Publication
Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2021]
Summary
"In the 1920s, newspapers and real estate developers colluded in a scheme to sell tiny vacation lots to subscribers. A zealous advertising campaign spawned a land-buying frenzy that sprouted dozens of waterfront summer colonies across the country. The resulting legal, social and environmental mayhem caused some of these communities to disappear or be drastically altered in character, while others managed to survive more or less intact. Drawing on newspaper accounts of the day, this book explores how the scheme eluded accusations of fraud, creating an assembly line for middle class resorts through a lucrative merger of real estate and journalism. Pell Lake, Wisconsin, serves as a case study that yields the best evidence for determining if it was all a scam. Told here for the first time, the story of this unusual alliance and the communities it created offers lessons for today's entrepreneurs, journalists, advertisers, real estate developers, environmentalists and anyone who has ever lived in a resort community"-- Provided by publisher.
Contents
The lake, the farmer and the dentist
Creating a newspaper colony
The genesis of the alliance
Closing in on the deal
The early colonies and the promotional articles
The later colonies and the display ads
The economic aftermath
Hybrids and clones
William Randolph Hearst
Environmental factors
Legal aspects
Racial issues
Social considerations
Pell Lake in context and comparison.