Original subtitles

[narrator] A hotel in the Deep South,

where lines were crossed

and dreams were written.

It would not be unusual to just see

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stroll in...

[narrator] A forgotten theater in Connecticut

with a basement full of secrets.

[woman] What could this space have been for?

Was this a space where they put unruly patrons?

[narrator] And a Wyoming ghost town that

captured the attention of the Queen of the Air.

[man] When she could get away and be at peace,

this was where she came.

[narrator] Scattered across the United States

are abandoned structures

and those who know their stories.

These forgotten ruins reveal

the past of this land and its people.

These are the secrets of hidden America.

In the wilds of Wyoming,

a settlement holds stories

of elusive treasure,

natural disaster,

and one of the country's greatest pioneers.

[woman] This is real American wilderness.

Civilization feels a very,

very long way away.

We're in a valley that seems to go forever.

[man 1] Your imagination here

goes crazy when you think they lived way back here.

[narrator] For the people who built these

forgotten structures, the isolation was worth it.

[Hadley] A lot of East Coast folks who had money

had heard that there was gold in the hills.

[man 2] But this isn't just a ghost town from

the American Old West.

There's something here that people did not expect to find.

[narrator] This ruin

hides a connection to one of

America's best-known celebrities

and one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries.

[man 1] They had just begun building her cabin,

and, man, it was gonna be a spectacular place.

And then she disappeared.

[narrator] Thom Knave has been sharing

this valley's secrets with people for years.

He knows it's a journey worth taking.

[Thom] It's just a lot of fun to have the excitement

when folks come to Kirwin

and the surrounding mountains here. It's...

It does my heart good.

[narrator] This is the town of Kirwin.

Around 150 years ago,

it was a destination for those

seeking their fortune in the mountains.

[man 2] Gold and silver were discovered here in the 1880s.

And it wasn't long before

an entire mining town sprung up

that reached about 200 people.

[Thom] All of their boilers,

their wheels, everything metal

was brought in in pieces

by horse and wagon.

[woman] The fact that they got all of this mining machinery

up here in wagons is just unbelievable.

I mean, it's hard to drive up here now

in a car.

[narrator] Despite having a post office and hotel,

Kirwin wasn't a typical 19th century mining boomtown.

It had no brothels and no saloons,

and zero tolerance for salacious behavior.

[Thom] There was a palm reader known as Lucille that,

when they found out that she was providing more services

than palm reading,

uh, they asked her to leave.

[narrator] Newspapers were predicting

the town's population would reach a thousand.

But a natural disaster in 1907

would bring all this progress to a sudden halt.

[Linda] Sitting at the base of 12,000-foot peaks,

Kirwin was always in a precarious spot.

And this year was a particularly heavy snowfall.

[Thom] They had a severe avalanche.

It actually destroyed a store and a house

and killed three people.

[Kyle] The remaining residents had to make a snap decision,

leave with rescue crews

or risk another disaster.

So they all left.

[narrator] The exodus

marked the end of Kirwin as a mining town,

but not the end of Kirwin altogether.

Six miles further down the valley,

there is a collection of cabins

hidden amongst the trees

that put this place back on the map

and forever tied it to a world-famous name.

[man] It's shrunk.

This place, when I was a kid, it was

three times bigger than this.

[narrator] Byron Bennett

has fond memories of a childhood

spent living in this unique spot.

[Byron] I was four years old when I moved up here.

I'd be here for the weekends or as long as I could.

Oh, it was pretty neat.

The balcony up there, when I was a little kid,

I could look down over there and it was big.

[narrator] Byron's family managed this ranch

and lived in the lodge,

while the surrounding cabins were for visitors

who had traveled hundreds of miles to be here.

But they weren't hunting

for gold like their predecessors.

They were in search of something else.

[Hadley] By the end of the 19th century,

there was this real mystique

that's built up about the Old West.

[man] Go west, young man. Go west.

If you want a life crowded with adventure, go west.

Or if you want solitude,

go west.

[Linda] People who had never set foot outside of a city

saw pictures of cowboys and horses in magazines

and they saw their stories being told in silent Western films.

And they wanted some of that.

[Hadley] The cowboys capitalized on this.

And so, they started building ranches,

which were targeted to wealthy East Coasters

who wanted to come out and play cowboy for a while.

[narrator] Real cowboys called these urbanites

"Dudes."

And this place was the Bennett Family Dude Ranch.

[Byron] We'd take horseback rides up to Kirwin

and down the river to some other fishing place

where they could fish. And then,

a lot of times the people just liked to...

The dudes would kind of

sit around and just do nothing.

[narrator] In 1934,

this ranch hosted a visitor like no other.

[Kyle] She was one of the most famous women in the world

and was in high demand

for press tours and speaking events.

[Hadley] She drives her Franklin automobile

all the way from New York straight to Wyoming,

right up to the gates of the ranch.

[narrator] When she arrived,

the natural beauty of Kirwin would captivate her.

But soon after,

she would disappear

into thin air.

[narrator] In an isolated valley in Western Wyoming

first settled by gold miners,

a dude ranch

was about to play host

to a true American icon.

[Thom] We're coming up on

cabin number three, they call it.

This is where

Amelia Earhart

really fell in love

with this part of the country.

[narrator] Amelia stayed in this cabin

for three weeks

in the summer of 1934.

[Thom] This was quite a...

quite a location.

I guess you could call this her back porch.

And it gets even a little louder,

the creek out here.

This is why you come.

This is why she was here.

[narrator] Amelia Earhart's connection to Wyoming

is a lesser-told chapter of

this incredible woman's story.

Before she came here,

Amelia had already experienced Wyoming

from the air.

[Kyle] Most people will know of Amelia Earhart

from her attempt to fly around the globe,

but what a lot of folks don't know is that

she was involved with piloting

an experimental helicopter

known as an autogiro.

[narrator] In 1931,

three years before she first came to Kirwin,

Amelia wanted to set

a transcontinental record in the craft,

and made five stops in Wyoming,

gathering huge crowds at each airfield.

[Linda] Over the next few years, Amelia Earhart

set a dizzying array of flight records,

and she became one of the most famous women on the planet.

[Kyle] At the height of her fame,

Earhart needed somewhere

to escape the spotlight.

[Thom] The paparazzi of that time following you around.

When she could get away and be at peace,

this was where she came.

[narrator] The owner of the ranch at this time

was named Carl Dunrud.

[Kyle] Carl Dunrud was a local guide for East Coast elites.

That's how he met George Palmer Putnam,

Amelia Earhart's promoter and later her husband.

They went on some rather exotic trips together.

And I'm sure that how it happened was,

"Why don't you come and spend some time

at the Double Dee Ranch?"

D being Dunrud's last initial.

[Kyle] Earhart knew of Wyoming

from her flying career,

and she loved the great outdoors,

so, when Putnam mentioned Dunrud's ranch,

she didn't need much convincing.

[Hadley] They spent this great summer fishing and riding

and exploring this weird old mining town.

You totally can understand how she fell in love with it.

[narrator] But Amelia wasn't done

with her daredevil lifestyle.

There was still one major flying record

that she was determined to break.

[Linda] Amelia Earhart was a true pioneer.

She was fearless and she took on

incredible challenges.

But this attempt to circumnavigate the world

was her most ambitious.

[narrator] On June 1st, 1937,

she took off from Miami, Florida,

with navigator Fred Noonan

on a route that would take them

29,000 miles around the world.

[Hadley] On June 29th, they reached New Guinea

with only 7,000 miles to go,

and the entire world

is waiting with bated breath for her to finish the flight.

[narrator] Meanwhile,

Carl Dunrud was busy fulfilling a promise

he had made to Amelia and her husband

when they were last in Kirwin.

[Thom] They got to know Carl Dunrud really well,

and she actually contracted

with Carl to build her a cabin

about a mile up above Kirwin.

[narrator] But before Amelia could begin

dreaming of a quiet life in Kirwin,

she had a record-breaking journey to complete,

and was facing the most difficult stretch yet.

[Linda] This leg was going to be the longest.

More than 2,500 miles

to a tiny atoll in the middle of the Central Pacific.

They never made it.

[Hadley] This was such a big deal that President Roosevelt himself

authorizes a search

of over a quarter million miles of sea.

[Linda] After two weeks, the search was abandoned.

Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were lost.

[Kyle] There have been plenty of rumors about what happened.

But this is one of America,

if not the world's, most enduring mysteries.

[narrator] The news eventually made its way

to Carl Dunrud in Kirwin.

[Thom] They had just begun that, literally had

four or five logs up,

uh, going around,

and she disappeared, and they stopped building.

[narrator] Her cabin lies frozen in time,

a monument to a great woman

and a dream unrealized.

[Thom] There's nothing but remnants to see today,

but you can kind of feel that she's there.

[narrator] Despite its far-flung location,

people still make the difficult journey to Kirwin today.

[Linda] Lots of people drive out

to this remote mountain area

because it's an opportunity to feel close

to one of the greatest American legends of all time.

[narrator] Kirwan's buildings are slowly deteriorating,

but as Amelia Earhart herself experienced,

the magic of this place doesn't lie in the man-made.

We feel very fortunate to have these

mountains in our backyard,

and I can tell you it never gets old.

[Byron] This is my final resting place.

My ashes are gonna be out here.

[narrator] In the Deep South,

one building offered safe haven to the stars,

and played host to the man

who had America's most famous dream.

[man 1] It was packed.

The music was superb.

You felt as if you were

a part of something larger than yourself.

[woman] When you think of a city

that has changed American society

in the 20th century,

there are few

that outshine Montgomery, Alabama.

[narrator] Less than half a mile from the state capital,

an abandoned building seems out of place.

[Sascha] What's crazy is they were just

two blocks from downtown Montgomery.

This is prime real estate.

Why has it been left to rot like this?

[man 2] What jumps out to me is the top floor.

I'm willing to bet there might have been

some type of penthouse

with some special purpose.

[narrator] Inside,

rooms hold memories of conversations

that sparked a nationwide revolution.

[man 3] It is just amazing to think

about the historical people

that sat in these exact same seats

where they discussed the bus boycotts,

the marches.

[man 1] When you tell the story

of Black history in America,

this place cannot become a mere footnote.

This place must be a full-length chapter.

[narrator] In Montgomery, Alabama,

this rundown building has been a cornerstone

in Richard Bailey's life.

[Richard] Every day of my school years,

I passed this place.

This was the heart of the Black community.

You felt a certain closeness,

a certain, uh, kinship

with the other patrons.

[narrator] Yet while this structure brought people together,

it was born out of a divided America.

[woman] In the 1950s,

American society was largely segregated

between black and white.

[narrator] These rules were also enforced

when African Americans traveled across the nation.

[Richard] If you were an African American

traveling from point A to point B, there was

police brutality, bigotry,

and all sorts of instances

of second-class citizenship.

[narrator] To ensure Black travelers

had somewhere to rest their heads,

a list of safe havens were published in a guide

called The Green Book.

[man] It was a book that listed all of the safe places

for African Americans to go, to eat, to sleep, to stay.

[narrator] This 28-room guest house was listed

as a safe place for travelers to stay in Montgomery.

This is the Ben Moore Hotel.

Today, Edward Davis is its custodian.

He grew up hearing about

the extra measures taken during its construction

in 1951

to ensure its patrons' safety.

[Edward] The Ben Moore Hotel

was supposed to withstand fire, high flames,

up to two hours.

This was known as the fireproof hotel.

Just in case someone tried to do a hate crime.

[narrator] But while bedrooms provided somewhere safe to sleep,

the top floor offered far more.

[Richard] The Afro Club

was located on the fourth floor.

[man] It was a Black nightclub

with folks drinking, dancing,

smoking, and having

an honest, safe, good time.

[Kenya] The Afro Club attracted some of

the biggest names in the business.

B.B. King,

Tina Turner, and Clarence Carter.

[narrator] Even with A-list names in the house,

the patrons of the Afro Club had to be wary

of the dangers posed by a segregated America.

When you came into the Afro Club,

you would have to buy your tickets

right here. And then you get to this big

four-inch thick door...

with the double-bolted action,

the dead bolt.

And the peephole in case

you had someone that wanted to attack people.

[narrator] This door didn't just protect

the building's patrons at night.

This space served another purpose

during the day,

playing a leading role in changing America.

Some of the biggest legends

in the history of the civil rights movement

held meetings right here.

[Edward] They'd come up here,

because it was the only building with a sky-rise

downtown back in the '50s.

And if you wanted to check for

maybe police cars coming, you had a clear view

of the entire city.

[Kenya] The leader of the Montgomery NAACP branch,

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,

E.D. Nixon, held his meetings here.

[Philip] E.D. Nixon

was what you would call

a power player.

He was a playmaker, a change agent.

[narrator] One of the meetings he organized here

was the first of its kind in American history.

[Richard] On February 23rd, 1955,

a month before

the city election,

every white candidate

came to the Ben Moore Hotel

to answer questions from African Americans.

The fact that these white office holders would

dare come to a Black hotel

and answer questions

from the Black population,

1955, that was unthinkable.

[narrator] Despite over half of the city's population

being black, decades of

disenfranchisement legislation

had led to few having the right to vote.

But many factors, such as increasing literacy levels,

meant more African Americans

were passing voter eligibility tests.

[Richard] The point of the matter is,

they had to come because...

candidate A wanted to make certain

that candidate B did not get

all of the Black votes.

[narrator] This meeting at the Ben Moore Hotel

was only the beginning

of a revolution that was starting to sweep the country.

These rooms were pivotal

in the life of an American legend

whose dream changed the futures of millions.

He didn't know the value at the time

of those speeches.

[narrator] In the 1950s,

the Ben Moore Hotel was the heart

of Montgomery, Alabama's African American community.

But it was more than just a guesthouse,

nightclub, and meeting place for civil rights leaders.

This is the Majestic Cafe.

It's the first floor of the Ben Moore Hotel.

[narrator] The Majestic Cafe

served Southern food to hotel patrons

and the public alike.

But among the hundreds who ate here,

one name stands out.

[Richard] It would not be unusual

to just see Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

stroll into the Majestic Cafe for whatever reason,

maybe just to talk with someone.

This building was located so close to his home.

It became a part of his existence.

[Sascha] In fact, one of the most iconic photographs

of Dr. Martin Luther King was taken right outside.

[narrator] Like other civil rights leaders of the time,

Martin Luther King held his meetings

at the top of this building.

But perhaps one of the most unassuming rooms in the hotel

left the biggest mark on his legacy.

Dr. Martin Luther King,

many times,

would venture into the barbershop,

and as he was awaiting his turn

for a haircut,

he would sit there and scribble.

[Philip] Martin Luther King wrote some of his speeches

while sitting in the barbershop.

[Sascha] So, some of the most

seminal moments of the civil rights movement

and some of the most powerful ideas

to emerge from that happened right here.

[narrator] But in an ironic twist of fate,

the success of the speeches written within these walls

brought about the end of the building.

[Sascha] On July 2nd, 1964,

all the hard work and meetings at the Ben Moore Hotel

finally bare fruition.

Congress passes the Civil Rights Act,

officially ending segregation in the U.S.

[Kenya] Desegregation led to the slowing

of a clientele

within the Ben Moore Hotel.

Numbers of African American travelers

began to go to

formerly white establishments

in order to have a new experience

or to have better amenities.

[narrator] As customers dwindled,

in the 1970s,

this hotel closed its doors for the final time.

Today,

the hotel is owned by Edward and his family.

And while it remains locked,

there is hope it won't always be this way.

[Edward] I want people to remember their history.

I want people to come back in,

sit in the same seats where

civil rights leaders sat.

[Richard] If it's ever restored,

I would feel very proud.

I think, on that day,

Black people, white people,

citizens of Alabama,

will have another opportunity

to smile

as a generation before us once did.

[narrator] In the heart of the Constitution State

lies a building founded in regional rivalry,

which both entertained and detained its audience.

[man 1] I get a special feeling every time I come in here.

Every time we would stop here,

people were blown away

because they didn't understand what was here.

We're in Derby, which is Connecticut's smallest city.

[Kenya] It's got that old-world charm

with nice big houses,

a town green with a bandstand.

[man 2] This isn't the kind of place where you'd find

abandoned buildings, but the eye is

drawn to the largest building on the square.

[narrator] The polished facade of this structure

hides an interior of bygone glory.

[Kyle] Why is this building renovated on the outside but not the inside?

It makes you think that someone is trying to hide something.

[Kenya] When you look inside the basement,

you see doors,

cells, and offices.

What could this space have been for?

[woman] It's so interesting 'cause some of it looks like

people were just here yesterday.

It really feels like walking into a piece of history.

[man 2] There are lots of rumors about this place.

Some even say that it's haunted.

Now, I don't believe in hauntings,

but it turns out that the truth

is possibly even more spooky.

[narrator] Jack Walsh's family

has lived in this valley for generations,

and he knows every inch of this building.

[Jack] This was the dressing area.

They would put up the posters that they used to advertise

the place, and these are still here.

They've survived.

I would have loved to have seen 'em in their heyday.

[man] Derby is in the Naugatuck Valley

where two rivers come together,

and this was really important in the Industrial Revolution

because several mills sprung up here.

[Kyle] These mills manufactured everything from

hoop skirts to corsets

to brass items and pianos.

[narrator] As the valley boomed,

a local rivalry developed between Derby

and the nearby borough of Ansonia.

A conflict well-known

to lifelong resident Kellie Santiago.

[Kellie] Derby and Ansonia are friendly,

and it's more of a friendly rivalry,

a fun competition with the sports teams.

[narrator] But over 100 years ago,

one-upmanship between these neighbors

would change the face of Derby.

In 1870, Ansonia, which was then a borough of Derby,

built a grand opera house just two miles up the road.

[Greg] Well, not to be outdone,

Derby decides it's got to build its own opera house,

and they name it after a local piano manufacturer.

[narrator] This is the Sterling Opera House.

[Kyle] Many of these types of structures were built

in the 19th century.

They're essentially theaters,

but they're called opera houses

because of the popularity of musical entertainment,

things like light opera or comic opera.

That was its big claim to fame,

it was that there wasn't a bad seat in the house,

that everywhere in the Sterling was a perfect seat.

[narrator] These seats saw a number of stars

come here in the early 20th century.

We saw all kinds of celebrities come through here.

Bing Crosby,

Bob Hope,

Amelia Earhart came here in the '30s

and gave a speech in front of the Women's Club.

[narrator] The Sterling Opera House

entertained locals for decades.

But entertainment was not this building's only purpose.

[Jack] The Sterling Opera House

was a multi-use facility.

So, we're in the entertainment section,

and then we're going to go to the basement.

I'm gonna call that the safety level.

[Greg] Why would you have

jail cells

underneath a theater?

Were they locking up unruly patrons?

[narrator] In a sleepy Connecticut town

lies a theater which attracted

some of entertainment's brightest stars.

But below the stage

lies a strange bureaucratic underworld.

[Kyle] This grand, beautiful building was

an icon for the town of Derby,

but it was also a very expensive icon.

So, it had to serve double duty.

[Jack] We're on the main floor,

which was actually City Hall.

So this was the heartbeat of city government.

The mayor had an office next door,

the tax collector, and the director of charities.

[narrator] Beneath the abandoned City Hall

lies another, much darker level.

[Jack] These are the jail cells.

I think this could have been a nice form of crime deterrent,

'cause take a look at this.

If you spent one night

in this jail cell

with this elegant toilet,

I don't think you'd ever want to come back.

[narrator] These dungeons

once held some unique criminals

when they were operated as

Derby Police Department's holding cells.

[Kyle] The same prosperity

that brought the theater to the Valley

also brought another thing,

organized crime.

[Kenya] The Black Hand was a type of extortion racket

that was introduced to the United States

by immigrants from Southern Italy.

[Greg] This was a group of people who would

write letters and extort people.

They would write to rich people,

often rich Italian Americans,

and they would say, "Bad things are gonna happen to you

unless you give us some money."

[Jack] They would send a letter

with the Black Hand on the letter.

And if you got that letter,

your life changed dramatically

'cause, you know, you were under threat.

[narrator] Connecticut's large

Italian American population

made it a hotbed for these schemes.

And a number of Black Hand extortionists

were held within these cells.

While this town would eventually

overcome the Black Hand,

it would not weather natural disaster

quite as well.

We've had floods at different points in our history,

but the worst one was in 1955.

And it came as a result of

two hurricanes in a short period of time.

[reporter] Nearly 50 lives have been lost

and for many thousands of people,

the catastrophe has been like a nightmare come true.

[Jack] It basically wiped out

the downtown area of Derby.

We had

coffins

wash down from the cemetery

which got hung up on the bridge.

[Greg] Rumor has it that after the flooding,

the City Hall was actually used as a morgue,

so you would have bodies stored beneath the theatre,

and maybe that's where

the rumors of haunting come from.

[narrator] While Derby was able to clean up after the floods,

the Sterling Opera House was already on its last leg.

The theater struggled to make a profit in the 1940s

and hosted fewer and fewer performances.

The final nail in the coffin for this building came

in 1965,

when City Hall moved out

and the building closed for good.

Today,

the Sterling Opera House remains empty,

but has not been forgotten.

[Kellie] Over the time since it's closed,

there's been so many efforts to try and revitalize

this building.

In the late 1990s,

the mayor then was able to secure a grant

to do some work to the outside of the building.

[narrator] The path to restoring the interior

could be long.

But it would certainly benefit this small city.

[Jack] Well, yeah, I'd love to see it restored to a theater.

Wouldn't it be fantastic to come in here

and see some of the people, see them perform

in person

in an acoustically perfect building?

[narrator] On Florida's Gulf Coast,

a bizarre monument

hints at a community erased from the landscape.

[woman 1] There's a lot of stories

floating around about it.

It's associated with ghost stories, with pirates.

[Greg] So here we are on the outskirts of Tampa.

It's this flat space, single level homes.

[Jim] In a wedge between two highways, there's this

unassuming little green park,

except it has one towering landmark.

[woman 2] Sticking 200 feet into the air above the treetops

is a gleaming white tower.

[Greg] It's too far from the coast to act as a lighthouse,

and it doesn't seem to be defensive.

Is it just for show?

[Jim] It looks almost medieval,

like something the crusaders would have built

if they'd had reinforced concrete.

[Greg] To make it even more intriguing,

the door is bolted up,

but there does seem to be a way inside,

and that would be from a rope that's dangling

from the lowest window.

[narrator] What was once a beacon for tourists,

became one man's doomed gamble.

[woman 2] He mortgaged every one of his assets

for one grand design,

but would it pay off?

[narrator] On the outskirts of Tampa, Florida,

the history of a forgotten community

is locked away in an imposing white tower.

Museum director Norma Robinson

has been unearthing a lost neighborhood.

Coming to this community,

wherever you looked, you saw the tower.

[Greg] This tower was meant to preside over a little empire.

Unfortunately, the creator

never lived to see it come to completion.

[narrator] This is the Sulphur Springs Tower.

Nearby, more clues

to the area's history flow past.

[Norma] A young man told us that his

grandmother used to make him come and get the water,

and he said it smelled terrible,

but she said it kept her young.

[narrator] Legends of the local spring water

stretch back hundreds of years.

[woman] At the turn of the century,

a small resort business had sprung up on the land,

with a pool and a few bath houses

all fed by the spring.

[narrator] But one man

entered the scene with ambitions

for a far more lucrative venture,

and an appetite for risk.

[Jim] Josiah Richardson was a real American type.

He was a land developer,

a realtor,

and loved to sell the public on his big dreams.

One of his favorite slogans was,

"Josiah knows where the money grows."

[Greg] Josiah Richardson buys the site in 1904

and immediately sets about to developing it.

[Norma] From the pictures we see,

this was a public beach.

You could see they had

a diving board and a water slide.

[narrator] In a short time,

the humble resort transformed

into a bustling tourist destination,

one that catered to a specific local taste.

[Katherine] This being Florida,

it even had an alligator farm

where kids could ride something called a gatormobile,

quite literally a small cart

pulled by an alligator.

[Norma] They had a fascination about them back then.

You could buy alligators

in Mays department stores.

[narrator] The centerpiece of Richardson's resort

was a groundbreaking building

stretching an entire city block.

[Norma] It was listed in

Guinness' world records

as the first mini-mall in Florida.

It was a place where you could go and do all your shopping.

At one time, this was known as Tampa's very own Coney Island.

[Jim] As Richardson developed all this,

he had one problem, kind of, ironically, is

they needed a better supply of water.

So, he commissioned

a very ambitious project.

[narrator] In the late 1920s,

Richardson set out to build his resort

a dedicated water tower.

To see it realized, he risked

everything he had built at Sulphur Springs.

[Greg] So how is he gonna fund all of this?

Well, he uses everything he has,

but he also mortgages the entire property,

the arcade, everything,

in hopes that this is gonna work out.

[Katherine] The result was this stunning 214-foot-tall

gothic revival tower

built over an artesian well.

[Jim] In a sense, the water tower's design was

a bit of a representation of

Richardson's flamboyant,

kind of huckster personality.

"You couldn't miss it. You're gonna see

my water tower from all the way across town."

[narrator] Overleveraged and under financial pressure,

Richardson couldn't risk anything going wrong.

But in 1929,

just two years after the tower's completion,

a number of things went very wrong.

First, the New York Stock Exchange crashed.

[Jim] The Depression was getting worse.

People couldn't afford to travel.

The visitors, who were the lifeblood of this resort,

their numbers dwindled.

[narrator] Then, as the summer season came to a close,

dark clouds formed on the horizon

for Sulphur Springs.

In September 1933,

at the beginning of the hurricane season,

a storm started gathering out in the Gulf,

and rain started pouring down on Tampa.

[Greg] After days of heavy rain,

the dam on the Hillsborough River fails,

and water just gushes

over the entire property.

[Jim] This deluge of water

washed out bridges,

damaged roads.

A lot of people had to evacuate.

[narrator] The tenants and shopkeepers

that filled Richardson's buildings

fell behind on their rent,

and his immense mortgage caught up with him.

[Greg] There's an expression in finance

that you're underwater

if your debts exceed your ability to pay them back.

Well, Richardson was underwater in

more ways than one.

[narrator] Richardson was forced to sell everything

and watched his empire carry on from the outside

until his final days.

The tower continued to operate as a private water company

until 1971,

when it was finally shut down.

Pieces of Sulphur Springs were

sold off or demolished over the next ten years,

until few traces remained of this tourist empire.

At Sulphur Springs,

this ambitious water tower

outlasted its creator

and his resort.

[Jim] Richardson really made sure this thing was built to last.

He had these mighty steel pillars

buried inside the concrete.

That thing isn't going anywhere.

[Norma] It's a structure that has a lot of history,

that connects not only to the neighborhood,

but just to people

concerned about living

and grow in a community.

So, I believe that's

one of the things you could be proud of.