John Stiles Collins (December 29, 1837 – February 11, 1928) was an American

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

from

Moorestown Township, New Jersey Moorestown is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was ...

who moved to

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

at the turn of the 20th century. He attempted to grow vegetables and coconuts on the swampy, bug-infested stretch of land between Miami and the ocean, a

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of Dune, dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything fro ...

which became

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

. Although the farming venture was not successful, with involvement from his family, notably his sons and sons-in law, John S. Collins also became a land developer. He and his family formed the Miami Beach Improvement Company in 1911, instituted the first recorded use of the term "Miami Beach",Great Floridians 2000 Program
and built the

Collins Bridge The Collins Bridge was a bridge that crossed Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach, Florida. At the time it was completed, it was the longest wooden bridge in the world. It was built by farmer and developer John S. Collins (1837–1928) with ...

across

Biscayne Bay Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...

from the already-established

City of Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at t ...

in 1913. They built a casino and an oceanfront hotel, and began residential development of the island. The Collins Bridge project ran short of funds and the 2.5 mile (4 km) long wooden

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or ''toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road. ...

was in danger of not being completed when 74-year-old Collins struck a deal with automotive pioneer and millionaire

Carl G. Fisher Carl Graham Fisher (January 12, 1874 – July 15, 1939) was an American entrepreneur. He was an important figure in the automotive industry, in highway construction, and in real estate development. In his early life in Indiana, despite fa ...

(1874–1939) to loan him the needed funds in exchange for 200 acres (800,000 m²) of land. Fisher later described John Collins as "a bantam rooster, cocky and unafraid." The Collins Bridge was located at the southern terminus of promoter Fisher's

Dixie Highway Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of ...

project, which brought traffic from the mid-west as part of the

National Auto Trail The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in ...

road system. Collins, his family, and Fisher all became very wealthy with the development of Miami Beach, which had a 400% increase in resident population between 1920 and 1925. John S. Collins died in 1928 at the age of 90.

Collins Avenue Collins Avenue, partly co-signed State Road A1A, is a major thoroughfare in South Florida, United States. The road runs parallel to the Atlantic Ocean in Miami Beach, Florida, one block west. It also runs through the cities of Surfside and S ...

and the Collins Canal, both on Miami Beach, are named in his honor.

Gallery

File:Collins Bridge Miami FL.jpg,

across

, linking

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

with the island of

, opened in 1913 as the longest wooden bridge in the world. (Photo from the Florida Photographic Collection.) File:Miami beach2.jpg, Miami Beach after the 1926 hurricane File:Belle Isle, Miami Beach 1960s.png, Miami Beach in the 1960s. Belle Isle is visible on the former Collins Bridge path, now the

Venetian Causeway The Venetian Causeway crosses Biscayne Bay between Miami on the mainland and Miami Beach on a barrier island in the Miami metropolitan area. The man-made Venetian Islands and non-bridge portions of the causeway were created by materials which ca ...

File:Collins Canal 02bw.jpg, Collins Canal File:Pine Tree Drive Miami Beach - John S Collins 03.jpg, Pine Tree Drive north of 41st Street (southbound view), originally planted as a windbreak by J. S. Collins

References

External links

* *

* ttp://www.miamibeach411.com/History/bio_collins.htm Miami Beach 411 website, John Collins biographybr>Collins Avenue history, Miami BeachFind A Grave Memorial for John Stiles Collins
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, John S. American city founders American Quakers 1837 births 1928 deaths People from Moorestown, New Jersey People from Miami

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links