Lindbergh’s Legacy

Editor’s note: This is part three of a thee-part series about the arrival of aviator Charles Lindbergh in the Virgin Islands. The series began Thursday


The legacy of Charles Lindbergh’s visit to St. Thomas was a spirit of entrepreneurship on the island.

As early as February, 1928, just a week or so after Lindbergh’s two-day stay, the private and public sectors were discussing the idea of constructing an airport at Mosquito Bay to take advantage of what was perceived as a growing tourism market.

Coupled with the airport, officials proposed that there would also be a need for a first-class hotel.

On another level, Lindbergh’s visit brought about an unprecedented solidarity among the people of St. Thomas. The high esteem in which the Colonel was held was evident by the change of the name “Mosquito Bay Estate” to “Lindbergh Bay Estate”

One newspaper columnist, who wrote under the pseudonym “The Crank,” put forward an idea that many people on St. Thomas may have entertained at the time:

“I would suggest that we change the name of Emancipation Garden to Lindbergh’s Park, and have a statute of Colonel Lindbergh erected there if possible.”

No mosquitoes

The debate last year about the ecological and historical aspects of Lindbergh Bay  brought into focus the origin of the current name of the area.

The Geographic Dictionary of the Virgin Islands of the United States, by James William McQuire and published by the Department of Commerce in 1925 states that the earlier form of the name Mosquito Bay was Moskiette Bay, which in Dutch later became Muskite Bay.

McQuire said that the bay had absolutely nothing to do with mosquitoes.  It was, he said, a “place to which Danish troops formerly repaired for gun practice; hence, originally and properly “Musketeer Bay,” after the troops who honed their shooting skills with “muskets” in the area.

There have been several spellings of the name of the area: Moskitebay, Moskitobay, Musquite Bay, Musquitobay, Musketbay and Muskette Bay. However, although it is sometimes noted as “Mosquitto Bay Estate” in the Recorder of Deeds books in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, the accepted modern day spelling of the name of the area under discussion is “Mosquito Bay Estate.

At the time of Lindy’s visit to St. Thomas, Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 1928, Mosquito Bay Estate was owned by Aurora Moron, who had inherited the property from her husband, P.H. Moron, in July 1914.  The husband had bought the property from G. Bernard on June 1, 1891, for $4,500.

It is important to note that the size of Mosquito Estate was reduced during the first half of the nineteenth century.  Prior to that time, “Gabrittet was part of the plantation, owned then by Planter Louis Michel.

According to a recorded deed, on January, 1833, Michel deeded Carbitteberg to a “free colored, Maria Johanna Simmons and her children.”  These children were the issues of a common-law marriage between the estate owner and Maria Simmons. By the end of the 19th century, however, the estate had gone through several hands.

Name change

Rumors were rampant on St. Thomas after Lindbergh’s departure that Mosquito Bay would be renamed to Lindbergh Bay in commeration of his visit to St. Thomas, and on Feb. 12 owner Aurora Moron wrote to Gov. Waldo Evans:

“I have been long desirous of having the name of my estate of Mosquito Bay changed,” her letter said.

Robert Stride who had closely followed the matter, stated in a Feb. 14 letter to the St. Thomas Mail Notes that the change of name did not come as a surprise to him.

“In 1919 when I publicly read the text of my souvenir pamphlet, Mrs. Moron was present, and then the name “Paradise Bay” was used instead of Mosquito Bay to which Mrs. Moron made no protest,” said Stride.

According to Stride, since the publication of his pamphlet the government had also copied his lead and employed the designation “Paradise Bay” in a handbook and also posted the name on a sign opposite the post office.

Undoubtedly, Stride had observed that many people on St. Thomas considered the bay a “Paradise.” It was the place where many had been baptized and consequently became eligible to enter paradise. 

However, he said, he was in favor of the new name that would honor the historic occasion of Lindbergh’s visit.

“I welcome the change to Lindbergh Bay, but simply wanted to point out that an appropriate change of name had already been made nine years ago,” wrote Stride.

The official transition from Mosquito Bay Estate to Lindbergh Bay Estate was made by the property owner, Aurora Moron, on February 16, 1928, just two weeks after Lindbergh’s departure from the landing field there.

At the time of the transaction Moron also paid the $600 balance of a mortgage she had taken out on the property in 1926.

Economic impact

An important question was posed by St. Thomas Mail Notes in its Feb. 12, 1928 edition:

“What has Colonel Lindbergh’s visit done for the Virgin Islands?”

Many in the community, said the newspaper, had been asking this question, but it was not a difficult one to answer.

“The first value of the flying Colonel’s visit deduced to cold dollars and cents is  equal to about two million dollars value of advertising space in the newspapers of the United States and Europe,” the paper said.

Moreover, it was estimated that tourism and development projects that could accrue from the flying pioneer’s stay on the island could be worth more than twenty-five million dollars in the long term.

To realize these economic benefits, The Mail Notes said, the people of the Virgin Islands could not stand still and expect some “Johny will do it. They had to get together and do.”

The October 1928 Annual Report of Gov. Waldo Evans even mentioned, in a general way, those benefits: “The visit of Colonel Lindbergh to St. Thomas has occasioned wide publicity for the Virgin Islands, the value of which cannot be over estimated,” he said, adding that no campaign of advertising, could have generated such publicity to the territory as the visit of the “Spirit of St. Louis.”

St. Thomas on the map

People on the continent who had never heard of St. Thomas rushed to their reference books and learned that St. Thomas was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus and settled by the Dutch.

“They will also learn that St. Thomas, beautiful, clean and healthy, is indispensable to Uncle Sam for the protection of the Panama Canal and that were the British Island of Tortola — which is but an adjunct to St. Thomas — acquired and fortified along with this island and St. John, the Canal would then be a safe waterway for the world’s commerce,” the St. Thomas Mail Notes wrote.

At the time of Lindbergh’s visit to St. Thomas, several regional and mainland freighters traveled to St. Thomas carrying mail and cargo. These included the S.S. Dominica and the S.S. Haiti.

The S.S. Grebe sailed weekly between St. Croix and St. Thomas while between Puerto Rico and St. Croix the ship Catherine made weekly roundtrips.

The S.S. Mayaro was one of the vessels which traveled the New York/St. Thomas route with a few tourists.

The St. Thomas-based schooner “Resolution” was always available for charter.

Limited traffic existed between St. Thomas and the other islands of the region. Except for the monoplane owned by Arthur Fairchild and those which belonged to the Aerial Express Company of San Juan, aircraft seldom brought passengers to St. Thomas.

All that was to change dramatically after the visit of Charles Lindbergh.

Birth of tourism

Undoubtedly, Lindbergh’s visit on St. Thomas launched the era of tourism in the Virgin Islands.

The St. Thomas Mail Notes reported on Feb. 14, 1928, just 12 days after Lindbergh departed, that 517 people made a day sail to the island.

“The visitors were pleased with the beauty and cleanliness of our city and besides visiting several points of interest outside the city limits they paid much attention to the native exhibits on view on the lower floor of the Grand Hotel,” the newspaper wrote, adding that the tourists had apparently enjoyed the music provided by the Navy Band.

Tourists also had started coming by air. On February 13, the Santa Maria airplane arrived with 10 passengers from Puerto Rico and 15 the next day.

The same week, the German warship Emden also docked at Charlotte Amalie harbor for shore leave.

The West Indian Aerial Express had started an intermittent air service to Puerto Rico.

As Governor Evans perceived it, there were two prerequisites to start developing the tourism market.  Air transportation, he said, was a necessity as well as the construction of hotels. In his 1928 Annual Report, he also expressed hope that Congress, during its next session, would carry out its intention, as indicated during the 69th Congress, and make an appropriation for roads on St. Thomas. 

Policy makers recognized they needed to devote more effort to capitalize on Lindbergh’s visit — but in 1929, the global depression, which lasted into the 1930s, dictated the direction the economy of the Virgin Islands would take over the next decade.

Unemployment and poverty were rampant in the Virgin Islands. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover visited St. Thomas and called the territory the “effective poorhouse” of the United States.

At its meeting on April 4, 1928, the Chamber of Commerce had discussed the need to establishing a permanent airport. It was determined that although it was not feasible at that time to establish “a regular aviation field,” the Golf Course could be a temporary solution until the chamber could obtain land for “a regular airport.”

Obviously, the plan for developing tourism on the island had to include the construction of accommodations.

The government purchased the Bluebeard Castle property, which amounted to 54 hilltop acres and included Bluebeard’s Castle.

Pearson stated in 1934 that funds had been allotted for the construction of Bluebeard Castle Hotel.

“The round tower, reported to have been the fortress of the pirate Bluebeard, forms the central
feature and keynote of a group of small modern buildings,” he said.

Work progressed on the construction of what would be the Flagship Hotel on St. Thomas and in his Annual Report for 1935, Governor Cramer was able to indicate that construction of Bluebeards Castle Hotel had been completed.

The hotel had 26 rooms and 16 baths, a garage, servant quarters, a laundry building and an extensive water-storage system.

At Lindbergh Bay, a hotel consisting of 22 rooms, a pavilion, showers and toilets also had been constructed in 1935.

With the added hotel rooms, officials on St. Thomas were looking forward to a bumper winter season full of tourists and temporary residents.

According to an article in The Daily News edition of December 13, 1938 the effort to promote and advertise tourism in the Virgin Islands seemed to have been successful.

“In a report prepared by the committee appointed to make recommendations for the improvement of the harbor, it is estimated that $80,000 was spent here during the last tourist season when 20 ships called at this port,” the newspaper reported.

Tourism promotion

The Chamber of Commerce embraced the need to promote St. Thomas as a tourism destination.

The promotional strategy as outlined by the Chamber in its report was published in April 1928.

One involved the placement of a catch phrase on cancelled postage stamps.

The Chamber was to procure a Canceling Stamp for use in the post offices of the Virgin Islands that would bear the slogan “Come to the Virgin Islands for rest and recreation”.

A second involved a request to shipping companies to encourage more tourists to visit beautiful St. Thomas.

The Chamber of Commerce resolved to visit all the major trade shows to spread word that St. Thomas was open, ready and waiting to receive tourists.

Immediate on the agenda were two trade shows on the United States mainland. The first was the Pacific Southwest Exposition in July and August 1928.

“It was thought that this is another good opportunity for further publicity for the Virgin Islands,” the report said.

The business organization also planned to send representatives to the City of Boston, which would celebrate its tercentenary later that year.

The Chamber also sent pictures and literature of the Virgin Islands to Ashville, N.C., where the Chambers of Commerce had scheduled a festival for June.

An opportunity was announced in the September 11, 1935, issue of The Daily News for advertisers to buy space in the special tourist edition of the newspaper which would be forthcoming shortly. “For four years we have been printing and distributing free copies of our paper with information about the islands to tourists. The results have been so encouraging that we have been requested to insert a map of the business places that cater to tourists, and interesting points of the city in that issue.”

St. John was not forgotten in the effort to develop the territorial tourism product.

On St. John the work of clearing vegetation, construction of culverts, opening of drains and grading extended sections of trails, which were the only roads on the island, began in 1935. The same year a tourism development company acquired land there to construct a “winter resident resort.” Several Americans also purchased land on the island for hotel development.

Homesteading

The decade after Lindbergh’s visit to St. Thomas saw changes in the ownership of Lindbergh Bay Estate, which then amounted to 508 acres.

On May 11, 1932, Lindbergh Bay Estate was sold to J.E. Kuntz and Edith Geraldine Kuntz by the sheriff for St. Thomas and St. John, subject to redemption by “widow Aurora L. Moron”.

The ink was hardly dry when on the same date, J.E. Kuntz, Edith Geradline Kuntz and Aurora Moron, in turn transferred ownership of Lindbergh Bay Estate to the United States of America, represented by Ray Lyman Wilbur, Secretary of the Department of the Interior.

The Chairman of the Commission, Harry Taylor, described the rules and regulations of the new Homesteading Program at an October commission for small farmers and other interested parties.

“Plots which vary from three to eight acres are being sold on a 20-year plan which amortizes principal and 4 percent interest,” Taylor said.

The endeavor was of considered to be crucially important to the economy of the Virgin Islands because the Great Depression was in full force and the decline of commerce in the St. Thomas harbor meant many people had to eke a living from the land for survival.

Although 5,871 people were engaged in agriculture, only 278 of them actually owned the land they were farming, according to The Daily News.

Moreover, 90 percent of the arable land on St. Thomas was owned by 1 percent of the population. Thus, the majority on St. Thomas were extremely supportive when the Homestead Program was announced in 1932. The enthusiasm increased with the announcement of a federal grant of $80,000 to fund the program.

St. Croix was also included in the Homesteading Program as outlined in the Annual Report for 1933 by Gov. Paul M. Pearson:

“The six estates known collectively as ‘Whim,’ and located in the southwest portion of  St. Croix near Frederiksted, contain 1,450 acres of land, of which about 850 were found to be well suited to horticulture, although they have for many years been pasture.”

The “Whim” property would be divided into 145 homestead, he said, and the people of Christiansted also would be able to participate in the Homesteading Program.  The 712-acre estate known as “La Grande Princesse” had been purchased by the government for that purpose.

“In the homesteading projects lies St. Croix’s chief security for the future,” Pearson said. The lack of land ownership, he reasoned, created dangerous economic and social conditions. “Those dangers became realities in 1930 when West Indian Sugar Factory closed and the Red Cross had to feed thousands for months.

Public beach

The public’s access to Lindbergh Bay Beach was a controversial issue throughout the 1930s.

St. Thomians traditionally alluded to Lindbergh Bay Beach as “Paradise Bay” because beginning around 1733, Moravian brethren used it for baptismal immersions and it still was in use for that some 200 years later.

In November 1935, “Brother Logan of the Fire Baptized Holiness Church of the Americas claimed a dozen followers when he conducted baptismal ceremonies yesterday in accordance to the rituals of his church. The Lindbergh Beach was chosen as the suitable location for that purpose,” The Daily News reported.

The use of Lindbergh Bay Beach by Brother Logan and his followers was apparently made possible by an exemption.  The reason for making this claim is that as early as October 1932, the directorate of “Lindbergh Bay Bathing Club” had announced restriction of public access to the beach.

It was explained by The Bulletin, that the directorate had presented an offer for renting of a stretch of land along Lindbergh Bay Beach for its exclusive use.

The exclusive use of the beach did not sit well with the public because a promise had been made that Lindbergh Bay Beach “would remain open to the public”.

In an attempt to dampen the objection of the public, the administration promised  construction of a community bath house, “large enough to serve the throngs of people who visit the beach on holidays.”

The long-awaited opening of the public bath house at Lindbergh Bay came on Thursday, July 19, 1934. It had twenty-five rooms; a restaurant managed by a Mr. Max Daniel, who also performed guard duty on the beach, also had been constructed.

Even before the opening, crowds thronged the beach. Thursday, May 3, 1934, was what The Daily News referred to as “a half holiday” as hundreds of St. Thomians forgot cares and woes and headed to Lindbergh Beach to swim in the clear waters.

In April a large number of tourists who came on the Volendam shared the beach with local residents.

“The visitors were delighted with the beauty of the beach, and those who forgot their bathsuits could not forgive themselves,” the newspaper reported.

However, the Navy’s ongoing work at Lindbergh Bay Beach made the area off-limits to locals for a time. In its editorial of September 2, 1937, the Daily News took strong exception to the restriction.

“Anyone with half an eye can see that the Lindbergh Bathing Beach must be retained by the public at all costs”, said The Daily News.

A few weeks later, the newspaper was able to report on road improvements to Lindbergh Bay Beach. “Those who frequent Lindbergh Bay Beach can no longer complain of the disagreeable automobile ride to the beach.” The reason for elation, said the newspaper, was that “an excellent road has been built by well-known road contractor, Mr. George Moorehead.” The publication said that was one of the finest on St. Thomas and hoped that soon this could also be said of the road on the southern side of the island; especially near Brookman Gut.

The increasing demand to use the Lindbergh Bay public beach house resulted in bus service to the locality.  This bus service began on June 28, 1938, and was scheduled to operate on all Sundays and holidays, making two trips a day from Main Street with stops at “Post Office corner, at the Market and at Bethesda corner”.  In addition, if there was a demand, a stop would be made at the Public Tennis Courts in Long Bay.

ECW camp

The Emergency Conservation Work Program, abbreviated ECW,  housed young men in two camps, one on St. Thomas and the other on St. Croix.  The participants worked on numerous government funded projects such as reconstruction of roads, development of recreational facilities, reforestation, fire control and soil-erosion.

The ESW, introduced to the Virgin Islands in January 1935 as part of President Roosevelt’s Recovery Program, was seen as offering the youth of the territory “a hopeful outlook in terms of immediate relief and social
betterment”.

The St. Thomas camp was at Lindbergh Bay in three large buildings, one of which was a dormitory for the 56 or so youths in the program.

Some ECW campers at Lindbergh Bay enrolled in the Day Adult Program at Charlotte Amalie High School to continue their education.

It was claimed that the program generated about $94,000 annually and most of that sum stayed in the Virgin Islands.

The group was lauded in April when it took swift action to extinguish a fire at Lindbergh: The ECW youths responded “to a quick bugle call and put the homesteaders out of danger by directing the blaze to its proper area.  Two boys received slight injury,” The Daily News reported.

Lindbergh Bay “hole”

Under the National Recovery Program, two swamps on St. Thomas, one at Lindbergh Bay, the other at Long Bay were designated for filling as part of the malaria eradication program.

At Lindbergh Bay, the material for the fill of the swamp located in the vicinity of an area known as “Bourne Field” originated from the bay itself and created the now controversial depression or “hole.”

The sum of $109,200 was appropriated in the territorial budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1935 to reclaim the swamp because it was feared they were breeding places for malarial mosquito.

In a letter to Governor Pearson, who had recommended the reclamation, noted scholar, Dr. H.H. Howard stated that “the oiling of pools and puddles as an anti-mosquito measure can never be more than a makeshift or an adjunct to other measures.” Thus, he said, reclamation would remove the menace to life and health.

 “Reclamation of the two swamp areas will be undertaken by the War Department, which now has a dredge working in Puerto Rico,” announced the Interior Department, which  also said that in 1931, a malaria epidemic swept the Virgin Islands and about 2,000 cases were reported.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge ship “Captain Houston” arrived in St. Thomas from Puerto Rico in early April 1935 and almost immediately dredging began at Lindbergh Bay along with the filling of the swamp at Bourne Field with the dredged material.

Crowds gathered to see how the dredge was operated and at the same time to avail themselves of the opportunity to collect varied sea shells, gathered around the area where “Captain Houston” was dredging with its pipes extending to the swamp.

It soon became obvious that the intensive nature of the dredging and filling work at Lindbergh was taking a heavy toll on some of the workers, and on May 5, laborers at Lindbergh Bay went on strike.

“Armed with sticks about one hundred laborers who refused to begin work Sunday night forced fifty others to join them today at noon in their demand for higher wages”, reported The Daily News on Monday, May 6, 1935.

The unskilled laborers felt that 15 cents an hour was insufficient and they wanted 25 cents an hour. Management announced, however, that the crew on “Captain Houston” would “go ahead” with the work of filling the swamp.

On May 7, a group of angry laborers, led by Morris Davis, stood at the upper entrance of Lindbergh Bay. The strikers shouted that workers in Puerto Rico had received more than they were paid on St. Thomas.

Officers from the “Captain Houston” responded that wages were fixed in Washington, not by them. Moreover, the money allotted for the work on St. Thomas would be jeopardized if the strike continued. Soon afterward, a compromise agreement giving the workers at Lindbergh Bay a raise from 15 cents to 20 cents an hour ended the strike

The Lindbergh Bay swamp project was finished on June 19, 1935, and the dredge “Captain Houston” was towed to Long Bay to continue the reclamation work there.

Navy’s stronghold

The U.S. Navy envisioned the use of the Virgin Islands as a main prong in its Caribbean defensive strategy. As early as May 1934, rumors had already began to circulate that the Navy intended to have a base in the Virgin Islands. In September,
Lt. Col. Moore, Commander of the U.S. Air Force squadron assigned to the Virgin Islands, visited St. Thomas.

Moore, accompanied by Governor Cramer and Assistant Secretary De Castro as well as Assistant Commissioner of Public Works, Donald Boreham, visited the Navy Yard, Lindbergh Bay and the Marine Barracks, which were in what is now the Senate Building.

It was determined that the Marine Barracks, in which the Charlotte Amalie High School was housed, would be the most suitable site for the Airport and Marine Headquarters.

Negative public reaction to the sudden transfer of Charlotte Amalie High School from the Marine Barracks forced Colonel Moore to try to explain the move.

“The marines and equipment are part of a unit at Quantico, Virginia, assigned to the Virgin Islands for temporary duty,” Moore said.

Early in the year, Governor Cramer had been assured of a grant from Washington to support the Homesteading Program at Lindbergh Bay Estate.

On Sept. 13, Moore told the press he thought that the Golf Course together with Lindbergh Bay would make an excellent flying field. “Few airports connect with the sea shore, and in this case the facility offered to seaplanes recommends this area highly”.  Moore also indicted that the Golf Course had been leased from the Country Club for a six-month period.

But on Dec. 6, Moore acknowledged it would be permanent.

“The Golf Course and the filled area along the Lindbergh Beach will be prepared and made into a permanent flying field,” said the lieutenant-colonel.

Eventually, the Navy and the Cramer Administration reached a compromise: “The Navy will take over all the land of the Lindbergh Estate south of the main road to drive to the beach. Homesteaders will be compensated for their labor and given plots elsewhere if they so desire.”

Some days later, the head of the Marine Barracks asked the government “to turn over the entire Lindbergh Estate so it can set riffle ranges and carry on bombing practice”, according to the Daily News.

The Navy was soon to obtain more jurisdiction over Lindbergh Bay Estate.

Through Executive Order, dated Feb. 21, 1936, with an amendment of Aug. 5, 1937, the portion of the Lindbergh Bay Estate necessary for the full operation of the airport at Bournfield was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior to that of the Secretary of the Navy.

Between 1936 and 1941, portions of Lindbergh Bay Estate were sold to a number of individuals. They included Oscar Parrott, Alphonso Nelthrop, Cyril Francis, James Mitchel, Percival Reese and Albiet Creque.

With the eventual departure of the U.S. Navy, the filled swamp at Lindbergh Bay was to come in useful for the construction of the Harry S. Truman Airport and later for the Cyril E. King Airport.

 

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