The Key West Citizen Newspaper, September 19, 1953, Page 13

Desperate Economic Plight Of Key West In Grim Days Of The Thirties ls Almost Forgotten In The Unprecedented Prosperity Of The Fifties Key West members of the crisis in the Isiand’s history to lead, Key West ls tedey the Island's \hotel downtown, small but com-) his feeling — Key West might brightened up the principal barsyunemployed cigar makers may be)Julius Stone feli in love with Key Mational Home Week Com-|"* isto the unparalleled prosperity, lergest employer, peyrell, and \fortable; a couple of new school by thie time have been os de- land restaurants of the town with/nired by some tourist agency to West — the old Key West, as it enjoyed by the Island and consumer, houses, a boulevard round the is r painted by PWA « i e Duval Street cafes, being was; and i* may prove that Oscar of the Florida Keys today. | Though it is possible that the land, » motor road down the Keys, ! th Porting quaint at so much a week. This Wilde was right when be said that Any one of them will point to the Navy might fold up its installations and a lot of headaches a , {to re a pene whole enterprise began because each man kills the thing he loves.” for rejoicing that the great difference between the stea--here in some remote future, it is| “For the city borrowed a mil- that the best that could be dome one train a day. Housing tourists - - eunee dy post-war expansion xf Key West highly improbable that the climate lion and a half to build the boule. Was to try to set up Key West a8 was solved by Key We building aa, _ Key \puiding climazing today in the of Key West will ever change to vard, the county borrowed four * age bear sy t gpoe pe rented rooms cad weir bows ic is fh On in ‘of n 70 Nae comme eevaphemarel oom te tame ouch, 2 extent tat leees its milion wo bud the Overves MAb Sher tne government hed shown tyfne’ te ity daar. + month, Place as a tourist center. way; and then the boom biew uP. the way. But the pump had to be with seventy-five, the absolute t who have been’ Today's prosperity is based on in 28 yoors Key West hes seer- The result was that two long stret- primed with Federal taxpayers’ at those prices, 200 houses and ches where the road would have money, and nobody wen Son a apartments were rented, he said > how things were run in Key West in » town that had never rented had to be covered by ferries, over to the short-sighted politica! ” business for more quarter to factors which would seem to ‘Trevor, be @ permanent part of the Island's $43 i bi ‘7 Fs In his own way Davis Pro cause the county could not raise economic oligarchy that dominated phecied the next twenty years in ‘the eight or ten million dollars that the local governments. So there Key West. He concluded would have been needed to build|were conferences with montages = “The more the FERA succeeds td those * ™O8s meeting of citizens, and in in putting Key West over as a tour Retigee, Volvo wo bubé July the news went out that city ist town, the more surely it will bridges was the luckiest thing that .14 county officials had abdicated jose some of the quality that ori ever happened to Key West. If in favor of the Governor, who had ginally attracted tourists. You can- they had there when the road turned the town over to the FERA not ask people to starve for the pened in Ge wre haveito be fed, rehabilitated, and gov- sake of being quaint; but an old attracted swarms of motor tour- devotee of Key West cannot help sts; and the civie boosters of those), . Stone and M. E. Gilfond, shuddering at the prospect that a days were all set to make thethen his director of publicity and few years from now the surviving FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS i i i j i t i i 8 i Florida's Largest Insurance Company i} te i TT iit *All Forms of Life Insurance Written *Mortgage Insurance Our Specialty $15% DUVAL STREET J. B. SYMMONETTE Telephone 2-2272 Manager Fy = ; Z z ii i 1 ili i $3 z EREERE 5 Ht t uy Faces a HHS rhftei oti jis" Hi fy E t E : Hi i at Es i z & priceless excuse. When hard times came knocking at the door act. sar which had made up most of scape; to tear down old shacks fall Federal Government to $10,000.00 oe 1 the business of the port. The Navy ruin that were eyesores & Ori inal T; - West 0t'varg and submarine base and the neg e M4 reatment Concha to the passer-by. Luckily there was DIVIDENDS PAID ON 612 William Street Dial 2-2022 fj] att or our poticizs most of the citizens simply sat |forts that protected them, lost their of common labor ava = blvance when the cvier of in tnd by marwiner ey weet w=s| CURRENT DIVIDEND 3%% PER ANNUM ternational tension shifted to the|as land thus provided Key West with T:.: DIFFERENCE back and said that everything econo-| Would be all right if only State s in|POrts of machinery and imports of the rubbish that befeuled the land wall anicured a tow \ m. e m as you @ Quality Engineering CRUSOE ton maintenance grviacn. Seddon | Tagen tn also bait Open Your Account Today Against West not only was broke but, as orm“ Ecerve=:| KEY WEST BUILDERS COMPANY o @ HURRICANE melancholia. By May, two-thirds of M. A. ATWATER, AIA BOWARD A. AMBLER Insure With Us Architect Builder and Contractor and Save 40% M4 OR TELEPHONE FoR Have You Seen Our V.A. Homes? — eo ane ° or Federal Government would IN OUR HOMES }":=%:- sg | not! “The general depression super-| ly Key West discovered that most some really good bathing beaches, too wel] been and always will be a g}. for the extraordinary tourists. But . the long, slow ferry trip cut the tourist traffic down to a trickle — of Key West $12 Southard Street Phone 26441 Cabal et beset Key Weet. ‘Tae eiaet| is bet mest people who North: Key West pore daca bution te con om ot were unable mee! e com - @ Distinctive Desi Me Fis en se nd ee WITH SAFETY ve Designs Manual sugar boom ended the heavy ex-lthe garbage that imperiled health All Accounts Insured by Agency of & Charm and Comfort nsurance “When I saw the town in March Agency 902 Florida: Street [fi ny clic uty Astor et KEY WEST BUILDINGS not on relief, they seemed to muah 4 Coneha some tour- Inmure | eSssemn BY CONSTRUCTION || YourHome [2m srkls ses: eteniecnnan.ctl 217 Duval Street Telephone 2-2333 The We are General Contractors for the Construction and Be e Repair of both Residential and Commercial Structures. e You can buy Bennett Buildings with confidence. The are Key West-constructed. Your home is built AT HO! es sommes from foundation to roof by Key West labor, using Key ' West materials. e WILLIAM A. FREEMAN, Owner-Manager ea een imapenalls Property Insurance Against Fire, Theft and Hurricane THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR OUR ESTIMATES! PERSONAL PROPERTY INSURANCE AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE CASUALTY BONDS FIDELITY AND SURETY BONDS THE OLDEST INSURANCE AGENCY IN KEY WEST Build the Best — Build Key ‘West