e and the bridge had to be raised higher off the water.
Everett Shaw Sr. and Jr. worked for the Jenner Construction Company building the road from Card Sound bridge to Islamorada.
The building of a road from the mainland was important for Key Largo, as the Florida Land Boom was in progress and vehicle
access to land for sale was becoming critical.
The 1920s Florida land boom introduced Key Largo to land development. The North Carolina Fishing Village was the first
subdivision in 1923. Lots were laid out and pink sidewalks put in for Key Largo City Gardens (1925), just north of the train depot
and Garden Cove. Excursion trains were operated on weekends to bring potential customers to see this new development.
More subdivisions quickly followed to the south, such as the Angler's Park (1925), Angler's Shores (1925), Sunset Cove (1925),
Mandalay (1927), Seaside (1924-30), Tavernier Cove (1926) and Tavernier Heights (1926). By 1930 there were 26 subdivisions.
Very few actual houses were built. By the end of the 1970s there were about 123 subdivisions.
In the Upper Keys, the road was constructed by the Jenner Construction Company. The entire road was completed by 1928. The
wooden bridge was taken out in 1944 and not replaced until the 1960s.
A circa 1928 Florida Keys Upper Section brochure the following paid business advertisements in Key Largo: Doc. Knowlson's
Fishing Lodge, *Key Inn, Capt. J.S. Gerlock, John A. McRae - Realtor, Royal Palm Ice Co., Keys Supply Co. and the Key Largo
Store. *Below is an undated postcard of the Key Inn. I would have been a couple of miles north of the CR-905 and US-1
highways intersection on Key Largo. Ed and Fern Butters later sold the business and purchased the Matecumbe Hotel at
One of the historic homes is the European styled Largo Sound Rock Castle. It was a 1920s native coral rock home for New
Jersey dentist, Dr. George Engel. The walls are three feet thick at ground level and taper to 16 inches at the top. Upper Keys
county commissioner (1940-1942) T. Jenkins Curry had a small house nearby. Both survived the 1935 hurricane even though
the downstairs portions were completely flooded.
The mother of local attorney Jeff Gautier purchased the Largo Sound Castle in 1952. It had been vacant since the death of Dr.
Engel in 1945 and was sometimes referred to as the "Haunted house on Largo Sound." She remodeled the house and
removed the stone parapets along the roof line for safety reasons. A facsimile was later built in Dade County and "The Castle"
remains one of the oldest structures in the Upper Keys still standing in its original location. Many tales have been spun about
ghosts, etc. about the rock castle and it is located at the foot of Oceana Drive MM 103.5, oceanside.
The big plans for the 1920s community of Key Largo never materialized. As previously mentioned, between 1923 and 1927 there
were 26 subdivisions platted, but little actual construction. After 1927 there were no new subdivisions platted and recorded until
the 1940s on Key Largo. A category-three hurricane struck the Key Largo area in 1929, with winds estimated at 150 miles per
hour and tides up to 8.8 feet in the Garden Cove area.
Key Largo resumed its citrus economy, with the bust of the Florida Land Boom. Key limes and grapefruit were the principal
products. Perhaps the largest single packing house was the Chapman packing house immediately north of the Key Largo
depot. The introduction of the Persian lime on the mainland doomed the key lime as a Keys commercial product. Throughout
the Keys, visitors started to become the most important product and charter fishing would become an industry onto itself, as an
element of increased tourism.
With the destruction of 40 miles of railroad in the hurricane of September 1935, the railroad was not rebuilt and ceased
operations. The early Key Largo post office was discontinued on March 15, 1936 and mail responsibilities transferred to Rock
Harbor. Most new building moved south toward Rock Harbor, now included in the area of present-day Key Largo.
This action gave a Rock Harbor address to e