Millions of vehicles have conceivably passed through Islamorada and
overlooked
the 1935 Hurricane Memorial. It is innocent enough in appearance, yet
eloquent
and highly significant in legacy as a memorial. For those who might
wish
to visit the site, it is located between the old State Road 4A highway
and the present U.S. 1 at mile marker 81.5, across from the library. It
was dedicated November 14, 1937 as The Florida Keys Memorial and
memorializes
the World War-I veterans and civilians who perished in the 1935
hurricane.
The U.S. Department of Interior placed it on the National Register of
Historic
Places on March 16, 1995.
The Harvey Seeds Post of the American Legion in Miami took the lead in
obtaining $3,779 as a contribution of which $2,500 was cash. The
finished
cost was around $12,000. The memorial was designed by the Florida
Division
of the Federal Art Project and was constructed by the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) in 1937 as Zone 3, Project Number 2217.
After the 1935 hurricane, to build a new school Hugh Matheson exchanged
land he owned on the highway for the beach site of the destroyed
school.
W.P.A constructed the new school and was to be a combination hurricane
shelter and school. A second almost identical structure was also
constructed
in Tavernier. The Matecumbe school is now the Islamorada Library and in
Tavernier it is the health department. For a detail discussion of this
sister WPA school project, please Click
Here.
The exact person who came up with the idea of the hurricane memorial is
not known. The new Matecumbe school building site was plenty large, and
a short access road for the school was needed from the old highway. A
small
triangular site east of the railroad right-of-way was separated for the
memorial site in exchange for building the access road to the school,
but
land ownership did not change. Art and design was done by the WPA
Federal
Art Project personnel. The memorial is still owned by the Monroe County
School Board.
For the memorial, the center was dug down to bedrock and a base was
made
of stone and concrete 65 by 20 feet. From the base five broad steps
lead
to an elevated flooring area. It is covered with coral slabs known as
"keystone"
quarried from either the Windley Key or Key Largo Quarry. The original
structure stopped at the lower step. Later, the original crushed coral
rock area between the flagpole and the steps was paved with artificial
keystone material. A concrete sidewalk was also added and decorative
vegetation
added.
There is a crypt made into the upper level that contains the skeletal
bones
and cremated remains of many of the veterans and citizens who perished,
some after the 1935 hurricane. A 22-foot long ceramic tile map by
ceramicist Adela Gisbet of the Keys from Key Largo to Marathon is
inlaid
into the cover of the crypt.
The native rock-covered obelisk of the memorial rises 18 feet skyward
above
the dais with a relief sculptured tidal wave and palms bending under
the
force of the terrific winds. The glyphic Mayan style design was by
Harold
Lawson and developed by Lambert Bemlemans. Other WPA artists
involved
were William Shaw, Allie Mae Kitchens, Emigdio Reyes and Harold Lawson.
Below the sculpture is a bronze plaque by artist John Klinkenberg
inscribed:
"Dedicated To The Memory Of The Civilians And The War Veterans Whose
Lives
Were Lost In The Hurricane Of September Second 1935." Nine-year-old
hurricane
survivor Faye Marie Parker unveiled the monument on Sunday, November
14,
1937 as about 5,000 officials, guests and visitors looked on.
Many lost their lives on that fatal September 2, 1935. In the Matecumbe
area, the lives lost were those of visitors, veterans and residents. Of
the Islamorada Russell family, which totaled over 70 members, only a
few
remained the following day. The late County Commissioner Harry Harris,
while not a hurricane victim, was later interred in the monument. His
remains
have since been removed and interred at Harry Harris Park. Although the
exact number is not known, it is estimated that the cremated remains of
some 190-storm victims lie there. Again figures differ as two years had
elapsed since the open site cremations and the dedication in 1937.
There exist different totals of the loss of life in the Keys, and in
truth
the total will never be known. One of the often used sets of figures
are
those of the coroner but the report is not dated. It does agree with
those
on the Veterans Storm Relief chart dated 1936. Almost assuredly, there
were a few more victims found later. The following is a
summary.
CIVILIANS VETERANS
Buried and identified 42 81
Cremated 47 34
Sent to relatives 6 9
Unidentified buried 7 7
Missing and unidentified cremated 61 128
Total storm victims 164 259
Total known storm dead 423
This closely resembled the VA report dated May 4, 1936 delivered to
Congressman
John Rankin. In that report, there were listed six veterans whose
status
was inconclusive. The report also stated that 433 veterans were
confirmed
as survivors. The actual death number will probably never be known.
Permit me to step back to the occasion of why so many World War I
veterans
were in the Matecumbe area. In 1928, the Overseas Highway was linked to
Key West by a ferry boat system from Lower Matecumbe Key to No Name
Key.
To complete the highway without the use of ferries, the Army Corps of
Engineers
had estimated a cost of $7.5 million. Times were hard and Monroe County
was already indebted to the limit, so it submitted a $10.7 million
request
to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to bridge this water
gap
with a highway.
Time passed and finally the RFC submitted the request to Washington in
October, 1932. President Roosevelt was trying to pull the nation out of
the Depression and he and Congress had given the Board of Public Works
some $3 billion for various work projects. In 1933, the government
created
the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). Two years before,
Washington
D.C. had been under siege by what was known as the "Bonus Army" which
was
composed of World War One (WW-I) Veterans made desperate by the Great
Depression.
They were negotiating for promised entitlement bonuses payable in 1945
and were encamped in front of the capitol.
Unemployed WW-I veterans staged hunger marches and demonstrations in
several
cities, but the most famous was the Bonus Expeditionary Force in
Washington,
D.C., in June, 1932. A WW-I bonus law was passed in 1922, but vetoed by
the President. In 1924, Congress overrode the presidential veto and
gave
every veteran a certificate payable in 1945. The nation entered the
depression
and in 1931 the vets demanded to be paid the bonus early. In June,
1932,
about 15,000 veterans descended on Washington to convince the Senate to
pass the bill. They were unsuccessful and finally President Hoover
chased
the "bonus marchers" out of Washington with bayonets and tear gas. Some
say this action "put Roosevelt in the White House." Anyway, FERA was
created
in May, 1933 and various work programs and camps were established
throughout
the country. The events leading to the presence of the veterans in the
Matecumbe work camps followed this scenario.
Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas badly needed repair and the veterans
seeking work were creating adverse public reaction in Washington.
Solution:
Send the vets to Fort Jefferson to repair it. This would get the fort
repaired
and the vets out of Washington. Three hundred vets were sent, but were
retained in Jacksonville awaiting permission from the Navy to repair
the
fort. While waiting, the vet's mission was changed to the Upper Keys.
The Great Depression was on and Monroe County had declared bankruptcy.
Florida's first FERA administrator, Julius Stone, had set up a second
office
in Key West. He observed that Key West was missing the important
tourist
trade and declared it could be the Gibraltar of the South. To do this,
it would need a better highway system with no car ferries. FERA knew
that
Monroe County needed an efficient highway built, so many vets were
diverted
at Jacksonville to the Upper Keys. They were to build a highway bridge
to replace the car ferry. The Florida State Highway Department was in
charge
of construction and the vets were to perform the construction. All of
the
Fort Jefferson and No Name Key vets were sent to the Upper Keys in May,
1935.
Three camps were constructed in the Upper Keys beginning in November,
1934.
Camp 1 was located on Windley Key, Camp 5 on the upper end of Lower
Matecumbe
Key and Camp 3 on the lower end. Each camp could house about 250
workers.
The small, but main headquarters was in the Matecumbe Hotel on Upper
Matecumbe
Key. The Lenoy Russell Hotel on Windley Key was converted into a small
hospital. The number of veterans present would about equal the 1935
census
reported population of the entire Upper Keys -673. Note: There were
other
veteran camps in Florida. For example, Camp 2 was in St. Petersburg and
Camp 4 was in Clearwater. South Carolina also had camps. The Key
Veteran
News, a local newspaper, was printed weekly in Homestead often
containing
columns from all the camps.
At the time of the hurricane, the Keys' veteran camps were organized as
followers: Will Harnica, Burt Davis and W. G. Robertson were camp 1, 3
and 5 camp supervisors, respectively. O. D. King, owner of the Rustic
Inn,
was the transportation officer and Edney Parker was the sanitation
officer.
Ray Sheldon, the Key's FERA project supervisor, reported to C. Van Hyning,
supervisor of all Florida FERA camps. F. B. Ghent was the Florida
Director
of FERA.
Project supervisor, Ray Sheldon, testified at the March, 1936
congressional
hearing that he had requested a relief train at 1:37 p.m. on Monday as
his barometer indicated a serious drop in pressure. Sheldon himself
returned
on Sunday from his honeymoon in Key West. It being a holiday weekend,
railroad
crews and train components had to be assembled. Leaving Miami around 4
p.m. and experiencing several serious delays, the train arrived at
Islamorada
only a few minutes before the tidal surge at about 8:20 p.m. Sheldon
testified
that the water rose five feet inside the train's cab while he was
talking
with the crew. As the track averaged a minimum of seven feet
above
sea level, he estimated that the surge was 12 foot at his location.
Sheldon further testified that many of the 684 veterans present for pay
on August 30 were away for the Labor Day holiday. He answered "Yes,
sir."
when asked by the chairman, "Out of 684 men, there were, approximately,
as you say, 161 showed up for breakfast?" Some estimate that as many as
350 were in Miami and Key West for festivities. Additional
testimony
revealed that "There were 91 in jail at 10 o'clock Monday, and I know
there
were 11 who had stolen a suburban truck and headed up to visit the
President."
All that remains of the bridge project are three completed bridge piers
and a few unfinished piers. These can be seen just off the bay side of
the north end of the Channel Two bridge at mile marker 73.5. They look
like three gray coffins sitting in the bay across from the Calusa Cove
Marina. The plan was to build a highway bridge to Greyhound (Fiesta)
Key
and, if successful, on to Grassy Key. Eventually, concrete bridges
would
be built to No Name Key, thus eliminating the two water gaps.
After the hurricane, there was a congressional bill for financial
relief
for the surviving dependents. The bill was necessary as the veterans
and
their families were not covered by state or federal compensation laws.
A copy of H.R. 9486 can be seen in the Key West Library. In 1936, the
bonus
was paid -too late for those who lost their lives in the Upper Keys.
Their
families were somewhat compensated. So, the next time you cross the
Channel
Two bridge at mile marker 73, look about 800 feet to the west (Gulf
side)
and remember this part of Keys history.
For more photos of the monument, please Click Here.
The Hurricane Memorial is an appropriate place to visit on Memorial
Day,
Veterans Day, Labor Day and/or any September 2.
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