The Sunset Theatre that was on Andrews Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. It opened in 1922 and closed in 1953. It reopened a few years later and closed permanently around 1970. This photo is from ‘Fort Lauderdale Bicentennial Souvenir Edition ‘.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Archive for Swampy’s Florida History
This is a wood burning engine of the Atlantic Coast Line in St. Petersburg in 1908. This photo is from ‘Tampa Bay Through The Times’ by the St. Petersburg Times. You can purchase a copy by clicking here or below.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here’s a train of the Florida East Coast Railroad making it’s way out of Jacksonville on it’s way to Miami. The train is Mountain 432. That’s the St. Johns River below. This photo is from ‘Speedway to Sunshine’ by Seth[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
There’s the John W. Calhoun steamboat along the Chattahoochee River in the Florida Panhandle. This one hit a snag and sunk in 1923 near Wewahitchka in the Chipola Cut-off. It was the last of it’s kind. This photo is from[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Henry Plant’s train rumbles away from Henry Plant’s Belleview Biltmore Hotel in Belleair around 1900. At this time the train actually entered the building. While working to save the Biltmore, once the largest wooden occupied structure in the world, I[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here’s the first train coming down the tracks in Apalachicola, April 30th, 1907, almost 112 years ago.. This photo is from ‘Bicentennial Guide to Florida’. You can purchase a copy of this book by clicking here or below : https://amzn.to/2ItxbuA[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This man is referenced as no more than “the Human Fly” in this St. Petersburg Times photo from around 1921. Here, Mr. “Fly” hand from a sill of the Hotel Martha. Below, note the famous St. Petersburg Downtown green benches.[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
A passenger train comes in from south Florida to the Stuart train station sometime in the 1940s. This was back the rails would have rains coming and going. The fencing was to prevent folks running between trains. This photo is[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This train making it’s way through Brevard County was part of the Sebastian and Cincinnatus Railroad. At one time it was known as the Fellsmere Railroad. This photo is from the ‘History of Brevard County – Volume 1’ by Jerrell[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This engine, No. 21, was built in 1886 for the Florida Southern Railroad and named ‘Ocala’ after the city. This photo is from ‘The Plant System’ by Gregg Turner and Seth Bramson. You can purchase a copy by clicking here[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here’s a matchbook for the former Southernaire Motel that was in Tallahassee, In it’s place is a huge apartment complex that caters to students going to Florida State University. Here’s what’s in the place of the Southernaire Motel today:[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Coming out of Jacksonville in 1898, and heading south on the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway is Engine #6. The Baldwin Locomotive Works built the engine. This line never got to Key West and was handled by the Plant[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…