Shores is l and to get into the boom . Gold en Isles comprised 8 2 6 acres of p artly submerge d l and stretching al ong the East C oast canal from the Hallan dale road to li the head of D umf oun d ng b ay , lying j ust west of Gold en Beach and Seminol e B e ach . It was b ought for and comprised Z e t r n a part of the ext ensive h ol dings of Olaf t e la d , th e former e n g ine er wh o sol d Atlantic Shores its Site .

S . A . K agey was presi dent ; C . M . V an Tassel$, vice president , and Vance W . Helm , sal es agent for Golden Be ach , w as secre

- tary treasurer . Other directors in the enterprise were Frank H .

Wharton , Miami city manager ; Arthur G . Ke ene , W . M . William r s on and E E . R o e m . All were prominent in other lan d devel op ments at the time . The idea was to fill in 1 0 islands and make of Gol den Isl es

- a modern Veni ce , with ne arly every h ome on its own palm b ord ere d water front . By the mi ddl e of Se ptemb er worth of lots had been sol d as dre dges moved in to make the islands . Just across the way was Gol den B each and the blue Atlantic , forming a view that w ou ld have op ene d the purses of untol d investors , had not the b oom coll apse d b efore even a house coul d b e b uilt t o shelter the viewers .

Late in August , George E . M errick round ed out h is new Bilt more section by p aying for the famous Le Jeune grove 1 of 60 acres in the eastern part of Coral Gables . Charles Le Je une , a Belgian , b ought the land in 1 900 from Dr . Charl es Jackson and made it into a very p op ular citrus grove . His home stood across the street from the San Sebastian H otel , and his name today dig nifie s one of the imp ortant stre ets of C oral Gables . When this new M errick section was p ut on th e market , in sales 4 were recorde d in 2 hours . The little town of D avie w as having quite a b oom as the Gem ” of the Evergl ades . The somewhat n otorious sub divisi on of Del Verde near Charlotte Harbor was sel ling l ots at $ 99 each o n the promise by J ohn L . Rossel , the president , that 40 per cent of the proceeds was to b e held in trust to buil d the actu al townsite . s ur The price later went u p to $ 1 49 a l ot , before Miami b uyers g ot f e it e d with it . Even Poinciana , far down on the western shore of a d ve r the Gulf of M exico and accessible only by b oat , could be “ tis e d as the coming Miami on the Gulf with out a discernible bl ush from the promoters . Fellsmere Estates w as re p orted over i sol d n five minutes by Louis G old . Alton Port was started by Jerome C h e r b ino as a passenger ship terminal at Miami Beach on a former Allison tract and reach

1 20

M I A M I M I L L I O N S

ans from their troubl es with rent gougers , the railroad embargo and the anvil chorus in other states . Only the fact that the dirigib le Shenand oah broke in two and was demolishe d in a storm over the w hills of Cald ell , Ohio , that same day prevente d the sales news from getting a better Spread . The Shorel and C ompany p ut the 400- acre Arch Creek se c tion of Miami Shores on the market b efore the san d p umpe d in on it had well settle d . The doors of th e Flagler street offices op ene d ’ ’ at o clock on the morning of the sal e and closed at 1 1 o cl ock n when o more prop erty was left . There , and in the field offices , the rioting customers literally threw in money and che cks at the sal es force , 7 5 p er cent of the b uyers l eaving it to the comp any to pick th eir lots . The Shoreland C ompany offices remaine d close d f or five d ays to catch up with their b ookkee ping and found that the Offering had b een oversubscribe d more than

But whil e al l was j oy and hap piness in the great sub division , an confusion and congestion d cursing marke d Miami harb or , as ship ping lines j oined th e rai lroad in declaring an emb argo on D oc k m e f r freight into Miami . n struck o more wages than th e 4 5 cents an hour they got , p ointing to a wage of 60 cents in New York . Eighteen vessels tried vainly to e dge up into the small docking sp ace Mi ami then afford ed , whil e long lines of trucks waite d all d ay in the hot sun and far into th e night to get th eir goods out of the holds .

M c K e nn Pi l E . R . a of the g g y Wiggly Ship ping dep artment said merchants laid th e b l ame for the deadlock on the steamship lines for n ot having enough l ab or t o empty the Ships quickly , whil e th e offi cials of the lines crie d in unison for more terminal facilities , m ore docks , more of anything to which an ocean steamer might b e tied while unl oading .

A mil k shortage was next to d evel op , and cows of south Flor ida d airies once face d starvation b ecause ships l oaded with cow ’ h fe e d from abroad coul dn t get in to deliver it to the dairies . T e furth er fact th at shipments of new b ottles were locked up by the embargo prevente d some dairies from making d eliveri es even when they had pl enty of milk .

All steamship lines running to Miami from New York , B alti m ore or Phil ad el phi a were enforcing an embargo on furniture , 1 2 m achinery and b uil ding materials by Septemb er , an d ab out the only Shipments th at h ad a fre e track were food and newsprint .

M ason L . We ems Williams of the Baltimore and Carolina line was H the last t o j oin the ship ping emb argo . is line the month b efore had added six Ships t o the seven already running into Miami and he hated to think of them gathering rust . Final ly the city of Miami took more direct acti on when it a p p e a r e d that the situation at th e water front was getting b adly out of hand . Sixt y men were transferre d from th e parks division and j oined with a squ ad of 2 5 prisoners wh o m arche d to the d ocks and

1 22 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

in one day unl oad ed the Clyde liner Chip pewa , which had actually been in Miami harbor 2 1 days , waiting for a chance to get up to a pier .

M eantime the Fre d F . French C ompany chartered the steam ship Glendola to transp ort materials badly needed f or the ne w

Everglades Hotel and various b uil dings they had part way up . Other b uil ders were n ot l ong in j oining this movement t o charter vessels , and b efore many we eks , every ancient steamer and wind j ammer on both sides of the Unite d States was being hauled out of the mud and put in shap e f or a run to M iami with lumber an d hardware and steel . Ab out the only material present in ab un dance was cement , thanks to the arrival of three Ships from Sweden with sacks . The American Express C ompany final ly declare d an embargo f on shipments o more than 200 p ounds , and later had to b egin issuing permits to prevent shipp ers from evading the rule b y divid

- ing l arger orders into 200 p ound lots . While the city was threat e nin f g arrest o shipp ers who refused to claim freight , the news papers were publishing long lists of names of consignees . The railroad prop osed t o b egin selling shipments n ot promptly cl aimed , as the city of Miami hurrie dly threw up temp orary shelters on it s ow n land into which freight could b e moved . As a result of these and other activities of civic and b usiness

‘ r organiz ations , t h e e w as some promise of the emb argo lifting b y

- the latter part of Septemb er . Things were rosy hu ed indee d one d ay when 1 09 empty cars were turne d b ack north , and only 9 2 l oade d ones arrived . The chamb er of commerce resume d its drive against rent gougers , and a B etter B usiness B ureau got p ledges of 2 $ 5 , 000 t o whip an organization into Shap e to weed the wolve s from the she ep al ong Flagl er street .

Fl agl er Heights was offered by John A . Camp b el l out along “ ” Red road , and $ 2 , 000, 000 in l ots were snap ped up the first day .

- A . D . H . Fossey sol d the northwest corner of North Miami avenue and Thirty - Sixth street f or the same vacant corner which today offers occasional sanctuary for itinerant carrousels .

- A 50 foot lot opp osite the El C omodoro Hotel on S . W . Second avenue and First stre et change d hands thre e times in t w o days , the l ast price b eing C . C . K atl e m an of Omaha b ought

‘ the D ennis ap artments on the southeast corner of North Miami avenue and Fifth street f or from the United Cigar Stores sub sidiary . The op p osite corner across the avenue was sol d to t h e Vaughan Investment C omp any f or The big wed ding of Septemb er i n Miami was that of Herb ert

0 . Vance of the M c D onald Lumb er C omp any t o Emily Murray ,

f . M r s . daughter o Mr and . Charles W M urray , which was fol lowe d

- by a honeymoon trip through Europ e . James E . Cal kins , long tim e l eader in the state senate from Fernandina , resigne d as counsel for the state railroad commission and came t o Miami to form a n e w l aw firm with John P . Stokes . Senator Calkins w as succe e de d on the railroad commission staff by Fred H . Davis , then a strugglin g

1 23 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s as

1 young l awyer of Tallahassee , who rose in the subsequent 0 years to b e chief j ustice of the Fl orida Supreme court . Dan Chapp ell cal le d a meeting in Hial eah which resulte d in the incorporation of that community Septemb er 1 0. G . Carl Adams of the Hi aleah Civic cl ub , whi ch w as forme d to promote inc or p o as ration , was in the presi ding chair . Paul Latham resigne d dep uty w as sheriff t o b e the first chief of p olice in Hial eah , and Chap pell made the first city attorney .

Joy R . Cark had become slightly weary of promoting Atlanti c

Shores and was mad e presid ent of Tamp a Beach , Inc . , during the summer . He returned to Miami only briefly in September to daz zle his former associates with the magnitud e of h is new und ertaking , acres in Hill sb orough b ay on which h e prop ose d to spend m anuf ac Such Ohio figures as Gruen , the watch of turer , Patterson of National C ash Register , and M annington the famous Harding front p orch campaign were p utting up the money .

It may seem ridicul ous now , b ut the statement w as very calm ly received that Tampa Beach as a beach woul d b e made on a proposed chain of isl ands to b e dre dge d out of the bay . This w as not out of line with his p olicy , h owever , in announcing several months b efore that he had p aid for C at Cay , principally to get coconut tre es to be autify Atl antic Shores .

’ Anyway , a rep orted cash price of was p aid f or the l and in and al ong East Hillsb orough b ay . Under the direction of

Adol ph Goodwin , full p age advertisements were run in nearly every

- state p ap er , and a 4 5 page sp ecial e diti on w as printe d in The Tamp a Tribune on the momentous day when the l ong bridge and causeway connecting the development to Tampa w as opened with an impressive civic ceremony . The brid ge and a night cl ub oc c u pying the former administration buil ding are the only evidence that the nake d eye can pick u p today to identify Tampa Beach .

1 24

s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s fact th at it w as to b e b uilt pave d the way for op ening th e Isle of g n of Normandy , o the beach end this causeway , as the last ocean f Sid e development o this p articular b oom . F a ir isle is a littl e isl and op p osite the Deering estate in the l ower b ay which was sub divide d in Se ptemb er . Sales amounting to were a ll egedly made in four hours when this isl and , a lmost forgotten today , was thrown on the market . There w as so much noise from air drills and riveters that few n otice d the b arrage of Shots whi ch b urst forth from the D ad e 2 county courth ouse on the morning of Septemb er 7 , b ut wh en th e s moke drifte d away , two county prisoners lay dead and a j ail break l ed by th e notorious He y wood Register of th e Ashle y gang had f aile d . Sheriff Henry Chase and a numb er of d eputies and city p olicemen had watche d for th e attempted escap e from the win dows O f the old courth ouse , op p osite th e county j ail , fearing that the break from the inside woul d b e covere d outs i de by the sh arp s hooting J oe Tracey , another of the Ashl ey gang survivors wh o had escap e d from a state road camp and was known to b e in Miami .

Register played p ossum and was not inj ure d . Sheriff Chase w as indicte d for se cond d egree murder , al ong with seven d ep uties “ i an and s x Miami p olicemen wh o had j oine d in th e fusillade , d E . B . ’ n Le atherman , chi ef d e puty i th e Circuit court cl erk s office , w as a p p ointed elisor by Gov . John W . M artin to carry out the duties of

S h eriff until Chase coul d b e tried . M uch of th e anim osity which was generate d later in D ade county a g ainst M artin dates from his refusal to remove Chase from ’ th e sheriff s offi ce at this time . C ertain gambling interests on Miami Be ach h ad tried to run a race track wire in f or b ookmaking and had b een prevented by Chase . The gambl ers recruited p olit ical h elp to force Chase out , but Governor M art in refuse d to give g round b efore their editorial and personal attacks . Chase was tried in D ecemb er and acquitte d , al ong with th e deputies and th e p olic e men .

Politi cal fires were b urning at Miami B each also . Chief of P olice C . E . Brogd en finally re signed after a request from th e a w M iami Beach council , and st rte d t o run a bus line . His pl ace as taken by D amon Lewis of Oklahoma , wh ose tenure of office was d isturb ed abru ptly in Decemb er when h e was indicte d in Kansas

City f or smuggling narcoti cs . and was sentenced to seven years in L eavenworth . Clau de A . Renshaw , former mayor of Roundup , M ont came in as city m anager and has been g iven cre dit for much ’ of th at city s subsequ ent soun d financial p ositi on . p James D eering died on the way b ack from Euro e , and Viz caya , the estate on which h e had l avish ed more th an t o m ake it th e pri ze b eauty sp ot of the United States , was with out a m aster . The former vice presid ent of International Harvester wille d t o Jackson M emorial h ospital to buil d a charity w ard as his final contribution t o the community . South Miami avenu e was torn up briefly as three shifts of

1 2 6 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s workmen l aid the tracks for the C oral Gabl es rapid transit line at the rate of a bl ock a day . The old Security Hotel was torn d own to make way f or the ne w 1 5- story home of the Dade C ounty Security

- Company , across from the federal building . The four story Plaza Hotel on the bay front was sol d for by Millard and Le e

Chase , wh o had be en there with their mother Since 1 9 09 . The buyers were Tatum Brothers and Forrest L . Haines .

Although it was estimated Miami woul d add new houses ,

apartments and hotel rooms from M ay t o Decemb er , the rent gouger still was in the sad dle as the time for a new tourist season drew on . The First National Bank for some time had op er ated apartments for its empl oyes . The Mi ami Herald b ought two whole apartment b uil dings and started 50 h ouses in Hialeah for its ’ newcomers . Burdine s built thre e ap artment b uil dings ; the C om m er ci l a B ank Trust C om pany , Sutton Gibson , the j ewelers ;

- Groover Ste wart , the druggists ; and even the city of Mi ami Beach went into the housing b usiness to retain em pl oyes . By this time M iami and its sub urbs began to feel like a country girl wearing her first corset . Land owners feared that p eople soon woul d be overfl owing south Fl ori da , and consequently c o - the operative ap artment idea found ready ears . The first one w as pl anned for C oral Gables , to b e call e d th e San Juan , where y ou woul d ow n a p ortion of space into which an ap artment woul d be fitte d . To ou h w give y an idea of o things were going , the re cord ed real estate sales in D ad e county for July were f or August they l eap e d t o and in Septemb er they were f or W e note these sales D ad e county only , b ecause it was the storm center of the b oom , and the y a l u e s represente d th ere have no p urp ose at this late date except to afford a com p arison of the numb er of lots that were b eing absorbe d by eager b uyers . That D ade county again h as some sort of b oom is evi d e n c e d by m ore than in real estate transfers recorde d during 1 93 5 . Late in Septemb er one began to hear doubts ab o ut the “ ” $ - Florida b oom . Can it last the starry eyed ne ophytes aske d th e hardene d real estate sal esmen . But none w as so foolish In this p art of Florida at least a s to admit op enly that Florid a was enj oying any thing but a healthy , normal growth . Had anyone in Septemb er de c la r e d In the full hearing of others on Fl agl er street that h e though t the b oom was nearly over , he would have b een rushe d to the ol d stone j ail and l ocked up as hop elessly insane .

Seven Ohio banks p oole d their resources in Septemb er , 1 92 5 , t o Sh oot out an advertising blast against Fl orida that ech oed all over the Middl e West and b rought yel ps of surprised pain from th e

Florida press and civic b odies .

The emb attle d b ankers , seeing hundre ds of millions of dollars n of f or l eaving the b a ks the North Fl orida , put this puz zl er to their s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

Florida - b ound customers $ Y ou are going to Fl orida to do what $ To sel l lots t o the other fellow who is going to Florid a to sell l ots t o is y ou . That ab out al l you can d o in Fl orida unl ess you want to work . But that w as only one of the slings and arrows of outrage d for

- tune . Th e Scripps Howard chain of ne wspapers in September i printe d a ser es of articles from the facile p en of Harol d Keats , which state d quite bal dly that the b oom was over in Florida , that

' all th e profits had b een made , that th e binder b oys h a d b e e n run - out and that Santa Claus was dead . So damaging w as this coast t o coast indictment that Herman A . Dann , presid ent of the Florida

D evel opment B oard , aske d Gov . J ohn W . M artin to cal l a meeting of leading Florida men in New York O ctob er 9 to meet the prin cip al magazine and newsp ap er publishers an d s e e what coul d b e ” done t o get th e truth printe d . The anvil chorus clanged mightily through out the South dur ing Septemb er . Richmond citizens calle d f or a special legislative session to d evise ways to counteract the damage done to Virginia by the whol esal e migration to Florid a . Florida is a regular mad ” “ house , shrie ke d headlines in South Carolina . Two months t oo ” late to make a profit in Florid a , advised a Kentu cky newsp aper . “ i ” Fl ori da s lacking in anything b ut money , we le arn e d from an

- up country p ap er , which declare d there w as a food sh ortage in

Miami an d no pl ace f or thousands to sle ep .

Even our fri end , The Ash evi ll e ( N . C . ) Citizen , s ugge ste d the advisability of marti al law in Miami , as disapp ointe d returning investors contende d rent profite ers ma de it imp ossib le for anyone ’ less than a millionaire to get a night s lodging . “ ” Ri diculous , snorte d the Florid a j ournals in unison . The Cl earwater Chamb er of C ommerce prepare d to s ue th e Scrip ps

H oward newsp apers for malicious misrepresentation . Someone “ ” in M iami suggeste d th e cre ation of the state p ost of fib - b uster to H run d own the stories ab out Florid a and brand them . is name woul d have ha d t o b e legion . Only Felix Isman in the conservative Saturday Evening Post w as gravely declaring there was no boom in Fl ori da . W e forget wh at his term for it was . M ercer P . M ose ley wrote an epic essay entitle d “ The Fl orida D ol lar ” which gaine d mu ch favorabl e attention in No rth ern financial j ournals , b ut it cir c ul at e d mostly among those too b usy with th e rising stock market at th at tim e t o p ay ful l attention to Fl orida .

On Octob er 9 , 1 9 25 , in on e of the large dining halls of the

- W aldorf Astoria Hotel in New York , the lea ders of Florida thought and action hel d a conference with most of the New York p ub lish

— - ers Scripps H oward exce pted . This writer , in re porting th e event , began as follows $ “ Fl orida to day made her app eal f or truth in advertising in the ’ very heart of the nation s p ub lishing center , an app e al designe d to still the propaganda that is b eing circulate d t o the detriment of ” th e state .

1 28 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

s saw a d efinite sl acking of al es . Th e Isl e of Normandy on upp er Miami B each was sol d o ut in three h ours for as it stretche d its arms to receive the new Seventy- ninth street cause way from up per Miami . Largest on e sal e of th e month was the muchly litigate d C entral Park , at Fl agl er street and Grap eland boul evard , for t o the Knickerb ocker Realty C orporation .

D . L . Hartman , the strawb erry king , was hol ding grimly to his 2 6 acres of fine l and j ust north of S eventy - ninth street and west of

Biscayne b oul evard , having rej e cted one Offer of f or it . H e had taken off that land from strawb erry crops in four years and h e wante d to make j ust on e more crop b efore retiring . But d uring th e l atter p art of O ctober H artman finally sol d the “ ” strawb erry p atch to a corp oration he aded by G r a d on Th omas f or t o be sub divide d as so o n as the crop w as picke d . The l ateness of that crop save d good strawb erry l and from b eing converted into a p oor sub divisi on , b ecause by th e time h e was ready t o d eliver it was not worth a million to the sub dividers .

Dr . Everett S . Smith came down in O ctob er from Hop kinsville ,

K . . y , to b egin his p a storate at th e First Christian Church in Miami

Paul B . Wilson of Long Be ach , Calif . , b e came assistant city man

; M r ager of Miami . Mr an d s . Charl es A . M ills rep orte d they had counted 8 4 0 automobil es b earing p e ople down the Dixie

- highway toward Miami in a 1 0 h our stretch of driving north . H enry f Vander Lei , a l andl ord o Miami , b ecame a brief sensation wh en he made publi c a promise that he woul d n ot raise the rents on his “ tenants th e fol lowing season , b elieving in th e ad age , Live and let live .

After prol onge d research , it h as b e en discovered that th e oft re peated quotation , Your Skyline reminds me of New York , origi n t e 2 a d Septemb er 7 , with Arthur J . Bau er , New York druggist , and

Adrian G . Hanover , New York re al estate m an . Their exact words “ were , The skyline of Miami compares only with the Skyline of ” lower New York . Thereafter for nearly a year incoming new visitors would be “ ’ ’ asked by re p orters , Do esn t Miami s skyline remind you of New Y k $ ’ or If anyone answere d in the negative , it didn t count . The query serve d chiefly to call attention to the physical ly new and stately Mi ami , and to cover up from January , 1 9 2 6 , to the time of the hurricane any e mb ar assing comment ab out what had b ecome of th e b oom .

1 3 0 M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER TWENTY - TW O

B ITTER quarrel over development of the Miami harb or was

going full bl ast by the first of Novemb er , after John B . Orr and the Miami planning b oard had submitte d the s o call ed Orr pl an f or cre ating a l ong isl and from Miami to the Fisher out docks , from the spoil to be dug of the Ship channel with the new federal appropriation . The Orr pl an resulted in the pine - cl ad clumps of l and lying so uth of the ship channel today an d harb oring little b ut refuse and 1 A llst a ett er f a human derelicts . B ut as pl anne d by C 0 . F . W . o S vannah and submitte d through Orr , these islands woul d have b een 2 00- mantle d with warehouses , surrounded by a foot channel , and ’ linked with Fisher s d evel opment on Peninsul a isl and . A railroa d would have run virtually from the ocean to the Mi ami docks an d th e harb or woul d have b een full of Ship ping . The pl an was adopte d by the cities of Miami and Miami B each , b ut opp ose d so f of c om strenuously by E . G . Sewell as president o th e chamber f merce , that The Heral d had t o quit taking al l advertisements o a controversial nature rel ating to the harb or . Finally in De cemb er the directors of the Miami Chamb er of Commerce d elivered the unexp ected b low of indorsing the Orr plan unanimously , and Sewe ll resigned with the p arting warning that the net result would b e only a disfigurement of the b ay . How h i i true s predicti on was s evident to all who care to l ook .

- B ut with the Orr plan adopted , M iami quickly swung into action , got the sp ecial session of the legislature to p ass the b ay b ottom bill giving Miami titl e to all the b ay fro m th e causeway p ower p lant to a p oint opp osite the mouth of the Miami river , and b egan sending t o Lieut . C ol . Gilb ert A . Youngb erg in 2 - Jacksonvill e , as a loan to the war dep artment , to start the 5 foot dredging . T e o relieve the immediate shipping congestion , at th e s ug g s tion of C . D . Leffler , the city dre dge d out a channel al ong the new B ayfront p ark and soon this was lined with the schooners bringing l umb er and building materials into Miami . The Clyd e Line brought 1 50 longshoremen from New York to sp eed th e unl oading of ships , as the freight situation got worse instead of b etter . of After three weeks the emb argo , th e city of Miami decide d something drastic had to b e d one , s o Th omas E . Grady , rate and traffic expert from Savannah , was app ointed to l ead the way out of the wil derness , with a drawing account of th e first month . After a meeting with 1 5 l eading citiz ens an d George W .

Berry , interstate commerce commission agent sent here as an a d viser , Grady picke d W . A . Snow , Lou Crandell , Norman W . Graves ,

B . R . Hunter and Arthur A . Ungar to hel p him break up th e embargo . The advent of the great citrus crop and a strike of teleg

1 3 1 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s r a ph e rs on the Atlantic C oast Line soon resulted in the emb argo spre ading to al l Florida south of Jacksonvil le . Perishables and h u mans only move d over the rails of Florida . This emb argo inclu de d road materials and w a s a staggering bl ow to the highway constru e ti on program which the state had under way . A classic of that p erio d w as the story of the ingenious Miami contractor who had a carl oad of b uilding bricks sent out of a

Northern city bille d a s lettuce . The car w as careful ly iced all the w a s way d own , b ut wh en the trick discovered in the Miami yards , w f there a s a general discharging o all hands involved , and no more ice d bricks came through .

Late in O ctob er , the SS . H . F . Al exander , pride of the Admiral

Line , came to anchor on th e edge of the Gulf Stream , op p osite Mi ami

- Beach after it s first 4 8 hour run from New York , with 42 1 p assen gers ab oard . The ve ss el was t oo big to come up the channel , s o the lighter Shinnecock took off passengers and freight and unloaded them on th e causeway docks , in the new Admiral Line offices , near ’ i r m where D on D c k e an s pirate crew hel d forth . On the heels of this voyage came the announcement from New York that an r even larger b oat, the K oonland , woul d enter th e M iami service in Decemb er . The Clyde Line chartere d the D orothy Alexander to replace the burne d C omanche , and b egan b uil ding two new Miami b oats with a loan from the Unite d States Ship ping Board .

- The c o op erative ap artment was the rage in New York then . Feeling that land on M iami B each would soon b e a s scarce as on 8 Park avenue , Carl Fisher an d several associ ates pl anne d the $ , Villa Biscayn e as a c o- op erative ap artment on Fisher l and south of La Gorce isl and . The prosp ects indicate d it woul d dwarf anything south of Baltimore . A s near as we recoll ect , M ark H .

German Signe d up for th e first apartment , at b ut the b uy e r s were t o o few after the first of th e year even to suggest start ing the b uilding . ' — M eanwhil e the near-b y M iami Shores island today the Indian Creek Golf club island—had b een fille d in by the Shoreland C om pany and the lots around the golf course were sol d the first day f or This was the next to the last big l ot sal e of the b oom , and the l ast , we b elieve , at Miami B each . The Miami re al estate dealers had d one a fine j ob of stable 3 0 locking by Novemb er . The binder p eriod was shortened from 1 0 f to d ays , and other safeguards against the return o the binder b oys were taken . The G r a lyn Hotel was leased by H . H . M ace to

Harry Shapiro of New Jersey on a val uation . Peacock ‘ 1 Inn , the ol dest h oste lry in D ade county , dating from 8 8 3 and the h ospitality of Charl es Peacock , was torn down at C oconut Grove to give space to som e newer b uilding . Harry Kelsey unloade d his h oldings at Kelsey City and Palm ’ 1 B each h arb or in O ctob er f or to a group headed by C 0 .

Henry D . Lindsl ey , first national comman der of the American

Legion . Kelsey h ad com e to Palm Beach county from B oston in

1 3 2

M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

though he exceeded the Great C ommoner in vol ume of noise , he l acked the oratorical magic . The Miami Chamber of C ommerce w as greatly disappointe d when its b uil ding b ack of the First Trust brought only at

- aucti on from Baker Riddl e Com pany . The chamb er had p lans for 1 0- a story structure which was to b e p laced on a lot across S . E . c ‘ Se ond stre et from the Alhambra Hotel , f or which l and was to b e paid .

Over on south beach , G . R . K . Carter was starting his million ’ d ollar pier out over the ocean near Smith s casino . Miami Shores drove the first pilings in Novemb er f or the prop ose d causeway from the end of Grand Concourse to th e ocean . M ost of the c on crete pilings assemb le d for th at work have been lying around ever

- since . Mrs . Sue D . Kau z starte d the 1 0 story hotel on N . W . Sec on d street , whose unfinished frame with the somewh at mocking name of Kamp Kum - N - G o has stood for 1 0 years as one of th e dere licts of the boom . Among notable visitors come to se e what w as going on that winter w as Halsted L . Ritter , re al estate and corp oration lawyer O w f D enver , C olo . W . R . Asher finally as turne d out of the D ade ’ county j ail after 2 2 months imprisonment , when the Supreme court he ld insuffi cient the evi dence on which he had b een convicted

. in of killing R . D . Niles , taxi driver Hamilton Michelsen C ompany a ug ur at e d the use of motor trucks f or hauling it s p acked citrus fruit to Northern markets at the holiday se ason , when the embargo stubb ornly refuse d to yield . The Fl orida legislature held a short session l ate in November t o give Key West the legal right to lay a fresh water pipeline down the keys from the mainland , over the Florida East C oast right of “ u 4 way . But while that bill was being rounde d o t , 00 local bills changing city charters and rearranging the l egal scenery for the ’ b oom were rushed through . The senate u pheld Governor M art in s removal of Judge H . B . Phili ps from the state road d epartment , and made provision to sp end on a state penitentiary and the road dep artment building . f The age d Alb ert W . Gilchrist , b eloved Florida governor o H os older days , w as finally located alone and ill in the Ne w York pital f or Crip pl e d Chil dren when a legislative group sent word they had named a new county in his honor . O kee ch ob ee City began a m ove to have the state capital move d there from Tallahassee , in re cognition of the Shifting center of activity southward .

Will H . Price was named th e new third circuit j udge in D ade f county and Paul D . Barns became j udge of the new Civil Court o

Record . Attorney General Rivers Buford succeeded Justice T . F .

West of Milton on the State Supreme b ench . Harry S . New , p ost master general , calle d f or bids on the first air mail from Miami ,

Tamp a and Jacksonvill e t o Atlanta , while Henry Ford pre pare d to op en an air p assenger line with his new Stout three - motore d mono p lanes . The honor system among state prisoners was ended at Raiford and armed guards p at r ole d t h e stockad es into which the

1 3 4 M I A M I M I L L I O N S strange new criminals from the North were b eing shunted from south Fl orida . Thirty- tw o schooners j ammed the Miami harb or by the time the holidays came on , moore d head on and rail t o rail alongsid e of the B ayfront p ark , wedged side by side into every d ock , and p eriodically running onto th e reefs outsid e the channel in their on eagerness t o make Miami . Forty m ore schooners were their way , some from as far as Seattl e with lumb er , presenting the great est windj amming armada gathered at any pl ace on the gl ob e .

Ships tied u p at Peninsula island , and some even tie d up al ong th e

causeway waiting a chance t o unload . O n e sch ooner carelessly threw its hook over the Western Uni on cabl e t o South America , stop ping wire communications between the continents f or several days Just b efore Christmas the interstate commerce c ommission at a serie s of h eari ngs in Washington announce d that the princip al cause for the continue d freight j am in Florida was disagreement f b etween officials o the railroads , and moved t o take a more active hand in the game . M eantime the Seaboard was having trouble getting right of way from West Palm Beach t o Miami , land owners running their f prices up out o reach . A great mass me eting was cal led by the

Miami Chamb er of C ommerce , with William H . B urwel l as chair man , and the outcome was that cash and land to th e value of $ 1 ,

was hande d to the Seab oard , ending its land troubles .

M eantime , Governor M artin made two ap p earances in Washing ton on b ehalf of the railroad and ful l p ermission t o build th e ex tension w as granted .

a - Miami was billion doll ar town by Christmas , bank clearings 1 9 2 having reached that amount for the year 5 . The city Of Miami alone had issue d real estate licenses , of which it estimate d f 9 stil l were active by the first o 1 2 6 . A chamb er of commerce of survey late in D ecember Showed a surp lus rooms and ap artments , which was the end of high rents . Four hundre d and eighty- o ne hotels and a partments were added in Miami during 1 9 2 5 . One of the l ast links of the ol der

Flagler system with Miami was broken when William H . Beardsl ey , - chairman of the F . E . C . b oard and l ong time chief assistant to

Henry M . Flagl er , passe d away in New York .

. . of D P Davis , the wonder boy the Fl orid a West C oast , sol d o ut of the l ast Davis Isl ands at Tam pa as the year wane d , disp osing of of worth l ots in 3 1 hours . He thereu pon moved

. A to St ugustine and b egan a new b oomlet with Davis Shores , doomed to failure as the spreading movement of the sp eculators W ithered over Christmas . Davis Islands stands today as a fine testimonial to this devel h is oper who finally ende d life from a steamer at sea . It is b e lieve d t o b e the only maj or prop erty b egun during the b oom that t o h as been carri ed through completion . It w a s started by D avis

1 3 5 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

r in 1 9 24 , when he converted three small ma shy islands of ab out 4 0 t 8 3 2 acres into a magnificen site of acres , with p ave d streets , lights w and sewers . At the op ening sal e it as state d that p eopl e stood in line as l ong as 4 0hours t o get the first lots , and by the end of six hours worth of prop erty had b een sol d . They were even g i ving Miamians free train rid es to and from Tamp a j ust to l ook at th e islands . T o day Davis Is lan d s is on e of the master sub divisions of

Tam pa . On it is the n ew Peter 0 . Knight airp ort , the

Tampa M unicip al hospital , the b eautiful Spanish ap artments , the

- - Venetian ap artm ents and many oth ers . Near b y a 4 0 acre site has b een d e ede d to the governm ent and a Sp anish War M emorial park will b e built on it . D . P . D avis was like most of th e other promo ’ ters here ; he didn t know when to stop , but he left more p ermanent reminders O f his activity than most . ’ Another w h o didn t know when to quit was G . Frank Crois w h f sant , o had sol d out Croissant Park in the southern p art o Fort m L au derdale , and late in De ce b er was p utting on C r ois s ant ania , “ ” north of Fort Lau derd al e , as My M asterpie ce . He had taken a three - year le ase on the ground floor of the Johnson and M offat 1 f r r i ni buil ding at 1 5 E . Flagl er street o th e C o ss ant a a sales rooms , “ ” at a rental of To christen My M asterpiece suitab ly , m the sales en and citiz ens in Miami gave him a banquet , and the sales force presented him with a Shiny new Rolls - Royce touring car . M oney was sim ply no obj ect b efore Christmas , h owever much ’ it may have b een conserve d after New Ye ar s .

1 3 6

s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

8 0- office , two dre dges were starte d on an foot channel around the recumb ent Prins Val demar , and the four masts were removed with ax and acetyl ene torch , s o the dredges coul d get on with their digging . a Whi le this was taking place , s many freighters as possible line d the causeway . Some even cut hol es in their bows to remove

. w the merchandise to the Shore When the channel as nicely fil led , the steamer Lak e vort ground ed f or several days across the outer ’ n channel , preventing a y further movement east of Fisher s island , where many b oats were unloading onto lighters . Fifty assorte d schooners and steamers assembl e d along the e dge of the Gulf stream opp osite Miami Beach . Several went aground on reefs try ing to e dge in to land . J ust as it app eare d the n ew channel aro und the Prins Valde m ar woul d be complete d , and all the captains had ste am up to l eave the harb or , b oth dredges broke d own . Then it w as d is c ov w ere d that dynamite as nee de d to break the last hard rock le dge , and the captains let their steam die down for another wee k while owners p ace d their New York offices , and the remainder of the boats r e c ond itiond for a run to Mi ami were regretfully hauled b ack to the yards . A S soon as the bl ockade took p lace word went forth to every shipping point not to send more b oats to Miami . B ut before it was r end ed , feet of lumb er b adly ne ede d in Miami c onst uc tion w as floating at anchor outside the harbor , and the investments tie d up in materials , hardware and furniture b egan driving many a harassed d evel oper toward insolvency . The glad day when the dredges comp leted the new way around the Prins Val demar saw t h e Ge orgeanna We ems leading the procession out of the harb or . Fifte en other big b oats followe d , some grounding temp orarily here and there , one even striking the

as . Prins Val demar though in . reb uff for the delay it had caused The Nancy Weems got caught on a sand bank near the mouth of the ’ j etties b ut fortunately didn t bl ock the way for the others . The Prins Valdemar u ltimately was refloate d and towe d away in disgrace to the P . 0 . channel . Ironically enough , it righte d

‘ itself as soon as th e masts w e r e r e m ove d and th e h old p ump e d dry . It was the only vessel in Mi ami harb or to ride out th e 1 9 2 6 hurri cane undamaged . Tod ay it Sits primly besid e its pier at the north end of B ay ’ front park an d h ouses Miami s only aqu arium . One of its stubby remounte d masts sup p orts a string of lights at night and flags by day , but its se agoing days are over . Its sp ectacu lar act marked in the en d of the spe cul ative gol d rush to Florida , a strange rol e de ed f or this former Danish naval vessel . Like many another

Homeric hero , it ends its days quietly with children playing ab out it , and idlers p aying scant attention to the marks of former glory .

In retrospect, it does n ot se em that many of us felt th e b ottling of th e Miami harb or woul d p lay a permanent part in the progress

1 3 8 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

r of the b oom . Certainly ships grounding in the channel were e garde d as ordinary hazards until the new fe deral dredging coul d f r r start . The M ary A . Dieb old , o instance , Shut up the channel f o a day until it was finally yanke d off into deep water by S ix tugs that

- nearly tore her deck out . The five maste d schooner Rob ert L . Lin t on foll owed the Prins Val demar and was an even l arger b oat , b ut it was n ot grounded .

Like many other features of the b oom , it may seem t o us today that the Miami harb or coul d have be en manage d b etter . But in th e furious melting p ot where Miami was b eing made , there was scant r time f o orderly p lanning , and n o pre ce dent for the demands p ut up on th e skimpy facilities of those days .

The Prins Vald emar saved p eopl e a lot of money . In the e m forced lul l which accomp anied the efforts to unstopp er the Miami harb or , many a shipp er in the North and many a b uilder in the t f South g o a b etter grasp o what actual ly was taking p lace h ere . A great deal of exp ensive bric - a - brac that woul d have b een r e p r e sented l ater by red ink w as hel d at the factory , and many a b an k was roll save d from its own folly . S o p erh aps the Prins Vald emar deserves it s p osition as a

Miami institution .

1 3 9 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

o o oo B o o or oo sc res f sch ners lined ayfr nt Park with carg f the b m , and were held there by a b ottled harb or during the em bargo .

1 4 0 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s from the Knickerbocker Realty C orp oration f or It was n ot 1 0 years b efore a b etter location in front of the high school f r — b uilding co uld have b e en h ad o th e taxes and n o takers . Jesse one f L . Billingsl ey , o the foremost south Fl orida lawyers , die d in a r Washington hospital . Th e U m e y H otel w as sol d to the Rand in r r m e t e e st s by W . N . U y for a hotel he had opene d in

1 9 1 . 7 , and which he later recovere d C ounting u p at the first of the year showe d that C oral Gabl es 9 le d all the oth er developments in 1 25 sales , having disp ose d of

in property and extende d itself over acres . M er rick and “ Jack B owman then were engrossed in pl ans for sp end ing along the edge of Biscayne b ay as far south as

Chapman Fie ld , a section which began with more than in ’ one day s sales l ate in D e cemb er . This was hel p ed by the gl am or o us op ening of the Miami Biltm ore Hotel and C ountry club in

January . Miami Shores was not far b ehind with and the develop ers of that city were b usy then with plans f or Miami Plaz a ’ i r and the b ui lding of Biscayne b oulevard . Ad dison M z ne s Boca Raton w as off to a l ate start b ut in the l ast S ix months of 1 9 2 5 sol d

worth of l ots . The gorgeous fantasy of F ount ania op ened in th e beautiful 3 50 Theater F ount ania in Miami Shores that season , with p eop le in the cast . Arthur V oe gtlin w as emp loyed by the Shorel and C om p any to stage the produ ction al ong lines of the shows he had pro d u c e d for years in th e New York Hipp odrome . The Theater Foun tania was a victim of the 1 92 6 hurricane .

Hollywood and th e various comp anies of J oseph W . Young were showing p erhaps as much spee d as any big south Florid a pro tw o motion in the early months of 1 9 2 6 . They even had marimba b ands instead of on e to p lease the p atrons . Elsie Janis , the sweet h eart of the A . E . F . , was feature d at the H ol lywood Golf and

C ountry club . Gene Tunney entered the real estate business in January whil e h e was waiting f or a chance to catch Ja ck Dempsey , the h eavy weight champion , in a squ are d ring . Tunney was picture d rather s ub extensively in th e advertisements of those days , advocating urb an life . Especial ly suburb an life such as might b e foun d at ’ b e P . L . B e r g off s Hollywood pines Estates , for which Tunney came sales m anager . The first pilings were driven for the five prop osed Venetian isles north of the present set in February as sal es of lots admitte d s ly und er water went ahead . Carl Fisher companies opene d their new radi o station WIO D on C ollins island , op posite the Nautilus ’ t o Hotel . Jose ph E ls e ne r s Club D eauvill e , today catering the seekers of h ealth und er the B ar nar r M acfadden regimen , was opene d to the p ublic on Miami B each .

C ommod ore J . Perry Stoltz was prop osing four other Fle et one on wood h otels t o j oin the parent on Miami Beach . The Jump

t . Off M ountain , in Asheville , N . C . , g o farther al ong than most The

1 4 2 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

o ne at Daytona Shores , a development near D aytona

B each , progressed no farther than the first spadeful of dirt , turne d in an elab orate ceremony which includ ed the governor of the state

and most of his staff . The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers gave the greatest exhibition of re ckless spending of the entire b oom when they turne d m ore than l oose t o create the city of Venice on the

l ower West Coast . The land was b ought from Dr . Fre d L . Alb ee

- of near b y Nokomis , prob ab ly the foremost b one sp ecialist in the

- Unite d States . The expl oitation of the high p owere d promoters

l eft Venice with acres of unuse d sewer pipe , mil es of unwante d f streets , scores o apartments and dwellings for which there were n o tenants , and the curse of wrecking the Brotherhood b ank in

Cleveland .

B ut Venice , like many other b oom prod ucts , is finding itself . Dr .

Al bee took hol d again , performing the same miracl es there that h e h as done with the human frame . The Kentucky Military Institute l ease d two big hotels for their winter headquart ers . The Florida M edical Center has b een estab lished and will some day b e a great asset t o Fl orida , despite the efforts of certain envio us Jacksonville and St . Petersb urg medics to discredit Dr . Alb ee professional ly . ’ Bailey Hal l , an exclusive b oys school from New York , has lease d the Treasure island prop erty and is in its second year at Venice . It m ay interest some to know that one vote against the continue d spending of money f or the cross - state canal w a s that of Senator f - Royal S . C op eland o New York , wh o l ooks upon Venice as his favorite pl ace in the South . The criticism of Florida in the press of the nation had rather g enerally died down by January . Floridians thought the rest of the nation finally had got some sense ; we know n ow that they only refraine d from speaking ill of the dead . The embargo still w as hopel essly clamped up on the state , and there were predictions r it might last two o thre e years . s The tourist season itself was not o bad . The M iami J ockey cl ub opened winter racing with passing the turnstiles , and J oe Smoot was looking abroad for other racing worl ds t o con

. quer M usic and gaiety fill e d the night air , alth ough the smiles of the sal esmen were b e coming a trifl e straine d , and free sand wiches for the prospects were not pl entiful enough any more f or an energetic man actual ly to live by making a daily round of the s ub divis—ions . The h op e that springs eternal was on the j ob in Florida but it began to lose some of it s zip as February brought the truth closer home . The abrupt fall of the Miam i boom w as cushi oned in the first 1 92 6 p art of by the concepti on of Biscayne b oulevard , which Hugh

. M Anderson and Roy C . Wright started to carry out , in c onj un c t ion with the development of the Charles Deering estate in north east Miami . sa We y cushioned , because this w as the only maj or under taking of private capital during early 1 9 26 which w as continu ed

1 4 3 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

in the b etter traditions of the b oom itself . Biscayne b oul evard create d new val ues in a city where every other value was reced ing , and it contrib ute d no littl e t o the amazing fact that building 1 9 2 6 w as a in M iami during more than half s much as during 1 92 5 , f when the principal elements o the Miami Skyline were starte d . And erson and Wright had pl anne d and even pl otted the course of the b oulevard a year b efore their p urchase of the Deering prop r e ty and its conversion into Mi ami Pl aza . But they coul d carry out the ambitious b oul evard program only by getting control of the

D eering tract . On D ecemb er 5 , 1 9 2 5 , they announced that Charl es h i Deering had sol d s pl ace , from N . E . Second avenue to the bay

- and stretching nine city blocks north from Forty first street . It was only a few d ays thereafter , on D ecember 1 5 , that the Harrison C on struction C omp any m oved in to b egin cl earing th e path for the 1 0 ne w 0 foot b oulevard . Like some giant mowing machine trundling through a fiel d of standing grain , the forces s et in motion by the Shorel and C om pany founders cut a broad Swath out N . E . Third avenue , starting with the d estruction of Templ e Israel synagogue standing t w o b locks north of the Thirte enth street traffic circle , cleaving through a the b lind al leys and l byrinths of th e ol der p art of th e city , on through the m atted tropical j ungl e which forme d the D eering e s

- tate , to Fifty fifth stre et , where the Fe deral highway was to pick up th e ne w b oul evard and carry it north through Miami Shores into

Hollywood . Here was a piec e of work th at disregard ed seemingly insuper ab le difficulties to bring a whol ly new civic existence to the east ern Side of Miami . This p lan w as to evolve into a motorway reach ing from the Royal Palm site to Hol lywood that has be come one of the famous drives of the worl d . H aving left the J ewish p l ace of n 8 5 worship fl at , th e wrecking crews roll ed o to destroy other b uild

2 . ings , inclu ding 1 ap artment houses an d two hotels Front p orches were slice d off , 1 2 houses were m ove d intact to other Sites , and the irresistib l e momentum of millions destroyed with the thorough ness of a Kansas cyclone everything else that bl ocked the progress of the new b oulevard . Anderson and Wright and their associates had b ought up most of th e prop erty n eed ed for the right of way by the first of in De cemb er , b efore their plans became known . In th e first stance , they p ut land which had cost th em into the ven r ture , and then went on to acqui e the remaind er , while the city of Miami l ent it s p ower of cond emnation and in p aving b onds to the program . This gives only a me ager ide a of the final of cost , because we already have seen that the last eight miles

Biscayne b oul evard were achieve d f or a mile . At this p oint it may b e of interest to quote p ortions of a letter receive d a fe w days ago from Roy Wright , written from the head quart ers of th e works progress administration in Knoxville , Tenn . , relating t o Biscayne b oulevard $ “ We conceived this b oul evard and had our engineers survey

1 4 4 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

in Mi ami . He got a l ukewarm recepti on when h e first prop osed h is to Mr . Deering that tropical paradise in northeast Miami b e sol d to An derson and Wright . The initial offer to buy came in w February , 1 9 25 , b ut it as not until months later when Phillips M r c - - broached the prop ositi on to Chauncey c C o mi k , s on in law of

Charl es De ering , that a friendlier ear was turne d to the i dea .

Finally Phillips took Anderson , Wright and Fred W . Cason to Deer ’ ing s home in Chicago and th ere cl ose d the de al . Mi ami Plaza as a devel opment w as caught in the b ackwash of the b oom and to day is in the hands of the Deering heirs . B ut when the ebbing fortunes of And erson and Wright force d them out f 1 92 6 o th e picture in , the Phip ps estate took over the assets of the And erson - Wright companies in order to prote ct the investment made by the Phip ps family , formed the Biscayne B oulevard C om p any and com pl eted the b oulevard . H ad it not b een for this action on the part of the Phipps interests , the b ou levard and the prop erti es o involve d in widening N . E . Third avenue w ul d have b een l eft in r such a chaotic state that it would have b een ne cessary , finally , f o the city of Miami t o have sp ent many mi lli ons of d oll ars to carry o ut

- the Anderson Wright p lan . The Biscayne B oul evard Comp any in its Fl orida op erations has b een dire cte d by Paul Scott as presid ent , and by Roy H . H awkins

- as vice presid ent and Op erations manager . Eighty five p er cent o f all the prop erty fronting on Biscayne b oulevard from Thirteenth street t o Fortieth street is owned an d op erated by the Biscayne

B oul evard C omp any , and all the new commercial b uil dings along the way were b uilt by this comp any . This tale is concerne d chi efly with the b eginning and not the 1 9 2 - 2 e n d of Biscayne b oulevard . It s genesis in the 5 6 b oom was scant warning of what it woul d b e , like so many other creati ons of that p eriod . The spl endid archite cture of Robert L . W e e d and a Vladimir L . V ir r ic k was t o come l ater , along with the l ndscaping whi ch makes the boulevard today distinctive in a region where b eauty is th e accepted rul e . Like the anesthesia which prepares our nerves for the sh ock ’ o f the surge on s knife , the creation of Biscayne b oul evard kept M iami going d uring the summer of 1 9 2 6 d espite the discovery that l ots no l onger could b e sol d for on e -tenth of that amount “ ” or th at the summer tourist season of 1 92 5 was nothing but a de i l us on .

Th e b oul evard , therefore , is something more than j ust a wi de strip of asphalt to south Fl orida . It is an institution whose bright fl owering of tod ay gives n o hint of the bitter disap p ointments on which its first roots fed .

1 4 6 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

CHAPTER TWENTY- FIVE

HE captains and the kings had b y no means de parte d in Feb r u a ry , 1 92 6 , b ut on the contrary were arriving in gre at num

bers to make an unusual tourist season , comp arab le only to those of today .

As a matter of fact , while we know in looking back that th e speculative b oom then was at least morib und , every Sign p ointed t o its revival in M arch j ust as the spe cul ative spre e had picke d u p 2 n ow f or in M arch , 1 9 5 . Miami by was fam ous , and the facilities entertaining those drawn by her fame were greatly increase d over the years when it Simply was a small Fl orida town revolving around its bright yellow Fl orida East Coast dep ot . Although it n o l onger was consid ere d prop er to print the daily amounts of property transferre d , as someone might b egin to make of odious comp arisons , Tatum Brothers rep orte d that their sales for the first s ix weeks of 1 9 2 6 were well ahead of th e same p eriod of 1 9 25 . Alfre d H . Wagg , who was a successful real estate op erator in Palm B each and West Palm Beach , m ove d to f Miami and op ene d an office to sell Riviera Gardens , west o Coral

Gab les . ’ Having set a worl d s record of lines of a dvertising 1 9 25 h a d in , lines more than any newsp ap er. ever car ’ ried in a year s time , The Miami Heral d had the biggest advertis 9 ing month of its life in January , 1 2 6 , whil e February was not far behind . The b oys may h ave b een going down , b ut they were going down fighting , still p utting the l ong green on the counter .

As in bygone ye ars , such instituti ons as th e Royal Palm Hotel had opene d with discreet whoop ee , and the season b egan on s c h e d o f ul e ab ut the mi d dl e o January . Great nam es flooded the news , and music and good times in south Fl orid a were never b etter . Fl o Ziegfel d with his “ Palm B each Nights ” was giving that ol d er winter gr o up the gl orified American girl in comp etition with Arthur V o e g t ’ ” i F ount a nia l n s at Miami Shores , and promising to stage a sp e ci al Show f or Miami .

F e a d o r Chaliapin , the great Russian b asso , sang in the Bilt m ore that winter , while Galli Curci fille d the White Templ e t o overfl owing with her gifte d voice . Paderewski also p acke d the

White Templ e . Paul Whitem an brought his fam ous orchestra t o the Coral Gab les C ountry cl ub to give Jan Garb er a little rest . A large athl etic stadium h ad b een rushe d t o comp letion in ’ Coral Gab les in time f or R e d Grange an d his Chicago B ears pro ’ f e ss ion a l footb all team t o me et Tim Callahan s Coral Gables C ol l u l eg ans , a game which th e famo s Grange w on with 7 p oints . Peter d e Pa o l a defeated a high - class fiel d in th e first 3 00- mil e automobil e race in the great wood en racing b owl at Fulford . Tex Rickard , o of then wner the new M adison Square Garden in New York , an

1 4 7 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

o nounc e d that h e and Paul R . Scott f the new N . E . Third avenue deve lopment were going to b uil d a sp orts stadium in Miami Pl aza t o cost Those were still great days f or dreams . The principal reason that most of them refuse d to believe the b oom w a s over in February w as be cause one coul d s e e b efore h is very eyes the evidence to contradi ct such heresi es . Miami on the skids , when th e new Roney Plaz a Hotel at Miami Beach opene d $ “ with a full house M errick Slipping , with the gre at Miami Bilt more and C ountry cl ub actually there , and the brilliant opening of $ Tahiti Be ach to p oint the way to future glories Of course not , one said , and refl ected that January was always a funny month anyway .

Everywhere one went . a b uil ding b oom was und er way . Trac tors were snorting through the pine woods in the lower p art of

C oral Gabl es getting re ady for th e University of Miami . Raymond and M argaret B urlingame were constructing the little island be ar ing their name at the mouth of the Miami river . C onstruction in 4 8 Florida cities in 1 92 5 am ounte d to and as much more w as planned f or 1 92 6 . 4 With only 9 5 votes cast , the citi zens of Miami approve d new b onds in the amo unt of for city improvements , incl ud ing the debate d item of for advancing money to the fe deral government for the harb or . E . G . Sewel l and George A . Wald eck organi ze d the Voters and Taxpayers Protective Le ague ’ and made a hard fight against that item , claiming th e city nee dn t bond itself for a temp orary l oan , but the issue p asse d in the name of civic progress . Miami Be ach vote d in new b onds f or i ts ne ede d expansion . Ske ptics saw Miami starting the tal lest courthouse in the

South , constructing the new buil ding like a sh ell around the ol d courthouse , t o avoid disrupting work . They sa w the new home of ’ the M iami W oman s club ne aring compl etion on the b ayfront . The w ‘ ne w Venetian causeway as opene d with fitting ceremonies , as the memory of John S . C ollins and the ol d wood en bridge the cause way replace d were revive d . The Club De auvil le b egan doing b usi ness on up p er Miami Be ach . Th e new O lympia Theater was mf op ene d in downtown Miami , when Ed R o h mad e a speech and the stars in the roof b egan twinkling an d Harry A . Leach took up h is duties as resident manager . The new C olumb us Hote l on the b ayfront was complete d and

Opene d in February . S o , also , were the Everglades , the Alcaz ar ’ H otel , the W oman s cl ub b uilding and the First Trust b uilding in

Miami , the Fl oridian Hotel at Mi ami Be ach , the Venetian Hotel , the great new Alba H otel at Palm B each , and th e Hollywood H o ’ te l at Joe Young s pl ace . The City National B ank of Miami began with the greatly resp ecte d S . M . Tatum as ch airman of the b oard , and C lark B . Davis a s presid ent . There were no augurs then t o pre dict th e end of that institution , with J . C . Penn ey , the chain store prince , driven from his Belle Isle e state and his stores barred from o a this county by the force f p ub lic dis p proval , all b ecause he

1 4 8

s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s coul d get from the public which still clung to the remnants of the b oom . A slick promoter incorp orate d the town of Miami Shores north of the famous development of that name , b ut it w as t oo l ate r to get either cash o glory from the trick , and few rememb er today

w as . t where it South Miami ook form around the ol d store of W .

A . Larkins and the pe op le elected W . A . Foster its first mayor .

O n the other end of Miami , the Cincinnati capitalists who comprise d the D onnelly Realty C omp any were having fair success with North Miami , the b ulk of which is incl ude d in the present ’ r town of that name , al ong with Irons M anor . Arthur G iffing s B is cayne Park Estates near- b y h as since b een split up b etween the f town o Biscayne Park , and North Miami . Aladdin City was the most p ugnacious of the p ostb oom s ub divisions , hol ding out the suggesti on in daily advertisements th at some previously unreveal e d magic woul d bring fortune to Alad din l ot owners , regardl ess of what was taking place elsewhere . It was laid out on the West D ixi e highway ab out eight miles south of C oral ve r i f Gabl es by O . E . S o g n of B ay City , Mich . , b ut the l amp o Al ad din refused to shine for him , even with the ind orsement of Senator

D uncan U . Fletcher . Western Miami was op ene d by Lummus Young north of the townsite of Sweetwater and west of the Milam dairy . J . Leroy Farmer starte d Tamiami Tow nsit es 1 8 miles west of C oral Gab les on the Trail with l ots as low as Pine crest w as the C h e ve lie r ’ C orporation s bi d for city popul ati on on its far- flung Evergl ades l ands , more than 4 0 mil es straight west of Miami . The southern l oop of the new Tamiami Trail was route d through Pinecrest by b e Fons A . Hathaway of the state road dep artment , principally cause that was M onroe county ’ s only op p ortunity to get a state highway . f C ocop lum Gardens , near the Biscayne b ay section o C oral 1 4 Gabl es , sprang up under the h and of Irving J . Thomas , whose ye ars in C oconut Grove real estate made him outstan ding in th at section during the boom . The new viadu cts on the county causeway still were not fully op ened by the first of M arch , an d of course traffic b etween Miami and M iami B e ach w as b adly congeste d despite the de dication of “ in the new Venetian causeway . Miami B each hinte d darkly th at ” terests must b e conspiring to del ay the completion of the viaducts . The largest pie ce of steel to enter Florida—72 feet long—was brought on two fl at cars f or the new Miami C oliseum at C oral

Gabl es .

As pl ans for cutting up o ld Royal Palm p ark went on , the M odel Land C omp any announce d it woul d b uil d the 1 2 - story Ingra ham b uilding on p art of it s land fronting on S . E . Second avenue , next to th e corner where Tatum brothers b uilt their office on the ’ site of th e original home of the Miami Woman s cl ub .

Pe opl e ha d time for other interests than re al estate in M arch . An entire we ek of grand op era found a s many as music lovers filling a l arge tent in Coral Gab les , where M ary Garden and th e

1 50 M I A M I M I L L I O N S 3;

Chicago Civic O pera C omp any brought stars of th e singing worl d t o south Fl ori da . Great circus tents on the new bayfront fill hel d exhibits of the Dade C ounty fair that were viewe d dail y by people . M adame Louise Homer carrie d on the musical series at the

White Temp le . F ox hunting b ecame a popul ar sport at the Miami

Biltmore Hotel . Beach scenes at Tahiti were alm ost as inspiring as H 1 92 6 on the ocean . Sarah Jane e lik e r b ecame Miss Miami of in a spirited b athing be auty contest in the Hial eah fr onton . “ b oomitis t As Miami was fir st to contract , so it was first o of lose the fever . In many other parts Florida , the boom was not over s o quickly . Many a small er center of p op ul ation was is suing bonds and staking out lots and p utting in p ublic improve ments l ong after the sucker list had been exhauste d in Miami . If we have n ot dealt with these other b oom sp ots , it is not through l ack of interest . But the story of e ach was only anoth er version of what to ok pl ace in Dade county f r The b oom real ly extende d into every part of Florida , o the name of the state itself w as the magic nee de d to c o nvince p otential o n on e of b uyers . At Key West , Garris n Park cl ose d th e b oom o end on th e the keys , while Anglers Park and Key Largo City ende d it other . Doz ens of empty sub divisions lined the roads from the keys to Miami . North from Miami it was the same story . Only the lit tle town of Dania , stuck in between Fort Lauderdal e and Hollywood and at one time annexe d by the l atter , se ems to have come through the boom without p erceptibl e change . ’ J . P . Newell s Fort Pierce Beach and its b athing casino was one of the b est b oom hop es of that se ction . West

Palm Beach , Stuart , M el b ourne , Fort Pierce , Vero Beach , C oco a an d

Cocoa Beach , the M erritt Isl and development of Canaveral Harb or and the various sub divisions centering around D aytona Beach an d

St . Augustine made the East Coast hum . Notabl e d evel opments

as . H such Snell Isl e at St Petersburg , Ringling Isl es at Sarasota , o “ ” m os assa , The Miracl e City , Cl earwater , New Port Richey and ’ I l any others contrib uted t o simil ar exp ansion on Florida s West

éoast . Though the central part of Fl orida suffere d in a promotional of way by l ack b eaches , it offset this to som e extent with lakes . O n rlando e ede d no b oom to b e a beautiful city , b ut it gained mu ch a headw y at that time . Sanford was p ushe d into an abnormal o gr wth by its m ayor and leading b anker , Forrest Lake , who nar r ow ly escap e d a prison sentence for his fiscal activities d uring the

-1 b oom . Lakeland and many smaller cities al ong the Ridge of Fl or ida , like Sebring , Avon Park , Frostproof , Haines City , Lake Wales and Winter Haven , b l ossome d o ut into m uch larger cities during this o p eriod , alth ugh th e b onded debt they incurred in the optimism of those days has hung on like the we akening aftermath o f the inf lu enz a ever since . Each of these pl aces has a b oom history of intense interest t o It s people , Just as nearly every p erson wh o was touched by th e real

1 5 1 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s

f estate sp eculation has a story o his own that lives , ever green , in f memory . But the covers o no b ook could contain them , and th e ’ writer s only h o p e is that individu als , re ading this rep ort of the “ boom , can find p laces in it th at bring the reacti on $ That also happ ene d to me .

Wh en Miami horse racing end ed in M arch , 1 92 6 , the tourist season vanishe d as comp letely and almost as fast as it use d to do in the years b efore sp ecul ation rul ed . But building went b usily on that spring and summer . The Se ab oard Air Line railroad opene d its ne w sp urs into Miami on the East C oast and Napl es on the West

C oast . The fe deral government b egan digging a deep er Miami harb or . The cl atter of the riveter and th e noise of th e carpenter sounde d almost a s l oudly th at spring as ever . By April , M iamians “ had even reconcile d themselves to the fe eling that Thank God , we ’ won t have another summer like the last one . This Is the b eginning of a steady growth th at will see Miami a city of a milli on p ermanent p opulation i n 1 0 years .

only this clay m odel and a weed-screened frame sh ow wh at the University of

Miami might h ave been .

1 52 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s

By Fri day night the hurricane w as over Nassau and rushing t o ward Miami . It move d in on the Florida coast soon after midnight and by 6 o ’ clock Saturd ay morning the wind was shred ding the East C oast of Florida from Stuart to the keys at an estimate d 1 25 miles an hour at Miami Beach and 1 20 miles an ho ur on th e main land at Miami . O ne coul d only estimate it , as all we ather instr u ments except those in protected places were destroye d . Foll owing the lull at 8 o ’ cl ock in the morning when hundre ds came out into the p eaceful summer morning , the wind suddenly picked u p from the south and soon w a s bl owing almost as hard from the opp osite direction , bringing death and inj uries to many who found themselves sud denly cut off from safety a nd menace d by lumb er and strips of tin and refuse hurtling through the air with the sp ee d of b ull ets . We shall not attempt here to describ e the hurricane nor the scenes of chaos and ruin which the storm left In its wake as it move d across Flori da an d up to Pensacola and M ob ile . Better p ens than this have l eft intimate and grip ping p assages to which historians can turn for the gory d etails . All day S aturday the pe op le of th e l ower East C oast fought for their lives against the wind . Peace from the slashing rain , the mountainous waves and the murderous wind came in the late after noon , and the p e ople of Miami and her Sister cities began to grop e tli e ir way through darkness and debris to find out what had taken l p ace . C ommunication with the outer worl d was cut off early Satur 4 - day , as wires went down and e ven the 3 7 foot tower of th e Trop 1 00 ical Radio station in Hial eah , b uilt to withstand wind of miles n an hour , sl owly crump le d and fe ll . It was ot until Sunday m orn r e ing that a makeshift r a d io w as s et up in Hial eah , and a message

- l ayed to the outer worl d through one of th e n ear b y ships . ’ The nation s newsp ap ers Sunday carri ed great black headline s ” w a South Fl orida Wip e d O ut In Storm . That s al l they knew , and the fam e of Miami made all the more p oignant the b e lief that this b eautiful city had be en fl attene d and destroye d . B ut by Sunday night the worl d knew that at least a few remnants of south Fl or ida were left , an d by M onday The Miami Heral d printe d an edi tion in the pl ant of the Palm B each Post whi ch carrie d north the first d etails of the storm .

Relief soon was on the way . The national guard took over the city under marti al l aw for Sunday and M onday . The American

Red Cross swung into imme diate action . Food was fre e to those who had no money , and every hotel and apartment was op ene d to of th e homeless . B athing suits were the uniforms most of the p eo pl e after th e storm , as they picked their way ab out the debris littered streets or through what w a s left of their h omes . of c om James H . Gilman , as the onl y memb er the Miami city mission in Miami at the time of th e storm , was in comp lete charge of of the imme diate emergency measures , and did a heroi c j ob preventing p anic and sup plying the m ost urgent human nee ds . In

1 54 s s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s

addition t o his ow n untiring efforts , he used the p ersonnel of th e

Bank of Bay Biscayne , which he headed , wherever needed . of Mr . Gilman also was director the Red Cross work until E . B .

D ouglas returned from California . Committees hastily organize d by the citizens to clear streets , house the homel ess , provide food , f r or and search debris o the dead inj ured , found in James H . Gil h man a tower of strength in t at emergency . Two hundred and fifty lost chil dren and b abies were restore d ’ t o their parents at a chil dren s b ure au in th e White Templ e . S ome , f o course , had no surviving p arents nor records t o tell anything ab out them . Thre e hundred volunte er pl umb ers covere d the city t o stop water leaks and enabl e the city water system t o b e rest ore d .

A sp ecial train was chartere d by J oseph W . Young of Holly wood in New York , and left at midnight Sunday on a record 3 1 R mf h A hour run , carrying M ayor E . C . o , J ames . Allison , John H .

Levi , Frank B . Shutts , James Fowl er and Mr . and Mrs . Jesse An drews back from summer vacations t o throw what resources they had into the rescue work .

M eeting with Gov . John W . M artin in Miami Tuesday morning , M ayor R omfh organized a general executive committee to take charge of reconstruction and rehabilitation for the left

f . homel ess by th e storm . This committee was composed o Frank B h Shutts as chairman , Mrs . Ruth Bryan O wen , M ayor R o mf , F . M . f Hudson , Senator John W . Watson , E . B . D ouglas , head o the local R r A . e e d e chapter of the American Re d Cross , and Ross , , chairman of the general reli ef committee . The Re d Cross handle d immediat e relief cases . C . H . Ree der w a s in charge of food relief station s which dotte d this area . As the executive committee swung into supreme control of th e

Miami rehabilitation , Miami Beach b egan to dig out from under the deep l ayer of sand overlying streets and even hotel lobbies , with a ” f o f . dictator in charge each o 1 6 districts , and John B Rei d direct ing the program . Nati onal guardsmen remained in the l ower East of Coast under command C ol . Vivian B . C ollins for nearly two weeks , b ut there was no mart ial law after M onday the twentieth .

The wil dest disord er prevail e d al ong the water front , where s of boat every description had b een pi cke d up and hurl e d inland , t o . rest grotesquely on aristocratic Point Vi ew l awns , to fill S B ay v shore dri e in Silver B luff , d ot the ne w B ayfront p ark and nestl e u p against b ayfront hotels . Ninety vessels were sunk or damage d

4 . in the Miami river , and 9 in the b ay were sunk or b attered around

The two dre dges starting work on the ship channel san k . The schooner Rose M ahoney was driven up on the b ayfront and r e f or mained there a l ong time . The B altimore and C arolina Line warehouses were compl etely destroyed , and the others were pretty well ruine d .

In Miami , homes were destroye d and damage d , princip ally from roofs bl owing off and windows b lowing in . Th e haste of b oom construction exacted a frightful toll . Even worse were conditi ons at Fort Lauderd al e wh ere h ouses were bl own

1 55 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

down and d amaged . In H ollywood where the front w a s b l own out of at l east one hotel ; houses were gone , and 2 000 were d amaged . S o it went , in lesser degree , b eyond Stu art , and far down on the keys . The littl e town of M oore Haven on the western shore of Lake w O keechob ee as alm ost dem olish ed , and national guardsmen evacuate d the entire community to Sebring . 1 n e Altogether , 1 3 k ow n d a d were recovered after the storm , while 8 54 were received in h o spitals and countl ess others licke d w their o n wounds . It w as th e greatest catastroph e in the history of the Unite d States since the fire and earthquake in San Francisco .

The entire worl d , from presidents and kings on down . se eme d move d by the story . D onations totaling more than were

- 2 50 given the American Re d Cross f or Fl orida relief , and nearly $ , 000 was sent directly into Miami in resp onse to an ap pe al from the executive committee .

- In a ddition to th e general nation W ide resp onse , William R . ’ Hearst s Chicago H eral d -Examiner sent a sp ecial train to Mi ami

Thursday after th e storm , with 1 00 d octors , nurses and engine ers , and equipm ent which inclu de d four chlorine water treating units .

0 $ Also , He arst gave the first $ 1 0, 00 receive d by the executive committe e . The members of the sp ecial train were scattere d from H omestead to Fort Lau derdale and worked night and day for more than a week . Every avail ab le state agency was pulle d into southeast Fl or ida by Governor M artin to assist th e national guard in aiding th e p eop le . The gunb oat C ub a arrive d from H avana with a detail of

doctors , the gift of Presid ent M achado . Th e wind and water had p ushe d the street car tracks from the center of the county causeway to the outer edge and knocke d

down the p oles , s o it was ne cessary to route al l traffic to Miami

B each over the Venetian causeway . Sheriff H enry R . Chase and the Mi ami B e ach p olice d etail ed armed men to watch besi de a “ censor ” who kept undesirabl e ch aracters from getting to Miami

B each during it s p eriod of recovery .

C oral Gab l es was damage d l east of all the cities . In Hialeah and in the outskirts of Miami where flimsy frame houses an d pil es

of j unk and trash were h urle d ab out by th e terrific wind , the de

stru ction was b eyond al l description . Damage to plate glass win f dows , l eft unprotecte d , resulte d in m ost o th e d owntown b uil dings

- b eing drenche d with water . The M eyer Kiser building was con

d e mne d as unsafe and later was torn d own to its present height . h Within a week , M ayor R omf sent a l ong statement to th e

press of the nation d ecl aring M iami was almost b ack to normal ,

and at the en d of 1 0 d ays the national guard w as demobilized , and th e citizens ’ committee restore d th e full reins of recovery to the

regular city and county governm ent . sh e M ayor R omfh declare d Miami w as almost recovere d . But had not an d the foll owing tourist season w as one of the poorest o in years . All the shod dy work of th e b om stood out for the worl d

1 56

33 M I A M I M I L L I O N S

1 58 M I A M I M I L L I O N S 35

CHAPTER TWENTY - SEVEN

O ’ E D N T want another b oom in Florida .

So often that has b een said in th e l ast few years , but $ wonder if pe ople really mean it The aftermath of the

- i 1 9 2 5 2 6 spe culation was bitter , it s true , b ut like the turmoil of n ot spring pl owing , the b oom create d val ues , and even bank fail ures and hurri canes coul d erase them . e In l ooking back , we s e that this l argest Fl orida b oom had f definite see db eds of promotion . First , o course , was the unde niabl e and unchanging climate . This was made accessib l e first to the wealthy by the coming of Henry M . Fl agl er and the Fl orida

East C oast railroad . The early insistence up on muni cip al advertis of ing by E . G . Sewell and the Miami Chamb er C ommerce spread t o the mi ddle cl ass the ap peal of south Fl orida . The end of the Worl d war saw millions of Americans in a

- of restless , alm ost foot l oose mood . The coming easy transp orta tion through the motor car and good roads answere d the demands s o - of this ye asty social conditi on . The cal led C oolidge prosp erity 1 9 24 which b egan with the stock m arket climb late in , rel ease d great floods of capital which found in Fl ori da even m ore entice ment than in common stocks . The bri ef era of the binder b oys from of s e March , 1 9 2 5 , to Septemb er that year t up a p owerful suction which drew money from al most every b ank in th e world into Flor ida , and particul arly toward Miami .

Sunshine and ocean b athing in winter, and a slightly fictitious belief in the fertility of Fl orid a soil hel p e d to create the deman d f or Fl orida l ots and acre age . The pione ering spirit , fl owering in men and women ab l e to dream and t o command m oney with whi ch a to transl te their dreams into re al ity , trade d u p on the common yearning f or a p lace in th e sun . w This produce d t o results , an inflate d s et of lan d val ues an d r an enormous volume of construction . The first has dwindle d o w disappeared entirely . The second remains , and regardl ess of here the money and the equities involve d have gone , the ste el and woo d and concrete are with us still . The tide of b uil ding which ebb e d s o 1 9 2 swiftly after the hurricane of 6 has set in again , this time with more definite and conservative d emand f or space t o assure the investors of an ade qu ate return .

The spe culative b oom b egan to wither in Se ptemb er , 1 9 2 5 , after the binder b oys and the big- talking promoters had staged a series of mammoth sal es that gorged the b uying p ublic like a 1 0 - l year o d b oy at a family reuni on . Foll owing that brief stuffing

- process , nation wide h ostility toward Fl orida , and the cramping effects of the freight embargoes prompte d the withdrawal of mu ch money in the fal l and winter of 1 9 2 5 . Although most Floridians thought the b oom would pick up again after the Christmas holi days ,

1 59 s s M I A M I M I L L I O N S s s s it was evi dent at l east t o most Mi amians by th e end of M arch that r i their h opes f o l arge scal e rev val were doome d . B ut 1 92 6 w as not such a b a d year as it might ap pear in ret ro sp ect . Let us take the numb er of property deeds an d similar p ap ers p ertaining to real estate as an index . During 1 92 5 , the D ade county cl erk receive d dee d s and allie d pap ers for fil 9 ing . In 1 2 6 , he file d indicating th at the latter year s a w at l east half as much activity in D a de county real estate a s the fir st b oom year . This numb er drop p e d to in the l ow year of 1 93 5 1 9 3 2 , and for had climb e d b ack to or about the 9 am ount of activity recorde d for 1 23 . Another index may b e found in the numb er of sub divisions create d in D ade county . Throughout the life of the present D ad e

e . co unty , sub divisions h ave b een p latt d Of that numb er , 97 1 9 2 1 92 3 9 were cre ate d in 1 5 , whil e in 6 , 5 sub divisions came into existence in this county , again near the h alfway mark of the ban f r s u b d ivisions w a 1 9 2 . o s 3 25 ner year The low mark s also , when were platte d . The fact that more than 3 2 were not cre ate d even in the revival year of 1 9 3 5 indicates that s o much of D ade county already is sub divide d that they may soon h ave to b egin cutting up

- 50 foot lots .

The events that hurt Fl orid a in that other b oom , in general , were le d by th e vanishing of p aper fortunes and th e ke en d isa p p ointment of those who s aw what they th ought were 1 8 karat profits turn to cigar store coupons b efore their very eyes ; next came th e 1 9 2 6 and 1 92 8 h urricanes which ruine d many firms wh o already were tr emb ling on the edge of insolvency ; final ly there came the national d epress ion and the Fl ori da bank fail ures of 1 929 and

1 93 0, when every b ank in D ade county except the First National an d its affiliates , and the B ank of Hialeah cl ose d their d oors for “ ” u $ ever . When men pray $ D eliver s from another b oom they mean from the effects thereof .

We cannot say th at Florida will not h ave other b ooms , b ut it is evid ent that this state never again wil l see the same kind of

- a b oom , nor exp erience in this generation , at l east , th e same dam age t o pri de and p ocketb ook that foll owe d 1 9 25 and 1 9 2 6 .

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