By 1900, there was sufficient demand for Reid's Ferry, which made stops at Sheepshead Bay, Plumb Beach, Barren Island, and Breezy Point, among others.

[2] But "Reservation Beach" was unsuitable to the task due to the quicksand-like soil, so squatters moved in, selling liquor and cigars free of any excise tax.

[5] To recoup the government's investment, in May 1907 Secretary of War William Howard Taft entered into an agreement with former Judge Winfield S. Overton to lease the property for five years.

[8] On August 15, 1908, around 200 members of the recently formed "United States Military Athletic and Sporting Club" took in the three-card afternoon as the Sheepshead Bay precinct of the NYPD looked on helplessly.

[9] In January 1909, the Department of War responded by revoking Overton's lease, and kicked him off the island; in his place was installed a new "mayor", Frank Dotzler, who would also treat the land as his own private fiefdom.