With the First World War ending in 1919, Florida began to establish itself as a booming economy, the state’s increased agricultural production setting the stage for the coming real estate boom of the 1920s.
Amidst the growth of Florida’s economy, the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1919. At the time, the Chamber called the historic Burgoyne Casino its home.
In 1925, the areas of Daytona, Daytona Beach, and Seabreeze consolidated into one, and the young Chamber became known as the "Triple City Chamber." The express purpose of the Triple City Chamber was to “ensure more effective advertising” for the area… With a $200 operational budget.
While the Triple City Chamber continued to grow throughout the 1920s, so too did Daytona’s own sport of racing, which had been popular in the area since the early 1900s. In 1927, Henry Seagrave set a world land speed record on the Daytona Beach Road Course 203.79 mph. The Daytona Beach Road Course, which ran along A1A, along the beach near Beach Street, and back, was instrumental in the formation of NASCAR. Seagrave would set another world record in 1929, reaching speeds of 231 mph.
By the early 20th Century, the sands of Daytona Beach had become a destination for aviation enthusiasts, who found the hard sand surface to be an ideal airstrip. In 1906, Charles Hamilton, the 12th person in the U.S. to earn a pilot’s license, piloted Florida’s first glider flight on the sands of Ormond Beach, and in 1910, Edward Andrews flew the first twin-engine plane ever built from Daytona Beach. For the next decade, throngs of aviators made their way to Daytona Beach, necessitating some regulations on the “natural airport.” In 1928, the City of Daytona Beach moved its aviation activities to Bethune Point along the Halifax, bringing an end to beach aviation.
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“Burgoyne Casino, 1925” Photo courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/2216.
“Henry Seagrave and his Golden Arrow, 1929” Photo courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/150030.
“Biplane in Daytona Beach, 1928” ” Photo courtesy of State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/35457.
