1925-1929
In 1915, construction began on the Dixie Highway system that linked Florida with the Midwest via highways running from Michigan through Tallahassee along Old St. Augustine Road toward Miami. In the 1920s, the number of auto tourists visiting Florida increased dramatically. Roadside accommodations and inexpensive lodging were very limited. Some early auto tourists, later called Tin Can Tourists, modified their automobiles to provide sleeping quarters, kitchen equipment, and barrels of water as they traveled to what were then remote locations. Gilbert S. Chandler, Sr., an asparagus farmer from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a pioneer of the tourist camp industry in Florida, leased seven acres of city land south of the Capitol on Adams Street to begin an auto camp in 1925. Chandler's camp consisted of a store, a laundry, a community center, a bathhouse, and three tiny tourist cabins with electricity and homemade furniture. As auto tourism continued to grow, Chandler's Tourist Camp moved to Lake Ella in 1929 to take advantage of tourist traffic on the Old Spanish Trail that linked Florida to California. The vacated city property became the Ben Bridges ball field before state buildings were built there in the 1960s.| HM Number | HM1WJB |
|---|---|
| Tags | |
| Year Placed | 2014 |
| Placed By | The Family of Gilbert S. Chandler, Sr., The Family of O.I. Gramling, Sr., Deborah Desilets, In Memory of Harvey A. "Coach" Desilets and the Florida Department of State |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Tuesday, January 17th, 2017 at 1:01pm PST -08:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 16R E 761069 N 3369842 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 30.43243333, -84.28178333 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 30° 25.946', W 84° 16.907' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 30° 25' 56.76" N, 84° 16' 54.42" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 850 |
| Which side of the road? | Marker is on the right when traveling North |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1105-1199 S Adams St, Tallahassee FL 32301, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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