Key Colony on the Ocean Marathon Shores, Florida

Where your future begins!

This ephemeral real estate brochure for Key Colony Beach, Florida, was published around 1955 by local developer F.P. Sadowski. Sadowski transformed the low-lying island into a new residential subdivision through extensive dredging and land reclamation. Several house plans are provided, ranging from $6,500 to $11,000, with the variety offering options “for a week or a lifetime…for retirement…for vacation-time…for investment!” A small pictorial map of the area is provided on the verso.

Nearby Marathon was keenly interested in annexing Key Colony in the 1950s, but Sadowski beat them to the punch and successfully petitioned the Florida State Legislature for incorporation, which was granted in 1957. Because the text explicitly links the property to Sadowski’s adjacent mainland development by calling it “Key Colony Marathon Shores,” it is highly probable that the brochure was printed shortly before separate town status was finalized.