Venice, Florida and how it all began.

Wide boulevards, with lots of parks.

Two of the goals at the onset of a Florida idea. An idea held by a visionary who would go on to become quite instrumental in the origin of Venice, Florida.

An idea. That idea? To construct a Florida town consisting of those wide boulevards. And lots of parks.

That is what Dr. Fred Albee had in mind when he purchased his Florida acres from a local landowner early in the 20th Century.

Turning his Florida idea into his Florida plan…

To transition his undeveloped Florida land – I.e.: Albee’s idea – into what would go on to become Venice, and into a developed community, since he now owned his land, Fred Albee decided that he would best be able advance his vision by bringing in a prominent landscape architect.

Fred Albee needed a formal, organized plan. To bring his idea to life. So Albee did go on to bring in his landscape architect. Albee brought in a landscape architect whose professional career began way up north. Along the East Coast. In Cambridge, Massachusetts.

To be more specific, Albee brought in a landscape architect whose career began in Harvard Square. This landscape architect from Massachusetts that Fred Albee brought in? John Nolen.

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John Nolen, upon completing earlier coursework at Wharton – at Wharton, where Nolen’s academic focus had been centered upon economics – later enrolled in Harvard University. It was while Nolen had been attending Harvard that he honed an intent to pursue landscape architecture. His craft, a craft Fred Albee later sought out. To advance his Florida idea.

John Nolen’s penchant for planning and design was fine tuned through experience Nolen attained while building his Harvard Square landscape architecture business. Distinct outdoor design emanating from Massachusetts. New England craftsmanship that Fred Albee would later rely upon as he embarked upon a career in Florida real estate development.

Whereas Fred Albee brought John Nolen to Florida to provide planning – as well as design – for Albee’s idea, the early build-up of what would go on to become Venice, Florida progressed without Fred Albee in “the director’s chair.”

Albee? Exit stage left. Now taking center stage? A labor union. And train people.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers…

Organized in 1863 in the United States and Canada, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers – still an active union today – decided that they wanted to diversify their holdings by getting into Florida real estate. So, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers proceeded to acquire Fred Albee’s Florida land from Fred Albee. This, the land on which Albee had based his idea for what would go on to become Venice.

Through Nolen’s keen touch when it came to design, through Nolen’s city planning acumen, that land Fred Albee sold to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers would go on to become, rather quickly, needless to say, developed.

With the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Florida land acquisition, John Nolen – originally brought to Florida by Fred Albee – was retained. Retained by the locomotive union. Retained for the very same reason John Nolen was brought to Florida in the first place. To design a Florida community.

So these new Florida real estate developers – I.e: the locomotive labor union – were at the forefront of what would go on to become a town – Venice.

The year was 1925 when these earliest stages of Venice development began to take hold. And in no time, through the guided eye of the man whose expertise lay in city planning and landscape architecture – that man, John Nolen – the labor union’s idea became an organized blueprint. Then, the idea became hotels. Homes. Paved roads. And commercial space.

These, the earliest stages for what we now know to be, Venice, Florida.