Here’s the strange part: almost none of this was supposed to exist. A century ago Miami Beach was a barrier island of mangrove swamp and sand, good for coconuts and not much else. Then a New Jersey farmer named John Collins planted avocado groves and dredged a canal to ship them, and an Indianapolis millionaire named Carl Fisher — the man behind the Indy 500 and the first bright automobile headlights — looked at the tangle of mangroves and saw a resort. Fisher cut down the jungle, dredged up the bay bottom, and literally built the island into shape. The city they incorporated in 1915 was, in large part, made by hand.
It started with a bridge. Collins ran short of money finishing a two-and-a-half-mile wooden span to the mainland — the longest in the world at the time — and Fisher loaned him the cash in exchange for land. On March 26, 1915, Collins, Fisher, and the Lummus brothers folded their separate beach companies together and chartered the Town of Miami Beach. Fisher then sold it to the world: grand hotels, polo fields, and a Times Square billboard that promised “It’s always June in Miami.” For one publicity stunt he posed a baby elephant as a golf caddie for a president-elect. America’s winter playground was open for business.
Why People Visit Miami Beach
Miami Beach rewards visitors who want style with their sand: the world’s great Art Deco strip, a wide Atlantic beach, walkable streets, and neon nights. Add the South Beach glow and the year-round Florida sun, and the man-made island makes an easy case for itself.
