1674-2 John Collinsr
T
America,
islands.
Miami Beach was originally called Ocean Beach. Along the small sand
dunes was a skirt of cocoanut trees. The usual accepted story of the growth
of these trees was that at some unknown time a schooner loaded with nuts
in the hull was shipwrecked along the coast and that the nuts were washed
ashore and took root. This plausible story was generally accepted as true,
though now conceded to be pure fiction. The fact that the trees were
growing in well-defined rows shattered the story of the wrecked schooner.
Early in the eighties there lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey, two
men who had heard the oft repeated story of the great fortunes made by
cocoanut planters. E. T. Field and Ezra Osborn, who were ambitious to
make a fortune, purchased from the Government a large part of the ocean
frontage from Jupiter to Cape Florida, for which they paid from seventy-
five cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. They were going
to become cocoanut planters. They had been told that no clearing of the
land was necessary and that all they had to do was to plant the nuts. They
figured that each tree would drop one mature nut each day and as they
planned to plant fQur hundred and fifty thousand trees a great fortune
seemed within their grasp. They secured a schooner and sent it to Trini-
dad to secure the nuts for planting. Men ,had to be brought from New
Jersey to do the work. The nuts were scattered along the coast for con-
venient planting. It required three winters to complete the planting of
the nuts. A large proportion of them sprouted, but the beach was in-
fested with rabbits and a large number of the young trees were destroyed.
John S. Collins, one of the leading horticulturists of New Jersey, also
lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey, and Field and Osborn consulted
Mr. Collins in regard to their experience, and Mr. Collins was induced to
purchase a half interest in these lands. After a thorough investigation
of this tropical section and being convinced that there were other lines
of horticulture and agriculture more promising than growing cocoanuts,
Mr. Collins purchased the other half interest in these lands, which made
him the owner of sixteen hundred and seventy acres of ocean front, ex-
tending from Jupiter to the Norris Cut, lying between the ocean and Bis-
cayne Bay and embracing four and one-half miles. A large portion of
MIAMI BEACH
HE northern part of what is now Miami Beach was but a few
short years ago a dense wilderness of hammock trees, palmetto
and other useless tropical growth. Today Miami Beach is a
playground for the pleasure loving, with magnificent estates
for the great and near -great, the polo and golfing center of
with flower -bordered canals, palm boulevards and wave -washed
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this land was covered with blue palmetto. Mr. Collins, being an expert
farmer and a splendid judge of soils, was convinced that if the land could
be cleared at a reasonable cost the growing of early vegetables would be
a profitable investment. The clearing of the land by hand labor was
found to be about one hundred dollars an acre, so he used a traction engine
for the purpose and was able to clear the land at a cost of thirty dollars
an acre. Two hundred acres was laid out and planted in vegetables. As
there was no way to get to Miami to deliver his product to the railroad,
he dug a canal from Biscayne Bay to a small grass lake which connected
with Indian Creek. This, however, proved too slow and in 1912 he built
the Collins bridge connecting Miami and Miami Beacri. Tlfe bridge is two
and one-half miles in length and is said to be one of the longest wagon
bridges in the world. The Collins properties are now i c planted as
athe
Miami Beach Improvement Company. The company
out
two hundred acres in avocado and budded mangoes. However,
bulk
the planted
of the trees planted are the Trapp avocado, a late variety.
about nine thousand budded trees. The company has the largest tract of
budded avocados and mangoes in the world. The groue is a most profitable
investment, the fruit selling as high as twenty-five dollars for a crate of
three dozen. The building of the Collins canal and the Collins bridge
started the great work of development of Miami Beach. Millions of dol-
lars has since been poured into these developmentsand fort" unes are homes. being
The
expended by the wealthy classes in building
beach has been incorporated as a city and is now a thriving mur;icipality.
Some time after the awakening of Miami, Dick Smith and a number
of others conceived a plan to build a casino or bathing house at the south
end of Miami Beach and establish a ferry from Miami to the beach. The
only conveyance to the beach at that time was row boats. Mr. Smith suc-
ceeded in interesting others and a company was formed to carry out his
plans. The casino was built—a wooden structure, a part of which is now
the Smith casino. Docks were built on the east and west side of Bis-
cayne Bay and ferry boats put on. However, the venture did not prove
a success. Later a company was organized, composed of Miami residents,
and a large tract of land was purchased at the beach. AmonWethosreJe in-
terested in this project, called the Biscayne Bay Company,
. N.
Lummus, J. A. McDonald and J. C. Baile. The land purchased was largely
a mangrove swamp, with a skirt of small sand dunes on the ocean side.
The mangrove swamp was to be filled by pumping the sand from the
bottom of the bay. The casino was leased to Avery Smith, of Connecticut.
A town site was laid out by the new owners of the land, but the company
did not make the success they had planned. Later, Carl G. Fisher, an
Indianapolis millionaire, became interested in the improvement of the
beach and purchased a tract of land from the Miami Beach Improvement
Company and arranged to take over the Biscayne Bay Company's hold -
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ti