Though most of the nation was struggling to climb out of the depths of the Great Depression during the late 1930s, Miami’s Mayor Robert R. Williams waxed optimistic about greater Miami's growth:
In 1937:
- Hotel inventory reached 350, with 60 built that year.
- Visitors could also find lodging among 6,000 available apartment units.
- More houses were constructed—3,500—in 1937 than in any year of its history.
- Eastern Airlines was doubling round trip winter flights between New York (five) and Chicago (three) and Miami; it was adding five new 21-passenger Douglas DC-3s
- October air passenger traffic to South America from Miami was up 20 percent from the previous October.
- Florida East Coast and Seaboard Airline railways added extra equipment to transport passengers from Jacksonville to Miami.
- Out of eight million pounds of fish caught and shipped from Florida, five million were fished from waters off Miami.
- The first of many expected mega yachts arrived at the Miami Yacht Basin, the 188-foot Arcadia owned by Mrs. Huntington Reed Hardwick of Boston.
- Bayfront Park at Biscayne Bay was to host 45 operas and concerts that winter season.
- The Orange Bowl (played since 1935), the Lipton Trophy sailing race, and the Miami to Nassau sailing race were expected to draw thousands of spectators.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, Dec. 18, 1937
Tags: Miami in the 1930s, Miami tourism, Miami history, Jane Feehan, film researcher, Eastern Airlines, Douglas Aircraft
