Fisher Island, Florida

Fisher Island is a census-designated place (CDP) and town located on a man-made island of the same name in the City of Miami Beach in Miami-Dade County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the CDP had only 218 households and a total population of 467 persons.

Fisher Island is 3 miles off shore of Miami, Florida. No road or causeway connects to the island, which is accessible only by private ferry. Once a one-family island home of the Vanderbilts, and later several other millionaires, it was sold for development in 1960s. The property sat vacant for well over 15 years before development was begun for very limited and restrictive multi-family use.

Today, Fisher Island is occupied again, but remains a very exclusive and wealthy community. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Fisher Island had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States in 2000.

History

The island was created in 1905 by a dredging and land reclamation project in and around Miami Beach. Construction on Fisher Island was begun by developer Carl G. Fisher in 1919, who purchased the property from businessman and real estate developer Dana A. Dorsey, southern Florida's first African American millionaire. In 1925 William Kissam Vanderbilt II traded a luxury yacht to Fisher for ownership of the island.

After Vanderbilt's death in 1944, ownership of the island passed to U.S. Steel heir Edward Moore. Moore died in the early 1950s, and Gar Wood, the millionaire inventor of hydraulic construction equipment, bought it. Wood, a speedboat enthusiast, kept the island a one-family retreat. In 1963, Wood sold to a development group that included local Key Biscayne millionaire Bebe Rebozo and then former U.S. Vice-President Richard Nixon, who had promised to leave politics. (During his subsequent Presidency from 1968-1973, and during the Watergate scandal, Nixon maintained a home on nearby Key Biscayne near Rebozo, but neither ever resided on Fisher Island).

Modern retreat for wealthy and famous

After years of legal battles and changes in ownership, further development on the island was finally started in the 1980s, with architecture matching the original 1920s Spanish style mansions. Although no longer a one-family island, in 2005, Fisher Island remains virtually as inaccessible to the public and uninvited guests and exclusive by modern standards as it was in the days of the Vanderbilts, providing similar refuge and retreat for its residents. The island contains mansions, a hotel, and a country club. Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell, and Mel Brooks are among the celebrities with homes on the island.

Geography

Fisher Island is located at 25°45'41" North, 80°8'39" West (25.761644, -80.144252)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²). 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 467 people, 218 households, and 149 families residing in the CDP. The population density is 530.3/km² (1,362.6/mi²). There are 532 housing units at an average density of 604.1/km² (1,552.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP is 92.08% White, 3.21% African American, 0.00% Native American, 2.14% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.64% from other races, and 1.93% from two or more races. 14.78% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 218 households out of which 19.3% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% are married couples living together, 5.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% are non-families. 26.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.3% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.14 and the average family size is 2.51.

In the CDP the population is spread out with 15.6% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 45.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 51 years. For every 100 females there are 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 99.0 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP is in excess of $200,000, as is the median income for a family. Males have a median income of over $100,000 versus $85,789 for females. The per capita income for the CDP is $236,238. None of the population or families are below the poverty line.

Other information

Fisher Island's ZIP Code is 33139.

External links

• Welcome to Fisher Island (http://www.fisherisland-florida.com/)
• Fisher Island, Foreign & Fantastic (http://www.fisherisland-florida.com/v2/articles/janfeb2000.htm)

Template:Mapit-US-cityscale