Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on Stock Island.
Once upon a time, the Stock Island Tree Snail was native to Key West and Stock Island. It is described as a sizable conical snail with a white and purple-brown striped shell.
The snail was listed as a threatened species in 1978. In 1983, about 200 snails were identified on Stock Island in the area of the botanical garden, golf course and neighboring properties. By 1986, only 50 to 100 snails were found. A 1991 survey identified 13 snails.
They were introduced into the Everglades and the Big Cypress National Preserve in the late 1980s, but by 1995, no snails could be found at those locations. According to the 2009 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s management plan for the snail, in hopes of circumventing the extinction of the Stock Island Tree Snail, “private hobbyists” collected snails and successfully introduced them to sites in the Lower and Upper Keys.
Like many species, habitat loss was the primary reason for their demise. On Stock Island, one of the big culprits was the development of a 137-acre golf course. A story printed in the Miami Herald on Feb. 9, 1923, addressed the idea of introducing the links: “It is known that many visitors, who stated that they would have stayed here the remainder of the season could they have played golf, have gone up to Miami or across the gulf to Havana to participate in the sport.”
The golf course has been a focal point of Stock Island for 100 years. Additional development of the island as a tourist destination came in the form of a botanical garden. Initially, six acres were set aside. Over the years, the size of the garden fluctuated between 55 acres, which was at its largest, and its current size of 15.2 acres.
According to a CAP Assessment plan written by Walter S. Marder, the garden was developed by the Federal Relief Administration Agency in 1936. The same report quotes an article in the Key West Citizen dated Dec. 10, 1934: “First plants of the Key West Botanical Garden were placed in the ground this morning adjacent to the golf course where the garden is to be developed.”
The botanical garden came to fruition due to the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the same government agency that brought the Key West Aquarium to life. According to a Nov. 29, 1935 article in the Miami Herald: “Three separate works progress administration projects totaling $39,685.10 are making possible the development of the garden.”
The Key West Botanical Garden’s grand opening was celebrated on Feb. 23, 1936. It would not be the last one. The following announcement was posted in the Miami News on Feb. 24, 1936: “The arrival of two Cuban gunboats at daylight today signaled the beginning of Key West’s ‘Le Samana Alegre,’ or the ‘Week of Joy,’ which will continue through the rest of the week. The official opening of this week of joy will take place this afternoon when the Key West Botanical Garden, a WPA project, will be formally opened to the public.”
It has not been smooth sailing for the botanical garden since. In a story printed in the Key West Citizen on Dec. 8, 1939: “Mayor Albury reported on the Botanical garden on Stock Island, calling attention to the fact that all WPA cooperation would be withdrawn January 1. Mrs. J.D. MacMuller, president of the Garden Club, and Mrs. Norberg Thompson appeared and all asked that something be done to either carry the project on under city responsibility or that the plants, estimated to be of considerable value, be preserved in some manner.”
In a follow-up story printed in the Key West Citizen on Dec. 20, 1939, Mrs. William Pheland was identified as the woman who headed the botanical garden when it was under the control of the WPA. According to the article, “she rooted the plants herself in her backyard and then transferred them to the Garden after they came above the ground.” The story additionally stated, “very shortly the city must consider taking over the Botanical Gardens, which are said to be a great tourist attraction and may be made self-liquidating.”
In the 1940s, the botanical garden was largely abandoned, with parts of it sold off to the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority to accommodate water storage tanks. Other sections were sold to build an emergency military hospital during WW II, and so the golf course could add nine holes. By 1961, only 11 acres remained of the 55 acres the garden had once occupied.
After the botanical garden was rehabilitated, a second grand opening occurred in 1961. Over the years, the garden once again became the victim of neglect. The Key West Garden Club assumed responsibility for it in 1972, and on April 12, 1987, a third grand opening was held at the garden.
The Key West Botanical Garden Society Inc. was formed in 1991 and took over the management of the garden. The modern look of the garden began to take shape in 2001-2002 when the visitor center and bathrooms were added. In 2005, an additional 4.2 acres were purchased. Today, the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden occupies 15.2 acres.
The golf course and botanical garden were not the only attractions developed on the island. For years, it was the place to go for racing, too. The Stock Island Raceway and the Key West Kennel Club offered tracks for stock car and greyhound races. The island was also once home to two drive-in theaters, which proved to be one too many. The short-lived Riviera Drive-In opened in 1957 but closed by 1961.
The longer-lived of the two, the Islander Drive-In, opened in 1952 and operated until the summer of 1984. For Jimmy Buffett fans, the drive-in lives on in his song “Grapefruit – Juicy Fruit.” It is where, back in the 1970s, he took a date, they had a few drinks and one thing led to another.
