Adventure, Romance, and Island Life were the promise.

David Paul Davis was a master promoter and marketed his $30 million resort community Davis Islands for those seeking “Adventure, romance and island life.”   The renderings in this brochure show massive buildings styled in Mediterranean Revival architecture in a “romanceful paradise,” beckoning investors to what was billed as a Temple to the Happiness of Posterity.  

This sale brochure, most likely printed in late 1924 to coincide with the opening of his sales office downtown, stands as a testament to his marketing acumen. In the land boom of the mid-1920s, it didn’t take much for prosperity-drunk citizens to plop down a wad of cash to buy the dream. This, along with full-page newspaper advertisement extolling the profits of those who invested early, brought buyers from all around. There were lines of people waiting to buy. It didn’t last long. In 1926, Davis, who was cash-strapped, mysteriously vanished at sea after an investment firm from Boston took a majority share in the project.

© Chip Weiner. 2023. oldtampaphotos.com