Beach Haven Park
History
This area was developed by Herbert and Jerome Shapiro in the 1930's. These same gentlemen developed Beach Haven West on the mainland.
Submitted by: Tom Lee - tlee@sbi.com:
I purchased a home last year on 103rd street (also called Lillie - I don't know what the history of that name is , do you?) and the title search failed. In the process of researching I learned a little about the history of the area from the deeds that I went through back to the 1920's. I have become very interested in the history of the Island since then.
For what it's worth, here's what I learned. feel free to put this in your "Beach Haven Park" history section.
In the early 1920's , the Highland Beach Land Company purchased a large tract of land in the area that is now Beach Haven Park.The old deeds from the 20's were drawn up as 20' ft wide lots and the railroad tracks are clearly shown in the plot plans.
In 1928 a James MacMurray acquired much of this land and in 1933 deeded what is now 103rd street a couple of other streets over to a Wanda Ewing for $1. She died in 1955 with no will as Mrs. Wanda McMurray! (he must have given her the land when she was his fiancée).
The Shapiro's showed up on the scene in 1956 paying the taxes on this land (no deed was ever filed under Jerome Shapiro's name) and that's where my title search discovered a problem. I can get more specifics on some of this if you're interested. It seems that Mr. McMurray was a real character and was in and out of trouble with land deals all the time.
Submitted by: Tom Lee - tlee@sbi.com
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