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Bobcat
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The Stock Island Drive-in C 1980. Dale McDonald Collection
1953: The Islander, Monroe County's first modern drive-in theater, opened for business on Stock Island. It had the largest screen in the state of Florida. The featured film was "The Cimarron Kid" starring Audie Murphy and Yvette Dugay. The theater had space for 600 cars with about 2,000 patrons.
Bobcat
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1917:Carl G. Fisher, of Indianapolis, won the Express Cruiser Speedboat Race from Miami. His boat, the Shadow II, took six hours, 17 minutes to cover the 161 miles. Five boats started the race but only two finished.
1903: A telegraph cable was run to Sand Key for use of the weather station, built on the island.
A post card of the San Key Lighthouse and Weather Station C 1900. Monroe County Library Collection.
1903: A telegraph cable was run to Sand Key for use of the weather station, built on the island.
A post card of the San Key Lighthouse and Weather Station C 1900. Monroe County Library Collection.
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Carl G. Fisher
Entrepreneur, developer of racetracks, roadways, and resorts
Born: Jan. 12, 1874
Birthplace: Greensburg, Indiana
Carl Fisher grew up in Indianapolis. He quit school at age 12 to work in a grocery store. Within a few years, he had opened bicycle shop, and later launched a car dealership. In 1904, he began the Prest-O-Light company, which sold headlights to most of the car manufacturers in the United States. By 1913, he sold Prest-O-Light for $9 million dollars. During his years at Prest-O-Light, Fisher conceived of the idea of building an automobile testing ground and race track. On Aug. 19, 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held its first race. But accidents and the deaths of six people caused this first race to be cancelled—the crushed stone and tar track was deemed too dangerous for racing. Fisher then paved the track with 3.2 million bricks. The first 500-mile race, called the International Sweepstakes, took place on May 30, 1911. The Indianapolis 500, as it was later called, became an annual event and the most famous of American automobile races. Fisher's next two enterprises also involved road building. He was responsible for building the Lincoln Highway in 1913, the first transcontinental highway in the United States, which stretched from New York to San Francisco. He was also responsible for the development of the Dixie Highway, completed in 1916, which stretched from Chicago to Miami.
His next venture was the development of Miami Beach, which was then just a mangrove swamp. From 1920 to 1925, he oversaw the transformation of Miami Beach into a vacation resort. He also began work on transforming Montauk, at the tip of Long Island, New York, into a resort—“the Miami Beach of the North.” But in 1926, disaster struck when a hurricane hit Miami Beach. Much of the resort was destroyed, tourism dropped off, and Fisher's finances suffered. By 1932, he was completely bankrupt. This tireless and resourceful businessman died seven years later.
Died: July 15, 1939
Read more: Carl G. Fisher http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0921230.html#ixzz3TTpMd0Qi
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Carysfort Reef Light
Carysfort Reef Light is located approximately six nautical miles east of Key Largo, Florida. The lighthouse has an iron screw-pile foundation with a platform, and a skeletal, octagonal, pyramidal tower, which is painted red. The light is 100 feet above the water. It is the oldest functioning lighthouse of its type in the United States, completed in 1852. Carysfort Reef is named for HMS Carysfort, a 20-gun Royal Navy post ship that ran aground on the reef in 1770. The light is currently a xenon flashtube beacon.
Carysfort Reef Light is located approximately six nautical miles east of Key Largo, Florida. The lighthouse has an iron screw-pile foundation with a platform, and a skeletal, octagonal, pyramidal tower, which is painted red. The light is 100 feet above the water. It is the oldest functioning lighthouse of its type in the United States, completed in 1852. Carysfort Reef is named for HMS Carysfort, a 20-gun Royal Navy post ship that ran aground on the reef in 1770. The light is currently a xenon flashtube beacon.
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