SETH H. BRAMSON Bücher

The history of Florida railroads began as early as 1834, when the Tallahassee-St. Marks Railroad incorporated. On April 14, 1836, the St. Joseph-Lake Wimico line was the first to be put into service, with trains operating between the boomtown of St. Joseph and the Apalachicola River. Although the Florida railroad "boom" began with Henry Flagler and Henry Bradley Plant, the expansion continued into the 1920s when the president of Seaboard Railway, S. Davies Warfield, extended his lines to Miami and Naples. With the passage of time, numerous railroads were bought, merged, or abandoned. Today, 12 full-service railroads are still operating as well as several port railroads.

Broward County came into existence on October 1, 1915, when Dade and Palm Beach Counties were partitioned to form a new county. Named for early-20th-century Florida governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, the county has grown to become renowned for nationally acclaimed restaurants, residential areas, colleges, universities, and shopping along Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. A major American metropolitan area, Broward County today is home to a branch of Florida International University, as well as the campuses of Nova Southeastern University, Broward College, and Florida Atlantic University. As of 2016, the population of Broward County was approximately 1.8 million people, making it Florida's second-most populous county and the 17th-most populous in the United States.

Surfside is a delightful town just north of Miami Beach. With business, residential, and tourism sections, it has the proverbial "something for everybody." Founded in 1935, Surfside has developed into one of the most highly desirable places to live, work, and do business in South Florida. Although the town is only one square mile in size, its 6,000 residents, along with its innumerable visitors, enjoy the best of Greater Miami's restaurants, shops, and services. Surfside's proximity to Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and the Bay Harbor Islands offers residents and visitors the best of both big-city and suburban life.

The story of the Sunshine State's most famous store actually began in Bartow, Florida, where William Burdine and a partner founded a small dry goods store. When his partner left the business in 1897, Burdine made the decision to move his store to a dynamic frontier town on the far southeast coast of Florida--Miami. By the early twentieth century, many Floridians were familiar with Burdine's famous Sunshine Fashions that reflected the relaxed, subtropical locale and helped define the region's identity. Join Miami historian Seth Bramson as he relates Burdine's storied history, when the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor perused elegant displays and customers frequented the tearooms for a slice of the famous--and decadent--pecan pie. There will never be another store quite like Burdine's.