Florida: An Attractive Place By Michael Watson, Crystal Lake Middle School, & Tye Bruno, Inwood Elementary School

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1 Florida: An Attractive Place By Michael Watson, Crystal Lake Middle School, & Tye Bruno, Inwood Elementary School Summary Florida had a massive increase in population from the 1910 s through the 1920 s. There were many different factors that made Florida a popular place to live. The main focus of this lesson is in Miami in the 1920 s. During the lesson the students will create billboards to show what makes Florida a popular place today, they will create an outline from the main factors that caused the population increase, and draw a second billboard using the factors that enticed people to Florida in the 1920 s. The second billboard will be used as an informal assessment. Objectives The students will be able to explain the main factors that caused the population boom of the 1920 s in Florida. The students will write an outline showing the high points of the increase in population during the 1920 s. The students will draw and design billboards to show what made Florida such an attractive place to live in the 1920 s, and what makes it so attractive for people today. U.S. History Event or Time Period This lesson is linked to the Roaring 20 s. Grade Level This lesson is designed for upper elementary and middle school. Materials Pencil Colored pencils White paper (2 for each student) Transparency of the outline that is provided in the lesson Copies of included pictures for each student (or transparencies of each picture) Overhead projector Wall map of the United States Lesson Time This lesson will take minutes or two class periods. This lesson can be stopped and started as needed at any point in the lesson.

2 Lesson Procedures 1.) Begin class with showing the class where Florida is on the map, and tell them that they will be learning what made Florida such and attractive place to live during the 1920 s. Write this question on the board: Why is Florida such a popular place for people to visit and move to today. 2.) Allow minutes for students to answer this question orally during class. 3.) Put students into groups of 4, and pass out a white sheet of paper. Have the groups create a billboard using the different factors that bring people to Florida today. Give the groups minutes. 4.) Have the groups stand up and share their billboard with the rest of the class allowing a minute for each group. 5.) Begin having the students copy the outline that is given, reminding them to space correctly and keep it in outline form. As the students copy the outline the teacher will explain the outline to the class. 6.) Pass out the pictures to students, or show the transparencies including pictures, while the students are writing the outline. 7.) When the outline is complete review the outline touching on the main points and place the class back into their groups. 8.) Give each group a piece of white paper, and have them draw another billboard, but this time using the factors that brought people to Florida during the 1920 s. The outline can be found in the Activities section. 9.) Have the groups discuss their billboard to the class allowing one minute.

3 Activities Outline: Florida in the 1920 s During the infancy of Florida s existence as a territory and later the 27 th state of the United States of America, Florida was looked upon as a swampy, marshy, backwater frontier which hardly tickled the notoriety of the majority of America s population. Despite the relevance of the longstanding native influence coupled with the fact that Florida had a significant European taste to its culture dating back to the establishment of St. Augustine and Pensacola as Spanish settlements, the presence of Florida was significantly overlooked by many who considered the state too tough, or undesirable to visit. My, my, how times have changed! Today, Florida ranks as one of the top tourist destinations in the world. An overgrown mouse running around in Orlando has something to do with this popularity. However, Florida became quite popular in its own right long before Mickey, Pluto, Donald and company showed up. So the question remains, why do people come to Florida? Let s examine the time period of Key factors, events, and people which led to the explosion of Florida s population growth as well as the increase in tourism. I. Census Population: Examples of municipal growth: A. Jacksonville 57, ,549 B. Miami 5, ,637 C. Tampa 37, ,161 II. 1917: America enters World War I A. The United States military establishes a handful of military bases, Mainly naval and air, to assist with the training of thousands of enlistees newly inducted into the service. Jacksonville and Pensacola are two of the major bases. B. Jacksonville and Tampa will also serve as major industrial sites in the form of shipbuilding centers. Countless workers will migrate to these towns looking for jobs. III. Highway Improvements: A. 1915: State Road Department is established B. 1916: Federal Aid will be provided to help improve roads which are utilized to deliver the U.S. Mail. C. 1919: At DeSoto Park, Tampa the first Tin Can Tourist Camp is created. Tin Can Campers are a group of intrepid tourists who will convert their trucks (Ford Model T s for the most part) into an early version of today s specialized travel campers. D. Highway construction from the 20 s through the 30 s will add over 9,000 miles of new roads to Florida s highway system. E. This phenomenon continues throughout the 1920 s with camp sites being established in nearly every major Florida City as well as along the highways crisscrossing the state. IV. The Roaring 1920 s A. Florida would become somewhat of a playground for the wealthy during the decade. B. Beachside resorts would be frequented by those who could afford both the price of luxury as well as the price of travel. By the 1920 s Florida was easily accessible by train due to the efforts of men like Henry Flagler, William D. Chipley, and Henry B. Plant. C. Air travel was also becoming a major mode of transportation by those who could afford the means, and had the courage, during this period.

4 V. Land Boom of the 1920 s ( ) A. Real estate developers would sell plots of land, unseen by the buyer, and the land would often change hand several times without any true development. These paper promises would crash by 1926, creating an economic depression in advance of the national disaster of B. Despite the financial failure, the Boom did lead to a large migration of investors and new families flocking to Florida. C. Major figures of the Land Boom: 1. John S. Collins Miami 2. George Merrick Coconut Grove 3. David P. Davis Tampa 4. Joseph W. Young Ft. Lauderdale

5 Picture E-8-1: A Tin Can Camper from Minneapolis at a campground in Arcadia, FL, around (Picture from the Florida Memory Project s Florida Photographic Collection ) Picture E-8-2: A Tin Can Tourist from Vermont in her pulled-out camper (Picture from the Florida Memory Project s Florida Photographic Collection )

6 Picture E-8-3: The Arcadia, FL, Tin Can Tourist campground (Picture from the Florida Memory Project s Florida Photographic Collection ) Picture E-8-4: Tourists visiting an alligator farm in Tampa, FL, at the onset of the 1920 s. (Picture from the Florida Memory Project s Florida Photographic Collection )

7 Assessment This lesson will use an informal assessment by using the groups second billboard to see if they used the main factors that attracted people to Florida in the 1920 s.

8 Resources Burnett, Gene M. Florida s Past: People and Events that Shaped the State, Vol. 2 & 3. Pineapple Press: Sarasota, FL (1988-Vol. 2; Vol. 3). Fernald, Edward A., and Purdum, Elizabeth D., Eds. Atlas of Florida: Revised Edition. University Press of Florida: Gainesville, FL (1996). Gannon, Michael V. Florida: A Short History. University Press of Florida: Gainesville, Florida (1993). -The Florida Memory Project s Florida Photographic Collection