James Hilliard Nunnally, owner of the Nunnally Candy Company in Atlanta, founded the Bay Shore Investment Company in 1922, and during the Florida Land Boom the company platted and developed a large bay-front tract. Because the new Bay Shore subdivision lay outside the Miami city limits, the company had to supply its own water, gas, electricity, telephone service, street lights, and sewers. Built in 1923, the water pump house included an 8,000-gallon tank that could provide up to 32,000 gallons a day. Constructed of native coral rock and Dade slash pine, it featured an arched, recessed cathedral entrance with heavy wooden doors and large iron-strap hinges, and a sales brochure promoted Bay Shore's ample supply of pure drinking water not dependent on the city supply. In 1925, the City of Miami annexed the Bay Shore neighborhood, making the pump house unnecessary. After briefly serving as a private residence, it deteriorated and by 1990 faced demolition, but beginning in 1995 the combined efforts of the City of Miami, Dade Heritage Trust, and individual contributors helped save and restore the building.