#1660-c Map of Miami Beach 1936-1937This booklet is presented to the
visitors of Miami Beach with the
compliments of the undersigned
and in the realization that only
work through a long period of
time gives EXPERIENCE.
EXPERIENCE, plus careful and
accurate analysis, results in
KNOWLEDGE.
KNOWLEDGE is earning power
for our clients.
The undersigned has been in
business in Miami and Miami
Beach since 1913, was connected
with the Carl G. Fisher Com-
panies for over ten years.
The experience and knowledge so
gained well qualifies his organi-
zation to intelligently advise
prospective investors.
C. H. W. READ
REALTOR
•
THE OFFICE OF
C. H. W. READ
is well equipped to serve you in
real estate in all its branches.
RESIDENCES
For Lease or Sale
BUILDING SITES
STORES
Commercial and Investment
Properties
HOTELS
APARTMENTS
PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
MAP of
MIAMI BEACH
and
Fascinating Storg
of its growth from
Mangrove Swamp
to the
Thriving Citij
OF TODAY
Presented by
Cll. W. READ
REALTOR
TELEPHONES 5 -4660 AND 5 - 4669
LINCOLN ROAD AT
WASHINGTON AVENUE
MIAMI BEACH
AMAZING STORY OF
MIAMI BEACH AND
ITS RAPID GROWTH
Reprinted from Miami Daily News
By PETE CROSSLAND
(Director Miami Beach News Service)
The history of Miami Beach has been told
many times, but the "discovery" of Miami
Beach and its early development is known
to a comparative few.
This marvelous city, a former mangrove
swamp, probably would have remained a
mangrove swamp had it not been for a low,
covered railroad bridge "somewhere between
Mobile, Ala. and Jacksonville, Fla."
Miami Beach was unnamed and unheard
of 25 years ago. It was owned almost en-
tirely by a man named John S. Collins who
had migrated from New Jersey to raise
coconuts, tropical fruits and vegetables.
There wasn't much here at the time.
Most of the peninsula was swampy, ridden
with rabbits which ate the coconut tree
roots, reptiles which hindered progress and
mosquitoes which added to the many other
handicaps faced by this early settler.
Collins failed to accomplish much with his
farming, but unfailing courage finally led
to the development of one of the most spec-
tacular communities in America, a monu-
ment to his vision and energy.
Although the name of John S. Collins
will remain always in the archives of the
city, this story of the "discovery of Miami
Beach" concerns an entirely different per-
son.
It was just 25 years ago this spring that
Carl G. Fisher, a 40- year -old retired Indian-
apolis business man with a $15,000,000 bank
roll, decided to buy a boat —and at this point
enters the real "discoverer" of Miami
Beach.
The names of Collins and Fisher can not
be discounted in the development of Miami
Beach, but had it not been for still another
person, Fisher never would have come to
Miami Beach and Collins never would have
met Fisher, therefore there would have been
no development. At least not in the man-
ner it was to be accomplished.
John H. Levi, president of the present
Miami Beach city council and one of the
city's most beloved citizens, is the real "dis-
coverer" of Miami Beach, and here is how
it happened.
Twenty -five years ago Levi was superin-
tendent of a boat building company in New
York. This particular company happened
to be the one chosen by Fisher from which
to purchase his new craft.
When the boat was completed Fisher
wanted to accept delivery at Cairo, Ill. Levi
decided to deliver the boat personally and
when these two men met a friendship was
cemented which was to carry them together
1 through a lifelong experience that neither
had dreamed.
At Cairo, Fisher induced Levi to accom-
pany him and his party down the Missis-
sippi river to Mobile, thence to Jacksonville
and points north.
Steaming down the Mississippi river in
those days was considerably more hazard-
ous than can be imagined at this writing,
and contrary to laws of navigation the boat
occupants actually got lost during the voy-
age. Finally arriving at Mobile arrange-
ments were made to ship the boat from
Mobile to Jacksonville by train.
After the boat had been loaded on a flat
car a keen -eyed clerk advised superiors that
a low bridge at a distant point would pre-
vent its passage.
Disgusted, Fisher entrained for his In-
dianapolis home and instructed that the
boat be propelled through the Gulf of Mex-
ico, around the Florida horn and up the At-
lantic to Jacksonville. Levi remained with
the boat and acted as captain.
Many hazards were encountered by the
inexperienced seamen in these strange
waters and once again they became lost.
Drifting for several days (without a com-
pass) they decided to head east with the
morning's sun. Late that afternoon they
sighted Cape Sable, Florida.
After a slight rest at this fishing camp
they bartered with a fisherman who agreed
to guide them to Jacksonville provided they
would tow his small boat.
Still another hazardous trip through the
Florida straits! By this time sea travel
had wearied Levi and when Miami was
reached he wired Fisher in Indianapolis,
"meet me in Miami instead of Jacksonville,
this is a nice little town."
The retired Hoosier capitalist joined Levi
within a few days, but before. starting to-
wards Jacksonville they got sand in their
shoes and prolonged the start of the voyage.
Fisher became so enrapped with the beau-
ties of the area that he purchased a resi-
dence on Brickell avenue in Miami. He also
bought a small boat and was a daily voy-
ager through Biscayne bay, the many inland
waterways around the keys and in Miami
Beach.
On one of these trips to Miami Beach,
Fisher and Levi met Mr. Collins, who with
his son -in -law, Thomas J. Pancoast, were
surveying their properties at a point where
the Roney Plaza hotel now stands. Fisher
was greatly interested in the undertakings
of the aged Collins (Collins was 70 at this
time) and after several discussions ad-
vanced him $50,000 with which to complete
a narrow wooden bridge he had started be-
tween Miami and Miami Beach.
As a bonus for the loan Collins gave Mr.
Fisher a tract of several hundred acres
through the center of Miami Beach, im-
proved value of which today reaches into
staggering millions. Fisher then took off
his coat and went to work. He pumped bay
bottom land into the swamps so fast that
he'd dug a yacht harbor before he knew it.
That gave him further ideas, and the $50,-
000,000 worth of palatial yachts which anch-
or in the bay in front of the Fisher hotels
today are the result of those early experi-
ences.
Fisher's fast development of Miami Beach
attracted national attention, especially at In-
dianapolis where his bankers blinked at the
huge withdrawals being made by the "re-
tired" Fisher, and at this point they sent
one of their vice presidents down to investi-
gate the wild spendings of "a crazy man."
That vice president, the late James A. Al-
lison, hardly put his foot on Miami Beach
soil until he too, felt the lure of the tropics
and he too, had invested $500,000 with the
"crazyy man," The Indianapolis banket•s
stopped worrying after that, and today
there tirobablp are as many Indiana people
down here as from any other state. Allison
later built a public aquarium, and it was he
who built what now is known as St. Francis
hospital.
All of the foregoing occurred in the
spring of 1912. Fisher spent money at the
rate of $1,000 a day while getting his de-
velopment in shape for homesites, hotels,
go]f courses, polo fields, parks, and various
other things. His "Alton Beach railroad,"
a narrow gauge line and one of the smallest
in the world, hauled dirt, tools, supplies and
laborers from one end of the development
to the other, back and forth from ocean to
bay, about a mile and a half.
Fisher, by the way, was president of this
railroad company and in a humorous mood
Those who were in this area in 1915 will readily recognize Miami Beach in the above picture as it
looked at that time. The photograph includes the central part of Miami Beach at about the time
Carl G. Fisher had completed filling in the swamps, preparing for the projects which were to fol-
low. Dade boulevard runs diagonal through the upper left; Lincoln road is the first white-look-
ing street south of Dade boulevard, running from the bay to the ocean. The white building in
the upper center is Fisher's first building, the Lincoln hotel on Lincoln road. On through Lincoln
road to the ocean is Fisher's residence; the old windmill may be seen with keen eyes.
The tip in extreme northwest corner is the site of the Flamingo hotel, and in the southwest corner
is the old Fisher boat house.
The lower picture gives some conception of the Miami Beach of today, although the view is
far too limited to indicate the beauty and magnitude of this community of bewilderingly beauti-
ful homes, luxurious hotels, apartments, modern business buildings, public parks, vivid landscap-
ing and ornamental public buildings. Then, too, since the above photograph was taken, new
buildings and improvements have been made. In other words, a photograph made this month
is out of date next month.
he had printed 50 annual passes and mailed
them to presidents of all the big railroads
in the United States. Strange as it may
seem he received bhree such passes in return
for his courtesy, but he never attempted to
use them.
From 1912 to 1915 things happened so
fast in Miami Beach that many of the inci-
dents were never recorded. However, there
were enough people here by then to charter
and incorporate a city, and it was on March
26, 1915 that the city of Miami Beach came
into existence.
John Levi, who shad remained as chief en-
gineer and general superintendent for Fish-
er, was also busy about this time building
the Firestone estate at 44th street and the
ocean. It was erected for the late James A.
Snowden who sold it to its present ownex•s.
Between 1915 and 1917 Mr. Fisher built
the Lincoln hotel and in 1917 was starting
work on the Flamingo. In the meantime
he was dreaming of the Nautilus, King Cole,
the polo fields, golf courses and other pro-
jects which followed in the next few years.
It was not until about 1920 that the land
in any quantities was being sold in Miami
Beach. Collins and Pancoast had followed
Fisher's idea and were developing their
acres into saleable property and had aban-
doned the farming industry.
Levi, besides his connection with Fisher,
organized the Miami Ocean View company
and was building Stax• island as well as de-
veloping property in the vicinity of Alton
road between Fifth and 15th street.
It was in 1918 that Levi entered Miami
Beach politics. He was elected that ,year as
a city councilman, receiving all of the city's
33 votes. Since then he has served contin-
ually on the council, and has held the post as
president for 14 of the 19 years.
Fisher built his polo fields in 1919, com-
pleted the Nautilus about that time and then
added the King Cole to his string of hotels.
From that time on he undertook and finished
many projects in Miami Beach and during
the memorable real estate boom of 1924
and 1925 he was reputed to be one of the
wealthiest men in the South.
Collins has passed on. Fisher, Levi and
Pancoast are substantial, loveable and re-
spected citizens of the most marvelous and
progressive city in the country--but if it
had not been for a low bridge "somewhere
between Mobile and Jacksonville" John Levi
might still be building boats in New York;
Fisher might still be "retired;" Pancoast
may have given up the Miami Beach farm-
ing business long ago ...and Miami Beach
might still be a swamp.
Anyway, that's the true story of the "dis-
covery of Miami Beach."
MIAMI BEACH TODAY
One hundred million dollars worth
of building.
Twenty-eight million dollars spent
for public and private improvements.
Ten million dollars spent for beau-
tification.
Five hundred and sixty-six apart-
ment buildings with 7,410 units.
One hundred and eighty hotels with
12,720 rooms.
Two thousand,, eight hundred and
fifty-eight residences.
BUILDING I~EPOI~'I' - - - C;I7,Y OF 1VIIAMI BE ~ CH, FLA.
JANUARY 1st to JUNE 30th
Kesidences __________
Hotels - ------ ------ --------
--------------
Apartments _ _------ ---------------------------------
Bungalow Courts ___
Duplex Residences
Stores _
Filling Stations
Convent - - ---------- ------- - ---- --------------
Telephone Exchange Building _______________
Club Room and Cafeteria_________________________
Auditorium __
Bridge
Miscellaneous Buildings __________________________
Additions and Remadelings _______
Repairs --------------------------~ -------- ----------------
1936
162 X2,243,110.00
21 1,456,500.00
35 803,800.00
2 27,500.00
4 21,300.00
15 192,100.00
4 46,900.00
1 60,000.00
1937
147 X2,569,375.00
10 839,300.00
37 903,500.00
1. 25,000.00
4 28,500.00
19 374,730.00
1 8,000.00
25,000.00
46,000.00
1 25,000.00
1
2 22,000.00 2
2,35 373,185.00 280
92 54,486.00 111
35,000.00
25,000.00
574,557.00
47,194.00
Totals 574 $5,335,881.00 597 $5,501,156.00
AVERAGE COST PER RESIDENCE $13,846.00 $17,478.00
Total for 1937 shows an inerf;ase of $165,275.00 over last year
0
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CITY HALL
11th St. and Washington
Phone 5-3451.
FIRE STATIONS
12th St. and Washington
Phone 5-3321.
24th St. and Liberty Ave.
Phone 5-3321.
POLICE STATION
1st St. and Meridian Ave.
Phone 5-1161.
St. and Ocean; Flamingo, 11th St. and
ae.; Lummus, 6th to 15th Sts. and Ocean;
st St. and Ocean; Washington, 2nd St.
~gton Ave.; 3rd St. and Ocean. Tennis
'lamingo and Washington. Recreational
Flamingo also offer diamondball, baseball
shuffleboard, paddle tennis, basketball,
ers, horseshoes, croquet, and obher games
and children, as well as park entertain-
~fside is particularly equipped for all-day
+s, having outdoor stoves for free use.
LION
cars and jitney buses covering Miami
,o Miami.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
5th St. and Alton Rd.
Phone 5-2615.
Open week days 8:45 A. M, to 5:00
P. M. Complete free information
about apartments, hotels, sightsee-
ing, etc. Write, call or wire.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
Collins Park, 21st and 22nd Sts. and
Park Ave. Hours: 10 A. M. to 9 P.
M., except Sundays.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Elementaries, 14th St. and Washington Ave., 4th St.
and Lenox Ave., and 41st St. and Prairie Ave. Junior
and Senior High, 14th and Drexel Ave.
Kindergarten and private schools available.
The Miami Beach public schools are fully accredited
and teachers hold Bachelor Degrees from accredited
colleges.
CHURCHES
Baptist, 2816 Sheridan Ave.; Catholic, St. Patrick's,
37th St. and Garden Ave.; Christian Science, Lincoln
Rd. aid Michigan Ave.; Community, 524 Lincoln
Rd.; Jewish, Beth Jacob Congregation, 311 Washing-
ton Ave.; Methodist, 916 6th St.; Presbyterian, 2401
Pine Tcee Drive.