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| Galt Mile 2023 |
By Jane Feehan
Members of the North Beach Improvement Association were shocked by an announcement made about the project in December 1949. A bad idea said J. H. Hansen, president of the civic group. He was surprised Arthur T. Galt endorsed the plan for a boardwalk, parking lot, concessions for food and other businesses, traditional fairground rides for kids and cabanas for adults. Aluminum cabanas were to be rented for “$2000 per 100-foot frontage” along a boardwalk for three-year terms. Noted Fort Lauderdale architect Clinton Gamble was already working on plans and construction was expected to soon start.
The association wanted to change zoning for the beachside property to allow only construction of “high-type apartment buildings and hotels.” This would protect the property values of nearby residential areas. Land values involved more than zoning. The land fell within Oakland Park boundaries and the city wanted to annex the strip. Taxes on that land would be a boon to the city while maximizing Galt’s burden. But Fort Lauderdale had also wanted to annex. Galt preferred annexation by Fort Lauderdale; it was more prestigious. Lawsuits flew into 1951-52 over annexation and the amusement park plans receded into memory.
In 1928, when real estate investments took a steep decline due to the 1926 hurricane, Arthur T. Galt bought 4,000 acres bounded by Federal Highway east to the ocean, and from Fort Lauderdale to Pompano. He sold some of it to the Coral Ridge Development Company in the 1940s, retaining ownership of that one strip he thought so beautiful.
By 1953, things changed. Pressed by estate tax issues and reluctant to have his last remaining tract of land annexed by Oakland Park, Galt sold his oceanside parcel for more than $19 million to Joseph P. Taravella and James S. Hunt of Coral Ridge Properties. Fort Lauderdale annexed the area in 1955.
Before Galt sold to Taravella and Hunt, he visited Fort Lauderdale in 1952—the first time since he purchased the 4,000 acres and its coveted beach mile. He said he was impressed by how much Fort Lauderdale had grown.
He must have had an idea about what that mile would be worth one day. During the Depression he continued to pay taxes on his Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale property while foregoing those on his Chicago holdings—a much better idea than the beachside amusement park.
A lawyer, developer and philanthropist, Arthur T. Galt died at age 92 in 1968.
A lawyer, developer and philanthropist, Arthur T. Galt died at age 92 in 1968.
See index for more on Galt Mile History
Sources
Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 2, 1949
Fort Lauderdale News, March 31, 1951
Fort Lauderdale News, June 14, 1951
Fort Lauderdale News, March 24, 1952
Chicago Tribune, Sept. 14, 1968
Tags: Galt Mile, Galt Ocean Mile, Arthur T. Galt, Fort Lauderdale history, History of Fort Lauderdale
