The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1939-03-03
Key West Will
Make Comeback
Experiment City, Rich in
Historic Lore, Seeks
Lost Prestige.

KEY WEST.-This experiment"
city, rich in historic lore and ne III
raj beauty, but money poor. has
started down the comeback tra.i,
seeking to regain with the touri :
dollar the prestige it once held as q
leading industrial center of the
South.
A problem child" of the recovery
administration, Key West underwent
a complete Transformation with the
and Of federal funds allotted by Of
ffcials who visioned this coral island
a future tourist center unrivaled on
the continent.
When Key Vests population
dwindled from 1000 in 1912 to IL 900
In 1894, go per cent of whom were
Cd relief, federal agencies stepped
In and laid plans for rehabilitation
of the city.
Subsequently there followed COM
pletion of the Overseas highway,
81, 4O0, 900 project connecting Key
West with the Florida mainland, and
a program of Identification over
the entire island.
Old Beauty Retained.
Through the period Of rejuvena-
ton the city retained its old-world
charm and tropical beauty. It re-
manned the romantic Key West Of
its fictionlike history when pirates
and wreckers cruised it's surround
ing waters and Spanish sailors
roamed its narrow, palm-lined
streets.
Stories of its history, obtained
mostly from the weather-beaten
fishermen whose families have re-
sided here for generations, revealed
that in the early part OF. the Nine
teenth century a majority of the In
habitants were engaged in saEvag-
ing ships wrecked on nearby reefs.
The practice became little more
than legaliZed piracy, according to
reports. The intrepid wreckers, it
was stated. salvaged more than
81 900, 900 worth of silks, wines, sill
verware and lumber between 1881
and 1874. The money helped them
TO sustain a feet of more than so
vessels to carry on their activities.
Channels Now Marked.
While string of brightly Lighted
navigation aids now marks the
treacherous channels and hidden
reefs surrounding the island, a num-
Der of large vessels are grounded
yearly in the vicinity of Key West.
They are aided by an ocean-gong
wrecker stationed here.
Thousands of Cuban political ex-
lies who sought refuge here in the
latter part of the Nineteenth CEN
fury aided in the mushroom growth
of the island as an industrial center.
The peak was reached in 1896 and
the decline slowly began. In 1912,
Henry M. Flagler, Florida develop
er extending his East Coast railroad
across the Florida Keys to ley
West, found a city which was lis
integrating. Cigar manufactul srs,
beset by labor troubles, were ov-
ing to Tampa, on the Florida est
coast The sponge market collar sed.
Vessels no longer made the DC It a
stopping point
Federal efforts to rehabilitat the
city took terrific blow in 1885 hen
the Labor Day hurricane destI yed
the railroad and isolated the .ity.
The outcome, however, was the
Overseas Highway, built on the
roadbed of the railway and brir ling
Miami within three hours by uto-
mobile.
Today, this southernmost U tied
States city, sandwiched in bet cen
the Gulf Of Mexico and the Att ntic
ocean and bolstered by a fec aral
government program, looks fort ard
10 a new era of prosperity as our
ist center.