History of the Brazilian Court Hotel

Vincent Strong Mulford, Sr. of Montclair, New Jer- sey purchased the BC at a foreclosure sale on the steps of the Palm Beach County Courthouse. He paid $125,000 for the building which at the time consisted of only the north courtyard. There was a debt on the property estimated at $189,000, mostly owed to Mul- ford. The foreclosure sale named the Brazilian Court Hotel Corp and D'Esterre as owner. Mulford, a millionaire New York businessman, had been looking at investing in a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina hotel in late 1926. The December 12 head- line in the Morning News Review of Florence, South Carolina, read "Millionaires at Myrtle Beach See De- velopment." Mulford was one of eight businessmen who heard plans for a $1.5 million hotel to be built 4 miles north of the city on "66,000 acres of beach and coastal property." Mulford apparently had no finan- cial interests in the development. 1940 Census: Essex Co NJ, Montclair, District 528, 130 South Mountain Avenue, pg 6A, hh 128, Owns home, $75,000, Vincent S. MULFORD, Head, m, w, 68, Married, Born NY, Financier, Finan- cier; Edith, Wife , f, w, 44, Married, Born Texas; Donald L., Son, m, w, 21, Single, Born NJ; five serv- ants/employees. Meanwhile in Southampton, New York, a future manager appeared in a September 2, 1932 Long Is- lander news photo of the Arrangement Committee of the Republican Party. Elliott F. Bishop was among such prominent Southampton people as Goodhue Livingston, architect, Henry F. DuPont, and others.

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