Editing Key Biscayne, Florida (section)

===Rickenbacker Causeway===
[[File:President Richard Nixon Greeting Children on the Crandon Boulevard Fourth of July Parade Route in Key Biscayne, Florida.jpg|thumb|left|[[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[Richard Nixon]] at Key Biscayne's [[Independence Day (United States)|Fourth of July]] parade in 1969; as president, Nixon visited his Key Biscayne compound over 50 times.]]
While there had been earlier plans to develop a town on Key Biscayne, the opening of the {{convert|4|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}} [[Rickenbacker Causeway]] from [[Miami]] to [[Virginia Key]] and on to Key Biscayne in 1947 opened the island up to large-scale residential development. The northern two-thirds of the island had operated as the largest coconut plantation in the [[continental United States]] during the first half of the 20th century. 

In 1940, the [[William John Matheson|Matheson]] family donated over {{convert|800|acre|km2}} of their land to [[Miami-Dade County, Florida|Dade County]] for a public park, which became Crandon Park, in exchange for a commitment from the county that it would build a causeway to the island. The remaining Matheson property, stretching across the middle of the island, was sold to developers. Beginning in 1951, the [[Mackle Brothers|Mackle Construction Company]] offered new homes on the island for $9,540, with $500 down. A [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Post Office]] branch opened in Key Biscayne, the Community Church started holding services in an old coconut-husking shed, and Key Biscayne Elementary School opened in 1952.<ref>Blank. pp. 159-162.</ref>

The island's southern third, which included Cape Florida, was owned by [[James Deering]], and, after his death, by his brother Charles, for 35 years. In 1948, José Manuel Áleman, a [[Cuban people|Cuban]] politician in exile, bought the Cape Florida property from the Deering estate. After Áleman died in 1951, his widow, Elena Santeiro Garcia, added to the property, purchasing an ocean-to-bay strip that had been part of the Matheson property. This strip included a canal William Matheson dug in the 1920s that extended from the bay across most of the island. The land north of the canal was developed as part of what is now the Village of Key Biscayne. In 1966, Garcia sold the Cape Florida property to the state of Florida, and the property became [[Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park]], which opened January 1, 1967.<ref>Blank. pp.166-171.</ref>