Creating a national park can take much longer than imagining one. For South Florida’s lower Everglades, the gap between a proposal and a dedicated park stretched across nearly two decades. Ernest F. Coe is the name most closely tied to that campaign, but the story also belongs to scientists, elected officials, journalists and civic groups who kept the idea moving. Today, Miami Airboat operates airboat tours within the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area, part of South Florida’s wider Everglades landscape. The national park is a separate place, but its history helps explain how the region came to be seen as worth protecting.
A Landscape Architect in Coconut Grove
According to the National Park Service, Coe was born in New Haven, Connecticut, studied at Yale’s School of Fine Arts from 1885 to 1887, and later worked in landscape design. He and his wife, Anna, moved to Miami in 1925 and settled in Coconut Grove.
The Park Service’s biography says that during his explorations of the Everglades, Coe saw rare birds being killed and unusual orchids being removed from the wild. He feared that species would be lost without protection, and he began pressing for Florida’s tropical environment to be preserved.
From a Letter to an Act of Congress
In 1928, Coe wrote to Stephen T. Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, proposing a national park in the lower Everglades. That same year, supporters organized an association to promote the idea. The National Park Service’s finding aid for Coe’s papers reports that the Tropic Everglades National Park Association was formed at a meeting in Miami Beach on December 11, 1928. Botanist Dr. David Fairchild was elected president, and Coe served as its executive leader. The group later became the Everglades National Park Association.
The campaign quickly reached Washington. Senator Duncan B. Fletcher introduced park legislation in December 1928. On March 1, 1929, President Herbert Hoover directed the Park Service to study whether a park was feasible, and in early 1930 an inspection party visited South Florida. The finding aid lists its members, including Park Service director Horace M. Albright, Arno B. Cammerer, Roger W. Toll, T. Gilbert Pearson of the National Association of Audubon Societies, Dr. Hermon C. Bumpus, Fairchild, Representative Ruth Bryan Owen of Miami, and journalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
Congress approved the authorizing legislation on May 25, 1934, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it on May 30, 1934. The Park Service’s park establishment history notes that the 1934 act described an area of 2,164,480 acres. It also set a strong preservation mandate: the park was to be kept as wilderness, with no development that would interfere with preserving its unique plants and animals.
Thirteen More Years
Authorization was a milestone, not a finish line. In the Park Service’s words, it took “another thirteen years to acquire the land and define the boundaries.” The 1934 act did not by itself put land into federal hands. That still had to be assembled.
Two contributions from Florida helped close the gap. The Park Service reports that the 1946 Florida Legislature appropriated $2 million to buy privately held land. The Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs also donated Royal Palm State Park, about 4,000 acres on Paradise Key, which became the nucleus of the new national park.
President Harry S. Truman dedicated Everglades National Park at Everglades City on December 6, 1947. His published address from that day acknowledges John Pennekamp as chairman of the ceremonies, along with Interior Secretary Julius A. Krug, Governor Millard Caldwell and Senators Spessard L. Holland and Claude Pepper. A Park Service anniversary release lists Coe and Douglas among the Floridians in attendance, along with Daniel Beard, the park’s first superintendent. The same release describes Everglades as the first national park set aside for its biological uniqueness.
Remembering Coe, and the Coalition
Coe died on January 1, 1951. The Park Service quotes the Secretary of the Interior as saying that Coe’s years of effort had earned him “a place among the immortals of the National Park movement.” On December 6, 1996, the park’s main visitor center was christened the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center in his honor.
The Park Service describes Coe as having pushed the park forward almost single-handedly, and his persistence is well documented. Its own records also show how many others were involved:
- David Fairchild, who served as the association’s president
- Senator Duncan B. Fletcher, who introduced the first legislation
- Ruth Bryan Owen, T. Gilbert Pearson and the other members of the 1930 inspection party
- The Florida Legislature, which funded land purchases in 1946
- The Florida Federation of Women’s Clubs, which donated Royal Palm State Park
- John Pennekamp and the Florida officials recognized at the 1947 dedication
Taken together, the record suggests that a park boundary reflects many proposals, votes, purchases and donations rather than a single moment of inspiration.
Learning the history adds another dimension to the landscape. If you would like to see part of South Florida’s wider Everglades for yourself, you can explore Miami Airboat’s tour options within the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.
Sources
Most Everglades history is about water, wildlife and the people who lived with both. One chapter is about missiles. For about fifteen years during the Cold War, a U.S. Army air defense battery kept Nike Hercules missiles ready to launch from a site inside Everglades National Park. The National Park Service now calls the site, HM-69, “one of the best preserved relics of the Cold War in Florida.”
Our Everglades History series covers the wider region around the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area. HM-69 is in Everglades National Park, which the National Park Service manages, and our tours do not go there.
A Crisis Close to Home
According to the National Park Service, an American U-2 spy plane photographed Soviet missile sites in Cuba on October 14, 1962. The Park Service explains that U.S. air defenses had been built mainly to stop Soviet bombers coming over the North Pole. That left South Florida largely unprotected from the south. The Park Service notes that the site later chosen for HM-69 is 160 miles from the Cuban coast.
The Park Service says the Army’s 2nd Missile Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery, was deployed in late October 1962. The battalion had four batteries of about 150 men each. The Park Service’s 2004 Cold War in South Florida Historic Resource Study gives a closer timeline. It says the Nike Hercules troops left Fort Bliss, Texas, on October 28, reached Homestead Air Force Base on October 31, and had their batteries ready to fire by November 14, 1962. The study also notes that the first missiles to arrive carried conventional warheads, not nuclear ones.
On November 26, 1962, the NPS says, President John F. Kennedy went to Homestead to present the 52nd Air Defense Artillery with the Army’s Meritorious Unit Commendation. The first positions were temporary. Two batteries set up tent camps just outside the park entrance. The historic resource study describes mosquitoes and flooding, and says Hurricane Flora damaged the temporary positions in October 1963.
From Tent Camp to Permanent Base
According to the historic resource study, the Army announced in August 1963 that the South Florida missile sites would become a permanent part of the national air defense network. The NPS says park managers gave the Army a permit to build a base inside the park. The study says the permanent site was built on land once farmed by the Iori farming operation, in the area now called the Hole-in-the-Donut. After the farm went bankrupt, the land was transferred from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Army.
Sources give slightly different dates for when the permanent base opened:
- The NPS HM-69 page and the historic resource study both say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the base in 1964.
- The same NPS page says A Battery moved to the new permanent site in 1965. The study also says South Florida’s missile soldiers moved into their new facilities that year.
- A 2012 Everglades National Park news release puts A Battery’s move into the park in 1966.
South Florida’s geography shaped the base. Nike sites elsewhere usually kept missiles in underground magazines. The historic resource study says Florida’s high water table made that impossible here, so HM-69 used three aboveground missile barns instead. The Society of Architectural Historians’ SAH Archipedia entry explains that the fire-control area and the missile storage and launch area were deliberately built apart. According to the study, about 146 soldiers and technicians ran the site.
Always Ready, Until 1979
The NPS says A Battery soldiers kept 41-foot missiles in a constant state of readiness. Some missiles were fitted with nuclear warheads of up to 40 kilotons. The Park Service also notes that South Florida’s Nike Hercules sites were linked with Hawk missile sites to defend against aircraft at every altitude. The historic resource study says this combination was not used anywhere else in the United States. The study also notes HM-69’s rare mobile high-power acquisition radar.
The study says South Florida’s Nike sites were among the last active Nike sites in the continental United States. They stayed in service about five years after similar sites elsewhere had closed. According to the NPS, official use of HM-69 ended in 1979. The historic resource study says the former fire-control area became the park’s Daniel Beard Research Center in the early 1980s.
A Preserved Piece of the Cold War
The NPS says HM-69 includes 22 buildings and structures. These include three missile barns, a missile assembly building, a guard dog kennel and barracks. In 2004, thanks to the efforts of a Nike veteran, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Park Service also says it continues to collect histories from veterans of the battalion.
HM-69 shows that a protected landscape can also hold the story of national decisions made far away. Anyone hoping to visit should check current National Park Service information for Everglades National Park. When this article was researched, the NPS said access varies by season and staffing, with ranger programs in winter and partner-led programs at other times. A visit to HM-69 is separate from an airboat tour.
Learning the history adds another dimension to the landscape. If you would like to experience the Everglades for yourself, you can explore Miami Airboat’s tour options within the Everglades and Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area.
Sources
- National Park Service, HM69 Nike Missile Base (Everglades National Park; last updated February 4, 2026)
- National Park Service (Steve Hach, ed. Jennifer Dickey), Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study, October 2004 (GovInfo)
- National Park Service, Veterans visit Park’s Nike Missile Site HM-69 (news release, October 18, 2012)
- National Park Service, Nike Missile Site Self Guided Tour
- Society of Architectural Historians, SAH Archipedia: HM 69 Nike Missile Base
Harald Myhre,
Hi. We are looking to get my dad a trip of the Everglades for his 70th birthday. He and wife are visiting Florida late Feb so wonder what would be a recommended trip? Was considering 1.5 hr trip. What could they expect this time of year? Can we reserve a slot and let them reschedule to suit their itinerary? And if we book a certain time, how long in advance should they be at your office?
Thank you
Harald,
Thank you for inquiring about our airboat adventures. We would love for you to join us during your visit. My personal recommendation would be the 1.5 hour private airboat adventure, because it is a great medium to being too short or too long for first timers. I also recommend the early am instead of the pm because it is cooler and there is dew all over the vegetation. We don’t have any animals in cages or fish tanks, & the most common animals seen on any adventure are alligators virds and turtles. We are located at 17696 SW 8 Street, Miami, FL 33194. Our captains have up to 48 years of experience in the everglades. The airboats you will ride in are all high end and luxurious. All tours have an ice filled cooler on board and we provide bottled water. You can bring whatever food and beverage you wish. Our tours are a real safari experience.
1.5 hr Private Airboat Adventure
$275 – for up to 2 people
Each additional person – $60
The 1.5 hr Private Airboat Adventure covers approximately 13 miles of the Florida Everglades. This is a great Safari if you want to get a good taste of the Florida Everglades. The extra half an hour allows us to cover more ground and allows you to see a greater variety of species.
You can book your reservation online at https://miamiairboat.com or call us 1-888-893-4443 and we’ll be happy to book it for you.
Thank you,
Airboat In Everglades, Inc.
sales@airboatineverglades.com
airboatineverglades.com
1-888-893-4443
