Meanwhile, in Florida

As in California, prospective buyers were given a free bus trip around Florida by real estate agents whose sole agenda was to get rich off Florida land.  Their expectation was to get out of Florida after they made quick money or they saw the bubble about to burst.

Coral Gables was promoted by an illustrated booklet promising to be a "moderated Mediterranean - a new Venice with silent pools, canals and lagoons - but even more beautiful that the old Venice since it was protected from zoning from the beginning."

In another, "Boca Raton will surpass in exclusiveness any resort on Florida's East Coast."  Selected bathing beaches, golf courses, tennis courts, aviation fields, polo grounds, and dock rights were said to be available for everyone, according to the literature circulated for interested northerners.  "No existing world resort of wealth and fashion compares with Boca Raton.  There has never before been offered such an opportunity."

When Boca Raton lots were offered in 1925, the first day's sales totaled over $2 million. Smaller subdivisions around Miami sold out in the first day.  Most of the lots weren't even developed yet - no boulevards promised were yet laid, the yacht basin didn't exist yet, and the dirt that was to raise lots above bog level wasn't even excavated yet.  It would be months, if not years before buyers could view their lots, or make them habitable.

By 1926, enthusiasm was beginning to wan.  Maybe because northern bankers were cautioning clients about investing in "swamp land" sight unseen!  On September 19, 1926 a hurricane blew away most of the new lots that were done, and with it came the end of the Florida boom.  Only desolation was left.  The Red Cross came to set up relief shelters for the new residents, but few stayed.  Even though the mad dash to buy Florida land was over, like California, Florida would eventually become one of the most populous states in the Union - and learn to recover from hurricanes.

Next time...FOOD!
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower departs from Plymouth, England, for the New World with 102 passengers.  The ship headed for Virginia where the colonists-religious dissenters and entrepreneurs and been authorized to settle by the British crown.  Stormy weather and navigational errors forced the ship off course, and on November 21 the "Pilgrims" reached Massachusetts where they founded the first permanent European settlement in New England.