The Development of Wakulla Springs

Take an exciting look at one of the world's largest springs, Wakulla Springs in Florida. This video shows you how the park was developed.

The Development of Wakulla Springs Male: The frequent use of Wakulla Springs as a picnic and recreational area was insured with the founding of Tallahassee as the state capital in 1824. Repeated attempts to develop the spring failed until Edward Ball purchased the — in 1934. Ball was the brother- in-law of Alfred I. DuPont and was sent to Florida to make investments for the wealthy industrialize. He eventually controlled the Florida East Coast Railroad, the Florida National Bank chain and huge land holdings that became the St. Joe Paper Company. But for Ed Ball, the development of Wakulla Springs was a passion. In 1935, the year DuPont died, Ball begun the construction of Wakulla Springs Lodge, at a cost of $75,000.00. It featured a lobby, soda shop, dining room and 27 guest rooms. Lavish parties were hosted as well as picnics and dances for local servicemen. One guide book said, “Under ancient cypress, live oaks and magnolia, amidst scenic beauty as old as the stars. And with the facilities as advanced as tomorrow, one discovers a new world of health and happiness.” Not for long, in 1943, a fire broke out. Officers from Camp Gordon Johnson who were being housed in the hotel pitched in along with firefighters from Tallahassee. A cameraman who was staying at the lodge caught pieces of the action and for years, Ed Ball enjoyed watching the footage. Quick work saved the main structure and its contents. But the roof was completely destroyed. Luckily, there was an endless supply of water just a few feet away. Today, the restored hotel was a popular draw, no bar, no TVs in the rooms, a journey back into the 40s. The relaxed atmosphere is captured in the Mediterranean style architecture. The original cypress ceilings were hand painted in scenes and Aztec designs by a German artist who had been a court painter for Kaiser Wilhelm. In the lobby rest old Joe. He was shot in 1966 by a poacher, who then found he couldn’t budge the 650 pound reptile. In 1941, two years before the fire, Ball hired champion swimming coach Newt Parry to manage Wakulla Springs. It was the beginning of a new era. In his early days, Parry had kept in the University of Florida Swimming Team. The human fish as they called him. Parry would — at three underwater world records including swimming 112 yards without taking a breath. Evidently, swimming ran in the family. Parry’s nephew, Dan Chandler later won four gold medals in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, perhaps the greatest swimming achievement until that time. Parry brought boundless energy and imagination to Wakulla, more than anyone before he saw a world of opportunity in the crystal clear waters of the enormous spring basin. The year he arrived, Newt Parry lured MGM camera crews to Wakulla Springs to begin work on the movie classic, “Tarzan Secret Treasures”, starring Johnny Weissmuller. Suddenly, this corner of rural Florida was pulsating. Hollywood had invaded the quietude of a prime evil swamp. Weissmuller was an Olympic gold medalist himself and a popular figure. Tarzan soon became a series. In Secret Treasures, boys from surrounding towns were recruited to play primitive savages. One of the boys named Jack Geiger was later hired to stand in for Weissmuller. It was at the end of Tarzan’s New York adventure when Tarzan was finally returned to the jungle. Jack leaped out of a tall tree into the water. Today, Jack Geiger remembers the fun of working on the set especially when cheetah, Tarzan’s famous chimpanzee was around. Jack Geiger : Cheetah the chimp who was on set acted like a person, sitting next to his—. But in the evenings when we would finish filming and be walking around the springs, he would come and walk with us and hold our hands. And we had elephants down there and some of the girls would like to ride them and we'll be helping the girls up on the elephant and so with cheetah, the chimp. He would help us and then he tries up and rides with them. He was just like a person. Male: Word of the clear spring got around. And in 1954, Universal Pictures filmed its 3D classic, the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The hideous beast turned out to be a big softy refusing to harm his human pursuers. Under the rubber suit was Tallahassee man Ricou Browning who had also played in other monster movies. In 1976, Wakulla was chosen to recreate a Boeing 747 disaster in Airport ‘77, starring Jimmy Stuart, Olivia de Havilland and Jack Lennon. A 70-foot mock-up of a wing in fuselage served as a stage for Lennon who spent most of his time doing crossword puzzles back in the lodge. Newt Parry who supported the film crews and gave underwater training to the actors also saw possibilities for humor in the aquatic realm. Soon Wakulla Springs had breathing stations and hidden air hoses that enabled his young trainees to stay underwater long enough to stage certain situations that an audience might not expect to see. Parry’s ideas caught the attention of the Grant Land Rice Sports Light Series that produce short subjects that were projected long with feature films in theaters across the United States. In April of 1943, Wakulla Springs came under attack. It was soldiers from Camp Gordon Johnson putting on a mocked battler for Grantland Rice camera crews. They assaulted the hotel which had burned only two months earlier. They fired live ammunition into the swamp. The soldiers were preparing for deliberation of Europe. Wakulla had become Normandy, France despite all the alligators. Yes, what about those alligators? With the adrenaline flowing, nobody seemed to care. The footage from the mile A was assembled into a short subject called Amphibious Warfare. And the following year in the spring of ‘44, it won an academy award. And those tempestuous days, a feminine influence was arriving from Tallahassee in the form of a synchronized swimming team from Florida State College for Women. The Tarpon Club Girls not only performed for the Grantland Rice cameras, but also caught the eyes of the Camp Gordon Johnson soldiers who were using Wakulla Springs for RNR. The base newspaper reported that men using every known million of signal communication in an attempt to establish contact with some of the luscious beauties. And what a show the Tarpon Girls put on. One can only imagine what both groups would have look like performing together.