elderly Jews" were part of the population of the beach in the late 1970s". In a 2017 interview, a demographer from the University of Miami estimated that there "might have been as many as 70,000 Jews in Miami Beach at one point" declining to "around 19,000 in 2014". The decline was motivated partly by "increasing prices during the art deco movement and an increase in crime and changing cultural demographics". In 1980 however, 62 percent of the population of Miami Beach was still Jewish. During the 1980s many of the Jewish citizens left and moved to "Delray Beach, Lake Worth and Boca Raton". During the 1990s, South Beach transformed into a home of the fashion industry and celebrities. In 1999, there were only 10,000 Jewish people living in Miami Beach. Timeline 1896 – City of Miami founded with the recent arrival extension Henry Flagler's FEC railroad. 1905 – Government Cut manmade shipping channel created separating Miami Beach and Fisher Island. 1912 – Miami Beach Improvement Company founded. 1913 – Collins Bridge (now Venetian Causeway), first bridge between Miami and Miami Beach, built. 1915 Miami Beach incorporated. John Newton Lummus becomes first mayor of Miami Beach. Brown's Hotel first hotel built in Miami Beach, still standing today at 112 Ocean Drive. 1920 Population: 644. County Causeway (now MacArthur Causeway) connecting Miami and Miami Beach opens. 1925 Venetian Causeway opens. Miami Beach becomes an island when the Haulover cut opens in April connecting the ocean to the bay just north of Bal Harbour, Florida 1926 Miami Beach sustains significant damage from 1926 Miami hurricane 1928 Al Capone buys property in Miami Beach. 1928 – 79th Street Causeway built to connect Miami Beach to Hialeah Park Race Track. 1930 – Population: 6,494. 1935 – Many of the famous Art Deco hotels along current day Ocean Drive are built between 1935 and 1941 before the onset of WWII ends construction. Colony (1935), Savoy Plaza (1935), The Tides (1936), Surf Hotel (1936), Beacon (1936), Cavalier (1936), Leslie (1937), Park Central (1937), Barbizon (1937), Waldorf Towers (1937), Victor (1937), Clevelander (1938), Crescent (1938), Carlyle (1939), Cardozo (1939), Winterhaven (1939), Bentley (1939), Breakwater (1939), Imperial (1939), Majestic (1940), Avalon (1941), Betsy Ross Hotel (1941), St. Charles (1941), Clyde Hotel (1941). 1937 – WKAT radio begins broadcasting. 1940 – Population: 28,012. 1954 – Fontainebleau Hotel in business. 1958 – Miami Beach Convention Center opens. 1959 – Miami International