Mileage Map of the Best Roads of Florida

The ‘death’ of the Florida Land Boom (and independently named roads).

This uncommon pocket map of Florida was designed by the Clason Map Company of Denver in 1925, according to the calendar printed on the inside of the front cover (and MSU’s guide to dating Clason maps). The paper wraps also advertise J.D. Baskin’s real estate firm (located in Clearwater) and note the printers as U.O. Colson Company of Paris, Illinois – apparently, the piece was a nationwide effort!

The centerfold image notes the state highways (established in 1923) and the various other named routes in operation across Florida. The latter group represents an interesting variety of private enterprises and state/municipal sponsorship. For example, the Bee-Line Highway opened in 1924 as a toll road to connect West Palm Beach to real estate developments on Lake Okeechobee. The introduction of a national numbered highway system in 1926 would make these private routes largely obsolete.

The map also reflects another contemporary trend – the collapse of the Florida Land Boom. The completion of the Florida East Coast Railway (1912), rapid population growth, national economic prosperity, and the allure of a seaside paradise laid the foundation for a period of intense real estate speculation in Florida during the mid-1920s. However, a massive hurricane hit the state in 1926 and a subsequent railroad embargo on building materials crippled reconstruction, leading to a precipitous drop in prices that slowed development for over a decade.