The Windmill on the Beach

In the early 1910s the beach's founding families built a grand bathing pavilion on the oceanfront at 22nd Street: two big open-air saltwater pools, show rooms, dancing, a coffee shop. Its names changed with the eras, Miami Beach Casino, later Roman Pools, and a casino back then meant a bathhouse, not a card room. Under Carl Fisher it became the entertainment palace of the beach. And rising over the pools stood its landmark: a great white four-bladed Dutch windmill.

Pump or billboard: the windmill question

Every postcard told the same story: the windmill pumped seawater up into the pools. Maybe it did. But windmill historians who studied the old photographs noticed the blades look too flat to catch real wind, and suspect the truth: it was mostly a magnificent advertisement you could see down the whole beach.

Pump or billboard, it worked as a beacon. Swim and diving shows under the blades drew huge crowds, and Fisher put the pools in the national ads that sold Miami Beach to America. The windmill stood until the 1960s. A hotel stands there now.

Which do you believe, pump or billboard?

Where to find us on Collins

Green Market sits at 5101 Collins Ave in Miami Beach, open 7am to 10pm every day. Coffee from the espresso bar starts at $2.50, combos from $5.79. Walk in from the beach, or order on WhatsApp at +1 (305) 876-4513 and we deliver across Miami Beach.