#412 a The Early History of Miami Beach by J. N. Lummus 1949
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The J~arly lIi.tory of .,..lam! Reach
'rhe three companie. to .tart the development ot Miami B.ach
werefH:E OCEAN BEACH li.:E.u.IT C011PAl.'Y, other-de. known ae the
LU.uil:.iiUS DLVELOPfulT:NT, the .h!IA.:.tI BEACH liiLT'HOVT,J..IENT CO....,TJ.A,h"Y, other-
wi.. known Eut the COLLINS DEVELOP11LliT, and the JU,.'l'Oll BEACH REALTY
CO."..I"i.bY, whioh Wall known ~ the ldSH:EJ:l. j)}VF.J...OPllliUrr.
T he Ooe~ 13.8.Oh .ti.eal 1;y COJl4P-au.y, .2A: LWlllu~, Devel(1)lfl,ent, .!:!!
tl1e I1ret !9. start devdo'Oing .! ~ubcU"lIion and HUns !l!. R!!S
~ ~ COW1ty. Collin. wa. aecond, and :F'iaher. third. lione
01 this territory Wa.8 inoorporated as a town or city at that time.
The Lwwnue orowd filed their plat in Book No. 2 of Plata,
P~e 36. Hecordo of Dade County, Florida, July ~, 1912. Collin.
:t'iled hie 11rst plat on Deoember 11, 1912. in Book No.2 of Plate,
Page 47. lililher' a firet plat WHe filed on January 15,1"'14, Book
lio. 2, Page 77.
In 1913. Crate Bowen,Attorney representing Fi.her, and I,
representing the LWIllIlU8 Compan,y, made a trip to 'iJaahington to
aeCure a ~o.,.rnm.nt per~it for the dredge work. Our .l~ineera
had prepared tlle plane and all neoe.I3H1"Y data, and the original
Clark Construotion Company ot Ba.1tiIllOre. Maryland. was the b..t
billder.
Acuordi1lG to the plan., we had to move six million eulic
yards of t~ bottom onto the land. ~~en I .peE~ of "we" I lIlean
Carl 11811er and tlle LUDlIIlU8 Company let the contract together and
the work was done at a. cost of ten cents per cubic yard, or in
other words, lix Hundred Thousand Dollar.{~;600,OOO.OO) tor the
d.re~in&.
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# 2 Early History of Miami Beach
Our (the Lummus Company' 8) part was Three Hundred and
Fifteen Thousand Dollars(~3l5,OOO.OO), and Fisher's was Two
Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand Dollars(:i;;2S5,OOO.OO). ONE
OJ!' THE J.iil.OST Hl'TEREST BiG FEATURES 0]' THE GOVF.JUUffim PERMIT
VJASTHAT IT WAS Ji'EDERAL P:ER.w.I'l' 1,0. 1, 1'OR ViOHK OJi' THIS KIlill
HI THE STATE 0:&' :b1.0RIDA.
The Contract was let on July 1st, 1913 and completed on
July lat, 1914. 'rhe cost of timber dhposal and bulk heading
of the Lummus Compan.}'" wa.a over $150,000.00. I don't know
wilat }I'isher'. was, but it must have. been approxima.tely the same.
Carl Fisher wsa one of the best sports I ever knew He had
money and tl~ nerve to jump into the swamp in 1~13. The Lummus
Company had the nerve but not much money. So we borrowed
$150,000.00 from ]'181181' in 1913, paid him 8% interest for it
and gave him 105 aores of land, Ocean to Bay on the South side
of Lincoln Road as a Bonus. ~e were sponding money .0 fast in
1914 we borrowed ~150,OOO.OO from E. B. Lent of Peekski11, New
York, ~120,OOO.OO from ji'rank A. Furst of Baltimore, lIaryland,
$120,000.00 from R. P. Clark of Galveston, Texas, and $50,000.00
from B. F. Potter of Miami. We paid them all every dollar, and
never had a law suit.
The Lummus Oompany gave awa.;y 33 lota on Collina Avenue for
houses to be built in 1914. Th..e houses were all completed and
occupied the latter part of 1914. M,y' home on the northwest
corner of 12tl1 street and Ocean Drive, next to the Tides Hotel,
al.80 'r. ;;r. Pancoast'. home on Collins Avenue a.nd Pa.ncoast Lake
were com.pleted the aame year.
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if 3 Early Hietory of Miami .Beach
On Maroh 261;h,1915, we a&d 33 qualified. vot~r.,-women did
not vote at that time,--80 we inoorporated. the Town of Uiam1 Be8Oh,
whiell toook in all of tlle LWilDlua aud nauer uoldin"., and moat of
t.ie Collin8 and Pancoaat hulding., in o1;l1er words, all of the
Territory, Ooean to :B~, trom the Government Ship Channel to what
is 110W known 8.IJ the :f'irestone pl8Oe. All of tlle voter. when
Y1awi Beach wau iuoorporated lived on the Lummu. development with
the exoeption of three, t11e88t11r" lived on the C011iws and
P8l1ccaat end; there were 110ue on :I?i.118r'. development. lie we~'.
goin~ 80 .tro~ and doing so well that we bot a Legislative
Charter which 1s publhhed in full in :::ipec1al Acta 01' the .Uorida
Legisla.ture in l~17 on Page 606, Chapter 7672. I,J.H.,and
J .E. Lw:amua owned tbe Lu.aaUB Company and paid all the coat ot in-
corporatiug the To~, and making it a City. I aI pioneer developer
and tihe 11r8t Mayor .fr the Town and Clt.1" wrote !Wl .w.r8O~t .!l
iUam..:1 Beac>>. All Cop.:1e8 are 801d. Tile photograph. in that bOOk,
taken while the work waa going ou, are very interestine 1'rom IIlJ'"
point of vIew. I aold the City of Miami Deaoh 1200 of the.e books.
In 1916 we orga.nized the Miami Ooean View COIIpan,;y, with
Carl :ii'ishex', Arthur C. Newby, Jame. ..U11aon, Jame. II. SnOWden,
B.enry 1ioSweeney, and George Snowden, all mi1U.ona1rea. John LeT,y,
my brother, J.E., and I took some Stook in tbe ne. Coapany, and
I remained wi th the .Miami Ooean Vie. Comp81l,f one year all Vice
Preo1d.ent, and we built Star bland. John Levy rema1ned. .ith the
COlllpau.J as Secret8.l7-Treul.lrer.
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f. Early History of _lam1 Beach
Tile late 101m S. Collin8 was a iood Sport I he waa in hi.
sevenUes wuen hit cOlllIlenced the wooden bridge. It wae begun
in 1\#12 aua completed ill the early p..rt of 1\1114. He had lote
o! land north of 23rd Street but Uke the LWllmus Company he had
to operate on borrowed capital. So Carl Fieher loaned the
Collina COJl:lp~ the money in 1913 to oomplete the Bridge, which
WaIJ located where the Venetian Causowa.:i now is. Collins' Compal~
cua.r~.d one dollar tor care and 26 cents tor each paBa.user when
the Bridge wu tint opened, but li'isher and the Lummus Company
each paid the Collins Compw~ ~2500.00 per year for 1914, 1916.
and 1916 and ~ot his Company to reduce the charse to 26 oente 101'
cars regardless of t11e number of passengers in the oar.
In 1~n2 the late Avery C. SmUh owned a I3athlJ1& 0o.81no on
B18oa;yne Street. In 1~l3 Dan Hardie owned a :8atI11113 Casino on
Ocean Drive. They botb owned their own boats. and oarded
pusenger. trom 12th street, w'ami, now Flagler stroet, to
B18ca,yne Street, ..aami Bee.ob. The Lummu. Company nnally pur-
cl1aeed all the 'boat. and oarried paeeengera between 1iiami Beaoh
and aiami 101' 0 oenta. Wl~n w. were running Auction eales we
carried pmJ8.n~ers free, nnd gave a.w~ china by the cnr loads.
'2h8r8 are llumeroua peo,pl. in Dade County today who still ha.ve
and treasure this ohina.
The wonderful finanoial condition of the City i. due to
it. good management.
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f I> lo;arly Hiator'y of .i41a.illl Beacu
Cla.ude A. Henshaw becallle City Manager on or Hbout September 1st,
1920, aud C. W. Tomlinson hns been City Clerk aud 'i'ax Colleotor
sinoe August 3rd, 19~O. If.;f old Seoretary, 1. Ji'. Canova, was
City Clark a.nd Tax Colleotor from IlH5 to hill denth in 1~20.
The above wae tlle .tart of Miami Beaoh that 1 ..,1810n84
in 1~12. About 1~19 Carl ~i.her and .wsooiates took Oollin8
and r'aucoaet 11old1ng. wi tll tllem and oompleted tlu, devo1opa1ent
work nor..b ot 23rd street. Thou8a.nda of l"leople now l1vin~ on
maul1 Beach have htllped build the C1tJ", witll wnioh noth1ng
ill the world t.od~ can compare.
'r h15 writ ten by me, November 21et, 1949.