Loading...
1674-73 Carl Fisher 4 �;4r 197 This all happened at the psychological moment and I consider that Captain Jaudon and myself were responsible for getting things started at the right time. The land owners offered to sell the land on the south beach. A company was formed to buy the land north from Smith's Casino for one mile. I was invited to go into the company, but I wanted a beach lot for a cottage and not to be a member of the company. Mr.J.A. cDonald,John Gramling, J.E. Lummus and J.N. Lummus were the main pro oters of the company. They bought the land and started clearing it, also edging to fill the low land on the bay side of the peninsula in a small way. Mr.John S. Collins started building a bridge across the bay to his property on north beach and along Indian Creek, ollins' Bridge making it, owner famous and the first practical thing done to make Miami Beach the L __ most famous playground in the world. In the tourist season of 1911-1912, Mr. Carl . Fisher came to Miami and bought Dr. Bliss's home on Brickell Avenue and n med it "The Shadows." Just south of his home, Mr. Lock T. Highleyman as pumping sand out of the bay and filling the low land, making what is n w Point View. Mr. Fisher saw the possibilities and got busy and bought mor than half of Mr. Collins' land in the center of the beach property and put d edges to work filling the low land and making hundreds of acres of swamp land into city lots to build the most beautiful tourist city in the United State . Also I understood that he loaned the Lummu Company a million dollars to do their dredging on a larger scale and make th Beach more quickly a good place in which to live. All was rushed through an soon Mr. Fisher began t building his wonderful hotels, and various impro ements, golf grounds, swimming pools, and using the bay where the san. was pumped from to make a yacht race course. - "i All of these things made the Beach what it is oday. I consider Mr. Fisher a' second to Mr. Flagler as Florida's greatest benefac or. . 1