| Intro | Key West businessman and Florida’s first millionaire (1821-1896) |
| Was | Businessperson |
| From | United States of America |
| Type | Business |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 1896 |
| Death |
24 January 1896 |
William Joseph Curry (September 11, 1821 – January 24, 1896) was a Key West businessman and Florida’s first millionaire.
Curry was born in 1821 on Green Turtle Key. He arrived in Key West from the Bahamas in 1837. Like many Conchs, he was a poor white Bahamian who immigrated to Key West for economic opportunity. When he arrived in Key West, it was the wealthiest town in the state.
He started in Key West as a clerk in the office of Weever & Baldwin. After fighting in the Seminole War for several years, he returned to Key West and climbed the corporate ladder. Over the next forty years, he built an empire of merchandising, wrecking, and shipbuilding.
Curry had eight children with his wife Euphemia, whom he married in 1844.
When he died in 1896, Curry’s estate was worth $1.5 million. He was Florida’s first self-made millionaire and the richest man in the state.
The Curry Mansion
William Curry built the Curry home in 1855. Urban legend holds that the Curry kitchen was the birthplace of the original key lime pie, created by a cook known as Aunt Sally.
In 1905, Curry’s son Milton demolished and rebuilt the home as a Victorian mansion that still stands today. The wood used in the home is Dade County Pine, like other homes of wealthy Conchs at that time. In 1920, the house passed from the Curry family to a cousin. In 1975, Edith and Al Amsterdam bought and renovated the Curry Mansion and turned it into a bed and breakfast.
Other homes built by the Curry children include the Woman’s Club, the Southernmost Mansion, and the Fogarty Mansion. The Fogarty mansion is directly adjacent to the Curry Mansion and is currently the home of Fogarty’s Restaurant and Flying Monkeys bar.