William Joseph Curry (September 11, 1821 – January 24, 1896) was a

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

businessman and Florida's first millionaire.

Biography

William Joseph Curry was born in 1821 on

Green Turtle Cay Green Turtle Cay is one of the barrier islands off mainland Great Abaco, The Bahamas. It can only be reached via ferry from the mainland or boat. There is not an airport on the island. It is considered part of the "Abaco Out Islands" and is ...

in the Bahamas. He arrived in Key West from the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

in 1837 at age 16. Like many "conchs", he was a poor white Bahamian who immigrated to Key West for economic opportunity. When he arrived in Key West, it was then the wealthiest town in the state. Curry started in Key West as a clerk in the office of Weever & Baldwin. After fighting in the

Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were three related military conflicts in Florida between the United States and the Seminole, citizens of a Native American nation which formed in the region during the early 1700s. Hostilities ...

for several years, he returned to Key West and climbed the corporate ladder. Over the next forty years, he built an empire of

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more i ...

, wrecking, and

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

. Curry married Euphemia Lowe in 1844, and together they had eight children. When he died in 1896, Curry's estate was worth $1.5 million. He was Florida's first self-made millionaire and the richest man in the state.

Curry Mansions

William Curry built the Curry home in 1855. Urban legend holds that the Curry kitchen was the birthplace of the original

key lime pie Key lime pie is an American dessert pie. It is made of lime, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk. It may be served with no topping, topped with a meringue topping made from egg whites, or with whipped cream; it may be cooked in a pie crust, ...

, created by a cook known as Aunt Sally. In 1905, Curry's son Milton demolished and rebuilt the home as a Victorian mansion that still stands today. The wood used in the home is Dade County Pine, like other homes of wealthy conchs at that time. In 1920, the house passed from the Curry family to a cousin. In 1975, Edith and Al Amsterdam bought and renovated the Curry Mansion and turned it into a bed and breakfast. Seven of Curry's eight children who lived past infancy built mansions of their own on the island of Key West for themselves or their children. These mansions include the Woman's Club, Dr. Joseph Yates Porter House, the Robert Oliver Curry Mansion, the George Curry Mansion, the Southernmost Mansion, and the Fogarty Mansion. The Fogarty mansion is directly adjacent to the Curry Mansion and is currently the home of both Fogarty's Restaurant and Flying Monkeys bar. Today, the mansions function as gathering places, historic places, apartments, inns, and restaurants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, William 1821 births People from Key West, Florida Businesspeople from Florida Bahamian people of European descent Bahamian emigrants to the United States American people of the Seminole Wars Place of death missing 1896 deaths 19th-century American businesspeople