1655-14 African American/Blacks ////// :I. THOS. J. PANCOAST, SSC'Y-TREA6.
JOH�J S 'OLLIN , PR CEMENT
/ / 'THE MIAMI BEACH IMPROVEMENT CO.
OCEAN FRONT PROPERTY
OFFICE TWENTY-THIRD AND COLLINS AVE. r, FO
MIAMI BEACH, MIAMI, FLORIDA 1
Sept. 23, 1920
ma=r. Carl G. Fisher,
434 N. Capital Ave.,
Indianapolis, Ind.
Dear Lir. Fisher:
jYe have a problem on our hands that is going to be a little difficult, I am afraid,
to handle, and the longer it goes the more difficult it is going to be. About two
years ago the negro in L:iami had very few liberties, and as yuu know, they were not
allowed to drive an automobile. The tourists who ca e to miami with their negro _
drivers resented this very much, and as we didn' t want to keep the tourists away
we finally opened the door to the negro driver. Then the negroes of the town comm-
enced to buy cars and now on Thursdays and Sundays especially, the negroes come
over to the Beach car load after car load. Just this afternoon inside of an hour
there have perhaps been twenty-five cars go by -our office, everyone loaded to full
capacity with negroes.
They go up the Beach between Snowden's property and the House of Refuge and park the ,
cars along the Ocean Drive and go in to bathe. They use the cars as dressing rooms
and bath houses. Some of thew come all the way from home in bathing suits.
At a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce sometime ago, 1 brought this question up and
some people favored putting a stop to it absolutely, while otherp stated that the
negroes are our servants and we could not well get along with]a
and we must to
some extent take care of there, and there was no one needed
doan Ocean n bahwtorse
than
the negro, therefore to cut them off without giving, place
be wrong.
This side of Jacksonville at Pablo Beach, they selected a place south of the regular
bathing ground for the white people and designated it as a place where the negro could
bathe, and it seems to have worked out very well.
Of course one time it was understood that the negroes were to use the island south of
the government cut for bathing purposes, and a colored man by the name of Dorsey tried
to buy it and rentit out for bathing to the negroes, but the trouble was to get a boat
that would take thew over and it never amounted to anything. No place will amount to
anything for them unless it is where they can drive to it with a car. Now it might
be that we could get a piece of land above the road that goes Ever froii& Fulford, and
lease it to someone who would rent bathing privileges to negroes up there, but I do
not know whether you could get anyone to sell a piece of land without negro rostric- ,
tions in it or not. But it seems to me any place between the Fulford road and the
Causeway would be a great mistake as this is quite a popular drive for the tourists
and others as well.
I was talking to a man by the name of Johnson, who stated that he had lived in the
South a number of years and thot that he knew pretty well about how to handle the
negroes and he stated he could get an appointment as Deputy Sheriff from Loran,
and
his
he thot he could handle the situation. Of course we would have to payy
as it is above the city limits. ,,fit astated before this would just merely be to
run them off from our property and not provide any place for them to go. If you
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I had hr. Henning see Tub Palmer and go over the BBay Shore" proposition. This he
did on Saturday and here is his report. About 1916 Claude E. Sawyer sold the prop-
erty as the "Claude E. Sawyer Biscayne Bay Company?; About 1917 the same property
was sold to a company called the "North Bay Shore Land Company, Inc"; About 1918
the same land was sold to the "Bay Shore Investarent Company", a corporation of Delp-
ware. All the stockholders in this company are northern residents with the excep-
ij ' tion of iVb Palmer. The whole tract, as 1 understand it, has three hundred fifty
building lots of about nine thousand square feet each. A large part of this land
had to be built by suction dredge, which work is just about.completed, and they are
selling the land as. the "Bay Shore Addition to Miami". The lots are being sold at
a dollar a square foot or nine thousand dollars each, with the exception of the
Bay front lots, of which there are about twenty-five, and these are thirty thousand
dollars each, as they have about thirty thousand square feet in them. They are now
forming a "Bay Shore Construction Company" to build houses. So practically they
were on the ground first with their none and I don't believe we can do anything to
get it changed. The only thing that we must be careful about is to always mention
Miami Beach Bgy Shore Company. There can then not be any confusion. However, if
you want me to do anything further in regard to this, let me know, but personally,I don't believe it will make a great deal of difference to us.
This morning I am in receipt of a letter from Huston Wyeth as follows:
"I would like to know in what position you will be this comiag winter to keep
some horses at the Beach. I have been thinking something of shipping down
a couple of saddle horses, but do not know how much room they have at the
stables where the polo ponies are kept, or whether there will be any room
available this winter.
9i
"I will appreciate it very much if you will let me know if there are any good •
stalls available, and that charges are made for horses, per month."
I have written him stating that we were very glad indeed .to know that he was going
to consider having saddle horses hereat the Beach this winter, and that I was
writing to you to see what arrangements could be made, and would notify him of
1i your reply. He is a good sport and I think would be a good man. to have interested
at the Beach.
Very truly yours,
90i-"'"---e-11-1:1-4
Secy-Treas.
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September 28th, 1920.
fir. Thomas J. Pancoast,
Miami Beach Improvement Company,
Miami Beach, Florida.
Dear Mr, Pancoast s
I have yours of the 23rd : The negro situation is undoubtedly
serious and going to get worse. The negroes should have a place of their
own to bathe, where they can get suits and bathe in the Oeean the same as
white people, and if I knew where we could build such a plaoe for them at
not too prohibitive a cost, it would be to our advantage to build it. We
eerteinly should not allow people to come over from the city without being
properly clothed - nor should we allow them to dress or undress in their
errs along the Beaoh. This business is going to be a great deal of trouble
and cause us a lot of damage. If we had a bridge to the property south of
the Cut, I would fix up a place for them there. In fact, I have in mind
that wu will some time fix up that place for the negroes to bathe. The
best way to ? eee them off our Beach is to get rid of the road up the Beach
and then Five them a place of their own. I will be very glad to go into
this ratter with you further as soon as possible. It is really a ratter
that should be handled by the City of riami and the City of i.iami Beash.
Thanks for the Avacados s they have come in and are splendid.
I would like to know what your concrete block houses cost and
whether they have fire-places and shower baths, and how they are made.
What do they cost ?
We can let a contract to somebody besides Orr for the lamp posts
but possibly for this small job it would be alright to handle it thru Orr
and he right be able to make a better job of it.
We hay have a very bad mosquito year next year all over southern
Florida and for this reason we want to make every arrangement in advance
that we possibly can to help clean them out - and I know that long weeds
and heavy grasses hold r_!osquitos, and foliage and underbrush. We want to
let the air go thru.
Regarding the Island in the Lake : I think it would be quite a
mistake to consider pumping the material across on our property unless the
• job could be done very quickly. Ye will have a terrible looking place if
you try to pump it across the Golf Course. I believe th.:.t all the material
in this little Lake can be dipped up and graded off on the western bank of
the Lake. You only need five - even four - feet of water. It would be
much cheaper to handle the dirt two or three tines then to pump it across
the Golf Course - it would be very unsightly mud probably the work would
be going on right in December. I believe it would be best to make an