ABSTRACT
Retirement communities are not a recent phenomena in the United States. Some date back to the 1920s, when various labor, fraternal, and religious organizations acquired relatively inexpensive property in Florida with the intent of creating a supportive living environment for their retiring members. Moosehaven, for example, was established in 1922 by the Loyal (fraternal) Order of Moose as a means of caring for its retired members while at the same time demonstrating the fraternal claims of the Order (Gottschalk, 1975). Other sponsored communities in Florida were created for benevolent purposes until a series of catastrophes, culminating with the stock market crash of 1929, brought their development to a standstill (Duncan et al., 1978).
