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Until after the turn of the century, most of Florida's tourists were wealthy vacationers who often stayed in large resorts along the eastern coast. St. Augustine was one of the earliest areas to attract these vacationers. Beginning in the 1920s, with the proliferation of automobiles and the wide-spread construction of state roads, a new group of tourists began to visit Florida. Originally called "tin can tourists," these visitors drove to Florida by the thousands each year. Soon, several entrepreneurs had developed roadside attractions to entice the new tourists. State and federal parks, such as the Everglades National Park, were developed to attract visitors to Florida.
In 1927, Bok Tower, the nation's first "singing tower," opened in Lake Wales and became one of Florida's first roadside attractions. McKee Jungle Gardens opened in 1929, and by 1940 was attracting over 100,000 people a year to the Vero Beach area. In 1936, Dick Pope's Cypress Gardens opened near Winter Haven. Marine Studios, later renamed Marineland, opened in 1937 to attract tourists as well as movie producers. Finally, in the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps helped construct the Overseas Highway, which connected much of the Florida Keys with the mainland.
Summary:
The collection contains 88 photographs, taken by an unknown photographer, of various tourist sites in Florida in 1940. These photographs provide evidence of the points of interest to Florida tourists in the 1940s. They also document the various natural environments of the state at mid-century, including the Everglades, mangrove forests, beaches, and Caloosahatchee river. Originally arranged in a scrapbook, images include the Everglades, Cypress Gardens, Marine Studios (Marineland), St. Augustine, Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos), the Fountain of Youth, Fort Myers, Key West, Overseas Highway, McKee Jungle Gardens in Vero Beach, Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Daytona Beach, various natural scenes, and workers at a phosphate mine. Also included are several negatives.
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Folder listing available. 0
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Florida Photographic Collection Number P1982-44
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields:
Bok Tower Gardens (Lake Wales, Fla.) Castillo de San Marcos (Saint Augustine, Fla.) Fort Marion (Saint Augustine, Fla.) Marine Studios (Marineland, Fla.) McKee Jungle Gardens (Fla.) Oldest House (Saint Augustine, Fla.)
Beaches Florida Natural resources conservation areas Florida Phosphate industry Florida Tourism Florida.
Photographs. aat Negatives. aat
Cypress Gardens (Fla.) Daytona Beach (Fla.) Fort Matanzas (Fla.) Fort Myers (Fla.) Hialeah (Fla.) Key West (Fla.) Lake Wales (Fla.) Lakeland (Fla.) Overseas Highway (Fla.) Saint Augustine (Fla.) Tamiami Trail (Fla.) Vero Beach (Fla.) Winter Haven (Fla.)
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