entered a contract to develop a luxury hotel named the Ritz-Carlton on the south side of the island. The hotel would have had 200+ rooms, docking facilities and a railroad leading to it to bring guests there. The hotel began construction in March 1926, with a completion date of before December 15, 1926 specified in the contract. An 18-hole golf course would be built next to the hotel as well. Ringling found himself preoccupied with other financial interests, and during that year the Florida land boom began to slow down as well. In November he ordered construction to be stopped on the hotel, and later claimed he would resume construction, but never did. There were no roads that led to the key until 1929, when a bridge was built to St. Armands. A bridge across Longboat Pass was built in April 1929 and would exist until March 1932. 1930s & 1940s Starting in 1935, a former Chicago insurance agent named Gordon Whitney started buying up property to construct a series of cottages on the northern end of the island. The area was given the name of Whitney Beach. Whitney intended to have the cottages serve as part of a resort. In 1936, for the first time, telephone service was brought to the southern part of the island. In 1937, John Ringling North, the head of the estate of John Ringling, who had died in 1936, announced that Martin Sweeney had an interest in finishing the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Sweeney said the hotel would have two 18 hole golf courses, an airport, a club and facilities for fishing, along with 235 rooms when completed. However, these plans would never transpire and the hotel remained in its then-current state. By 1939 or 1940, telephone service was brought to the North End. Longboat Key got its first newspaper, Gulf Gale, in 1941; it would run until 1944. In World War II, Longboat Key had a bombing range. In 1942, it was used by B-26 planes, and from 1943 to 1945 by P-40 and P-51 planes. The range was used between 8am and 5pm, which meant that residents on the northern side of the island could not go south of it until after its training sessions. 1950s to the present On November 13, 1955, the town was incorporated by a 186–13 vote at a meeting in a fire station. The meeting itself lasted for 3