The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1946-12-06

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film In which he is woving to n
entrance 10 the grounds from his,
office which was at the right of
the hotel door.
Learned Many Facts
From the time | first met him
and his good wife in the winter
Of 1891 almost until the day he
passed away at his longtime
summer home and birthplace in
Haincs Falls, N. Y, June 30th,
fD33. We either frequently had
talked together, or correspondent.
Through those unforgetable years
I learned many facts little known
or long since forgotten by Key
Westers, about the Casa Marina,
is conception and its construc-
ton. Its architectural details al
ways captured my fancy for my
own father was all his life a
builder.
first saw the expansive pile
II masonry when the palms
which now beautify it had been
bat recently set out. And as
they grew and in later years be-
San 30 show yellow fronds I heard
from Mr.. Schutt's own lips the
secret he had learned at Long
Key Fishing Camp-how to pre-
vent the following. Long Key
Camp vanished in the deadly
1885 hurricane that sounded the |
knell Of the Florida East Coast
Railroad Extension TO Key West. |
40 Long Key at one time an iron
spike had been driven into the
bole Of q coconut palm whose
frunds had started to turn from !
green 30 ochre A workman hung |
hts coat ON the spike and when !
the carpenters left completed the !
village on stills they had built, |
ar. Schutt noticed the palm /
leaves changing back to their nat j
uFal green.
Spikes For Ailing Palms
At Casa Marina when the COCO !.
nuts began TO lose their glossy |
tint Mr.. Schutt simply drove an
irun spike into the ailing trunk
end. presto. oxidization wrought
. transformation and the fronds
soon assumed their own color
again.
Plans for construction of the
Panama Canal impelled Mr..
Flmgleg to put the Overseas Ex-
tension down from the mainland
30 Key West city. He foresaw !
mot alone AN expanding traffic
with Cuba. but with the waters
"a the globe which would be ,
opcned when traffic on the big |
ditch began.
II was the financier's objective
to ferry pullman cars and passen-
gers between Key West and Ha-
vana The program proved un-
successful SO the p. & o. steam
ship line was developed. The
charming water setting of the
Island City made it appear as
though passengers on train or
boat would want to stay in the
area for a time rather than TO
directly aboard ship for Havana,
OF take a train for the north.
Casa Marina Born"
So Casa Marina came into the
planning under the. ownership of
the Florida East Coast Hotel
Company. a subsidiary corpora
ton Of the Flagler Florida en-
piFc. Casa Marina is of poured
concrete II is divided into the
main building with two wings,
and the kitchen facility.
The main structure is l52 feet
long and fronts on the open
ocean. II is 70 feet wide includ-
ING the broad piazzas. The wings
extend toward the beach-which
had To- be built-at obtuSe angles.
The kitchen part is attached TO
the west wing. The dining room
and its loggias are on that end.
The dining wing is l52 feet long
and % feet wide inclusive of the
dining pOrches. The kitchen area
Is 90 by 20 feet. The east wing
Is l02 feet in length.
Foundation walls of the hotel
are % inches thick. In the area
between the foundations are els
terms for rain water of total ca
pacity of 100000 gallons. When no
fresh water was available in Key
except from the skies, caves
troughs on the hotel filled the
clsterns. II rain failed, water
was brought down the Keys by
rail in special tank car trains
from Homestead, and piped across
the island from the vicinity of
the Trumbo docks to meet Casa
Marina's requirements. That no
potable water lies beneath Key
West island was proven in 1895
when a well was driven by Har-
ward scientists 1000 feet down in
Jackson Square near the Court
House
Construction of Cisterns
The earliest Extension water