Charley P. Toppino

Charley P. Toppino. Charley Toppino came to the United States shortly after the turn of the century. He served in the U.S. Army during world war one. He then worked in construction and stone cutting in New York and Virginia. Toppino returned to his hometown in Canale, Italy where he married Orsolina Rolando. They became the parents of five sons. In the 1920's they moved to Florida working first in the orange groves in the middle of the state. Toppino's first construction contract was for work at Rollins College in Winter Park. The Depression found him moving south looking for work. In 1933 he came to Homestead, Florida and found work building the Lower Matcumbe Key to No Name Key viaduct to eliminate the ferry on that section of the highway. He was a supervisor of the World War I Veterans hired by the government. When the 1935 hurricane destroyed the railroad, he stayed on to help build the new Overseas Highway which opened in 1938. In Marathon he built and operated the Overseas Lodge and began to haul water in the pre-pipeline days from Homestead to the Keys. In 1940, when World War II military construction began. Toppino moved to Key West. After the war, the company was ready to provide the equipment and manpower for the construction boom in the Lower Keys. For the next 40 years, Charley Toppino and Sons took part in almost every major construction project from Marathon to Key West. One of the major dredge and fill projects was Safe Harbor on Stock Island, where the Cuba Car Ferry docked. After Toppino died in 1958, his sons continued the company. Donated by , The Toppino Family .