Frank Stoneman and the Florida Everglades During the Early 20th Century

Abstract

Marjory Stoneman Douglas has long been associated with the Everglades preservation movement (Douglas 1947). Recent rumblings that we should "save the Everglades" represent only the latest round of a century-long debate regarding land use in South Florida (Fig. 1). The debate began in earnest during the 1904 Florida gubernatorial campaign when Napoleon B. Broward (who won the election) suggested that the State drain the Everglades, opening southern Florida to agricultural development (Patton 1992). Marjory's father, Frank B. Stoneman, expressed reservations regarding Broward's plan to drain the Everglades (or simply, "Glades"). Indeed. Frank Stoneman wrote a series of editorials chronicling his opinion of the Glades during the early 1900s.