Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
CARIBBEANS & CONFEDERATES
For most of the second half of the 19th century, Key West was the largest, wealthiest city
in Florida. How did the little island do so well? Wrecking and sponges. Wrecking is the art
of salvaging shipwrecks; local boosters liked to make out this was an altruistic act, and
many sailors were pulled from the sea, but the cargo on their boats was sold by Keys mer-
chants. Sponges are just that - undersea sponges that became the backbone of the actu-
al American sponge industry for decades.
The population of the island consisted largely of Caribbean émigrés, but mainland Flor-
idians attracted by business opportunities also made their way here. While the presence
of a US Naval Base kept Key West in the Union during the American Civil War, many island
residents overtly sympathized with the Confederacy.
Depression, Deco & Another World War
Miami's growth was astronomical, and so was its eventual fall: the Great Miami Hurricane
of 1926, which left about 220 people dead and up to 50,000 homeless; and the Great De-
pression. But it's in Miami's nature to weather every disaster with an even better resur-
gence, and in the interwar period Miami's phoenix rose in two stages. First, Franklin
Roosevelt's New Deal brought the Civilian Conservation Corps, jobs and a spurt of rise-
from-the-ashes building projects.
Second, in the early 1930s, a group of mostly Jewish developers began erecting small,
stylish hotels along Collins Ave and Ocean Dr, jump-starting a miniboom that resulted in
the creation and development of Miami Beach's famous art-deco district. This led to a
brief rise in anti-Semitism, as the Beach became segregated and 'Gentiles Only' signs
began to appear. The election of a Jewish governor of Florida in 1933 led to improvement,
as did airplane travel, which brought plenty of Jewish visitors and settlers from the north.
During WWII, Miami was again a major military training ground, and afterward, many
of those GIs returned with their families to enjoy Florida's sandy beaches at leisure. This
marked the real beginning of tourism in Florida, and large-scale settlement of South Flor-
ida in particular.
