Jim Allison, a good buddy of Miami Beach founder Carl Fisher noticed that many of the area's early residents were wealthy people who came down here for their health. He knew wealthy sick people needed a fancy hospital to attend to their needs, and built the Allison Hospital, which may have been the only hospital ever to be known for fine cuisine. At the time it was far north of Miami Beach city limits because Carl Fisher forbid hospitals in the resort town because they were too depressing (that's also why there are no cemeteries). Then the Florida land boom bust, the hospital failed, and a group of nuns purchased it and ran the St. Francis Hospital there for many years. Now the land is the site of the condominium and townhouse development Aqua Allison Island.
· Cornerspotter archives [Curbed Miami]
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