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Description

Very rare cadastral plan for the Miami-area city of Fulford-by-the-Sea, probably produced around 1926, when the city was first laid out.

The Fulford-by-the-Sea Company began selling lots in 1922. During the Florida land boom of the 1920s, lots were sometimes sold eight times before ever being recorded. The years of 1924 through 1926 saw rapid developments when Merle C. Tebbetts, president of the Florida Cities Finance Company, took over development.  The city was renamed North Miami Beach in 1931 to take advantage of the national advertising promoting Miami Beach proper. This helps date the map between 1924 and 1926.

The City of North Miami Beach includes the following description of Captain Fulford's founding of the community in 1881:

Captain William H. Fulford was attracted to what is now North Miami Beach during his Coast Guard patrol along the Atlantic side of the peninsula during the Spanish-American War. In 1881 he explored Big Snake Creek (later renamed the Oleta River) and found this area amid lowlands, marshes, and mangroves, a retreat from the fury of the Atlantic.

The map includes plans for a 300-foot-wide yacht basin, as well as an 18-hole golf course. It does not show the Fulford-Miami Speedway which was built in 1926.

The map was made by W.C. Bliss, an important early Miami-area civil engineer. Bliss was active in the area at least in the 1920s. He was also responsible for the first plan of Coral Gables, in 1924: www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/52582

OCLC records another Bliss map titled "Riviera section, Coral Gables: Miami Riviera", which was published in 1925.

Rarity

Not recorded in OCLC, RBH, nor the Touchton Map Library.

The City of North Miami Beach website includes a very small image of a map that is related to the present plan but has far more streets and plots laid out on it. This leaves open the possibility that there is a later edition of the map.

Condition Description
Top-right corner torn away. Some other minor spots and wear at folds. Overall Very Good but for the loss. As is, Good.