Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida — The American South (South Atlantic)

Chandler's Tourist Camp

1925-1929

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, January 5, 2017

1. Chandler's Tourist Camp 1925-1929 Marker

Inscription. 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

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became the Ben Bridges ball field before state buildings were built there in the 1960s.

Erected 2014 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 Number F-817.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Roads & Vehicles. A significant historical year for this entry is 1915.

Location. 30° 25.946′ N, 84° 16.907′ W. Marker is in Tallahassee, Florida, in Leon County. It is at the intersection of South Adams Street and West Van Buren Street, on the right when traveling north on South Adams Street. Marker located at the western boundary of Cascades Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Tallahassee FL 32301, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Florida.

It is also in the American South

and specifically in the Deep South.

Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region,

North America,

a Gulf of Mexico state,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was

Chandler's Tourist Camp 1925-1929 Marker looking east into Cascades Park image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, January 5, 2017

2. Chandler's Tourist Camp 1925-1929 Marker looking east into Cascades Park

once New Spain,

the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: The Founding of Tallahassee (about 800 feet away, measured in a direct line); Centennial Field (approx. 0.2 miles away); Veterans Memorial (approx. ¼ mile away); Dream Builders (approx. ¼ mile away); The Civil Rights Foot Soldiers of Tallahassee Memorial (approx. 0.3 miles away); Cascades Waterfall (approx. 0.3 miles away); Peace and Persistence (approx. 0.3 miles away); A Long Journey (approx. 0.3 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Tallahassee.

Chandler's Tourist Camp 1925-1929 Marker looking west toward Florida A&M University image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Tim Fillmon, January 5, 2017

3. Chandler's Tourist Camp 1925-1929 Marker looking west toward Florida A&M University

Chandler's Tourist Camp ca.1925 image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Florida Memory

4. Chandler's Tourist Camp ca.1925

Credits. This page was last revised on January 17, 2017. It was originally submitted on January 16, 2017, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. This page has been viewed 595 times since then and 48 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on January 16, 2017, by Tim Fillmon of Webster, Florida. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.