An old news article reveals that Roy Cohn of Army-McCarthy hearing fame built one of the first homes on Duck Key. He may have built 1104 Indies Drive South, the home now owned by Tom and Graham Davis. It is also possible that Roy Cohn was just staying at the Davis home while his house was being completed. More information about Roy Cohn and Duck Key may be found below.
FIRST BUILDING
The first building constructed on Duck Key was the nursery building.
The Administration Building was the second structure to be completed. Pictured below are the Administration Building and Nursery Building
FIRST HOMES ON RESIDENTIAL ISLANDS
The first homes to be constructed on the residential islands of Duck Key are located at 1104 Indies Drive South (Davis residence and and associated with Roy Cohn), 1100 Indies Drive South, 158 Indies Drive North (Copeland residence), 146 Bimini Drive (Smithwich residence), and # Schooner Drive which is owned by the Kellogg, Brown and Root.
Early photo of the Newkirk house during construction. Visable down the canal from where Plantation Island Bridge is located today.
The first homes constructed on Duck Key are rather easy to identify. The homes were constructed at ground level and had overhanging tiled roofs, and shaded verandas. The homes also had some sort of a carport. With the passage of time a few of the carports have been converted to liveable space or garages. Imported Cuban tiles were use to cover interior floors. A number of the first homes had fireplaces and of course chimneys.
Notice the Kellogg Brown and Root chimney. Chimneys are something you do not generally see in the tropical Florida Keys.
The first homes were constructed so they would be different from each other in appearance. Eugene Otto (see Resort Growth) together with architects Alexander Lewis and Leslie Barrett and contractor Donald Barlow designed and constructed the first homes on Duck Key.
Developer Newkirk and his wife stayed in living quarters in the Administration Building during his early visits to Duck Key. Other buildings constructed early on were given names: Villas St. Pierre, Villa Jamaica, and Villa Trinidad. Villa Trinidad became the Newkirk residence and has changed hands a number of times over the years. It is now owned by Kellogg, Brown and Root, also known as KBR Engineering & Construction and serves as a corporate retreat.
1104 Indies Drive South, one of the first homes to be built on Duck Key
1104 Indies Drive South, the present residence of Tom and Graham Davis on Center Island, may have been built for Roy Cohn who in the early 1950s was a "storm center of the Army-McCarthy hearings".
While the deed records have not been searched to substantiate ownership, a photograph and an old newspaper article dated from 1960 would lead one to surmise that 1104 Indies Drive South was once owned by Attorney Roy Cohn.
A May 20, 1960 UPI news article published in the Independent Press Telegraph entitled "Army-McCarthy Quiz Star Busy Attorney-Businessman" told of Cohn's expectation to cash in on the Florida land boom and reported that Cohn stated he was "developing a resort area on Duck Key, one of the chain of islands off the southern tip of Florida."
The article explains that Cohn had "recently put up his own house on the island and . . . joined the ranks of that happy breed of weekend jet commuters to Florida."
Pictured below is an image of Roy Cohn at work on a lounge chair behind 1104 Indies Drive South.
Another image in a scrapbook in possession of Hawk's Cay shows Roy Cohn in the same lounge chair but from a different angle. A small plane is visible and no doubt had landed on the small airstrip that developer John Newkirk built on Center Island. See Elizabeth Newkirk's recollections on the Duck Key Mecca web page.
Cohn is identified in the May 20, 1960 UPI news article as director of the Florida Southern Land Corp.
A news column written by Red Barber and published earlier in April 1960 identifies Duck Key developer, Bryan W. Newkirk, as directing the Florida Southern Land Corp. and transforming " this pelican roost [Duck Key] into a flowering hideout for the over-privileged, complete with yacht harbor, fresh and salt water swimming pools, a ninehole long-iron golf course, a spang new hotel of simple elegence."
Cohn's involvement with the resort as director of Florida Southern Land Corp. must have been brief as Monroe County records show Newkirk sold the hotel to others in 1960-61. In addition to being a director of Florida Southern Land Corp. and developing the resort area on Duck Key, Cohn who was only thirty-three at the time of the 1960 article indicated that he headed a group of investor associated with Lionel Corp., makers of toy electric trains and after being elected Chairman made the corporation profitable again. He was also reported to be a director of Fenture Sports, Inc. which at that time was promoting boxing rematch between Ingemar Johansson and Floyd Patterson. Johansson considered Duck Key as a possibility for a training camp for the Patterson fight. He chose Miami.
COHN, THE F.B.I. AND DUCK KEY
Although the image above shows Roy Cohn relaxing on Duck Key, F.B.I records do not substantiate that Cohn ever owned a home on the island . How is it that the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed an interest in Cohn and Duck Key?
Cohn was accused of tampering with a 1959 grand jury probe in order to save four stock swindlers from indictment. Investigators thought possibly money change hands in Las Vagas or during Cohn's visit to Florida in 1960 and that possible Duck Key might have been the location for this exchange of bribe money.
Portions of the F.B.I Cohn file appear below:
The case against Cohn alleged that $50,000 was paid to Cohn; two thirds of the bribe money was supposed to have been paid to an Assistant United States Attorney named Morton Robson with Cohn retaining the remaining third. The investigation tried to ascertain where the money exchange took place. Handwritten references to the side of the typed pages (b 7 c, etc.) indicate reasons for redacted parts of the communications.
The c ommunication above shows that in 1962 the F.B.I. conducted an investigation at Duck Key to establish if Cohn owned a vacation home on the island.
The r ecord below shows that an interview was conducted with a female to try an establish if Cohn had been on Duck Key as well as an effort to inspect Indies House ( now Hawks Cay) guest records.
The record below dated 8/27/1962 reports that several parties likely including County Officials reported no record of Roy Cohn owning a home on Duck Key.
Did Cohn own a home on Duck Key as the original May 1960 UPI news article stated? The picture of Cohn reclining in a lounge is evidence that Cohn visited Duck Key. A review of old property records might sheds some light on this mystery.
COHN ACQUITTED IN 1964
News reports of 1964 indicate that Roy Cohn was acquitted by a federal jury on charges of perjury and obstructing justice. If found quilty on all counts Cohn could have been
sentenced to 35 years.
He is quoted as telling newsmen "Above all I thank God for the United Stales of America, where no matter who in high places moves against you, there is recourse to a jury of 12 Americans." Who in "high places" was Cohn referring to? Cohn had previously contended that "a few people" in the Justice Department were out to get him. Robert F. Kennedy was U.S. Attorney General and headed the Department of Justice at this time. The animosity between Kennedy and Cohn began in 1953 during the Army-McCarthy hearings. Cohn was made Chief Counsel tothe McCarthy Committee and Kennedy was Assistant Counsel. Their differences actually led to fist fight in the outer chamber of Congress and according Donald Ritchie, the U.S. Senate historian. "they became enemies for the rest of their lives."
