James Franklin Jaudon Papers (Historical Museum of Southern Florida)

Miami pioneer James F. Jaudin was an entrepreneur and developer, who was called the "Father of the Tamiami Trail" because of his great efforts to construct the highway. Among his business interests were the Chevelier Corporation, Tamiami Railway, Royal Palm Sugar Cane and Planting Company, and the Heitman Estates/Bonita Springs development. This collection contains a large amount of business correspondence, some personal correspondence, brochures, financial papers, newspaper clippings, photographic prints, maps, blueprints, etc. Much pertains to land sales in Dade, northern Monroe, and Collier counties; sugar, tomato and produce farming; timber and oil interests in Florida and Tennessee; the Tamiami Trail; and complex loan and refinancing negotiations in the 1920s and 1930s.

Description prepared by Becky Smith, Historical Museum of Southern Florida

Also available: brief biography of James Franklin Jaudon.