Dade County FlArchives Biographies.....Swanson, John R. 1878 - 
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Nancy Rayburn http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006128 November 11, 2015, 12:55 pm

Source: Vol. II  pg.150-151  The Lewis Publishing Co. 1923
Author: History of Florida, Past and Present  

        JOHN ROYAL SWANSON.  The name of this well known contractor and builder 
and president of the Town Council of Coconut Grove, served to recall one of the 
prominent pioneer families in this section of Dade County. His maternal 
grandfather was CALEB L. TRAPP, originator of the famous Trapp avocado pear, 
known to horticulturalist the world over. Nearly all the successful avocado 
plantations until recent years were of the Trapp variety. The Swansons were
also a family of early residence in Dade County, locating here about ten years
before the Florida East Coast Railroad was built.
	JOHN ROYAL SWANSON was born at Burlington, Iowa, in 1878. His father, 
the late JOHN SWANSON, was a native of Sweden, a pioneer settler in Iowa, and 
in 1892 he came to Coconut Grove with his family. JOHN SWANSON married a 
daughter of the late CALEB L. TRAPP. She was born in Iowa, and is still living. 
CALEB TRAPP came to Coconut Grove, Florida, in 1887, and he erected the first 
stone house in this region. This house was built of native rock. He cut the 
stone, burned the lime and built the house after he was seventy years of age. 
CALEB L. TRAP’s wife, HENRIETTA (RHODES) TRAPP, taught the first school in
Coconut Grove.
	When JOHN R. SWANSON was a child his parents moved from Burlington to 
Atlantic, Iowa, where he spent his early boyhood. While there he gained his 
first business experience, selling the Des Moines Register, LAFE YOUNG’s famous
newspaper.
	He was about fourteen years of age when the family established their 
home in Coconut Grove. He continued to attend school here, and later learned 
the carpenter and brick mason trade. As a journeyman he worked in various 
states and cities, also traveled in Central and South America. In Central 
America he conducted a plantation for a time, and for one year he worked on the 
construction of the Colonial Hotel at Nassau, Bahama Islands. In time the work 
of his trade developed until he was employing a staff of skilled mechanics, and 
for several years past he has done an extensive business as a contractor and 
builder at Coconut Grove. Some of the best examples of the magnificent 
residences erected in this vicinity by wealthy winter residents exhibits the 
work of his organization. Among these and deserving of particular mention are 
the Four Way Lodge, the famous residence of Mr. and Mrs. ARTHUR CURTIS JAMES. 
He also built Serena, the residence of WILLIAM J. BRYAN. Mr. Swanson’s 
organization was engaged in the building of the new Coconut Grove High School
in 1922.
	In 1919, upon incorporation of Coconut Grove as a town, he was elected 
a member of the Town Council, and subsequently was made president of that body. 
He has given the best of his ability to the administration of municipal 
affairs, and in the council and as a private citizen and business man he is a 
thoroughly useful and public spirited factor in local affairs. His home is a 
fine place fronting on the Rhodes Avenue and extending back 600 feet to the
Tigertail
Tigertail Trail. Mr. Swanson married Miss CONSTANCE EVANS, of South Carolina.


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