Miami Beach in 1920: The Making of a Winter Resort (The Making of America Series)

Recognized for its poise and fashion, Miami Beach embodies the best elements of the new American city: cultural diversity, imaginative architecture, and dazzling scenery. In many aspects, Miami Beach is a metropolitan masterpiece, sculpted by the careful hands of visionary entrepreneurs against a magnificent coastal backdrop. The evolution of Miami Beach from a small, uninhabited strip of palmetto scrub and swamp into an internationally-renowned resort is a fascinating tale of human ingenuity, endurance, and foresight. A milestone in the city's development, the year 1920 marked many significant improvement, such as the new County Causeway bridge, and many "firsts" for the expanding hamlet, including the first electric trolley, the first automated telephone system, and its first post office building. Readers of all ages will be thoroughly entertained as they explore their Miami Beach of yesteryear: a time of Prohibition and bootlegging, grand hotels and lavish casinos, budding polo fields and golf courses, and the many distinct personalities that added color and life to this burgeoning town.

Miami Beach in 1920: The Making of a Winter Resort documents, in word and image, the fascinating story of a city blossoming into one of Florida's most famous gardens of earthly delights. Dr. Abraham D. Lavender, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Florida International University, has composed a highly readable text celebrating the major events that turned a small town into the premier winter playground of the country.