Fisher Island, a small island at the southernmost tip of Miami Beach, is barely 90 acres in size and is one of the most exclusive places in the US.

It’s only accessible by ferry or helicopter, but once inside you don’t need to leave: it has a supermarket, a school up to grade 8, a 9-hole golf course, swimming pools and everything a wealthy family could possibly need.

The 561 people who call Fisher Island home according to the 2020 U.S. Census have the highest per capita income of any zip code in the U.S. ($2.2 million).

But to live on the island, you have to be a millionaire.

Property prices vary between $3.5 million and $40 million, and a project in development expects to charge $90 million for a penthouse.

The site is so exclusive that celebrities like the TV presenter Oprah Winfrey and actress Julia Roberts They had a house there.

People move around the island by golf cart. GETTY IMAGES

But as often happens, this island of luxury was not always the center of exclusivity it is today.

the beginning

“Fisher Island was part of Miami Beach, but was separated in the early 1900s when the government dredged a deep-water channel – known as Government Cut – into the Biscayne Channel,” the museum’s local historian tells BBC Mundo. of Miami Paul George History.

The development of what is now known as Miami Beach began between 1910 and 1920. GETTY IMAGES

The canal made its way into the Port of Miami, known today as the “Cruise Capital of the World,” leaving behind a small accumulation of sand on which the island developed.

“It was a lot smaller than it is now,” adds George, “about 40 acres. Now they’ve added quite a bit, they’re going for 90″.

Was one of the first notable owners Dana A. Dorsey, Florida’s first black millionairewho had made his fortune building affordable housing for African Americans in the neighborhood then known as colored city (“Pueblo de color”), today Overtown, in northwest Miami.

His dream was to develop it as a black resort for black visitors.George explains, “Miami was very segregated and what he wanted was for black people to have their own beaches and infrastructure, and to avoid all kinds of problems with the Miami authorities.”

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But the project would never get off the ground, not under the rules of the time.

In an interview with the American public broadcaster NPR, Timothy Barber, executive director of the Black Archives – an NGO dedicated to preserving African American historical memory – explained that it was impossible for Dorsey to move the necessary resources -including materials and employees- to the island.

“It is known that he had problems because the island was on the east side of the train tracks [que marcan la separación entre este y oeste en Miami] and Henry Flagler [considerado el fundador de Miami] I had designated the east side for white people and the west side for black people,” Barber said.

Finally, Dorsey had to sell Fisher Island to the builder who would give it its current name, Carl Fisher..

the island of speed

Carl Fisher, the eccentric millionaire who bought the island from Dorsey, was one of the first drivers in the US GETTY IMAGES

Fisher became a millionaire thanks to his obsession with speed.

Born in poverty, he started making his fortune by helping his brothers sell bicycles by racing them: he was a racing champion and with his earnings, was one of the first to buy a car in the motorsport capital of the USA, Indianapolis.

His fondness for engines was such that he was able to glimpse the role the automobile would play in the development of the United States in the 20th century: he was involved in the construction of gigantic works such as the Lincoln highway – the first intercontinental highway in the United States, connecting New York and San Francisco-, the Dixie Highway -which would connect Miami Beach, in the southern United States, with Chicago- and the Indianapolis Highwayconsidered the temple of motorsport in America.

Fisher purchased the island from Dorsey in 1919 with the intention of building a seaport for cruise ships, but his plans changed when, through his love of engines, he met William K. Vanderbilt II, a member of the wealthiest family in the United States in the second half of the 19th century.

William K. Vanderbilt II was another fan of speed. Fighting here in 1904. GETTY IMAGES

In an agreement signed in 1927, Fisher turned over 2.8 of the island’s 8.5 acres that belonged to Vanderbilt, in exchange for a 265-foot yacht known as the “Eagle.”

The history books say that Fisher introduced the company to Vanderbilt with the phrase, “My island for your boat.”

The Vanderbilts developed their mansion on the island until the end of World War II, when they sold it to another eccentric speedboat millionaire, “Speed ​​Boat King” Garfield Wood, who used it to work on designs for electric cars and military boats until 1963.

From the Vanderbilts, Fisher Island passed into the hands of another motorcycle enthusiast, Garfield Wood (accompanied by his mechanic O. Johnson). HULTON DEUTSCH

From then on, and until the 1980s, Fisher Island served as a quarantine center, home to the University of Miami’s School of Marine Biology, and a storage facility for an oil company.

The boom in Miami in the 1980s

“By the mid-1980s, the island was on its way to becoming one of the most luxurious communities in the US,” historian George told BBC Mundo.

By 1989, Miami was already on its way to becoming the huge city it is today. GETTY IMAGES

A consortium bought the land and, reflecting the interest in luxury and exclusivity that characterized the era of President Ronald Reagan, the Fisher Island Club opened in 1987.

“It’s almost the first announcement that Miami is going to be this upscale place, and it was clear that it was going to attract the rich and famous,” says George.

The development that Fisher Island has undergone since then has made it one of the ten most exclusive zip codes in the country (zip code is 33109): according to information from Bloomberg, in 2015, the median wage for islanders was $2.5 million per year.

The island has its own market, a school up to eighth grade, a medical center, a fire station, a 9-hole golf course, seven restaurants, a marina that can receive yachts over 80 meters long, its own agent security and a fleet of four ferries that transport passengers and cars to and from the island 24 hours a day.

Fisher Island is one of the 10 most expensive zip codes in the US GETTY IMAGES

“The average age of the people living on the island has dropped after the covid pandemic, with the large influx of people coming from New York,” a professional real estate salesperson who lives on the island told BBC Mundo, who preferred that we didn’t. give his name to preserve the privacy of the island’s inhabitants.

“They are well-connected people, younger generations – families with children. They like security, it gives them everything they need and everything they want.”

“You don’t have to leave the island at all,” he says.

The island has its own fleet of ferries, which depart every 15 minutes. GETTY IMAGES

“As it stands, you can order Instacart [un servicio de entrega de mercado a domiclio] and they leave it for you on the ferry,” he adds, making sure that with the increase in people working remotely it is easier to live on an island, especially if you are a ferry ride away from one of the fastest growing urban centers in the United States. States.UU.

While projects to integrate Fisher Island into the city via a bridge have been considered in the past, the passage of massive freighters and cruise ships leaving the harbor has made it an impossible task.

And a task that seems unnecessary at the moment.

“The island has had so many guards for more than a century and they all have their own beautiful vision of real estate,” concludes the broker. “That has only improved it and made it more and more beautiful for people who enjoy that lifestyle.”