Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
It's just surprising to me that Florida was such a complete and utter backwater for the entire 19th Century before climate, leisure activities, and other "lifestyle" goals combined with air conditioning to produce today's mammoth Sunshine State.
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I think it was a comparative backwater until at least the 70's or so. I have a family friend that moved from NYC to Palm Beach County in the 70's, and it was such a culture shock, with horrible schools, nonexistent services, and neighbors straight out of Deliverance.
They couldn't stand the thought of raising their kids there, in a place where the local library was a joke, schools were underfunded, and neighbors weren't intellectually curious. They sold their home and high-tailed it off to Orange County, CA (they wanted year-round warmth)