Fort Myers in Vintage Postcards


Book Description

Fort Myers lies on the beautiful, wide Caloosahatchee River. Tropical flowers and palm trees dot the landscape, which today boasts a revitalized downtown, historic neighborhoods, shopping, and a breathtaking waterfront. The fort itself, named for Lt. Col. Abraham Myers, was established to quell uprisings and help the Indian Removal campaigns. It was later used by Union forces in the Civil War, abandoned, and then reoccupied by courageous settlers who relied on the cattle business and farming to sustain families and the community. In the late 1800s, Fort Myers began to attract famous winter residents, such as electrician Thomas Edison, as well as wealthy sportsmen trying their luck at tarpon fishing. When the iron horse finally arrived in 1904, Fort Myers experienced an economic transformation, and her days as a frontier cow town were numbered.




Fort Lauderdale in Vintage Postcards


Book Description

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a well-known tourist destination whose very name evokes the image of a postcard. What is today one of Florida's largest cities was not always prized for its beautiful beaches and tropical climate. In the early 20th century, it was hailed as the "Gateway to the Everglades" and a "vegetable shipping capital." By the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale found itself at the very center of the phenomenal Florida land boom. Development and tourism became driving forces for the new economy-and there has been no looking back.




Winter Park in Vintage Postcards


Book Description

The perfume of the orange blossoms . . . the beauty of every scene, combine to make me wonder whether I am not in Paradise, wrote one visitor to Winter Park, Florida, in 1918. Just five miles north of Orlando, Winter Parks oak-lined brick streets and its quiet lakes have been attracting visitors since the late 19th century, when U.S. president Chester A. Arthur declared, This is the prettiest spot I have seen in Florida. The New Englandlike city in the heart of the subtropics was once home to the Seminole Hotel, the largest resort south of Jacksonville. In 1885, prestigious Rollins College was founded here, the first institution of higher learning in Florida.




Plant City in Vintage Postcards


Book Description

Plant City is an ever-growing small community in Central Florida incorporated as a town in 1885. Now famous as the winter strawberry capital of the world, Plant City boasts three historic districts and five individual sites listed locally and on the National Register of Historic Sites. This volume includes more than 150 postcards from the collection of The Quintilla Geer Bruton Archives Center of the East Hillsborough Historical Society, relating the pictorial history of this town from generations past to present. Images of businesses, churches, people, and schools tell the story of Plant City's growth and development, while those of hotels, motels, cabins, and tourist homes showcase where residents and visitors stayed while enjoying Plant City.




Columbus, Georgia in Vintage Postcards


Book Description

Founded in 1828 as a planned city by the Georgia Legislature, Columbus prospered due to its location on the Chattahoochee River. Industry sprang up along the shores of the Chattahoochee and shaped Columbus's identity as one of Georgia's premier cities. Today a thriving metropolis, it is the Columbus of yesteryear that is illuminated within these pages. Early postcard views reflect the city from around 1905 to 1942, showcasing many of its businesses, neighborhoods, and parks. Included are places virtually unknown to citizens today--the Bell Tower, the City Market, North Highlands Park, and Wildwood Park--as well as those that were landmarks a century ago and landmarks still: the Iron Bank, the Springer Opera House, the Union Depot, the YMCA, and Fort Benning.




Florida Railroads in the 1920's


Book Description

Floridas railroads emerged in the 1830s amid Native American upheaval and territorial colonization. Many periods of development marked this fascinating heritage, but one era towers above the rest: the 1920s. It was then that Florida experienced a colossal land boom, one of the greatest migration and building stories in American history. People poured into the state as never before, real estate traded hands at breakneck speed, and the landscape added countless new homes, hotels, apartments, and commercial buildings. Floridas biggest railroadsthe Atlantic Coast Line, Seaboard Air Line, and Florida East Coastwere unprepared for the tidal wave of traffic. Thus, the Big Three had to rapidly expand and increase capacity. Dozens of projects unfolded at great cost, by one estimate over $100 million. When the building frenzy ended, the railway map of the state stood at its greatest extentsome 5,700 miles. Further, the frequency of railway service within and to the Sunshine State reached an unprecedented level, never again to be repeated.




The Florida Land Boom of the 1920s


Book Description

During the Roaring Twenties, millions of Americans moved to the Sunshine State seeking quick riches in real estate. Many made fortunes; others returned home penniless. Within a few years thousands of residential subdivisions, palatial estates, inviting apartment buildings and impressive commercial complexes were built. Opulent theaters and imposing churches opened, along with hundreds of municipal projects. A unique architectural theme emerged, today known as Mediterranean Revival. Railways and highways saw a renaissance. New cities--Boca Raton, Hollywood-by-the-Sea, Venice--were built from scratch and dozens of existing communities like St. Petersburg, Fort Lauderdale and Orlando were forever transformed by the speculative fever. Florida has experienced numerous land booms but none more sweeping than that of the 1920s. This illuminating account details how one of the greatest migration and development episodes in American history began, reached dizzying heights, then rapidly collapsed.




Explorer's Guide South Florida


Book Description

This completely revised second edition of the definitive South Florida guidebook offers coverage of Tampa, the Gulf Coast, South Beach, Miami, and the Keys. In diverse, exciting South Florida you might catch a glimpse of an endangered Florida panther in a nature preserve in the morning and visit a four-star restaurant and world-class nightclub that evening. This rich destination welcomes visitors from all over the world with its vibrant arts communities and multicultural historic sites, luxurious seaside resorts and lush forests, and some of the best fishing and diving in the United States. With cattle ranches and citrus groves all the way down to the mighty swamps of the Everglades and Big Cypress there are endless opportunities for exploration and discovery for singles, couples, and families. From eco-friendly establishments and environmental information about the region to its trendy nightlife, out-of-the-way attractions, and best beach hotels, Explorer’s Guide South Florida is a thorough introduction to an alluring place that tourists as well as locals simply shouldn’t miss. Detailed maps, an index, an alphabetical “What’s Where” subject guide, and helpful icons that highlight places that offer special value, are pet-, gay-, and family-friendly, and are wheelchair accessible round out this incredible resource, your perfect travel companion.




Berrien County in Vintage Postcards


Book Description

As one of the earliest developed areas of the state of Michigan, Berrien County has a rich history that appeals to the locals as well as the tourists who still enjoy the many treasures to be found there. Author Sherry Arent Cawley has compiled over 200 vintage postcards chronicling the life and times of this historic area. The historic Benton Harbor Fruit Market, Silver Beach, the mineral baths at the Whitecomb Hotel, and the House of David are all featured here in vivid postcards, some never before published, with accompanying captions. Images of Grand Beach, Niles, New Buffalo, Paw Paw Lake, and Berrien Springs offer readers a nostalgic glimpse into a Berrien County of yesteryear.




Camp Bowie Boulevard


Book Description

In the early 1890s, Humphrey Barker Chamberlin installed a lifeline to his namesake suburb west of the city. A trolley connected to Arlington Heights Boulevard at the Trinity Rivers Clear Fork and chugged across prairie land to reach Chamberlin Arlington Heights. Camp Bowie, a soldiers city, sprawled over both sides of the road from 1917 until 1919. At the Great Wars end, the stretch west of present-day University Drive became the commemorative Camp Bowie Boulevard. The 1920s brought twin ribbons of cordovan-colored brick pavement, the prestige of inclusion in the Bankhead Highway network, and westering developers of another elite village: Ridglea. Midway through the Great Depression, the Will Rogers complex arose on a farm tract, visible from the thoroughfare, to host Texas Centennial celebrations and a special livestock exposition. Museums began claiming adjacent space in the 1950s. By the second decade of the 21st century, Camp Bowie Boulevard bisected a built environment both modern and historic.