Aladdin City, Florida - History - Demise

Demise

Although the railroad companies lifted their embargo in May 1926, the land boom had nevertheless begun to peter out, and the September 1926 Miami Hurricane caused an emphatic collapse in real estate prices. While a number of homes, a town hall, and the promised Seaboard extension and Aladdin City train station were built, the development became dormant. Some promotional activity continued; the Aladdin City Handicap was run at Hialeah Park through 1931. In December 1930, at the onset of the Great Depression, the Sovereign brothers conducted a raffle of two homes and ten lots in a nationwide competition among purchasers of Aladdin kit homes. The winners of the two homes, both of whom were from the northeastern U.S., also received round-trip tickets to Aladdin City. The Sovereign brothers planned a similar raffle for the end of 1931. However, in March 1934, the Sovereigns returned the lots to acreage in a revised plat, and continued to liquidate their already deeply discounted land holdings. The Aladdin City Sales Co. was finally dissolved by proclamation in November 1936.

A couple of the Aladdin homes survived over the years, but without the community and the commercial buildings, which remained on the drawing board. The last of these homes reportedly suffered severe damage in Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The wooden train station—unique among Seaboard stations in South Florida, which were routinely constructed out of stucco or concrete—was reported to be still standing as of 1985, but was apparently torn down after suffering damage in Hurricane Andrew.