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1674-1 Jane FishercV -4 0-1-e TLrAxf COPY OF " I REMEMBER WHEN" BROADCAST - WQAM - March 4, 1951 - Jane Fisher I remember when Lincoln Road was hacked and cut through the tough roots of tangled mangrove trees. It was in 1913. Sweating negroes smacked and hit at mosquitos as they swung their axes to a chanted rythm. I remember when Lincoln Road was paved and I remember the discussions Carl Fisher had with his engineer John Levi, who afterwards became oft -time Mayor of Miami Beach. John contended there was no use to spend the extra money to make Lincoln Road 100 feet wide. Carl argued, "John we've got to cut her wide ---some day Lincoln Road will be the finest and most beautiful street in the world." I remember Carl saying, "Why John, Lincoln Road will be the Rue de La Paix of America. You'll see shops from Paris, London and New York blazing with lights in their windows to display the cream of the world's merchandisel" He paused a moment, then said, "We'll need a wide street to accommodate the crowd of people who will come to Lincoln Road." I must confess, as I stood there watching the darkies swinging their axes on trees that forty years before natives were stripping of bark for the tannic acid the mangrove trees contained, I too felt Carl Fisher was having impossible dreams. I remember when the sidewalks were laid and when the ground was broken for Carl's office at Washington, where my new sponsor Henry Cobbs will soon build a fine new structure. It will hurt to see the old landmark demolished -- there are so few left. I remember when we moved into our new home, "The Shadows", which still stands at the head of Lincoln Road imposingly facing the ocean. I remember the Lincoln Hotel, the first on the Beach, and when it was torn down to make way for the Beach Theatre block. I remember when great clumps of oleanders lined the Road and when they bloomed the perfume from their rose -like blossoms spread over the tropical moonlight air of an empty street ---our street ---our Lincoln Road, where grass grew down its middle for so long. I remember when the first Lincoln Road lot was sold and how each time a new building went up, we all talked and Carl carried that, "I told you so", look with a sly twinkle in his eye even though he said little. I remember when the first golf course was built. It stretched along the North side of Lincoln Road, then to Collins Canal and from Washington to Meridian. A thirty foot bridle path ran along Meridian beginning right where Saks Fifth Avenue smart shop is now. I remember when President Harding golfed crowds discreetly followed while "Rosie" my elephant lumbered along carrying his clubs. A strange caddy -- "Rosie" would curl her trunk around the President's golf bag as though she knew just what she was doing and felt the proud responsibility of his pleasure and entertainment. 1. \JJ •J I remember when James Whitcomb Riley beloved Hoosier poet planted a big ficus tree in the center of Lincoln Road and Collins Avenue in April, 1915. Later the little fenced in island with its rustic seat for a weary shopper became a traffic menace and was removed at the request of the property owners. I remember Riley reciting these few lines which he had written for the occasion and which hung on a plaque attached to the bench: I plant this tree Beside the sea In trust that in the years to be It yet may wave Thru shine and showers For other eyes as glad as ours. It seems incredible that even in 1917 Lincoln Road could only boast of one office building, a small hotel, a very small school, the Community Church and a grocery store. Then in 1921 the Miami Beach bank was built at the corner of Alton Road and F. Lowry Wall became its first president. --the bank has never had another. Then came the grocery store next to the bank. Today I have a guest who like me saw Lincoln Road cut thru the tangled mangroves and who became one of the most important parts of the actual building of Miami Beach, for it was he, August Geiger, who was Carl Fisher's architect. Hello Gus Geiger, my friend during many years. Geiger: Yes Jane, lots of sand has been pumped over the seawall since then. Fisher: Gus, tell us what Miami Beach was like when you first saw it. Geiger: Early in 1906 I took the ferry from the Old Fair Bldg. located at the foot of Flagler Street and landed near where the Dog Track now stands. The Beach was a very narrow strip of sand at that point. There was a small bath house, with a dance floor on the second floor. This was built of palmetto logs. We walked up the Beach to what is now Lincoln Road, which was the widest part of the natural soil, the Bay and mangrove trees came about to Meridian Avenue. This land was covered with palmettos. The Collins farm was in the ).1st Street area - the pine trees on Pinetree Drive werved as a wind break. The U. S. Life Guard Station was at Bakers Haulover. Fisher: I believe you came to this area in 1905. How did yoll happen to come here? Geiger: My father, who had spent several winters here, retired in 1905 and built a home and planted a grove at the corner of Flagler and LeJeune Road. This is now part of the Cardiac Hospital. Miami had about 2500 people at that time. It was 52 miles from town ----I remember because I rode a bicycle back and forth daily. 2. Fisher: Gus, do you remember when Carl Fisher wanted you to build a garage on Lincoln Road where the new Chase Federal Bank is now? The fill, I remember was new --tell us about it? Geiger: C. G. - that's Mr. Fisher - called me and explained he had ordered tractors and special equipment for cutting dawn palmettos, grading and building roads, to be delivered in 60 days - also 12 operators - and wanted a building ready for them when they arrived. The fill had just been completed a short time and there was still water on it in spots. I hesitated and said the land was too soft to get the pile driven on the site. He snapped back, "So you aren't good enough to do it?" I replied it would be ready on time. The building was erected on a reinforced concrete slab foundation. When it was demolished last year to build the New Chase Federal Bank, I wished I had put in less steel - it was a tough job. Fisher: Won't you tell us about the first theatre on Lincoln Road? Geiger: The Community Theatre was built on Lincoln Road by property owners who wanted amusement at night. You, Jane, donated the Pipe Organ. The Polo Field was directly across the Street. The matinee started at 2 P.M. and so did the Polo games, so, of course, no one went to the show. They started the reel on time, but to save money, didn't turn on the lights back of the film. The ticket seller and doorman sat on the curb, and the operator, who was also the manager and janitor, watched the game from the flat roof -- when and if a customer arrived, they turned on the lights and all was on schedule. Fisher: Thank you so much Gus Geiger --- goodbye. Geiger: Goodbye Jane, it was nice talking about old times. Fisher: On the three of the four corners of the head of Lincoln Road stood the finest residences built in that time. The Shadows, our home, the first. Show tycoon John Haanan opposite on the ocean and Fred Ossius' home on the Collins corner. Opposite his place the corner zoned for only a residence stood vacant for years ----until about 15 years ago the zoning was changed to permit business to build. Lincoln Road can boast of having had tennis courts, polo fields, a golf course and, yes, even a swimming pool. Lincoln Road has run the gamut of sports as well as business of all kinds, from hotels to banks, from grocery and drug stores to fine florists, from fine linens to milady's hats and dresses, from men's wearing apparel to fruit stores, from barber shops to beauty parlors ----everything in fact --- everything for sale has at one time been represented on Lincoln Road --yes, even a church stands benignly protecting our Lincoln Road ---our fabulous street ---the only street in the world which begins in an ocean and ends in a Bay I " At•the end of our street is sunrise At the end of our street are spars At the end of our street is sunset At the end of our street are stars" I do hope you will be listening next Sunday when I will tell you about the first telescope and Gar Wood, the man who built his house around it, and the beginning of interest in the study of stars in this area. Goodbye 3.