The resort towns created in the early 1900s are prime objects for studying the relationship between public health policies and urban and social development. This article analyzes the social and institutional vectors involved in the creation of the resort town of Campos do Jordão from the perspective of the career and works of physician, geographer and businessman Domingos Nogueira Jaguaribe Filho. Geographical studies, medical knowledge and the precepts of urbanization combined with private and development interests in the symbolism and concrete manifestation of the "Brazilian Switzerland".