All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.Hidden.America.S03E07.1080p.WEB.h264-FREQUENCY_track3_[eng]

[narrator] A hotel
in the Deep South,

where lines were crossed

and dreams were written.

It would not be unusual
to just see

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
stroll in...

[narrator] A forgotten
theater in Connecticut

with a basement
full of secrets.

[woman] What could
this space have been for?

Was this a space where
they put unruly patrons?

[narrator]
And a Wyoming ghost town that

captured the attention of
the Queen of the Air.

[man] When she could get away
and be at peace,

this was where she came.

[narrator] Scattered
across the United States

are abandoned structures

and those who know
their stories.

These forgotten ruins reveal

the past of this land
and its people.

These are the secrets
of hidden America.

In the wilds of Wyoming,

a settlement holds stories

of elusive treasure,

natural disaster,

and one of the country's
greatest pioneers.

[woman] This is real
American wilderness.

Civilization feels a very,

very long way away.

We're in a valley
that seems to go forever.

[man 1] Your imagination here

goes crazy when you think
they lived way back here.

[narrator] For the people
who built these

forgotten structures,
the isolation was worth it.

[Hadley] A lot of
East Coast folks who had money

had heard that there was
gold in the hills.

[man 2] But this isn't just
a ghost town from

the American Old West.

There's something here that
people did not expect to find.

[narrator] This ruin

hides a connection to one of

America's
best-known celebrities

and one of the world's
greatest unsolved mysteries.

[man 1] They had just begun
building her cabin,

and, man, it was gonna be
a spectacular place.

And then she disappeared.

[narrator] Thom Knave
has been sharing

this valley's secrets
with people for years.

He knows
it's a journey worth taking.

[Thom] It's just a lot of fun
to have the excitement

when folks come to Kirwin

and the surrounding
mountains here. It's...

It does my heart good.

[narrator] This is
the town of Kirwin.

Around 150 years ago,

it was a destination for those

seeking their fortune
in the mountains.

[man 2] Gold and silver were
discovered here in the 1880s.

And it wasn't long before

an entire mining town
sprung up

that reached about 200 people.

[Thom] All of their boilers,

their wheels, everything metal

was brought in in pieces

by horse and wagon.

[woman] The fact that
they got all of this
mining machinery

up here in wagons
is just unbelievable.

I mean, it's hard
to drive up here now

in a car.

[narrator] Despite having
a post office and hotel,

Kirwin wasn't a typical
19th century mining boomtown.

It had no brothels
and no saloons,

and zero tolerance
for salacious behavior.

[Thom] There was a palm reader
known as Lucille that,

when they found out that she
was providing more services

than palm reading,

uh, they asked her to leave.

[narrator]
Newspapers were predicting

the town's population
would reach a thousand.

But a natural disaster in 1907

would bring all this progress
to a sudden halt.

[Linda] Sitting at the base
of 12,000-foot peaks,

Kirwin was always
in a precarious spot.

And this year was
a particularly heavy snowfall.

[Thom] They had
a severe avalanche.

It actually destroyed
a store and a house

and killed three people.

[Kyle] The remaining residents
had to make a snap decision,

leave with rescue crews

or risk another disaster.

So they all left.

[narrator] The exodus

marked the end of Kirwin
as a mining town,

but not the end
of Kirwin altogether.

Six miles
further down the valley,

there is a collection
of cabins

hidden amongst the trees

that put this place
back on the map

and forever tied it
to a world-famous name.

[man] It's shrunk.

This place, when I
was a kid, it was

three times bigger than this.

[narrator] Byron Bennett

has fond memories
of a childhood

spent living in
this unique spot.

[Byron] I was four years old
when I moved up here.

I'd be here for the weekends
or as long as I could.

Oh, it was pretty neat.

The balcony up there,
when I was a little kid,

I could look down over there
and it was big.

[narrator] Byron's family
managed this ranch

and lived in the lodge,

while the surrounding
cabins were for visitors

who had traveled
hundreds of miles to be here.

But they weren't hunting

for gold like
their predecessors.

They were in search
of something else.

[Hadley] By the end
of the 19th century,

there was this real mystique

that's built up
about the Old West.

[man] Go west, young man.
Go west.

If you want a life crowded
with adventure, go west.

Or if you want solitude,

go west.

[Linda] People who had never
set foot outside of a city

saw pictures of cowboys
and horses in magazines

and they saw
their stories being told
in silent Western films.

And they wanted some of that.

[Hadley] The cowboys
capitalized on this.

And so, they started
building ranches,

which were targeted
to wealthy East Coasters

who wanted to come out
and play cowboy for a while.

[narrator] Real cowboys
called these urbanites

"Dudes."

And this place was
the Bennett Family Dude Ranch.

[Byron] We'd take
horseback rides up to Kirwin

and down the river
to some other fishing place

where they could fish.
And then,

a lot of times
the people just liked to...

The dudes would kind of

sit around and just
do nothing.

[narrator] In 1934,

this ranch hosted
a visitor like no other.

[Kyle] She was one of the most
famous women in the world

and was in high demand

for press tours
and speaking events.

[Hadley] She drives her
Franklin automobile

all the way from New York
straight to Wyoming,

right up to the gates
of the ranch.

[narrator] When she arrived,

the natural beauty of Kirwin
would captivate her.

But soon after,

she would disappear

into thin air.

[narrator]
In an isolated valley
in Western Wyoming

first settled by gold miners,

a dude ranch

was about to play host

to a true American icon.

[Thom] We're coming up on

cabin number three,
they call it.

This is where

Amelia Earhart

really fell in love

with this part of the country.

[narrator] Amelia
stayed in this cabin

for three weeks

in the summer of 1934.

[Thom] This was quite a...

quite a location.

I guess you could call this
her back porch.

And it gets
even a little louder,

the creek out here.

This is why you come.

This is why she was here.

[narrator] Amelia Earhart's
connection to Wyoming

is a lesser-told chapter of

this incredible woman's story.

Before she came here,

Amelia had already
experienced Wyoming

from the air.

[Kyle] Most people will know
of Amelia Earhart

from her attempt
to fly around the globe,

but what a lot of folks
don't know is that

she was involved with piloting

an experimental helicopter

known as an autogiro.

[narrator] In 1931,

three years before she
first came to Kirwin,

Amelia wanted to set

a transcontinental record
in the craft,

and made five stops
in Wyoming,

gathering huge crowds
at each airfield.

[Linda] Over the next
few years, Amelia Earhart

set a dizzying array
of flight records,

and she became one of the most
famous women on the planet.

[Kyle] At the height
of her fame,

Earhart needed somewhere

to escape the spotlight.

[Thom]
The paparazzi of that time
following you around.

When she could get away
and be at peace,

this was where she came.

[narrator] The owner
of the ranch at this time

was named Carl Dunrud.

[Kyle] Carl Dunrud
was a local guide
for East Coast elites.

That's how he met
George Palmer Putnam,

Amelia Earhart's promoter
and later her husband.

They went on some
rather exotic trips together.

And I'm sure that
how it happened was,

"Why don't you come
and spend some time

at the Double Dee Ranch?"

D being Dunrud's last initial.

[Kyle] Earhart knew of Wyoming

from her flying career,

and she loved
the great outdoors,

so, when Putnam
mentioned Dunrud's ranch,

she didn't need
much convincing.

[Hadley] They spent
this great summer
fishing and riding

and exploring this
weird old mining town.

You totally can understand
how she fell in love with it.

[narrator] But Amelia
wasn't done

with her daredevil lifestyle.

There was still
one major flying record

that she was
determined to break.

[Linda] Amelia Earhart
was a true pioneer.

She was fearless
and she took on

incredible challenges.

But this attempt
to circumnavigate the world

was her most ambitious.

[narrator] On June 1st, 1937,

she took off
from Miami, Florida,

with navigator Fred Noonan

on a route
that would take them

29,000 miles around the world.

[Hadley] On June 29th,
they reached New Guinea

with only 7,000 miles to go,

and the entire world

is waiting with bated breath
for her to finish the flight.

[narrator] Meanwhile,

Carl Dunrud was busy
fulfilling a promise

he had made
to Amelia and her husband

when they were last in Kirwin.

[Thom] They got to know
Carl Dunrud really well,

and she actually contracted

with Carl to build her a cabin

about a mile up above Kirwin.

[narrator] But before
Amelia could begin

dreaming of
a quiet life in Kirwin,

she had a record-breaking
journey to complete,

and was facing the most
difficult stretch yet.

[Linda] This leg was
going to be the longest.

More than 2,500 miles

to a tiny atoll in the middle
of the Central Pacific.

They never made it.

[Hadley] This was
such a big deal that
President Roosevelt himself

authorizes a search

of over a quarter million
miles of sea.

[Linda] After two weeks,
the search was abandoned.

Amelia Earhart
and Fred Noonan were lost.

[Kyle] There have been
plenty of rumors about
what happened.

But this is one of America,

if not the world's,
most enduring mysteries.

[narrator] The news
eventually made its way

to Carl Dunrud in Kirwin.

[Thom] They had just
begun that, literally had

four or five logs up,

uh, going around,

and she disappeared,
and they stopped building.

[narrator] Her cabin lies
frozen in time,

a monument to a great woman

and a dream unrealized.

[Thom] There's nothing
but remnants to see today,

but you can kind of feel
that she's there.

[narrator] Despite its
far-flung location,

people still make
the difficult journey
to Kirwin today.

[Linda]
Lots of people drive out

to this remote mountain area

because it's an opportunity
to feel close

to one of the greatest
American legends of all time.

[narrator] Kirwan's buildings
are slowly deteriorating,

but as Amelia Earhart
herself experienced,

the magic of this place
doesn't lie in the man-made.

We feel very fortunate
to have these

mountains in our backyard,

and I can tell you
it never gets old.

[Byron] This is my
final resting place.

My ashes are
gonna be out here.

[narrator] In the Deep South,

one building offered
safe haven to the stars,

and played host to the man

who had America's
most famous dream.

[man 1] It was packed.

The music was superb.

You felt as if you were

a part of something
larger than yourself.

[woman] When you
think of a city

that has changed
American society

in the 20th century,

there are few

that outshine
Montgomery, Alabama.

[narrator]
Less than half a mile
from the state capital,

an abandoned building
seems out of place.

[Sascha] What's crazy
is they were just

two blocks from
downtown Montgomery.

This is prime real estate.

Why has it been left
to rot like this?

[man 2] What jumps out to me
is the top floor.

I'm willing to bet
there might have been

some type of penthouse

with some special purpose.

[narrator] Inside,

rooms hold memories
of conversations

that sparked
a nationwide revolution.

[man 3] It is just
amazing to think

about the historical people

that sat in these
exact same seats

where they discussed
the bus boycotts,

the marches.

[man 1] When you
tell the story

of Black history in America,

this place cannot become
a mere footnote.

This place must be
a full-length chapter.

[narrator]
In Montgomery, Alabama,

this rundown building
has been a cornerstone

in Richard Bailey's life.

[Richard] Every day
of my school years,

I passed this place.

This was the heart
of the Black community.

You felt a certain closeness,

a certain, uh, kinship

with the other patrons.

[narrator]
Yet while this structure
brought people together,

it was born
out of a divided America.

[woman] In the 1950s,

American society
was largely segregated

between black and white.

[narrator] These rules
were also enforced

when African Americans
traveled across the nation.

[Richard] If you were
an African American

traveling from point A
to point B, there was

police brutality, bigotry,

and all sorts of instances

of second-class citizenship.

[narrator] To ensure
Black travelers

had somewhere
to rest their heads,

a list of safe havens were
published in a guide

called The Green Book.

[man] It was a book that
listed all of the safe places

for African Americans to go,
to eat, to sleep, to stay.

[narrator] This 28-room
guest house was listed

as a safe place for travelers
to stay in Montgomery.

This is the Ben Moore Hotel.

Today, Edward Davis
is its custodian.

He grew up hearing about

the extra measures
taken during its construction

in 1951

to ensure its patrons' safety.

[Edward] The Ben Moore Hotel

was supposed to withstand
fire, high flames,

up to two hours.

This was known
as the fireproof hotel.

Just in case someone
tried to do a hate crime.

[narrator]
But while bedrooms provided
somewhere safe to sleep,

the top floor
offered far more.

[Richard] The Afro Club

was located
on the fourth floor.

[man] It was a Black nightclub

with folks drinking, dancing,

smoking, and having

an honest, safe, good time.

[Kenya] The Afro Club
attracted some of

the biggest names
in the business.

B.B. King,

Tina Turner,
and Clarence Carter.

[narrator] Even with
A-list names in the house,

the patrons of the Afro Club
had to be wary

of the dangers posed
by a segregated America.

When you came into
the Afro Club,

you would have
to buy your tickets

right here. And then
you get to this big

four-inch thick door...

with the double-bolted action,

the dead bolt.

And the peephole in case

you had someone that
wanted to attack people.

[narrator] This door
didn't just protect

the building's
patrons at night.

This space served
another purpose

during the day,

playing a leading role
in changing America.

Some of the biggest legends

in the history
of the civil rights movement

held meetings right here.

[Edward] They'd come up here,

because it was the only
building with a sky-rise

downtown back in the '50s.

And if you wanted to check for

maybe police cars coming,
you had a clear view

of the entire city.

[Kenya] The leader of
the Montgomery NAACP branch,

the National Association
for the Advancement
of Colored People,

E.D. Nixon,
held his meetings here.

[Philip] E.D. Nixon

was what you would call

a power player.

He was a playmaker,
a change agent.

[narrator] One of the meetings
he organized here

was the first of its kind
in American history.

[Richard]
On February 23rd, 1955,

a month before

the city election,

every white candidate

came to the Ben Moore Hotel

to answer questions
from African Americans.

The fact that these
white office holders would

dare come to a Black hotel

and answer questions

from the Black population,

1955, that was unthinkable.

[narrator] Despite over half
of the city's population

being black, decades of

disenfranchisement legislation

had led to few
having the right to vote.

But many factors, such as
increasing literacy levels,

meant more African Americans

were passing
voter eligibility tests.

[Richard] The point
of the matter is,

they had to come because...

candidate A wanted
to make certain

that candidate B did not get

all of the Black votes.

[narrator] This meeting
at the Ben Moore Hotel

was only the beginning

of a revolution that was
starting to sweep the country.

These rooms were pivotal

in the life of
an American legend

whose dream changed
the futures of millions.

He didn't know
the value at the time

of those speeches.

[narrator] In the 1950s,

the Ben Moore Hotel
was the heart

of Montgomery, Alabama's
African American community.

But it was more
than just a guesthouse,

nightclub, and meeting place
for civil rights leaders.

This is the Majestic Cafe.

It's the first floor
of the Ben Moore Hotel.

[narrator] The Majestic Cafe

served Southern food
to hotel patrons

and the public alike.

But among the hundreds
who ate here,

one name stands out.

[Richard] It would
not be unusual

to just see
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

stroll into the Majestic Cafe
for whatever reason,

maybe just to
talk with someone.

This building was located
so close to his home.

It became a part
of his existence.

[Sascha] In fact, one of
the most iconic photographs

of Dr. Martin Luther King
was taken right outside.

[narrator] Like other
civil rights leaders
of the time,

Martin Luther King
held his meetings

at the top of this building.

But perhaps one of the most
unassuming rooms in the hotel

left the biggest mark
on his legacy.

Dr. Martin Luther King,

many times,

would venture
into the barbershop,

and as he was
awaiting his turn

for a haircut,

he would sit there
and scribble.

[Philip] Martin Luther King
wrote some of his speeches

while sitting
in the barbershop.

[Sascha] So, some of the most

seminal moments
of the civil rights movement

and some of the most
powerful ideas

to emerge from that
happened right here.

[narrator] But in
an ironic twist of fate,

the success of the speeches
written within these walls

brought about
the end of the building.

[Sascha] On July 2nd, 1964,

all the hard work and meetings
at the Ben Moore Hotel

finally bare fruition.

Congress passes
the Civil Rights Act,

officially ending
segregation in the U.S.

[Kenya] Desegregation
led to the slowing

of a clientele

within the Ben Moore Hotel.

Numbers of
African American travelers

began to go to

formerly white establishments

in order to have
a new experience

or to have better amenities.

[narrator]
As customers dwindled,

in the 1970s,

this hotel closed its doors
for the final time.

Today,

the hotel is owned
by Edward and his family.

And while it remains locked,

there is hope
it won't always be this way.

[Edward] I want people
to remember their history.

I want people to come back in,

sit in the same seats where

civil rights leaders sat.

[Richard]
If it's ever restored,

I would feel very proud.

I think, on that day,

Black people, white people,

citizens of Alabama,

will have another opportunity

to smile

as a generation
before us once did.

[narrator] In the heart
of the Constitution State

lies a building founded
in regional rivalry,

which both entertained
and detained its audience.

[man 1]
I get a special feeling
every time I come in here.

Every time we would stop here,

people were blown away

because they didn't
understand what was here.

We're in Derby, which is
Connecticut's smallest city.

[Kenya] It's got that
old-world charm

with nice big houses,

a town green with a bandstand.

[man 2] This isn't
the kind of place
where you'd find

abandoned buildings,
but the eye is

drawn to the largest building
on the square.

[narrator] The polished facade
of this structure

hides an interior
of bygone glory.

[Kyle] Why is this building
renovated on the outside
but not the inside?

It makes you think that
someone is trying
to hide something.

[Kenya] When you look
inside the basement,

you see doors,

cells, and offices.

What could this space
have been for?

[woman] It's so interesting
'cause some of it looks like

people were
just here yesterday.

It really feels like walking
into a piece of history.

[man 2] There are lots
of rumors about this place.

Some even say
that it's haunted.

Now, I don't believe
in hauntings,

but it turns out
that the truth

is possibly even more spooky.

[narrator] Jack Walsh's family

has lived in this valley
for generations,

and he knows
every inch of this building.

[Jack] This was
the dressing area.

They would put up the posters
that they used to advertise

the place, and these
are still here.

They've survived.

I would have loved to have
seen 'em in their heyday.

[man] Derby is
in the Naugatuck Valley

where two rivers
come together,

and this was really important
in the Industrial Revolution

because several mills
sprung up here.

[Kyle] These mills
manufactured everything from

hoop skirts to corsets

to brass items and pianos.

[narrator]
As the valley boomed,

a local rivalry developed
between Derby

and the nearby borough
of Ansonia.

A conflict well-known

to lifelong resident
Kellie Santiago.

[Kellie] Derby and Ansonia
are friendly,

and it's more of
a friendly rivalry,

a fun competition
with the sports teams.

[narrator] But over
100 years ago,

one-upmanship between
these neighbors

would change
the face of Derby.

In 1870, Ansonia, which was
then a borough of Derby,

built a grand opera house
just two miles up the road.

[Greg] Well,
not to be outdone,

Derby decides it's got to
build its own opera house,

and they name it after
a local piano manufacturer.

[narrator] This is
the Sterling Opera House.

[Kyle] Many of these types
of structures were built

in the 19th century.

They're essentially theaters,

but they're called
opera houses

because of the popularity
of musical entertainment,

things like light opera
or comic opera.

That was
its big claim to fame,

it was that there wasn't
a bad seat in the house,

that everywhere
in the Sterling
was a perfect seat.

[narrator] These seats
saw a number of stars

come here in
the early 20th century.

We saw all kinds of
celebrities come through here.

Bing Crosby,

Bob Hope,

Amelia Earhart
came here in the '30s

and gave a speech
in front of the Women's Club.

[narrator]
The Sterling Opera House

entertained locals
for decades.

But entertainment was not
this building's only purpose.

[Jack]
The Sterling Opera House

was a multi-use facility.

So, we're in
the entertainment section,

and then we're going
to go to the basement.

I'm gonna call that
the safety level.

[Greg] Why would you have

jail cells

underneath a theater?

Were they locking up
unruly patrons?

[narrator] In a sleepy
Connecticut town

lies a theater which attracted

some of entertainment's
brightest stars.

But below the stage

lies a strange
bureaucratic underworld.

[Kyle] This grand,
beautiful building was

an icon for the town of Derby,

but it was also
a very expensive icon.

So, it had to
serve double duty.

[Jack] We're on
the main floor,

which was actually City Hall.

So this was the heartbeat
of city government.

The mayor had
an office next door,

the tax collector,
and the director of charities.

[narrator] Beneath
the abandoned City Hall

lies another,
much darker level.

[Jack] These are
the jail cells.

I think this could have
been a nice form
of crime deterrent,

'cause take a look at this.

If you spent one night

in this jail cell

with this elegant toilet,

I don't think you'd ever
want to come back.

[narrator] These dungeons

once held some
unique criminals

when they were operated as

Derby Police Department's
holding cells.

[Kyle] The same prosperity

that brought the theater
to the Valley

also brought another thing,

organized crime.

[Kenya] The Black Hand was
a type of extortion racket

that was introduced
to the United States

by immigrants
from Southern Italy.

[Greg] This was a group
of people who would

write letters
and extort people.

They would
write to rich people,

often rich Italian Americans,

and they would say,
"Bad things are gonna
happen to you

unless you give us
some money."

[Jack] They would
send a letter

with the Black Hand
on the letter.

And if you got that letter,

your life changed dramatically

'cause, you know,
you were under threat.

[narrator] Connecticut's large

Italian American population

made it a hotbed
for these schemes.

And a number of
Black Hand extortionists

were held within these cells.

While this town
would eventually

overcome the Black Hand,

it would not weather
natural disaster

quite as well.

We've had floods at different
points in our history,

but the worst one was in 1955.

And it came as a result of

two hurricanes
in a short period of time.

[reporter] Nearly 50 lives
have been lost

and for many
thousands of people,

the catastrophe has been
like a nightmare come true.

[Jack] It basically wiped out

the downtown area of Derby.

We had

coffins

wash down from the cemetery

which got hung up
on the bridge.

[Greg] Rumor has it that
after the flooding,

the City Hall was actually
used as a morgue,

so you would have bodies
stored beneath the theatre,

and maybe that's where

the rumors
of haunting come from.

[narrator] While Derby
was able to clean up
after the floods,

the Sterling Opera House
was already on its last leg.

The theater struggled
to make a profit in the 1940s

and hosted fewer
and fewer performances.

The final nail in the coffin
for this building came

in 1965,

when City Hall moved out

and the building closed
for good.

Today,

the Sterling Opera House
remains empty,

but has not been forgotten.

[Kellie] Over the time
since it's closed,

there's been so many efforts
to try and revitalize

this building.

In the late 1990s,

the mayor then was able
to secure a grant

to do some work to
the outside of the building.

[narrator] The path
to restoring the interior

could be long.

But it would certainly
benefit this small city.

[Jack] Well, yeah, I'd love to
see it restored to a theater.

Wouldn't it be fantastic
to come in here

and see some of the people,
see them perform

in person

in an acoustically
perfect building?

[narrator]
On Florida's Gulf Coast,

a bizarre monument

hints at a community
erased from the landscape.

[woman 1] There's
a lot of stories

floating around about it.

It's associated with
ghost stories, with pirates.

[Greg] So here we are
on the outskirts of Tampa.

It's this flat space,
single level homes.

[Jim] In a wedge between
two highways, there's this

unassuming little green park,

except it has one
towering landmark.

[woman 2]
Sticking 200 feet into the air
above the treetops

is a gleaming white tower.

[Greg] It's too far
from the coast to act
as a lighthouse,

and it doesn't seem
to be defensive.

Is it just for show?

[Jim] It looks
almost medieval,

like something the crusaders
would have built

if they'd had
reinforced concrete.

[Greg] To make it
even more intriguing,

the door is bolted up,

but there does seem
to be a way inside,

and that would be
from a rope that's dangling

from the lowest window.

[narrator] What was once
a beacon for tourists,

became one man's
doomed gamble.

[woman 2] He mortgaged
every one of his assets

for one grand design,

but would it pay off?

[narrator] On the outskirts
of Tampa, Florida,

the history of
a forgotten community

is locked away
in an imposing white tower.

Museum director Norma Robinson

has been unearthing
a lost neighborhood.

Coming to this community,

wherever you looked,
you saw the tower.

[Greg] This tower was meant to
preside over a little empire.

Unfortunately, the creator

never lived to
see it come to completion.

[narrator] This is
the Sulphur Springs Tower.

Nearby, more clues

to the area's history
flow past.

[Norma] A young man
told us that his

grandmother used to make him
come and get the water,

and he said
it smelled terrible,

but she said
it kept her young.

[narrator] Legends of
the local spring water

stretch back
hundreds of years.

[woman] At the turn
of the century,

a small resort business
had sprung up on the land,

with a pool
and a few bath houses

all fed by the spring.

[narrator] But one man

entered the scene
with ambitions

for a far more
lucrative venture,

and an appetite for risk.

[Jim] Josiah Richardson
was a real American type.

He was a land developer,

a realtor,

and loved to sell the public
on his big dreams.

One of his
favorite slogans was,

"Josiah knows
where the money grows."

[Greg] Josiah Richardson
buys the site in 1904

and immediately sets about
to developing it.

[Norma]
From the pictures we see,

this was a public beach.

You could see they had

a diving board
and a water slide.

[narrator] In a short time,

the humble resort transformed

into a bustling
tourist destination,

one that catered
to a specific local taste.

[Katherine]
This being Florida,

it even had an alligator farm

where kids could ride
something called
a gatormobile,

quite literally a small cart

pulled by an alligator.

[Norma] They had a fascination
about them back then.

You could buy alligators

in Mays department stores.

[narrator] The centerpiece
of Richardson's resort

was a groundbreaking building

stretching an entire
city block.

[Norma] It was listed in

Guinness' world records

as the first
mini-mall in Florida.

It was a place where you could
go and do all your shopping.

At one time, this was known as
Tampa's very own Coney Island.

[Jim] As Richardson
developed all this,

he had one problem,
kind of, ironically, is

they needed
a better supply of water.

So, he commissioned

a very ambitious project.

[narrator] In the late 1920s,

Richardson set out
to build his resort

a dedicated water tower.

To see it realized, he risked

everything he had built
at Sulphur Springs.

[Greg] So how is he gonna
fund all of this?

Well, he uses
everything he has,

but he also mortgages
the entire property,

the arcade, everything,

in hopes that this is
gonna work out.

[Katherine] The result was
this stunning 214-foot-tall

gothic revival tower

built over an artesian well.

[Jim] In a sense,
the water tower's design was

a bit of a representation of

Richardson's flamboyant,

kind of huckster personality.

"You couldn't miss it.
You're gonna see

my water tower from
all the way across town."

[narrator] Overleveraged
and under financial pressure,

Richardson couldn't
risk anything going wrong.

But in 1929,

just two years
after the tower's completion,

a number of things
went very wrong.

First, the New York
Stock Exchange crashed.

[Jim] The Depression
was getting worse.

People couldn't
afford to travel.

The visitors, who were
the lifeblood of this resort,

their numbers dwindled.

[narrator] Then,
as the summer season
came to a close,

dark clouds formed
on the horizon

for Sulphur Springs.

In September 1933,

at the beginning
of the hurricane season,

a storm started gathering
out in the Gulf,

and rain started
pouring down on Tampa.

[Greg] After days
of heavy rain,

the dam on
the Hillsborough River fails,

and water just gushes

over the entire property.

[Jim] This deluge of water

washed out bridges,

damaged roads.

A lot of people
had to evacuate.

[narrator] The tenants
and shopkeepers

that filled
Richardson's buildings

fell behind on their rent,

and his immense mortgage
caught up with him.

[Greg] There's an expression
in finance

that you're underwater

if your debts exceed
your ability to pay them back.

Well, Richardson
was underwater in

more ways than one.

[narrator] Richardson was
forced to sell everything

and watched his empire
carry on from the outside

until his final days.

The tower continued to operate
as a private water company

until 1971,

when it was finally shut down.

Pieces of Sulphur Springs were

sold off or demolished
over the next ten years,

until few traces remained
of this tourist empire.

At Sulphur Springs,

this ambitious water tower

outlasted its creator

and his resort.

[Jim]
Richardson really made sure
this thing was built to last.

He had these
mighty steel pillars

buried inside the concrete.

That thing
isn't going anywhere.

[Norma] It's a structure that
has a lot of history,

that connects not only
to the neighborhood,

but just to people

concerned about living

and grow in a community.

So, I believe that's

one of the things
you could be proud of.