Miami Millions the Dance of the Dollars
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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 .