igration of Cubans to Key West increased. The cigar industry soon grew tophenomenal heights and the island became a refuge for Cuban revolutionaries (Gifford 9).The more successful Key West was the more populated it became and soon thecity we now know as Miami spun off of Key West. In 1871, the arrival of the Cuban SanCarlos Institute and Opera House made Key West a rich and diverse city. The island didsuffer from a fire that destroyed fifty acres of downtown property in 1886, but by thenthere was a steamship service and that made reconstruction of the city quick and easy (4). Soon the good luck of Key West was about to run out. A hurricane arrivedand was so destructive that it forced the cigar industry to the Tampa area. Then, theirsecond main industry, that was the sponge beds, was destroyed by a blight. The only (5) 2.thing they had left was the tourist industry and the Florida land boom collapsed in the1920's, so the only tourists they had were people passing through to Cuba. During TheGreat Depression the island's problems escalated. In 1934, the people were consideringabandoning the island because up to 80% of the population was on relief. Then a majorsetback occurred. The biggest hurricane to hit Key West happened on Labor Day 1935. The hurricane packed winds up to 200 miles an hour and killed hundreds of people. KeyWest had suddenly become the poorest city in the U.S.(Murphy 5).The only recourse Key West had left was tourism and at that time the public didn'tseem interested in Key West. Since that was the only industry that could be successfulsomething had to be done. Julius Stone, director of the Florida FERA, led a nation widecampaign proclaiming that Key West was Americas new tropical paradise and itworked(Gifford 13).The tourism industry built up soon after that and Key West...
