Roddy Bell Burdine
[
] (October 14, 1886 – February 15, 1936) was an American businessman who owned the
Burdines
Burdines (} ) was an American chain of department stores operating in the state of Florida, headquartered in Miami. The original store opened in Bartow, Florida in 1896 as a carriage-trade shop. Over its nearly 110-year history, Burdines grew ...
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
chain from 1911–1936. A leading citizen 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 ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
in the early 20th century, Burdine was the son of William Burdine, who founded Burdines as a dry goods store in 1898.
After his father's death, Burdine became the chairman of the department store, leading its expansion to become one of the biggest department stores in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. He built Miami's first
skyscraper and created the first
parking garage connected to a retail business.
Biography
Early life
Burdine was born in
Verona
Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...
,
Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, the third of seven children.
He was the son of William Burdine, a
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
veteran and merchant and Mary Freeman.
At a young age, the Burdine family moved to
Bartow, Florida where his father became a successful
orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
grower.
[ William Burdine moved his family to Miami when Roddy was 10 after a great freeze destroyed the family's crop.]
Retail career
Miami was incorporated as a city in 1896. The Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
was raging, and many soldiers were training in the area when William Burdine founded a dry goods store to cater the needs of these soldiers two years later in 1898. Roddy worked at the store as a teenager, first as a clerk, and after graduating from Miami High School
Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is a public high school located at 2450 SW 1st Street in Miami, Florida, and operated by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Founded in 1903, it is one of the oldest high school in Miami ...
became a partner with his brother, Robert Freeman Burdine, a successful Miami attorney.[
Upon his father’s death in 1911, Roddy became the owner of the company. Soon afterwards, Roddy led the expansion of Burdines. In 1912, Roddy built a new store on Flagler Street, the main commercial street in Miami. Five stories high, the Burdine Building became Miami's first " skyscraper", and the first building to have modern electrical installation.][ Burdine traveled north to study department stores such as ]Wanamaker's
John Wanamaker Department Store was one of the first department stores in the United States. Founded by John Wanamaker in Philadelphia, it was influential in the development of the retail industry including as the first store to use price tags. ...
and Marshall Field's
Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...
to make his department store the most modern in the country.
By 1924, Burdines had become the leading department store in Florida, with customers coming from across the state.[ It had its own ]post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
, restaurant, and car dealership
A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive mainte ...
.[ A new parking garage opened in 1923, becoming the first garage linked to a retail establishment. A new six-story building with opened next to its original location in 1925.][ His second store opened in Miami Beach also in 1925.
]
Civic activity
Burdine was the head of the Miami's Rotary Club, and the head of the business ethics committee. After the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926, Burdine was named the head of the rebuilding committee.
In 1933, Roddy Burdine Municipal Stadium opened in what would, many decades later, become the "Little Havana
Little Havana ( es, Pequeña Habana) is a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. Home to many Cuban exiles, as well as many immigrants from Central and South America, Little Havana is named after Havana, the capital and largest city i ...
" section of Miami. In 1959, it was renamed as the Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...
.
Marriage and family
He married Zada Dutton (March 3, 1896 – October 15, 1969), of Statesboro, Georgia
Statesboro is the largest city and county seat of Bulloch County, Georgia, United States, located in the southeastern part of the state.
Statesboro is home to the flagship campus of Georgia Southern University and is part of the Savannah–Hine ...
, on September 15, 1915 at her parents home. They had two daughters, Zada (November 18, 1916 – September 18, 2016) and Patricia (December 29, 1919 – July 13, 1986), and divorced in 1932. Roddy remarried on September 14, 1933 to Lillian Jenette Chatham (September 1, 1903 – May 17, 2006), a native of Windom, Minnesota
Windom is a city in Cottonwood County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,646 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Cottonwood County and is situated in the Coteau des Prairies.
Although it is a small, rural farming commu ...
, in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. They remained married until his death in 1936 and had one son, Roddey, who was born about two months prior to Roddy's death.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burdine, Roddy
1886 births
1936 deaths
Businesspeople from Miami
History of Miami
American businesspeople in retailing
People from Lee County, Mississippi
20th-century American businesspeople