The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1934-07-16

Of the rope around the islands
neck.
But slowly change came into
being. With the railroad finished
the weekend crowds gradually
thinned out as more and more men
were laid off. Then the cigar fac
tories began closing down, moving
closer to shipping centers. Tampa
got most of them, Jacksonville
others, some just closed up and
stopped business.
Nothing looks SO depressing as
an empty, abandoned cigar fac
tory; only their odor remains,
pungently stale. That was the era
tof fires. The factories burned,
one by one, some in very mys-
FERROUS fashion, but they burned,
leaving gaping plots which were
never again built upon.
The Cubans thinned out, NOV
ing away, followed the factories
to other places, others went back
to Cuba. Merchants began closing
their stores; most of them moved
to Miami, where tourists, attract
ed by the Flagler hotels, were be-
ginning to make the Magic City a
winter resort.
The natives, the "Conchs, ("
stayed. And for a while the ship
ping, fishing, sponging, car ferry
and naval station business kept the
town alive. This was during the
war. Sugar was bringing high
prices, millions poured into Cuba
and the plantations ordered ma
chinery and the planter sautomo-
biles and American-made products.
Most of these passed through
Key West and over the big car fer
ries to Havana in their original
freight cars. And back poured a
steady stream of unrefined sugar,
molasses, pineapples, fruit of all
description. This business alone
gave employment to hundreds of
men.
Sugar Prices Drop
. But with the end of the war,
Key Vests star began quickly to
set. The price of sugar went
down, and as a consequence the
freight thinned, the navy began
quartering for the winter in Guam
tanamO instead of Key West, and
the naval station began laying off
, men.
The army barracks closed at the
same time and sponge buyers be-
gan going to. Tarpon Springs for
their sponges; more and more mer-
chants moved away, where five
movies once turned away business
only one remained; the trolley sys-
TEN was abandoned in favor of a
bus line that made fewer and few
er trips.
The Florida real estate boom in
1924-25-26 revived Key West for
a short while. There was money
in the air, the island built a road
, around its fine beach, golf course
, on adjoining Stock Island, filled
in lots. But this false prosperity
soon left the isle, leaving it in a
worse plight than ever.
Once again, however. was the
island to feel a breath of life, of
hope. That was when the over
seas highway was announced and
work actually started on it. Said
the Key Westers:
"Wait till the road gets
through! Things will be differ
emit"
Highway Adds Nothing
But the highway added nothing.
In the first place there was not
sufficient funds with which to con-
struct the road all the way down
the keys. At Matecumbe it was
necessary to bridge a 40-mile
strip of seawater with a six-hour
ferry ride, an expensive ride at
that.
Tourists, unless they were very
rich and had lot of time on their
hands, couldn't see spending any,
where from IS to $40 on that
ferry ride. Besides, said they,
what is there to see and do when
one gets to Key West?
At any rate, the crowds didn't
come. The overseas highway turn
ed out to be just another chimera,
and Key West slumped still fur
Their into despond.
And what can be done about it?
If other Florida communities be-
lieve they have an ideal winter
climate they must all bow to Key
West. The little island, So flat
that it's highest point is only IL
feet above sea level. has never
known even the slightest touch of
frost.
In this writer's IL years on Key
CONTINUED on Page Four)
ANTI TEED 4