1674-22 John Collins1i
A CRACKER VIEWPOINT
A Two -Acre Claim
Threatened Beach
By NIXON SMILEY
Herald Staff Writer
• When the latelohn S. Collins–Might 1,-
..,,•000 acres of Miami Beach properly from a
,n1l;haracter named Elnathan Field, he could
not have imagined the trouble he was creat-
ing by permitting the seller to reserve two
acres for himself.
Field failed to specify the location, but
in 1906, when Collins bought the acreage, it
didn't matter much, since Miami Beach's
population was numbered in crocodiles
rather than in people.
Collins, well-to-do owner of a farm ma-
- chinery and supply firm in Merchantville,
N.J., and a horticulturist, wanted the land
to grow tropical fruits, principally avocados
and mangos. He had a home at Hypoluxo,
.on Lake Worth, but built a house for a
'foreman on Indian Creek, where he had his
groves.
' In 1911 Collins' sons and son-in-law,
Thomas J. Pancoast, got interested in what
Papa was doing in Florida, and came down
' to investigate. By this time Collins owned
1,600 acres, including nearly five miles of
oceanfront.
The family took a dim view of the hor-
ticulture venture, but decided that Miami
Beach might be an excellent place for a real
estate development. So, the Miami Beach
• Improvement Co. was formed and Pancoast
' was elected to move to Miami Beach and
assist his father-in-law.
In 1912, work was started on the build-
ing of a wooden bridge from the mainland
to Miami Beach. That bridge followed ap-
proximately the route of the present day
Venetian Causeway, and was described as
the longest wooden bridge in the world.
- .. But the span cost over $100,000 and the
.,,pompany ran out of money. So Collins sold
some of his property to Carl Fisher, who
. -was interested in the beach. This property
ran from near present-day 15th Street to
23rd Street, and from ocean to bay. The
• land south of 15th Street was owned by
J. E. and J. N. Lummus, enterprising broth-
ers from Bronston, Fla., who had moved to
Miami in 1896 to go into banking and real
estate.
After selling the property to Fisher,
Collins thought it was time to set aside
those two acres being reserved for Field. So
he selected two acres of oceanfront bor-
dering the Fisher property at 23rd Street
and had it fenced. But when Field was of-
fered a deed he refused to accept It.
"I'll take my two acres in due time," he
replied. "I'm in no hurry."
A short time later, as the bridge neared
completion, the Lummus brothers and Fish-
er began building a road north, toward the
Collins toll bridge. Field objected. He
thought Miami Beach was becoming over-
populated — it now had over 100 residents
— and he didn't like it. But Field's remon-
strances failed to stop the building of the
road, which eventually would become
known as Collins Ave. For one thing, the
Miami Beach Improvement Co., which had
built the bridge, would depend upon tolls
from expected new residents on the Lum-
mus and Fisher properties to help pay for
the costly span.
Now Field got an idea. If he owned a
strip of property extending from ocean to
bay he could refuse the road builders per-
mission to cross his land. He went to Col-
lins:
"I'm now ready to accept those two
acres," he said with enthusiasm, heightened
by a bit of impatience.
"Most certainly," said Collins, happy to
see a solution to a problem that was begin-
ning to worry him. "Where along the beach
do you want this property?" asked Collins,
unrolling a map of the area.
"Right there," said Field, pointing to the
south border of the Miami Beach Improve-
ment Company's property. He added, "I
want a strip one foot wide, extending from
the ocean to the bay."
Collins took a moment to recover h+c
aplomb. He had known Field since 1882,
when he put $5,000 into a plan to plant
coconuts along the oceanfront from Miami
Beach to Jupiter.
"No!" he replied emphatically.
Field had to take his two acres else-
where. If he had obtained title to the one -
foot -wide strip, Field might have been able
to delay development of Miami Beach for
an indefinite time.