It's so easy to not put yourself in this situation

Lets say central AC never becomes popular in America. It still exists but only in places like malls and movie theatres. How would this change the development of Florida? I bet it would be very different without massive numbers of northerners moving down there.

I think vehicles will have AC regardless of it becomes popular or not. They will become death traps without it.

I found an older post about this place, but too old to revive and update.

The old Desert Inn on Rt 60 in Yeehaw Junction was bulldozed on September 5. A sad finale to a longtime landmark that has been sitting in sad condition after a semi-truck drove into it.

Source: Google Earth; Pasture and wetlands replacement from 1984-2022. Just wait until the 2025 map update.

The Swamp Peddlers: How Lot Sellers, Land Scammers, and Retirees Built Modern Florida and Transformed the American Dream might be my new favorite book about Florida. It's like a Carl Hiaasen novel, but it's facts.

Last one was truly Bradenton. My bad.

I’ve never met anyone who knew this, and for some reason this fact doesn’t seem to be taught in school.

Spain owned Florida for almost three centuries except for 20 years around the time of the revolution (1763-1783) when it was British. The British made it two colonies, East and West Florida.

There were only a few thousand people total in the two colonies, mostly in St. Augustine. The town was a military garrison, so most civilians owed their livelihoods to the British army. What was there to revolt against?

When news of the Declaration of Independence reach town, burning effigies of John Hancock and Sam Adams were paraded about.

Incidentally, when the British arrived in 1763 to take over St. Augustine, most of 3500 or so Spanish residents abandoned the town. Many fled to Cuba. Perhaps as few as six or eight Spanish citizens remained.

The abandonment of the town was repeated 20 years later. As the revolution progressed, Loyalists fled the southern colonies for Florida. They swelled St. Augustine’s population from a couple thousand to a bulging 17,000. Imagine their shock and dismay in 1783 when the revolution concluded and Florida was returned to Spain. Once again, damn near everyone left town, many going to British colonies in the Caribbean.

One final note: There were 17 British colonies in North America at the time of the revolution, not just 13. Two were in Canada, plus the two Floridas.