History of Craig Key

History of Craig Key
(Slow downloading because of eight photos) - Left click on any photo to slightly enlarge. - Craig, Fla., later renamed as Craig Key, was once known as Camp Panama according to the Miami Daily News. In the January 28, 1931 edition it featured a short article titled “Camp Panama Offers Excellent Angling. . . . Located 90 miles below Miami, about two miles below the ferry landing on the lower Matecumbe, Camp Panama is right in the very best key fishing grounds. . . .” The newspaper article concluded “. . .
For the convenience of visitors to Miami the camp maintains an office at 409 City National Building in charge of R. W. Craig.” From this article we cannot conclude that R. W. Craig owned Camp Panama, but at the least he was associated with it. There was an accompanying advertisement stating, "Rates $12.50 to $15:00 per day, which includes transportation from Miami and return, meals, lodging, boat, all fishing tackle and guide. By Reservation Only. Phone Miami 3-1404." Since at that time there was not a highway to Craig, boat transportation would take too long for daily rates, I conclude that at a minimum a railroad "flag stop" was established. I do not have copies of all the FEC railway time tables, but in my December 1932 time table a regular stop had been established at Craig, and probably earlier since a post office was established in October 1932.
The original Craig was not the two small islands on the bayside that are there now at about MM 74. These two islands came along later when more space was needed. The island to the southwest (south) was dredged and filled in about 1955 by local contractor, Alonzo Cothron. The other island to the northeast (north) was made by Floyd Lambert of Marathon some time later. The original "Craig Key" was a wide place on the railroad right-of-way which after the 1935 Hurricane became the Overseas Highway; therefore, was like the other two islands, a man-made Key filled by Henry Flagler. It was surrounded by water on the east by Channel 2 and the Atlantic Ocean and on the west by Channel 5 and Florida Bay.
Craig's cottages, hotels and restaurants were on the ocean side and the store-post office, gas station and docks were on the bayside. Deep water access was by way of the Channel Five Bridge and a channel through the flats to/from the bay. Therefore, the early history of Craig began in the early 1900s with the construction of the railroad and Roland Craig gave it the name when he leased it from the FEC Railway in the early 1930s.

For the reason that this strip of filled right-of-way was wide enough for the community of Craig to develop, we need to review a brief part of railroad construction history. This is the part of the Key West Extension construction normally forgotten in most articles. Most assume once Flagler rode to Key West on December 22, 1912 all construction was completed. In fact there were four additional years of construction to be done. To begin with, the open water to be crossed from Lower Matecumbe Key to Long Key was 4.83 miles - the second longest water expanse to the crossed enroute to Key West. The difference between this expanse of water and the 7-Mile Bridge area was this expanse was much shallower, meaning that it could be filled. However, one portion was much too deep to be filled (Channel 5) and the other (Channel 2) was deemed necessary to be left open to exchange tidal waters between the ocean and the bay. One would think that there would be channels 1, 3 and 4, but I know of no reason for this numbering. Much of the route that Flagler traveled in December 1912 was temporary construction meaning that after the opening ceremonies in Key West, William Krome and his construction crews had to return to the Upper Keys to build two more concrete viaduct bridges and one drawbridge without interrupting daily operation of the trains at this location. The original wooden trestles were not strong enough for daily operation of large locomotives pulling many cars. There were many other locations to be made pernanent. Few realize that for a while there were two parallel sets of tracks between most of the lower Lower Matecumbe and upper Long Key span area, that the two tracks were merged and the original wooden trestles removed. Work continued throughout the FEC Key West Extension until 1916 before it was totally completed; therefore, it is incorrect to say that the railroad was built in seven years (1905 -1912) - 11 years is correct.. To facilitate the construction crews and support areas, the elbow shaped area now known as Craig Key was at least double the width of the typical bridge filled approaches. At the very northern area of this elbow was also a railroad siding which meant triple land width at that site. This was known as "Cook's Siding." For years there was a highway traffic pull off on the ocean side at this area. Not many details are available for the 1913 to 1916 construction period other than a few construction summaries. It appers that once rail service began in 1912 even though it was over temporary tracks, the pressure was off, perhaps totally lost, for media conerage. A huge problem was that scheduled train traffic could not be interferred with or dangerous construction efforts undertaken. The existing construction equipment was built to use in open water and not confined areas such as very near the operational wooden trestles. One advantage was support could be given from either end, the southern Lower Matecumbe site named "Crevallo" or the nothern Long Key site named "Rossmore." The construction reports indicate that considerable fill was added, but we can only assume that it was widened to accommodate the construction facilities as well as the permanent set of bridges/tracks along side of the operational set. It is during this period that I feel a sufficiently wide area was built and buildings left for a small fishing operation. The date is not known, but some time around 1930 or 1931, Capt. Craig leased the right-of-way from the railroad. After the 1935 hurricane and the remains of the railway system converted to a highway 1937, the State Road Department (SRD) honored the previous lease. Not much is known of this period, but SRD may have repaired some of the facilities to use during the highway building process. A view of the facilities at Craig Key is shown below.
Going back in time, Captain Buck Starck remarked that in his early days (1920s and 1930s) of chartering fishing excursions out of the Royal Palm dock in Miami, Craig was the "Center of the universe for Miami charter captains." Captain Starck and others used large 100-foot boats towing their smaller fishing skiffs, and needed six to eight feet of water to dock for supplies. The only places to dock in the Upper Keys were the Angler's Club, Long Key Fishing Camp and Craig. The first two catered primarily to their own members, but Craig had his share of customers from the regular fishermen, celebrities, industrialists and even presidents.
The Miami Herald in an article about fish as large as whales on February 20, 1949 stated, " ... Actually, the only camp we know of to boast a regulation whale is R.W. Craig's in the Keys. Poor Ole Craig after years of prevarication', has come through with a 30-foot finback whale. "The Dude-F towed the mammal in for pix, then towed it offshore again before the odor exceeded its size. This operation gave Craig an exclusive privilege. "He is now the only known fishing camp proprietor in America who can claim - with complete honesty - that the fish taken at his place are as big as whales...." Newspaper columnist, Water Winchell, paid tribute to Craig in his columns. Craig made Ripley's Believe It or Not twice. In 1938 Ripley depicted the small building on the left of the highway and telephone/telegraph poles and lines with the caption "Town Built on a Highway - instead of a Highway Built thru the Town." In 1947 he pictured a huge wave covering the boat with a man up the mast with and an arrow pointing to "Poor Old Craig."
The 1935 census lists Craig with 21 residents. R. W. Craig was listed as manager/fishery and Mrs. (Dorothy) Craig as postmistress. The Craig's had twin daughters, Sally and Suzanne, one and a half years of age on the census. Craig was affectionately known as "Poor Old Craig." Stories abound of how he obtained this nickname. His business and his popularity grew and he even dabbled a little in politics. Craig defeated T. Jenkins Curry, the first county commissioner from the Upper Keys, and served in the position from 1938 to 1942. He was defeated by Harry Harris.
Postal records show the post office at Craig, Florida was established on October 19, 1932, discontinued on August 31, 1944 and re-established on April 1, 1946. In August 1954, Postmaster Craig announced that his post office would be open 365 days a year, including Sundays and holidays. Local newspapers stated they knew of no other "year around Post Office." The lowest official recorded barometric pressure at sea level of 26.35 inches during the 1935 hurricane was at Craig. The barometer used to establish the record was the property of Captain Ivar Olsen. Capt. Olsen and others rode out the hurricane in his boat which was out of the water and propped up on tall timbers in the Craig area. Since the barometer's needle was below the scale, he scribed marks on the brass casing. One may ask why one would would make scribe marks on a barometer. Normally one would not if the needle was over the scale and the numbers could be annotated/remembered. Using a barometer is almost an art and one particular simple use is to know when a storm has passed. This was a horrific storm and psychologically if nothing else all were interested to know when the storm had passed. A storm is a cyclonic low barometeric pressure area with the lowest pressure at its center; therefore, when the pressure stopped decreasing it was at its worse pressure wise. Without numbers from the instrument's printed scale, some kind of a mark was needed as a reference point. One could argue that the later-calculated 26.35 was only the lowest pressure marked and the pressure could have been lower. Evidently the hurricane eye wall ranged from Craig to Long Key. Using old railroad track and sets of dollies with small railroad wheels, Capt. Olsen had made and operated a ship's way to haul boats for repair just east of Craig's store. He had hauled his boat and temporarily stored it before the 1935 Hurricane. After the hurricane he rebuilt the ship's way about where the Corslan Fish Company was on Lower Matecumbe Key.
The Overseas Highway of 1928 did not go as far as Craig's. It stopped at lower Lower Matecumbe Key where there was a ferryboat landing and vehicles boarded a ferry boat for No Name Key or vice versa if north bound. The State Road Department and the Florida Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) were building a highway bridge to eliminate the ferryboats when the 1935 Hurricane struck on September 2, 1935. An important piece of written documentation is an official report written ny a FERA inspector on his rounds after the hurricane and dated September 16, 1935. The Craig Key part of the report reads:
“. . .Craig, Florida. This place was not visited. The information that follows was obtained on Sept. 14th from Edward Ashbee at the Matecumbe Ferry Slip. “Craig is built up on a fill made by the Florida East Coast Railway Company and is about 3 1/2 miles below Matecumbe. This fill is about one-half mile long. There were quite a number of people living there. Most of them were single men and acting as fishermen. These fishermen either lost their boats or their boats were damaged very badly. There were no deaths at Craig but some inhabitants received minor injuries. At present there are only six men on this small island and these men are trying to either salvage or get their small boats in shape so that they can move to Tavernier or somewhere else where dealers will come down and buy fish from them, as at present there are no railroad connections to Craig or any other means of transportation within 30 miles where they can get fish to the mainland.
“The only thing left standing on this island was the bridge tender's home. This place belongs to the F. E. C. Railway. The bridge tender [R. L. Jackson] and his wife received no injuries and the FEC has transferred him to Homestead, it is understood. [The Jackson family also were in Olsen’s boat for the second part of the hurricane- JW.] “Mr. R. W. Craig, whom the island is named after, had a fishing camp there and also a yacht basin where rich people would come down during the winter months and fish. R. W. Craig ran a general supply camp such as selling gasoline, beer and all other yachting needs. It also had quite a number of cottages that the rich people used to live in. His place of business is a total loss. Every thing washed to sea. Although he received no injuries, he at present is safe in Miami. . . .” Herbert Hoover during his Florida Keys fishing trips used Craig Key to support the yacht Saunterer from which he was fishing before and after the 1935 hurricane.
Poor Old Craig rebuilt his community and prospered. In fact, he needed more land so he contracted Alonzo Cothron to dredge, fill and connect two islands on the bayside. Collectively the two islands were known as Craig Cay. Photos from the Craig family indicate that about 80 feet of dredging was completed on July 22, 1954. He had even expanded his business to Key West. In 1940 he leased Trumbo docks, piers 1 and 2.
The west island was sold and he contracted with Floyd Lamb to make another island. He was slowly expanding out onto the east island when Hurricane Donna in 1960 more or less doomed Craig. The northern tip of the east island is seen in the above photo at the center left. Craig abandoned his "Key" and closed the post office whose services were transferred to Long Key in July 1963. The right-ofway property reverted to its owners, the Florida State Road Department.
The two dredged islands which remain were originally named Maloney and Coo Keys; albeit collectively Craig referred to them as Craig Cay. Craig sold Coo Key, the west Key (some think of it as south), to Mr. C. A. and Virginia Eaton who had Alonzo built him a winter home. The Eatons sold to Cynthia and Carl Twitchell who had purchased the storm damaged Olney Inn in 1961 and renamed it the Cheeca Lodge. In 1964 Alonzo remodeled and enlarged the house. While Carl was away fishing, Cynthia called it “Kooky Key” because of the boredom. The house was next sold to Ray Brown while Joe Pinder was the caretaker. In fact, Brown purchased both Keys and Tea Table Key.
The east Key was Maloney Key and was also dredged and filled by Floyd Lamb Construction Company. The Key West Citizen of June 1964 published an article concerning a house at 701 Seminole, Key West that, “. . . Was slowly placed on a barge anchored in adjacent waters, and prepared for a 75-mile ocean ride to Maloney Key.” Key Westers thought it was a first, when a house emigrated by water. (Many houses had immigrated from the Bahamas.)
The story behind the article is that as a child Capt. Starck played with Martha Endicott while her parents fished with Capt. Starck Sr. Martha married Charles Frasch and were living in Key West when they looked for a "special location." Capt. Starck showed them the island and they purchased it. The Frasch's contracted Alonzo Cothron to add more fill and build a concrete stem-wall on which to set the Key West house, featured in the aforementioned article. Alonzo barged the boat from Key West and set it on the prepared concrete walls. The smaller house was built for the caretaker’s house.
The name Craig, Florida because of the now defunct post office was changed officially to Craig Key in 1971 by the state of Florida. The two small islands are now populated. A few pilings remain off the oceanside of US-1 as a reminder of the original settlement of Craig. The Twitchell house is being restored (the story is that the Twitchells had two more houses identical to this one) and a new house being built on the west island. The Old and the New.

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