Marvelous Miami of 1897: brick buildings, secret societies and ...

Early Miami
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Miamians were excited about their new town in 1897. Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad was extended from Palm Beach to the Biscayne Bay area in April the prior year. In July 1896 Miami (named for a nearby river) was incorporated. The new Flagler hotel, the “mammoth” Royal Palm, was open for business. Miami’s population ballooned from 300 before the railroad to more than 1,600 residents in 1897. The fledgling city was poised for continued growth.

Its newspaper, the Miami Metropolis, publicized reasons to move to the area in its June 4, 1897 edition. Among them were:

• A “good back country which is being settled up very rapidly. The local trade from this territory and that which comes from the Florida Keys will support a good town at this point.”

• The Royal Palm Hotel, plus “three other good hotels.”

• The large holdings of Flagler and the amount of money he has already expended in the development of Miami will ensure the growth of manufacturing in the area.

• Miami is warm enough to warrant the planting of citrus trees.

• “Our transportation facilities are excellent.” (In addition to the rail terminus, Flagler also established boat service to the Bahamas.)

• Three secret societies

• A sound bank

• An ice factory

• “Ten brick buildings, one, the Hotel Biscayne with four stores underneath.”

• "Several miles of paved streets"

• “Waterworks and a sewerage system”

As it turned out, "Marvelous Miami" did not need a grand public relations plan to launch its growth. South Florida with its prospects for a new life—and perhaps riches—quickly attracted pioneers from around the country looking for a new frontier. By 1910 there were nearly 5,500 in Miami, by 1920, more than 29,000.

Sources:
Miami Metropolis, June 4, 1897
www.historymiami.org

Tags: Miami history, Miami before 1900, Henry Flagler, Royal Palm, film researcher, historical researcher, Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian

From food stand to drive-in and up in the sky: Hot Shoppes, Big Boy and ...

By Jane Feehan 

In 1963, airline caterer Hot Shoppes employed 550 in Miami. From their operations center at 4101 NW 25 Street, the company made soups, gravies, pastries, butchered meats, and purchased supplies. Hot Shoppes produced 5,000-6,000 meals a day during winter in the Magic City.

Its founder, J. Willard Marriott, opened his first food stand in 1927 in Washington, D.C. The small company, Hot Shoppes, was soon an icon in the capitol area, serving meals in a casual setting. Within a decade, Hot Shoppes entered the national market. 

The company pioneered the airline in-flight catering industry. They provided meals to Eastern, Pan American, TWA, Avianca and delivered to airline hubs from their facilities across the nation The company operated 100 plants throughout Florida in 1963 and had plans to open “in quick succession” seven more, according to Calvin Wienges, then southern regional manager.  

Its development of in-flight food service proved to be a boon, elevating its profile and expanding its business across the nation. The company was renamed Marriott Corporation in 1967. The year it became Marriott Corporation, the company purchased Big Boy, the following year, Roy Rogers restaurants. There were other chain restaurants—and soon a string of hotels. Hot Shoppes closed in 1999. Today, in the Anthem restaurant at the Marriott Marquis Washington, D.C., a lunch counter modeled after the original Hot Shoppes restaurants serves Hot Shoppes classic favorites.

So many in South Florida and throughout the nation have been touched in one way or another by what came to be emblematic of world-wide hospitality. And it all started with a food stand.Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

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Sources:

Miami News, April 7, 1963

Washington Post, Dec. 20, 2011

Marriott Corp.

Tags: Miami history, South Florida history, food history, film researcher, Jane Feehan Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian

Stranahan Park: Of Indian burial mounds and shuffleboard

Shuffleboard 1946
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

10 E. Broward Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

By Jane Feehan

Shuffleboard, with roots traceable to 15th-century England, was big in Fort Lauderdale beginning in the 1930s, especially after Stranahan Park was carved out of land deeded to the city. It was the site of games hosted by the Fort Lauderdale Shuffleboard Club with members from more than 30 states. The park was reportedly built with dirt from Indian burial mounds. Stranahan Park was a "cypress swamp" deeded to the city by Frank Stranahan in the early 1900s. 

In 1928, it was reported that construction of a "novel game" was to be completed at the park and expected to draw a large crowd of players because so many watched its installation. A croquet court was also to be opened. Stranahan Park was already a popular spot with its concerts, checkers and chess tables, and busy horseshoe courts to "make it one of the most beautiful and useful parks along the East coast."

See index or use search box for more posts on Frank Stranahan.

 Today, the 1.6-acre park consists of a pavilion, benches and an open play area. 

https://www.parks.fortlauderdale.gov/Home/Components/FacilityDirectory/FacilityDirectory/175/1091

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News Jan. 15, 1928

Miami News , March 10, 1934

Copyright © 2013., 2021 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Tags: Fort Lauderdale shuffleboard club, Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s, Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian, Frank Stranahan

Miami tops Los Angeles in cars per capita in 19...

By Jane Feehan

The Automobile Manufacturers Association reported in 1940 that Miami led the nation among major cities in the number of cars per capita. A count of 53,078 cars converted into an impressive 2.8 per capita, or a car for every 2.8 persons. That figure topped the 2.9 number in Los Angeles and 3.0 in Long Beach CA. The Magic City held the lead in the number of cars well into the 1960s.
The national auto per capita (per 1,000) the following decades reveals how impressive Miami’s 1940 statistic was:

1950      .28 per capita

1960      .37         "

1970      .48         "

1980      .62         "

1990      .72         "

1999      .77         "

With a metric that could point to prosperity or a climate well-suited for conspicuous consumption, came grim vehicle-related news a few decades later. In 1962, the Miami area—Dade County—held the distinction of reporting the highest number of vehicular deaths in the nation. It may not come as a surprise to some that in 2009 the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach statistical area ranked among the nation’s top 50 in motor vehicle crash death rates at 11.1 deaths per 100,000. Jacksonville, FL counted 13.3 per 100,000, while Houston, Texas cited 12.9 deaths.

Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

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Sources:

Miami News, Dec. 30, 1962

Miami News, Nov. 16, 1964
Centers for Disease Control www.cdc.gov
U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Highway Statistics 2007



Tags; Miami history, SOFLA auto ownership history, cars in Miami, auto deaths, vehicular motor crash stats, film researcher, historical researcher

WFTL and RH Gore - Afloat in the Venice of America

By Jane Feehan

Radio station WFTL, the first in Fort Lauderdale and Broward County has had a series of owners closely associated with the founding and growth of the city. 

  

Fort Lauderdale pioneer Tom M. Bryan bought a radio station in 1937 and used the call letters WFTL. After he operated WFTL for a year and a half, Bryan sold the station to Ralph Horton, who, in turn, sold it to Miami investors. The station became known as WGBS.

Fort Lauderdale was without its own radio station throughout World War II and until 1946, when it went back on the air with new owners Martin E. Dwyer of Chicago and U.S Rep. Dwight L. Rogers of Fort Lauderdale.  They first operated the station across the street from the Governors Club Hotel. Then they moved it to a houseboat on SE 15th Street, along the New River, and advertised with the appropriate slogan, "Afloat in the Venice of America."

During the fall of 1948, R.H. Gore, owner of the Fort Lauderdale Daily News, The Governors Club Hotel, and Sea Ranch Cabana Club, bought the station. At that time he also launched its sister station, WGOR-FM. Gore’s mission for both radio properties was to place “community interest above all other considerations.” The station, then an NBC affiliate, operated at 100 E. Broward Boulevard, where news was read from a desk at the Fort Lauderdale Daily News.

Gore sold the station a few years after acquiring it to Joseph C. Amaturo under whom WFTL reached stability and success. Since then, WFTL has had a long, convoluted string of owners.

In 2013, 850 WFTL, "Florida's Talk Leader," was a 50,000-watt station owned by the James Crystal Radio Group, the largest (according to their website) locally owned and operated radio station group in South Florida. The James Crystal Radio Group also owned and operated WMEN-AM 640, WFLL-AM 1400, and KBXD in Dallas. It filed for bankruptcy in 2014.

Today the station is owned by Hubbard Broadcasting and licensed in West Palm Beach with a reach that includes Broward County. As mentioned, WFTL ownership has been a complicated tale.

Copyright © 2013, 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Gore, Paul A., Past the Edge of Poverty.  Fort Lauderdale: R.H. Gore Company, 1990.

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 9, 1948.

850WFTL.com

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, radio in Fort Lauderdale, historical researcher, film researcher, RH Gore

Miami Beach sweeps TV land in 1955 with "Today," "Tonight" and ...

Eden Roc today; Fontainebleau adjacent (south)

By Jane Feehan

Tourism was already a growth industry in Miami Beach before World War II. It continued to expand when some of the first post-war hotels constructed in the United States went up in Miami Beach. Building accelerated throughout the 1950s, making the beach side city the most glamorous vacation destination in the nation; it also became a favorite spot for Europe’s elite. The Fontainebleau, Bal Harbour, and Ankara hotels opened in 1954. Tourists flocked to the Eden Roc, Bal Moral and Lucerne when they were completed in 1955.

Hank Meyer, public relations director for the city during the 1950s, hoped to establish Miami Beach as the winter entertainment capitol of the U.S. His dream was well on its way to fruition when he announced 30 hours of broadcast network programs were to air from beach hotels to living rooms across the country. The week of Jan. 9, 1955 was to be the busiest television week in Florida history. 

Dave Garroway of Today and Steve Allen of Tonight (both shows produced by Mort Werner) plus 62 NBC staffers made the Sea Isle Hotel (opened in 1940) home for one week while they televised from its pool, cabana area, and beach. Steve Allen used some of the local night spots as background. The Colgate Comedy Hour, also an NBC property, beamed from the spectacular Fontainebleau; the network's Friday night boxing show took over the Miami Beach Auditorium. ABC also used the Fontainebleau for a program featuring Walter Winchell.

Arthur Godfrey (b. 1903 - d. 1980) paved the way for television aired from Miami Beach in the early 1950s when some of his winter shows were produced there.  In 1954, he and two others purchased the Kenilworth Hotel, the site for many of his winter programs. The Jackie Gleason Show, which ran from 1966 to 1970 from the Miami Beach Auditorium (later renamed the Jackie Gleason Theater), marked the end of the big-show television era of Miami Beach. The era ended but not before giving millions the idea of Florida as a place to live as well as visit. Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.
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Sources:

Kleinberg, Howard. Woggles and Cheese Holes. Miami Beach: The Greater Miami & Beaches Hotel Association (2005).

Kleinberg, Howard. Miami Beach, a History. Miami: Centennial Press (1996).
Miami News, Jan. 9, 1955

Tags: Miami Beach history, Miami television history, Miami broadcast history, Jane Feehan historial researcher for films

Swank Marie Antoinette, a Fort Lauderdale beach landmark

Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The “swank” Marie Antoinette apartment-hotel located at 2222 N. Atlantic Boulevard opened the last week in January, 1948. The 27-unit building was lauded as being one of the few in Fort Lauderdale offering complete hotel service—and an elevator.

Of French Colonial design, the Marie Antoinette was distinctive for its two large picture windows, 13 feet by nine feet. The windows provided an ocean view from two “studio apartments” each with a two-story living room and a bedroom with a balcony. All units in the hotel boasted wall-to-wall carpeting, one papered wall, jalousie windows—and a fire place.  Imported marble graced the stairways and handrails. Apartment refrigerators stocked with food greeted guests as well as stationary printed with their names.

Designed by Upton C. Ewing of Coral Gables and C. Dale Dykema of Fort Lauderdale, the terra cotta block and concrete structure was 100 percent fireproof. The Marie Antoinette was built by Caldwell Scott Construction Company. Kay Kellogg served as its interior decorator. It was the fifth project in the area owned and operated by Fred C. Snedden.

The Marie Antoinette was beautifully maintained throughout all the years I remember, elegant in its coat of beige paint and white trim. The picture windows drew in passing eyes to an interior of a bygone era. It was probably part of the land parcels bought to make way for the Palm condominium, near the old Mark 2100 Hotel. Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 29. 1948 

Tags: Old Fort Lauderdale hotels, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, historical researcher for films, Fort Lauderdale history