On this date in Automotive History: July 10 1907 The Rise and Fall of Oldsmar A post office--a sign of permanent settlement--was established on this day in 1907 at the north end of Tampa Bay, Florida, serving a settlement that would become Oldsmar, Florida, a planned community financed by Oldsmobile icon Ransom Eli Olds. When Olds purchased 37,500 acres from Richard Peters in 1913, only a few settlers occupied the territory. Olds already owned a house on the Atlantic coast of Florida in Daytona Beach, and the Gulf Coast offered the cheap coastal land he needed for his development project. He originally dubbed his new town “R.E. Olds-On-The-Sea,” but thankfully someone suggested he change its name to Oldsmar shortly thereafter. Olds spent $400,000 on purchasing the land, but he would go on to pour in over $4 million to develop the settlement. Having already started the Oldsmobile and REO companies, the planned community was the fifty-two-year-old Olds’ final challenge. He financed the construction of miles of extra-wide roads and paved sidewalks, and built a comprehensive water system--a difficult project in Florida’s lowland aquifer. Olds encouraged farming in his new town, and in the meantime, went about trying to attract other forms of business and entrepreneurial spirit, spending $100,000 on an oil well that unfortunately never yielded anything but sulphurous water. Olds saturated Detroit with advertisements for his idyllic new town, hoping to lure thousands of autoworkers to the better climate. In expectation of their arrival, Olds constructed shoddy houses with poor plumbing systems. Few workers came, as Olds had never been popular with his workers. Unable to attract a labor force, Olds realized he would have trouble convincing companies to move to Oldsmar. His nearest success came when he provided financial backing to the Kardell Truck Company provided it move to town, but the venture proved unsuccessful. Oldsmar remained a sleepy fishing and farming town--with nice roads. In 1923 Olds had millions invested in Oldsmar. When he realized the town wasn’t going to grow, he attempted to liquidate his assets, selling parcels of land and a nearly finished racetrack. He left the town having incurred over $3 million in losses. Olds had envisioned a city of 100,000 inhabitants, but when he abandoned Oldsmar, he left behind only 200 permanent residents.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 15:37:56 +0000
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