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Announcer: 
The following program 
is a production

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of WLRN Public Television.

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[music]

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narrator: 
Sailing from Key West in 1870, 
Henry Lomb and his son, Charles,

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saw coconut palms swaying 
on what is now Miami Beach.

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They bought land from 
the federal government

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for 25 cents an acre and built 
the beach's first home.

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Paul George: 
It was a barrier peninsula, 
not even an island.

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Not until the early 1920's

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when the cut was made at 
Bakers Haulover.

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It had tall mangroves 
on the bay side.

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[music]

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The interior was concave, and 
it collected a lot of water.

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There were 
mangroves in the interior.

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It's a swamp.

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And the oceanside is 
a wind swept beach.

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And it made it a lot of work 
to make it what it became.

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narrator: 
The beach itself 
was almost deserted,

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a place where early Miamians 
could enjoy the Atlantic ocean.

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Paul: 
Their ferry boat service came 
off of today's Flagler street

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on the bay front.

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And it would take 
you right over here.

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And you would disembark on 
this ferry boat on the bay side

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southern tip.

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And you'd walk across this wood 
frame ramp through a jungle

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over to the ocean side.

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[music]

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narrator: 
The Lombs tried 
to farm coconuts,

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but the plantation failed 
when wind and rats

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destroyed the young trees.

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Paul: 
So it was kind of a 
forlorn God forsaken experiment.

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narrator: 
A New Jersey pioneer named John 
Collins bought the property.

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He had a better idea 
than coconuts

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and planted exotic produce like 
mangos, tomatoes and avocados.

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[music]

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narrator: 
Collins set about taming 
the swamp,

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clearing its mangroves 
and its rats.

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Paul: 
He planted an 
avocado orchard

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that straddle today's 
Arthur Godfrey Road.

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He plaed these 
Australian pine trees.

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They're very fast growing.

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They're very shallow 
rooted as wind blocks.

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Many of those trees, in fact, 
are on Pine Tree Drive today.

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[music]

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narrator: 
A canal was cut to move the 
crops across the peninsula

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to a ferry that connected it to 
the mainland port of Miami

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across Biscayne Bay.

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There, the railroad built by 
industrialist Henry Flagler

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took the produce north.

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[music]

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The southbound trains 
brought tourists and settlers

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looking for a slice of a 
new tropical paradise.

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Paul: 
Miami was already a 
going city by this time.

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Miami in 1910 had 5,500 people.

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[music]

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narrator: 
This was now the 
age of the automobile.

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And it would bring with 
it another man with a vision

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to transform Miami Beach into 
the playground of today.

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[music]

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Carl Fisher was an auto 
parts mogul from Indiana.

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He made the first practical 
automobile headlights

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and sold the company 
for a fortune.

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Paul: 
Self-made, dare devil, 
a great visionary.

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One of the more incredible 
stories in the America

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of the early 20th century.

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By the time he's 23 or 24,

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he's got the biggest 
car dealership in Indianapolis,

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which was an important car 
center at that time.

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[music]

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narrator: 
Fisher loved to be 
behind the wheel,

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and he built a speedway in 
Indianapolis to race cars.

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[music]

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Paul: 
He laid a lot of money 
on that track.

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He put down a wood base,

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and that thing just kind 
of flew all over the place.

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And there were accidents galore. 
He was mortified.

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In fact, the first race 
was unsuccessful,

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and he came back within a year

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and built this good masonry base 
for it, bricks.

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narrator: 
Race fans dubbed it, 
"The Brickyard."

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Fisher, a born salesman, 
proclaimed it

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the most spectacular sports 
event in the world.

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[music]

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narrator: 
At the time, most paved roads 
petered out the dirt tracks

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at the edge of towns.

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Fisher persuaded automakers 
like Henry Ford

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to finance the first major 
highway, the Lincoln Highway,

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from New York to San Francisco.

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Paul: 
It went through area 
that had never before

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seen a road period.

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And he understood that the 
car was going to transform

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transportation and 
American industry.

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But before it could do that, 
you needed roads.

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So, let's link this country.

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narrator: 
Next, he turned his eye south 
where paradise beckoned

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if only motorists 
could get there.

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Paul: 
It's all about tourism.

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The tourist center of Florida 
prior to Miami becoming a city

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in 1896 was Jacksonville, 
St. Augustine.

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But by the early 1900's, it's 
clearly Miami, South Florida.

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narrator: 
Within two more years, Fisher 
had built the Dixie Highway,

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opening the floodgates to 
sun seekers and investors

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from the industrial north.

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Paul: 
It was a subscription road.

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If a city wanted it, 
you had to pay

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part of the cost of 
constructing that road.

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And it's today's northeast, 
southeast second avenue,

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right in the heart of Miami.

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[music]

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narrator: 
John Collins meanwhile had a 
vision of his own to connect

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Miami Beach with the mainland

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by building a road bridge 
across the bay.

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But half a mile from completion, 
he ran out of money.

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Fisher stepped in to bankroll 
the final stretch,

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and in return he got a 200 acre 
slice of Collins' land.

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Paul: 
The Collins bridge 
joined Miami Beach

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with the Venetian 
causeway as today back behind me

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and then the Collins canal 
runs all the way

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past the Holocaust 
Memorial Route

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to the eastern part 
of today's Miami Beach.

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[music]

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narrator: 
When it opened in 1913,

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it was the longest 
wooden bridge in the world.

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[music]

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With the land link in place,

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Fisher could see 
a golden future.

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So could the Collins' clan,

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especially the businessman's 
son-in-law, Thomas Pankhurst.

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Together with a consortium 
of Miami bankers,

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led by the Loomis brothers, they 
began to plan a resort city.

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Paul: 
These guys combined 
their companies,

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Collins Miami Beach 
Improvement Company,

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Fisher, the Alton Beach 
Realty, the Loomis brothers,

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the Ocean Beach Realty.

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These three companies 
came together in 1915,

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and they incorporated as a town.

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[music]

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narrator: 
The Collins clan, 
from New Jersey,

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envisioned a southern 
Atlantic City.

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Fisher, on the other hand, saw 
the beach as a winter retreat

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for the rich and famous.

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[music]

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Paul: 
His vision early on was a place 
where these guilded age princes

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like himself could 
have big estates.

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And many of them are like him.

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They came out of a hard 
scrabble background.

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And now they had money, and 
they were throwing it around.

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[music]

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narrator: 
An army of engineers 
descended on the beach

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with heavy equipment 
to clear the land.

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Even a couple of elephants 
helped with the heavy lifting.

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[music]

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Dredges deepened channels 
and filled in the swamps.

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Paul: 
Then it pumped in bay bottom

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in order to fill in 
that concave area

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to eliminate the chance 
of water collecting again.

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And so now you were ready. 
You got the stage.

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[music]

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[music]

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narrator: 
Fisher built an opulent 
bayfront hotel, The Flamingo,

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where the wealthy could stay 
while their mansions were built.

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Paul: 
And it was the 
last word hotel.

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I mean, it faced the bay.

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It had a big park and 
recreation area east of it.

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It was just west of West Avenue 
at around 14th or 15th Street.

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The hotel stood where 
today's Flamingo Apartment 
buildings are.

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The hotel's recreational ground 
for today's Flamingo Park.

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The tennis complex of today is 
over here were the polo grounds.

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narrator: 
On Ocean Drive and 22nd Street,

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he opened his Roman 
pool and casino.

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Paul: 
A bathing casino is a place 
where you got a cabana.

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You usually have a pool.

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You've got the beach,

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the waters of the Atlantic 
ocean right there.

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You can get something to eat, 
something to drink.

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It's a glorified cabana.

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The Nautilus was built 
in 1923-24

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where Mt. Sinai Medical 
Center is today.

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I mean, that was even more 
spectacular than The Flamingo.

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Just east of it was a golf 
course and a polo field.

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narrator 
At one time, there were more 
polo fields and golf courses

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on the beach than 
schools and churches.

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Fisher played polo himself.

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He was an avid 
all around sportsman.

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[music]

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But his abiding passion 
was always speed,

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and he loved to race boats 
on Biscayne Bay.

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When he wasn't racing himself, 
he could watch the regattas

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from the grounds of his 
opulent bayfront mansion.

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From its tower, he could view 
the new resort city

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as it grows all around him.

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[music]

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[music]

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narrator: 
Fisher was a great showman.

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Rosie, one of his elephants, 
joined the sales team.

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[music]

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Paul: 
Fisher was a genius at 
generating publicity.

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[music]

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narrator: 
Rosie caddied for golfers

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including President 
Warren G. Harding.

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Sometimes she 
teed it up herself.

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Paul: 
When that went out all over the 
country in the Sunday papers

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and pictures and captions 
and all, she was very famous.

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narrator: 
Fisher advertised Miami 
Beach as paradise for sale.

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In the winter of 1918, he put 
a billboard in Time's Square.

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Paul: 
That's where you wanted 
the people to come from,

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the snowy north with money.

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[music]

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narrator: 
Bathing belles added 
their own look.

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Buyers flocked south.

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J.C. Penney bought an estate.

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So did tire company 
magnet, Harvey Firestone.

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Back in 1903, the government had 
cut a channel through the beach

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to create better access 
to the port of Miami.

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Paul: 
The cut created an island that 
Carl Fisher took a liking to

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and purchased, and in fact 
it still bears his name,

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Fisher Island.

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Somewhere along the way, 
the millionaire, 
William K. Vanderbilt,

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brought his large 
fabulous yacht to the island.

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Fisher saw it, fell in love 
with it instantly,

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approached Vanderbilt and said, 
"My island for your boat."

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And that's the kind of way 
deals were made in those days.

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narrator: 
Collins Avenue became 
the first paved boulevard

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running north to south.

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Fisher cut a 
swab eastward

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through the mangroves 
to build Lincoln Road.

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Paul: 
Fishers' realty office 
on Lincoln Road

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was in this building behind me.

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Later, it was the site 
of the Van Dyke Café.

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Fisher would bring prospective 
buyers of real estate

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to the penthouse up top,

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look at this bare landscape 
in front of him and say,

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"See that piece of land over 
there? That could be yours."

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narrator: 
A county causeway 
eventually connected Miami

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to the beach at 5th Street.

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In 1942, it was 
renamed the McArthur.

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Fisher built a trolley car 
system to complete the 
mainland link.

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Paul: 
See, he understood that 
if you don't have a car,

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you're going to have to get 
a ride somehow across there

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unless you want to swim.

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So, he's the guy that instituted 
circa, beginning in the 1920's,

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a trolley system that 
was very extensive.

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Fisher owned his own 
power plant,

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later taken over by 
Florida Power and Light.

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Because how are you 
going to sell real estate

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if you don't have power 
or bring tourists down?

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Everything you needed, 
he tried to have in place.

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narrator: 
The pristine barrier island 
that had once attracted

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a passing sailboat 
had been transformed

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into a thriving city.

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Paul: 
The boom reached its peak 
in the summer of '25

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and it was phenomenal. 
It was the talk of the nation,

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at least the eastern part 
of the United States.

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I mean, land that had 
been going for nothing

255
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was suddenly selling 
for everything.

256
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And building permits 
were crazy.

257
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And then, for a host of reasons,

258
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that boom began to collapse 
by the latter part of '25.

259
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Certainly in '26.

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By June of '26, it's over.

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[music]

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[music]

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narrator: 
Around the same time,

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nature took its revenge 
on all this development.

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Paul: 
The mighty hurricane 
September 17, 18

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just smashed right 
into Miami Beach

267
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and then it turns west right 
through downtown Miami

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past the northern edges of Coral 
Gables out into the Everglades.

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A lot of people got trapped 
out on the McArthur causeway.

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The causeway was 
much more narrow then.

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It wasn't bulk-headed.

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And that water 
surge just took it.

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And this destruction 
was terrible.

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There were thousands 
left homeless.

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Thousands of buildings 
went down or were damaged.

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00:12:41,833 --> 00:12:43,933
One hundred and thirty people 
in Dade County died.

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That just ensured that 
boom wasn't coming back.

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[music]

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narrator: 
The crash of '29 brought 
on the Great Depression,

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and an end to the extravagance 
of the roaring '20's.

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The timing of the crash couldn't 
have been worst for Carl Fisher.

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He was over-invested 
in his latest scheme to create

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a northern Miami Beach on 
the eastern tip of Long Island.

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00:13:06,633 --> 00:13:08,866
The stock market crashed, 
and that was it.

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He lost almost everything.

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narrator: 
Fisher sold his opulent home.

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00:13:13,733 --> 00:13:15,966
In typical fashion, he quipped 
that it took too long

288
00:13:15,966 --> 00:13:18,633
to get to the front door anyway.

289
00:13:18,633 --> 00:13:20,533
And he ended up living 
in a small apartment

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somewhere on South Beach.

291
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And that's where 
he passed away.

292
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narrator: 
Alcohol had destroyed his liver.

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00:13:26,533 --> 00:13:29,600
When he died in 1939 
at the age of 65,

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mourners paid tribute to him

295
00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:33,800
as one of the great 
visionaries of his time.

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They placed a memorial 
on Alton Road.

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00:13:36,933 --> 00:13:40,600
Paul: 
There is a little bust of him 
in a park on Alton Road,

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and it really attributes 
to him what it should.

299
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That he carved a great 
city out of a jungle.

300
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Sadly, there's little else in 
Miami Beach that recognizes

301
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his tremendous 
contributions to the city.

302
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He's largely a forgotten man.

303
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narrator: 
Fisher, himself, 
dismissed the notion

304
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that he was a man of vision.

305
00:13:58,900 --> 00:14:02,633
Paul: 
He was more into it for the 
achievement, for the challenge.

306
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narrator: 
He preferred to say 
that he was just a guy

307
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who liked to see the dirt fly.

308
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[music]

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[music]