Eyes were on Lemon City before Miami

Bay View Hotel, second on Biscayne Bay. Lemon City 1892,
Moved to Miami 1899 via barge
State Archives of Florida

By Jane Feehan

Lemon City didn’t have its own government but did have plenty of economic clout in early South Florida. It was older than Miami, with settlers arriving in the 1850s and in significant numbers in the 1870s. Historians suggest first settlers were English descendants in the Bahamas referred to as “Conchs;” they had also found their way to the Keys. 

Geography usually determines city growth; this community sat at the only deep-water access or Biscayne Bay at the time, near today’s 61st Street. The port, though not a port of entry, provided shipping access for crops and a pipeline of supplies for settlers. The little settlement also sat near Little River, Arch Creek and Snake Creek, waterways that facilitated transportation. 

Many pioneers came to this area to stake a claim for land after the Homestead Act of 1862. They settled the area to farm, as did many who arrived in Florida in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Enterprising arrivals parceled land for real estate sales, which proved to be profitable.

James E. Ingraham, then president of South Florida Railroad and later associate of Henry Flagler, visited Lemon City in 1892. He was on an expedition from Fort Myers through the Everglades to assess agricultural opportunities. That the expedition included Lemon City suggests the growing importance of the community. This predated his fateful trip in 1895 to Miami where he met Julia Tuttle to talk about extending Flagler’s railway there after the freeze destroyed crops in mid- and northern Florida. 

Guy Metcalf, pioneer, newspaperman and cousin of Fort Lauderdale's founder Frank Stranahan, also recognized the growing importance of Lemon City. He owned a real estate company that built a rock road to Lemon City from Lantana during the late 1880s or 1890s.

Named Lemon City for the lemons that grew there, the settlement was first mentioned in Dade County public records in 1889. When residents wanted a post office soon after, they applied with the federal government under the name “Motlo” in honor of a Seminole chief. The government approved the post office but sent back the paperwork with the name Motto. Residents briefly referred to their new town as that, but by 1893 resumed calling it Lemon City.

It may not have been an official town, but Lemon City was often noted in the social columns of The Miami News and The Miami Herald commencing in 1904. Comfortable homes were built as well as schools and several businesses, including a sawmill, an oil company and reportedly one of the largest asphalt companies in the South. The community attracted winter visitors and eventually hosted tent camps for tourists.

A.B Hurst Sawmill,
1909 Lemon City
State Archives of Florida

Lemon City could also boast an active community improvement association, which promoted the building of schools and a library. The Lemon City Library reportedly first opened in 1892. It is recognized today as the oldest operating branch library in Miami-Dade County. Historian Ron Blazek wrote that Coconut Grove was first to open a library but issues surrounding definition of a public library obfuscate claims of “first.” This writer found public notices in The Miami News in October 1904 for the formation of the Lemon City Library Association.

Lemon City was eventually overshadowed by Miami’s growth after Henry Flagler extended his Florida East Coast Railway to Miami 1896. Lemon City faded in status and was annexed by the city of Miami, along with Coconut Grove and other small communities in 1925.

Today, Lemon City boundaries overlap those of Miami. Known as Little Haiti since the 1970s with its new immigrants, it was recognized in 2016 as an official neighborhood of Miami. The neighborhood is home to nearly 30,000 residents from Haiti and other islands in the Caribbean. Today they celebrate cultural distinctions in food and art and language.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

 Tags: Lemon City, Little Haiti, Miami in the 1800s, Miami in the 1920s

Sources:

The Miami News, Oct. 1, 1904

The Herald, June 14, 1925

Blazek, Ron. Tequesta: Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, No. 42, 1982

University of Florida, The Ingraham Expedition, 2015. https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/ingraham/expedition/LemonCity.htm

Florida International University, City of Miami Planning Dept., Historic Lemon City/ Little Haiti/  Creole District

McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988.

Wikipedia

A.B. Hurst Sawmill: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/141893

Bay View Hotel: http://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/118340

South Florida desolate in 1905 but more planned with chance to accumulate a fortune

Florida agricultural map 1905
State Archives of Florida

 

By Jane Feehan

South Florida looks desolate relative to the northern areas of the state in this 1905 agricultural map. Headlines and key news stories a decade or so later point to big plans and expectations. Change was in the air. Snapshots of topics below underscore anticipation of what was to come.

Miami has a future that cannot ... be penetrated. Her climate, geographical and farming capacity are yet to be fully developed but she bears that same position to trade centers as does Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York City.  Editorial from Miami Metropolis April 24, 1905

Official “booster of the northwest,” E.M. Elliott of Seattle, Washington is known for his apple-centric displays at “land shows” in New York, Chicago, Omaha, and Pittsburg to encourage people to move to his state. But in March 1913, he takes up permanent residence in Miami where there is “a chance to accumulate great fortune.” The climate is good (he has not yet been here for a summer), as is the outlook for economic growth, he tells reporters. He has his eyes on the soon-to-open Panama Canal and the commerce it will generate for Miami. Note: Endorsements such as Mr. Elliott's were published at least once a week in Miami papers.

Miami’s city council approves funds for the mayor to advertise for bids from companies to operate street cars in 1913. The council states “the opportunity for such investment is unequaled in any other place twice its [Miami’s] size."

Miami grabs national headlines in 1913 as the warmest city in the nation on January 6 with a high of 78 degrees and a low of 74. Miami farmers hope this will increase demand for their fruits and vegetables. Havre, Montana garners mention with  the lowest temperature that day of 36 below zero.

Funds are approved by Fort Lauderdale for a survey to “secure deep water in the inlet of the New River.” This is to be followed by estimates to dredge a channel and basin. The work will facilitate the state’s drainage project for the Everglades via a canal, but Fort Lauderdale, “the Gate City” (to the Everglades), also wants to open the mouth of the river to “traffic of the world.” And thus, Port Everglades is conceptualized; it will prove to be a far more successful venture than draining the Everglades. Today, this port ranks second in the state in tonnage just behind PortMiami.

  

Discussions abound in Miami and Fort Lauderdale about creating a county north of Dade County to include Fort Lauderdale, Dania and other nearby towns. The new county will be named Broward and it may take towns in Dade and perhaps, Palm Beach County. Dade County is not happy about a bigger county to its north. In 1913, Dania backs out and the proposal is tabled – for awhile. Broward County was established April 30, 1915 … and Dania was back in.  

World-renowned engineer Isham Randolph, chair of the Everglades Commission (the drainage project), advises the city of Miami to buy up property along the waterfront owned by John N. Lummus (first mayor of Miami Beach 1915-1918) to develop into dockage and a harbor. He, as well as others, anticipate marine traffic coming from the soon-to-open-Panama Canal (opened August 14, 1914). He was right.

In 1913 SOFLA one can buy a five-room house near the center of Miami for $1,800 ...“Half cash only required.”  What's to stop anyone from moving here? 

Now many ask how to keep people away ... and we keep growing.

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

The Daily Miami Metropolis, April 24, 1905

Miami News, Jan. 6, 1913

Miami News, March 1, 1913

Miami News, May 2, 1913

Miami Metropolis, May 13, 1913

Miami Metropolis, Aug. 4, 1913

Tags: Florida development, Miami in the 1900s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1900s.

South Florida's first automobiles: who drove what and when?

First car in Miami 
C.H. Billings, 1899
a Locomobile
 State  of Florida Archives

By Jane Feehan

Automobiles soared in popularity across the United States and into the Florida frontier by the late 1800s. I’ll leave the provenance of the automobile up to other historians as it seems to remain in dispute*. Below is a brief overview of the status of motorized vehicles during the first years of  20th-century South Florida. 

First, the national backdrop.

According to History.com, 30 American manufacturers produced 2,500 motorized vehicles by 1899. More than 480 companies entered the production fray a decade later. Henry Ford, though not the first car maker, produced the cheapest one, his Model T selling for $285 in October 1908 (preceded by his Model N for $500**). 

Cars were referred to as “horseless carriages” in the 1890s. By 1900, the word “automobile” entered our lexicon. Automobile enthusiasts had already formed clubs and held races during the late 1800s and first decade of the 20^th century.

Determining who owned the first automobile in Dade, Broward or Palm Beach counties is problematic. Owning first and registering first don’t match up and some records went missing. Some owned vehicles before registration was required.  A registration ordinance, proposed in Miami in 1904 and passed in January 1905, details many of the same obligations as the requirements codified by the state of Florida in 1905.

The umbrella requirement was that every auto had to be registered with the Florida Secretary of State (the overseeing entity transferred to the State Comptroller office in years following).

Some provisions will evoke a chuckle:

The vehicle registration number had to be displayed on a tag “in Arabic numerals of at least 3 inches by 2 inches.”

Every vehicle operating on the road must have a bell, horn or whistle and two lamps.

Motorists must signal when approaching horses or other draft animals and must stop immediately if signaled to do so by one driving or riding these animals.

Vehicles must abide by a reasonable speed and/or the state determined speed limit.

Boards of county commissioners are empowered to set times for speed tests or races on public roadways.

No vehicle can cross a street or turn a corner at more than 5 miles per hour (Miami ordinance).

Vehicle operators must be 16 years old (Miami ordinance).

                                                                      The first registration records were handwritten.

Florida Memory/Discover/historical records:
 https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/346940

So, who owned the first motorized vehicle in Miami?  News accounts indicate it was Mr. C.H. Billings, a construction "engineer," in 1899. He drove a steam-powered “locomobile (at top of this post)."The Miami Evening Record in 1904 described it as "fast" -- relevant to walking no doubt.

1906 Model E Glide - Author unknown (Not Bryan's car) 
Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal Oct.1, 1905

The first car registered with the state (and probably first owned) of Broward County belonged to Fort Lauderdale pioneer Reed A. Bryan in 1906.  He drove a Glide (produced 1902-1925), a four-cylinder, 45-horsepower automobile. It was later given to the city’s fire department for their use. There were far fewer cars in Broward County; paved roads were rare. Only two were available in Fort Lauderdale: Brickell and Andrews avenues. Both offered only single lanes.

George W. Potter, surveyor and illustrator from Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County beat Henry M. Flagler to the state registration records. Potter registered his 4-horsepower Waltham Orient Buckboard in November 1905. Flagler followed the next month with registration of his open-air, quiet, steam-powered touring car manufactured by White Motor Company.

An automobile section appeared in the Miami Herald in 1912 with “items of interest to automobilists everywhere.” After all, “the greatest future lies ahead in the auto industry.” Prescient, indeed.

 *See the fascinating timeline linked below from the Library of Congress about when the automobile was invented.

https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/motor-vehicles-aeronautics-astronautics/item/who-invented-the-automobile

** See Ford Company history at:

https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/50201/#:~:text=Most%20runabouts%20featured%20one%2D%20or,the%20bestselling%20car%20in%20America

__________

Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

https://www.boyntonhistory.org

Broward Legacy – Hughes, Kenneth Survey of old cars. Vol. 21, No. 3-4, 1998 https://journals.flvc.org/browardlegacy/issue/view/3742

Miami Evening Record, Jan. 22, 1904

Miami News, Oct. 26, 1904

Miami Herald, Oct. 4, 1911

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 31, 2015

Tags: Automobile history, early automobiles in South Florida, early automobiles in Miami, early automobiles in Palm Beach County, Fort Lauderdale history, Miami History, Palm Beach history