Colonel William A. McCarty Memorial

COLONEL WILLIAM A. MCCARTY MEMORIAL
Triangle Park, corner of Sunset and Shadow Ways at Hunting Lodge Drive

Colonel William A. McCarty
1909-1993
In Light of His Outstanding
Service to the Community as
Mayor of Miami Springs 1948-1951

Just down the road from this memorial is the historically designated home at 424 Hunting Lodge Drive where the late Mayor McCarty and his family lived for almost 53 years.

Born in Sandersville, Georgia, William A. McCarty received a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Florida in 1933, where he met and married his wife Eugenie Mathewson, who had been living in Miami Springs since the age of 12. He worked for the Army Corps of Engineers in the Ocala area after graduation, then moved his family to Miami Springs in 1941. At that time Miami Springs was a growing community of 250 families, and Mrs. McCarty recalled “I remember you could look out for miles and not see one tree. You went sightseeing and saw swamp, weeds and water.” McCarty was called into duty for World War II, and served as Assistant Chief of Staff of Intelligence for the 308th Bomb Wing of the Fifth Air Force in the Pacific, where part of his job was interviewing Japanese prisoners of war. After the war, he returned to Miami Springs and resumed his career as an architect, while remaining in the military reserves.

He was a City Councilman, and served as Miami Springs’ sixth mayor from 1948-1951, running on a “Clean-Up Ticket” to keep gambling, low-ball politics and over-building from spreading to Miami Springs. Recalled in 1951 during the Korean War, he served in Korea, until 1955 when the whole family was able to join him in Okinawa, where he was Air Force Liaison Officer between the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) Headquarters and the Okinawa Engineer District. He also served at the Pentagon, and in Omaha for the Strategic Air Command. His family relates that he also kept extensive daily journals. Col. McCarty received many awards from the Navy, the Army and the Air Force, as well as a special recognition, the Wharang Distinguished Military Service Medal with Silver Star from the Republic of Korea.

Upon retirement from the military, once again the McCarty family settled down to civilian life in their Miami Springs home, this time permanently. Here the McCartys raised their five children and participated actively in the life of the growing community. Col. McCarty worked as an architect, designing many schools, hotels, homes and public buildings. He also taught college drafting and architecture classes at FIU, and spent his spare time collecting and identifying sea shells from his worldwide travels, savoring the peace of home life in his home town. Upon his death, he was praised as “a firm and extremely honest mayor,” “a straight arrow” and “a true gentleman.”