New Year 2024, meet Miami headlines from 1924

 

Miami 1924 - State Archives of Florida/Romer

Below is a sampling of headlines from sections of the Miami News-Metropolis of January 1, 1924. A mix of local and national stories show how some themes remain the same a century later.

Panoramic view of Coral Gables from Water Tower Showing Development of Two-year-old Town

Coral Gables from the water tower 1924

 

Thousands See Monster Parade  - Seven miles of floats pass in colorful array

Fruit and Flower Pageant – 40,000 view the parade that stretched more than 100 blocks. It was a “typical June day in January.” Note: Miami held a variety of parades in its early days, including Labor Day, Shriner’s, Palm Fete and Orange Bowl parades. See index or search for Orange Bowl.

 

Construction of Large Concrete Fronton at Hialeah for Spanish Game of Jai Alai Introduced from Cuba Opened Feb. 2, 1924 (see index for short history). Most are closed today, but one still operates in Dania.

 

Hialeah Fronton 1924 State Archives of Florida

 U.S. Stirred Over Obregon Lack of Force  

“Washington hopes Mexican revolution will be halted … disappointed over its failure to solve internal problems…policy limits supply of arms.” Alvaro Obregon served as president of Mexico from 1920-1924. Deemed a centrist and peacemaker, he was assassinated in 1928.

 

Mystery Marks Liquor Supply in Washington

“Unusual conditions for guzzlers.” Why has so much illicit liquor appeared during the holiday season, the reporter asks (Prohibition – 18th Amendment, 1920 – 1933). Conflict arose between local police and federal agents about enforcing the law against liquor. Confiscated liquor disappeared or mysteriously “turned into water.”

 

Man with a drink in tourist photo booth at Hardie's Bathing Casino
during Prohibition 1920-1933 State Archives of Florida

Democrats See Chance to Win in 1924 Election

“Politically the coming year holds more at issue than is usually the case.”

Calvin Coolidge, Republican, succeeded Warren G. Harding as president when he unexpectedly died in 1923. A booming economy and world peace favored Coolidge, who won the 1924 election as the second vice president tapped as president via circumstance who later won the presidency in an election.

President Calvin Coolidge and wife Grace
State of Florida Archives

Tags: Miami in the 1920s, Miami Jai Alai Fronton, Fruit and Flower Pageant 

Florida HELP WANTED ads through the decades: Funny, sad, silly and dubious

By Jane Feehan

Help wanted newspapers advertisements have changed through the years because of cultural mores or legalities. Notwithstanding the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and the 1967 Age Discrimination Act, some language in ads persisted. 

A retrospective below, spanning several decades, may raise eyebrows or evoke a laugh or two. Postings below were found in South Florida newspapers. More ads are from the help wanted female sections because there were more "requirements." Before the 1960s, help wanted female ads sections didn't exist in many newspapers. Black or white race requirements were mentioned mostly in personal or home services.

Today employers find a way to get around a direct query about age; they want to know the year graduated from high school or college. One high-profile online job board actually asks for the year born after applicant has applied for job. 

Some words of ads below are omitted.

1919

A trip far back ... to 1919. This made the front page of the newspaper as a headline: “Little Girls Not Wanted as Clerks on Railway Mail.” According to the Miami Metropolis, the story was based on a posting from the then-called Civil Service Commission:

Young women must weigh in at 110 pounds and be at least 5 feet, 2 inches tall.

Men must weigh at least 130 pounds and be at least 5 feet, 5 inches tall.

_____

1960

Help Wanted Female

Stenographer for larger financial institution. Please do not apply if you do not meet the following requirements: Age 22-30, average weight and height, typing at least 60 words per minute with few mistakes …

________

UNENCUMBERED woman with managerial capacity for late night drive-in work

_________

Help Wanted Male

Presser wanted – first class only. High wages for right man.

_________

Ages 23-40 for insurance business – no experience necessary. We pay while training.

_________

Retired man or responsible high school boy for part time kennel work.

______

1965

Help Wanted Female

Business couple, no children, requires [race mentioned] woman 35-45 for part time housework $2.00 per hour, $24/week.

_________

Photo Assistant – Bahamas. Young, attractive woman experienced in BLACK and WHITE (poster’s caps) printing. General dark room work and sales (reply address listed at Miami airport…)

_________

Woman to solicit new customers on retail egg route. 

_________

Help Wanted Male

Young man to crate marble and pack furniture. Must be intelligent.

 ______

1970

Las Olas real estate office needs young, attractive secretary with pleasant telephone voice …

_________

Are you Swedish? I miss the friendly Swedish woman who helped clean my house up North. Help needed one day a week.

_________

British ladies for work in English shops … apply at … on Sunrise Blvd.

_________

Receptionist, age 25-35, for general office work

_________

Dental Assistant: We need a capable girl to assist in all chairside duties. Prefer experience but not necessary.

_________

Help Wanted Male

Semi-retired man for phone answering and light plant work. Write, give age and background.

_________

1975

Help Wanted listed by industry

ALERT female wanted at downtown optometrist’s office.

_________

SANDY was a great girl, cheerful, neat, industrious and a good typist. She learned our business well …Unfortunately her husband was transferred up North. We are now looking for someone like her.

_____

Sources:

Miami Daily Metropolis, Feb. 15, 1919

Fort Lauderdale News, March 6, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 7, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 1, 1970

Miami News, Sept. 5, 1975

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Miami history, labor history, help wanted ads

Greyhound dog racing gave Miami a new thrill

 

  State of Florida Archives

By Jane Feehan

The first greyhound dog racing track in Florida opened in 1922 amid a rising interest in the sport across the nation.

References to racing greyhounds appeared in newspaper stories in North Carolina in 1898. A circus came to Raleigh that year with “chariot-racing greyhounds.” (Some say greyhound racing was introduced in England in 1876.) In 1912, Owen P. Smith introduced greyhound racing in Emeryville, California on the sport’s first circular track. Dog racing expanded to other states.

Buzz about greyhound racing appeared in The Herald in Miami in 1921.

“Out in Missouri a popular sport is dog racing,” an account reads. “The races are most exciting. An electronically propelled device covered with the skin of a jack rabbit is shot across the racetrack and … greyhounds are released from their cages and trail madly away on the trail of the rabbit.” 

The writer praised it as the “cleanest kind of sport” because “there are no jockeys to bribe and no horses to go lame.” The betting was based only on the “dog’s record, his health and disposition.”  

A fews months after such praise, Florida granted the Miami Kennel Club a charter to conduct business as a corporation.  Owen P. Smith was tapped as president and general manager of the club and Florida was, as they say, off to the races. The first track in the state opened at Hialeah Park in 1922, nine years before gambling was legalized. Its inaugural six-week schedule, or meet, ended that April and deemed a success.

Hialeah Park
greyhound racing 1922
State of Florida Archives

"Greyhound racing has given Miami a new thrill,” reported the Herald. Its popularity spurred plans for improvements for the next season, including nighttime events, landscaping, a grandstand cover and dancing. Miami leaders were excited about its potential to attract tourism to the area.

Miami leaders had reason for excitement about greyhound racing. About 3,000 attended its first matinee of the 1923 season. Another track, west of Coral Gables, opened in 1927 and the West Flagler Kennel Club opened Jan. 3, 1931. 

Other Florida cities capitalized on the sport’s popularity. West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, St. Petersburg and Sarasota soon opened their own dog-racing venues. By 1935, 10 tracks operated in the state; 11 tracks would eventually open in the Sunshine State, including two in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Greyhound racing was so closely associated with Miami that greyhound dog racing video clips were captured in the opening mosaic of Miami scenes for the 1980s TV series, Miami Vice. Greyhound racing was here to stay many thought.

Not so. Enthusiasm for the sport was beginning to wane by the early 1990s.  Gambling revenues dropped across the nation. More important, welfare of the racing dogs took center stage. According to the Miami Herald, 460 dogs died at state tracks between 2013-2018 due to a variety of causes both on and off track. Thousands more died yearly around the country.

“A global voice for greyhounds,” Grey2K (https://www.grey2kusa.org/), was established in 2001 to highlight abuses to the dogs including confinement, injuries and doping. Other animal rights groups rallied around the plight of the greyhounds. The awareness campaign resulted in a Florida vote to ban dog racing in 2018 and phase it out by 2020. The last Florida greyhound race was held Dec. 27, 2020 at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach.

Thanks to the efforts of Grey2KUSA and other animal advocates, greyhound racing is now illegal in 42 U.S. states.

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Raleigh Times, Oct. 28, 1898

The Herald (Miami) Dec. 18, 1921

The Herald (Miami), Feb. 22, 1922

The Herald (Miami), March 8, 1922

The Herald (Miami), April 11, 1922

The Herald (Miami), April 23, 1922

Miami News, Dec. 17, 1923

Miami News, Jan. 8, 1927

Miami Herald, Oct. 9, 1930

Miami Daily News, Jan. 2, 1931

Miami Herald, Sept. 12, 2018

Miami Herald, Nov. 8, 2018

Miami New Times, Jan. 2, 2019

NBC News, Jan. 1, 2021

https://www.grey2kusa.org/index.php

Tags: Miami history, history of Miami, greyhound dog racing, dog racing in Florida, Florida sports history

Arthur Burns "Pappy" Chalk and Chalk's Flying Service, once oldest in the world

Chalk's seaplane landing 1974
 State of Florida Archives

 

By Jane Feehan

The history of his eponymous airline is better known than the personal story of Arthur Burns “Pappy” Chalk. A look back at decades of articles, want ads and his obituary fills in some of the gaps in his background while raising contradictions. His choppy personal and career history suits a timeline presentation rather than a narrative format. The A.B. Chalk story—gaps and all—remains an interesting one.

1889 – Arthur Burns Chalk was born in Illinois. One Miami obituary claims wanderlust prompted him at 11-years old to move to Paducah, Kentucky. Wanderlust probably didn’t claim him. There were a few people named Chalk in Paducah at that time; some were elected officials. Someone he knew lived there, father or other relative maybe?

1911 – Chalk reportedly operated an automobile garage service in Paducah. He learned to fly after Tony Janus, a “dare devil” pilot, gave Chalk a flying lesson in return for a plane repair. Chalk “flew as an amateur” for five years.

1916 – Chalk moved to Miami – probably with his mother, “Mrs. E.J. Chalk,” and two sisters. They lived on NE 23^rd Street. Nothing was in the news about Chalk that year. Some accounts say he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I but returned after a short stint because of a “disability.” Wikipedia reports he flew for the Army Air Service.

1917 – A.B. Chalk’s name begins appearing in Miami newspapers. He informally launched his flying service in July that year at the end of Flagler Street “under an umbrella.” Columbian airline Avancia once claimed it was the oldest airline in the world, also established in 1917. Chalk’s by some accounts, began a few months earlier. (Some say KLM is now the oldest existing airline.)

1918 - Chalk had also been operating a garage for car repair as he launched flying service. A classified ad introduces his shop, a “first class auto repairing” service at 1508 Avenue D in Miami. It read:

Attention – Arthur B. Chalk, formerly foreman of the mechanical department of Dixie Highway Garage has bought the Seminole Garage at 1508 Avenue D. We announce a policy of efficient, careful attention to all makes of automobiles … free air and water can be obtained in front of the garage – no inconvenience of driving inside.

1918 – Another classified ad by Chalk offers a Cole 7-passenger (car), a bargain, phone 643

1919 – Chalk’s Flying Service begins “boat plane” flights between Miami and Bimini

1920 – Chalk moves his flying operation to Watson Island (near MacArthur Causeway) where his company remained until after his death. In the early days, he offered sightseeing flights for $5 and flying lessons for $15 an hour.

Chalk's Flying Service
       Watson Island circa 1920
State of Florida Archives

1920 – Automobiles became ubiquitous and provided Chalk a steady income through repairs and sales. He advertises cars and planes for sale at his now-named Royal Palm Garage on Avenue D:

One Curtis F Flying boat for $1,500. Includes flying instructions

One 1920 5-passenger Maxwell for $1,000

One 7-passenger Hudson with wire wheels for $2,000

1923, February – Chalk aborts his flying boat takeoff with two passengers after hitting a “porpoise” in Biscayne Bay. He delayed the flight to repair holes left in the pontoons after the incident.

1923, August – Chalk and a mechanic announce a plan via Miami news outlets to fly across the country to Seattle. On the itinerary is a stop in St. Louis to enter an international air race representing Miami. They discuss plans to remove pontoons from their flying boat and install landing gear. There is no other information on this trip or race in either Miami or St. Louis newspapers. Perhaps they had problems installing landing gear?

1924 – Chalk's Flying Service picks up movie director Alan Crosland in Nassau for a flight to Miami. His company gains notice. The airline grows its business by flying big game anglers to Bimini.

1928 – A piece appears in the Miami Herald about Chalk and “aviation enthusiast” J.R. Lilly of Chicago discovering a toothpick in the engine of a plane that crashed and killed its pilot off Melbourne Beach. They thought the toothpick was used to determine fuel flow and was mistakenly left in the engine. The news is noteworthy for two reasons: One that Chalk was known to the press (as referred to then) as an aviation expert and two, that he operated a school, Chalk’s School of Aviation off County Causeway (MacArthur Causeway).

1920-1933 – Prohibition years. Some sources report Chalk made money smuggling large hauls of alcohol to the U.S. from the Bahamas. This is not verified. His obituary reported long-time business partner Dean Franklin said Chalk made money during Prohibition, but it was from flying bootleggers to the Bahamas and at times, revenue agents on the hunt for bootleggers. (No comment.)

1932 – Chalk married Georgia native, Lillie Mae, who ran his business with an iron hand until her death in 1964. Her maiden name did not appear in local obituaries. She was known as “the energetic figure who ran the world’s smallest international air depot.”

1936 – Chalk and Lillie Mae built the airline’s office by hand with coral rock at Watson Island.

1966 – Chalk “sold the airline to a friend” but remained active in operations until 1975. He claimed his airfield was the smallest port of entry in the United States.

1977 – Arthur Burns “Pappy” Chalk fell out of a tree while attempting to trim branches. He died May 26 at age 88 of complications (broken hip) from the fall. He and Lillie Mae did not have children together but she had a son from an earlier marriage. They also helped raise two of Chalk’s nephews.

Chalk owned and operated his airline without fatalities for 50 years. Chalk’s was later bought by Resorts International who flew passengers to its hotel in the Bahamas. The airline was moved to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport for security reasons after September 11, 2001. A fatal accident occurred in 2005 and its license was revoked in 2007.

Note: Yes, that was a Chalk's seaplane in the opening scenes of the 1970s TV series, Miami Vice.

 Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Miami Herald, Sept. 6, 1918

Miami News, Oct. 7, 1918

Miami Herald, Oct. 29, 1918

Miami Herald, July 8, 1920

Miami News Feb. 9, 1923

Miami News, Aug. 23, 1923

Miami Daily News and Metropolis, May 24, 1924

Miami Herald, March 1, 1928

Miami News, June v10, 1964

Miami Herald, May 27, 1977

Miami News, May 26, 1977

Florida State Archives

Wikipedia

Tags: Miami airlines history, Chalk's Flying Service, Aviation history, Arthur Burns "Pappy" Chalk, Miami history

Miami Beach: celebrities and glamour since the 1940s and 50s

 

Delta DC-6 over Miami Beach, 1954
Florida State Archives 

By Jane Feehan

For many across the U.S. in the 1950s, Miami was the place to be during the winter. Some could credit radio and television personality Arthur Godfrey with making Miami America’s vacationland with his live broadcasts from the Kenilworth Hotel. But many already knew about the city’s attributes thanks to mobsters who drew the adventurous into casinos masquerading as nightclubs in the 1940s.

By the late 1950s, mid-February was considered high season. Hialeah Park Race Track was open, the weather was stellar and Miami’s South Beach hotels were packed with tourists knee to knee at 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. Morris McLemore wrote a terrific column during the 1950s and 60s for the Miami News about the tropical playground.

He wrote in February, 1959 that 104 hotels were built in Miami Beach after World War II. More were built there “than the rest of the world combined.” In all, there were 374 hotels with 30,200 rooms. He counted 24 bakeries and two Wolfie’s restaurants on the beach serving Northern visitors. McLemore also noted there were 158 bars, 94 in hotels, 16 in social clubs and “only 43 regular bars.”*

The Miami Federation of Musicians reported 500 musicians “tootling or thumping away.” In a week, a visitor could be entertained by headliners Tony Martin at the Eden Roc Hotel, Jimmy Durante at the Latin Quarter or Teresa Brewer at the Diplomat. Cabaret singers, burlesque queens, big bands and bevies of show girls were ubiquitous. Everyone wanted to see or be seen in Miami; night life was central to that quest. It was the "only town in the world with ermine cabana jackets," claimed McLemore.

The legacy of Miami Beach includes the Liston-Clay fight in 1964, catapulting Muhammad Ali onto the world stage and a visit that year by the Beatles. Also, both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions of 1972 were hosted by Miami Beach  -  the last time one city hosted both conventions. 

Ermine cabana jackets may be scarce today but Miami Beach still captures plenty of headlines as it draws rich and famous glamour seekers from around the world.


* A recent count of South Beach clubs: 49

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:
Miami News, Feb. 26, 1959

Miami Herald, Feb. 28, 1964

Miami News, June 16, 1972

Tags:  Miami in the 1950s, Miami entertainment during the 50s, Miami Beach history, Miami entertainers, mobsters, Mafia in Miami, Miami floor shows, Miami Beach in the 1950s, 

First African American radio station in Miami is ...

WFEC studio Christened at
the Lord Calvert Hotel,
Overtown, Miami  circa 1950
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Miami radio station WFEC (Florida East Coast Broadcasting Company) launched operations April 10, 1949. Located at that time at 350 NE 71 Street, it promoted itself as the “Whole Family Entertainment Center.”  The station, 1220 on the radio dial, featured news from the communities of Allapattah, Miami Shores, Miami Springs, Little River, 54^th Street, Edison Center, North Miami and Opa-locka. Part of its early schedule included news from the Jewish community.

A day-time operation only, it shifted to “all-Negro programming” by July 1952. By the end of that year the WFEC touted itself as “the only station in Florida featuring all-Negro programming.” One of its disc jockeys, Carlton King Coleman (1932-2010), became a popular Miami radio personality by the late 1950s when the station evolved into WMBM. Coleman later provided some of the vocals for the hit song (Do the) Mashed Potatoes recorded with James Brown’s Band. His career included his own radio shows in New York City and acting in a few films including Bad Boys II.

The station served as an early starting point in the illustrious career of Noble V. Blackwell (1934-1994), known as "HoneyBee" to listeners. He moved on to work as director of broadcasting at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia for more than two decades and as broadcaster for NBN New York City. In 1972 Noble was honored as "Man of the Year" by the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers. He also hosted the popular TV show, Night Train in 1964. His dream of owning a radio station was realized when he bought twin staions WCDL AM and FM in Pennsylvania. He successfully transitioned them into WLSP Hit Kickin' Country. (A recently-launched documentary about Noble Blackwell can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/@noblevblackwell).

Another WMBM personality, Larry King (1933-2021) launched his interview show there in the late 1950s, early 1960s. He later moved to Miami’s WIOD* and syndicated the show nationwide before landing at CNN.

Through a series of license sales, owners, radio dial numbers, frequencies, and locations, WMBM now offers urban gospel programming serving Miami at 1490 on the dial.

Looking back, it could be said WFEC paved the way for ethnic programming with its rhythm and blues and gospel format for Miami’s African American community. The station helped place the city at the vanguard of radio broadcasting before a nationwide increase in station consolidation and decrease in local radio identity became the norm.

Copyright © 2022, 2023, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

For more on WIOD, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/07/miamis-radio-610-wiod-wonderful-isle-of.html

Sources:

Miami Herald, April 10, 1949

Miami Herald, Feb. 10, 1950

Miami News, Aug. 8, 1951

Miami Herald, July 21, 1952

Miami Herald, Jan. 15, 1953

Miami Times, Nov. 30, 1957

The Tennessean, Sept. 13, 1994

Wikipedia

NB Production Team/Tracye Blackwell Johnson

Tags: Miami radio history, African American history, Miami in the 1940s, Miami in the 1950s, Miami history, Noble V Blackwell,  Carlton King Coleman, Larry King

Orange Bowl plan: to extend Miami tourist season

Coca Cola Float Orange Bowl Parade 1939
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Miami’s tourist season used to span six weeks, beginning in February and running concurrent with horse racing at Hialeah Park. Times were tough for the young city after the 1926 hurricane and during the Great Depression so the city’s movers and shakers got together at the Biltmore Hotel in 1933 to brainstorm a way to extend the winter season. The winning idea was a football game on New Year’s Day.

The first Palm Festival game was held in 1933 and was a match up between the University of Miami and Manhattan College. Manhattan was guaranteed $3,200—the Hurricanes nothing—but the Florida team routed the northern college with a 7-0 victory. The Palm Festival was held that year and the following in Moore Park at NW 36th Street and 7th Avenue. Both games were a sellout of 8,000 seats.

A charter was issued to 27 Miamians forming the new Orange Bowl Committee, which included Miami Herald editor and namesake of the John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park. Oranges were not a big crop in South Florida then but the name resonated with the committee headed by Director Ernest Seiler. The inaugural Orange Bowl Festival game was held Jan. 1, 1935 between Bucknell University and Miami; Bucknell prevailed 26-0. Ground was broken for a stadium in 1936 at 1501 NW 3rd Street; the sports facility was named Burdine Stadium until 1959. (Orange Bowl Stadium closed in 2008.)

Seiler was able to keep the new stadium filled; he was the consummate public relations practitioner. He developed elaborate 12-minute shows for halftime that were heralded as a popular highlight of the games. His PR skills paid off for the 1939 game when he traveled to Oklahoma to meet with the Sooners and enticed them south with pictures of beaches and palm trees for a bowl game. Seiler asked the team coach to call Tennessee to suggest they play their big game in Miami and it was a go; the bowl game of 1939 propelled the Orange Bowl into the nation’s lineup of major bowl games.

Seiler kept adding to the Orange Bowl festivities with a parade along the Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, a boating regatta, beauty pageant and more. By the 1940s, it was the place to be New Year’s Day. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the honored guest in 1947; President-Elect John Kennedy attended in 1961.

Today the Orange Bowl is a tradition in Miami and across the nation – and the winter tourist season runs five or six months instead of six weeks. The game is now played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens at 199th Street or 347 Don Shula Drive.

www.orangebowl.org

Sources:
Miami News, Jan. 2, 1963
Miami News, Dec. 27, 1946
www.orangebowl.com


Tags: Miami history, Orange Bowl history, Orange Bowl sponsor, Palm Festival, first Orange Bowl game, Florida film researcher, film researcher

Orange Bowl, 1960 Miami,
Florida State Archives, Florida Memories
Dept. of Commerce

Drilling for oil in South Florida during the 1920s

Oil drill blaster in the Everglades - 1924
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The advertisement below from the Fort Lauderdale Herald (January, 1922) touted the possibility of oil riches lying near Miami.  Capitalized with $100,000, the Miami Petroleum Syndicate was trying to sell shares for $100.  Ads – and news – dropped off about attempts to either raise funds or find oil under the Magic City within a year.

Oil fever also struck Fort Lauderdale.

In 1928, when Fort Lauderdale was in the throes of a land bust, methane and ethane gases were thought to be rising from the New River.  A lease was obtained to drill and a rig went up in Croissant Park.  The city was so enthusiastic about it and the possibility of climbing out of economic stress that tax bills went out briefly bearing an image of an oil well. Attempts to find liquid "gold" were abandoned at 3,000 feet when funds were depleted. After World War II, the well was exploded.

Advertisement 1922

Other sources:

Weidling, Philip J., and Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).

Fort Lauderdale Herald, February, 1922

Tags: Florida history, Fort Lauderdale history, South Florida history, oil in Miami, oil in Fort Lauderdale,film research 

Telling "Truth about Florida" and the land boom ... until the 1926 hurricane calamity

 

Aftermath: Miami garage damage Sept. 18, 1926
Florida State Archives/Nulton (1906-1999)

By Jane Feehan

Florida’s land boom made Northern bankers nervous during the early 1920s. Their banks were being drained of millions of dollars to fund Florida dreams. Bankers banded together to pay for ads in the New York Times and other newspapers warning about the dangers of speculation and likelihood of a bust.

Anxious to keep the money spigot open in 1925,  Florida Governor John W. Martin (1884-1958)  brought a group of respected businessmen to New York to downplay notions about speculation in a “Truth about Florida” meeting at the Waldorf Astoria with media and bankers.

Afterward, Florida businessmen established “Truth about Florida” committees to raise money to pay for advertisements in northern newspapers to counter bad publicity about the boom.

George E. Merrick (1886-1942), developer of Coral Gables, one of the first planned communities in the United States, announced in June, 1926 that his city would raise $1,000,000 “to get the message across to 110,000,000 people of the U.S.* that they should be informed of the real truth about Florida.”   He also suggested that the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce raise $1.5 million for the same cause. 

By the end of 1926, northern bankers ceased their ad campaign but the Truth about Florida committees could not claim success. Two hurricanes filled the Everglades with water, dampening dreams about development there and along the coast. The boom quickly receded like the seas before a dangerous tidal wave, taking with it the Truth about Florida campaign.

* Merrick also paid William Jennings Bryan $100, 000 to sell Coral Gables land. See:
https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/08/silver-tongued-orator-william-jennings.html

 Burnett, Gene M. Florida’s Past: People and events that shaped the state. Sarasota: Pineapple Press (1997), p. 160.

Miami News, Nov. 13, 1925

Miami News, June 9, 1926

Wikipedia.org

Tags: South Florida in the 1920s, Florida history, South Florida real estate boom, George E. Merrick, Gov. John W. Martin, Jane Feehan, film researcher

Fallout Shelters a Miami Growth Biz in the 1960s

Shelter sign in NYC

The Cold War heated up to nearly white hot during the early 1960s. The Soviet Union resumed testing of A-bombs in 1958 and continued into the new decade. They began building the Berlin War in August 1961 to mark their sphere of influence in Europe. 

President John F. Kennedy decided one of the most effective steps the U.S. could take to show that it stood firm in Europe was to immediately develop an air raid shelter program.

Kennedy wanted to convince the Kremlin that the American people (far more cohesive then) were willing to undergo an atomic war if necessary rather than to back away from the Russians in Europe. JFK told Americans it would be possible to organize or build shelters quickly by reinforcing public buildings and constructing safe havens at individual homes.

American entrepreneurs smelled a new opportunity and turned home shelter building into a growth business. By September 1961, 19 manufacturers in Miami were approved by the Dade County Office of Civil Defense to build home fallout shelters.

Newspapers published articles about companies and their offerings and pages were filled with advertising. Shelters ran from $1,195 to $2,495 and could be constructed to protect from six to 12 people in fortifications that ranged in size from 10 feet by 8 feet to 14 by 16 feet.  Some could be installed adjacent to a house or in a garage (there weren’t many basements in South Florida). All qualified for financing under FHA’s Title 1 home improvement program.

Shelter advertisements nearly shouted with:

No down payment!

All forms of financing!

Shelters - use as playrooms or for storage!

Adequate shielding is the only effective means of preventing radiation casualties!

Do it yourself, just send $1 for plans!

Ancillary businesses opened to manufacture appliances for shelters and devices to power ventilation blowers, TVs and lighting.

By the mid - to late 1960s, fears diminished and, as with Dr. Strangelove, Americans learned to stop worrying and to love the bomb. Perhaps some today are used as hurricane shelters but more than likely, most are gone.

Sources:

Palm Beach Post, July, 17, 1961

Miami News, Sept. 24. 1961

Miami News, Nov. 16, 1961

Tags: Miami business in 1960s, Miami during the cold war, Fallout shelter business