-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.historical-museum.org/history/found2.htm <A HREF="http://www.historical-museum.org/history/found2.htm">The Birth of Miami, Part 2 </A> ----- The Birth of Miami, Part 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Flagler had decided to see this "freeze proof" section for himself. In late February 1895, the railroad baron traveled by special train to West Palm Beach before transferring to a launch for a trip down the Florida East Coast Line canal, which by this time was completed from Lake Worth to New River. The party spent the night in Fort Lauderdale, and left by carriage the next morning to travel to the northern shore of Biscayne Bay where they were met by Tuttle's launch and brought to Miami. Ingraham recalled that the day was beautiful and "that night was the most perfect moonlight that I have ever seen." Before bedtime, Mr. Flagler made the decision to accept the offers of Tuttle and Brickell, extend his railroad to Miami and build a resort hotel there. (25) The party returned to St. Augustine in early March with a verbal agreement to extend the railroad to Miami and to develop a city in that locale, but formal contracts had yet to be drawn up and signed. No official announcements were made at the time, although rumors over the meaning of the trip began to appear in the press. (26) The Titusville paper observed that, "Some optimists believe the railroad will be extended to deep water off Key Largo, others think a mammoth hotel will be constructed on Bay Biscayne." (27) From Sanford: "Flagler has decided to extend to Bay Biscayne and also he has purchased half of Key Largo." (28) The Jacksonville report noted that the natives of Bay Biscayne are "very much stirred up by the advent of the big millionaire's [visit]. It is generally supposed that this tour means the extension of the east coast line to Bay Biscayne." (29) Preliminary to drawing up a formal contract, Flagler wrote Tuttle a long letter on April 22, 1895, recapping her offer of land to him in exchange for his extension of the railroad to Miami, laying out a city and building a hotel. The terms, as they appeared in the letter, provided that Tuttle would award Flagler a 100-acre tract of land. The boundaries of this tract would stretch approximately from the bay on the east (at that time the shoreline ran along today's Biscayne Boulevard) to Southwest Third Avenue on the west, and from Southeast and Southwest First Street on the north to the Miami River on the south. Within this tract, a 13-acre parcel, on which Tuttle's home stood, was reserved as her "home lot." It was bounded by today's South Miami Avenue on the w est, Southeast Second Avenue on the east, Southeast Second Street on the north and the Miami River on the south. (30) The remainder of the Tuttle property at the Miami site would be divided between Flagler and Tuttle. Flagler professed in the letter that he would prefer to have his portion in a solid tract, but told Tuttle he would "agree to accept your ideas, viz: an equitable division by alternate lots." (31) Tuttle wisely inserted and stuck to this provision so that her lots would be as valuable as Flagler's as he laid out the streets and developed the town. The larger divided tract was bounded approximately by the Miami River on the south and southwest, Northeast and Northwest Eleventh Street on the north, Northwest Seventh Avenue on the west, and the Bay on the east. This offer would eventually be drawn up into a contract that was signed by Tuttle and Flagler dated October 24, 1895. (32) The April 1895 letter also mentioned that Flagler had sent a similar missive to William Brickell in reply to his offer for extending the railroad to Miami. Flagler said that Brickell was including 100 acres of land at New River; thus he felt justified in asking for the same from Tuttle. (33) Flagler's letter to Brickell, and the ensuing contract, have not survived, but from the course of events we can assume the offer was similar to that of Tuttle's. The Brickells would divide a portion of their property south of the Miami River with Flagler and, in turn, the industrialist would construct a bridge across the Miami River. As with the Tuttle tract, the property would be subdivided by alternate lots. The boundaries of this property were approximately South Miami Avenue on the east, Southwest and Northwest Eighth Avenue on the west, Southwest Fifteenth Road and Southwest Eleventh Street on the south, and the Miami River on the north. Also included was the New River land. The Brickells reserved their home lot at the mouth of the Miami River and all property between the bay and South Miami Avenue. (34) The Railroad Extension While the railroad's extension to Miami remained unannounced in the spring of 1895, rumors of this possibility continued to multiply, fueling real estate activity in the Biscayne Bay area at a time when land prices throughout the rest of Florida were relatively depressed due to the affects of the freeze. In May 1895, prices for bayfront property were reported as "almost out of sight," but good lands for agricultural purposes could still be found "from one to two miles back from the bay," priced reasonably at $10 to $25 an acre. (35) The news of the railroad's extension was officially announced on June 21, 1895, in the pages of Jacksonville's Florida Times-Union: "It is now a certainty that the East Coast line will be extended to Bay Biscayne at an early date. A corps of engineers began the survey this week. The distance is sixty-five miles, with no heavy grading but few bridges." (36) The following day, the paper reported that "Contractor F.M. Cabott, with a large force of men, has commenced to grade." (37) The land was graded by removing trees and bushes in a strip 100 feet wide and smoothing over any uneven places in the terrain. The track was then laid down the middle of this strip. The railroad and canal companies owned, or had grants from the state, for nearly sixty miles of the sixty-six-mile extension. For the remaining six miles, they endeavored to persuade the property owners to donate the right-of-way. J. R. Parrott, vice president and general manager of the railroad company, in a newspaper interview appearing in early July, threatened to halt construction of the extension if the railroad was forced to pay for a portion of the right-of-way. "At present," Parrott announced, "the country is very sparsely settled, and our only object in extending the line now would be because labor and material are so cheap." (38) This was, again, due to the freeze. The thirteen men of the Corps of Engineers, under supervision of H. G. Ord, completed their survey and reached Miami on July 15. They camped at the mouth of the Miami River on Tuttle's property. While there, they also made a survey map of the 100 acres Tuttle was to donate to Flagler, the site where the hotel was to be built. (39) The canal was completed and navigable between West Palm Beach and New River, and on August 12, 1895, the canal company placed one of its own steam-powered boats, the Hittie, on a tri-weekly run between the two points. Construction of the next phase of the canal, from Fort Lauderdale to Biscayne Bay, began at the end of August with one dredge working south while the other — the Biscayne — was towed to Biscayne Bay on the Atlantic Ocean side to begin working northward to meet up with the former. (40) By then, A. L. Knowlton, a Justice of the Peace at West Palm Beach, had resigned his position and gone to the New River area to survey the town site of Fort Lauderdale. (41) In late September, the work of laying the track began. (42) The cross ties were seven inches by nine inches by nine feet and laid 2,800 to a mile. A report made by a state inspector after the extension was completed noted that the track had been "carefully laid" and "well spiked, well lined, and evenly spaced on the ties." The inspector added that "workmanship on all classes of this construction is good, and the material used is the best that could be obtained." (43) South Florida's First Boom With work on the railroad extension to Miami well under way, settlers began pouring into the promised "freeze proof" lands. Settlements such as Linton — today's Delray Beach — and Fort Lauderdale were springing up along the canal and railroad route. Only a month old in mid-October 1895, Linton boasted a population of more than 100, most of whom were male heads of families. (44) The men would arrive in advance of their families to prepare a home before sending for their wives and children. But still, many more interested settlers held back to wait until the lots would be put on the market in Miami. Already, many believed that Miami would surpass West Palm Beach in growth and importance as a tourist, agricultural and transportation center. (45) As South Florida underwent its first boom, optimism ran high and people were excited. Flagler, however, was going through what was to be the worst time in his life. He married his second wife, Ida Alice Shourds, on June 5, 1883. The early days of their marriage were happy, but by 1894, Flagler began to notice peculiarities in her behavior. She began making wild claims and accusations to Flagler's doctor and personal friend, George S. Shelton. She claimed that prominent New Yorkers were involved in many varieties of nefarious conduct. After consulting a ouija board in early October 1895, Mrs. Flagler decided that she was in love with the czar of Russia and would marry him after her husband's death. So strong were her claims of love for the czar that Dr. Shelton became concerned for Flagler's life. On October 24, 1894, he called in two mental health specialists to visit with the Flaglers at their New York residence. Mrs. Flagler repeated her claim that she was engaged to be married to the czar and added that the house was filled with Russian spies. (46) The diagnosis was "delusionary insanity" and the physicians recommended that she be committed to a sanitarium. She was taken by force on that day and sent to an institution. The following day, Dr. Shelton wrote to Flagler's friend, Dr. Andrew Anderson in St. Augustine, insisting that Flagler visit Florida to get his mind off his personal life. Flagler agreed to leave for the Sunshine State the following week. Dr. Shelton added that Flagler was "almost prostrated with grief and anxiety." (47) While the date October 24, 1895, brought "grief and anxiety" to Flagler, it would represent the legal date that Julia Tuttle would see that her dreams had begun to be fulfilled. On that day, the agreement that was to become known as Miami's "birth certificate," was drawn up. The typed contract set forth the items previously agreed upon by Flagler and Tuttle. (48) At that time in October 1895, Miami was recovering from the effects of a tropical storm that moved through the area three days earlier, uprooting trees and causing inhabitants to move their boats up river for safety. (49) One report claimed that the wind blew the water out of Biscayne Bay "until it could be waded." (50) West Palm Beach suffered more severely from the storm as several wharfs were destroyed and the piledriver employed in the construction of a railroad bridge across Lake Worth from West Palm Beach to Palm Beach was sunk. (51) At the time, Surveyor Knowlton was in Miami studying the area in order to begin platting the town site of Miami, and W. C. Valentine of Fort Lauderdale was surveying and platting the area at the fork of the Miami River and some of the Brickell property outside the town site of Miami. (52) Following his doctor's advice, Flagler arrived in Jacksonville on October 30, on his way to St. Augustine. (53) At the same time, railroad workers, clearing the right-of-way to Miami, (with graders following along behind them) were nearing Lemon City. (54) On November 4, Flagler, along with J. R. Parrott, Ingraham and R. T. Goff, left St. Augustine to inspect his railway, hotels and railroad bridges. He traveled as far south as Lantana by train, for the tracks ended at that point. (55) In the meantime, the railroad bridge across Lake Worth was completed while Flagler was in South Florida. With this bridge completed, workers who had been engaged in its construction, moved south to begin building railroad bridges over the Hillsboro and New Rivers. (56) In the second week of November, Flagler journeyed to Miami, returning to St. Augustine on November 14. (57) In all likelihood, Flagler came to Miami to sign the contract of October 24. With that, and the railroad on its way, activity in Miami began to pick up. Men, both black and white, from throughout Florida flocked to Miami to await Flagler's call for workers of all qualifications to begin work on the promised hotel and city. By late December 1895, seventy-five of them already were at work clearing the site for the hotel. They lived mostly in tents and huts in the wilderness that as of yet had no streets and few cleared paths. These men were primarily victims of the great freeze that had left both money and work scarce. (58) At the December 10 meeting of the Dade County Commission in Juno, Dade's county seat, Mary Brickell posted a performance bond to operate a ferry across the Miami River. This conveyance would allow men camped on the north side of the river to reach the south side where the Brickells operated their trading post and post office. (59) The long-awaited Florida Coast Line Canal was completed to Biscayne Bay in mid-January 1896. (60) To inaugurate the canal, Flagler — its president — with other officials, took the first trip along the canal's uninterrupted, sheltered route of 40 miles from Lake Worth to Biscayne Bay in the river steamboat J. W. Sweeny under the command of Capt. S. A. Bravo. (61) The line began operating regularly scheduled steamboat service between Lake Worth and Miami with the completion of the canal. The boats Hittie and Della left from West Palm Beach on alternating days, staying overnight at Fort Lauderdale, before leaving for Miami the next morning; they returned to West Palm Beach the same day. (62) By then, the railroad extension had been completed to a point about six m iles north of the New River, although trains had not yet begun to run on it. (63) The end of January found 200 men at work clearing the town site of Miami, prompting the Florida Times-Union to remark, "Everybody is busy and the boom has commenced." (64) E. H. Harrington and Charles L. Tyler were doing big business feeding the workmen. A. L. Knowlton was continuing to survey the town site. The firm of Ellis, Williams and Branscombe operated a successful fertilizer and crate business. At Cocoanut Grove, real estate brokers John Frederick and E. C. Dearborn also were busy. The lots in the actual city site of Miami were not platted and were not yet for sale. However, there was much land in the adjoining area that was selling. (65) February 1896 saw the opening of the railroad extension to Fort Lauderdale. The first passenger train left Palm Beach on Tuesday, February 18, at 7:30 a.m. (66) The canal steamboat schedule was adjusted so that the Della (owned by the canal company) and the Biscayne (formerly the J. N. Sweeny, owned by the railroad company) met the arriving trains at Fort Lauderdale on alternate days for the trip to Miami. (67) On February 1, 1896, Mrs. Tuttle fulfilled the first part of her agreement with Flagler by signing two deeds to transfer land for his hotel to him, and the 100 acres of land adjoining the hotel site, less her homesite, to Flagler and Ingraham. The titles to the Brickell and Tuttle properties were based on early Spanish land grants and had to be determined to be clear of conflict before the marketing of the Miami lots began. The law and abstract office of Robbins, Graham and Chillingworth, a Titusville firm which opened a Miami branch, was charged with this task. Walter S. Graham, the manager of the Miami branch, also was preparing to start Miami's first newspaper, the Miami Metropolis. Graham was formerly part owner of the Indian River Advocate in Titusville. (68) Graham wrote a confidential letter to J. R. Parrott on February 24, 1896, explaining what he felt was "trouble ahead, unless a change of policy occurs in Miami." He noted that work was progressing on the north side of the river but that the south side was "not receiving the proper attention, and the Brickells are getting very sore." (69) He maintained that if the lots on the north side were put on the market first, the city would develop there, leaving the south side undeveloped and less desirable. Accordingly, Graham felt that Flagler should begin construction at once on the promised bridge across the Miami River. Further, Graham believed the bridge should be completed before any lots went on sale on either side of the stream; and that work on the streets on both sides of the river be developed concurrently. Graham indicated that his firm would pronounce the titles clear to both the Brickell and Tuttle property simultaneously, so that the Brickells would have no grounds to blame his title company for any delay. (70) Isidor Cohen was one of Miami's earliest merchants, arriving in February 1896. Cohen arranged to have a small building constructed on the south side of the river for his store, and secured a row boat to carry his customers across the river so they would not have to pay the ferry fare. Within two months, however, Cohen had moved to the north side of the river, believing business would be better in that sector. (71) On March 3, Flagler dispatched John Sewell and twelve of his best black workers from Palm Beach to Miami to begin work on the townsite. They began by grading the site of Flagler's hotel. (72) By late March the railroad extension had reached a point just below Arch Creek near today's Northeast 135th Street. (73) Increasing numbers of people were coming to Miami. In order to provide them with a place to stay, Harrington and Tyler leased the Miami Hotel from Julia Tuttle — even before it had a roof over it. Located on today's South Miami Avenue near the river, the hotel contained a dining room on the first floor and rooms on the second which only could be reached by ladder, since a staircase had not been completed. (74) A former steamboat, the Rockledge, was converted into a floating hotel by E. E. Vail, towed to Miami and docked at the foot of Avenue D (today's Miami Avenue). (75) Several new businesses had just opened or were about to open as March drew to a close. These included Frank Budge's hardware store, Frank Duren's meat market and green grocery, E. L. Brady's grocery store, and the Lummus Brothers' general store; additionally, a drug store, candy shop and pool room looked out over Avenue D. The lumber to build the Bank of Bay Biscayne building was being hauled to its lot next to the Brady grocery store. (76) The lots in Miami owned by Julia Tuttle were put on sale, but as the Flagler and Brickell lots were not even listed, prospective purchasers could not compare prices, and initial sales were disappointing. The Tuttle lots, as would the Flagler and Brickell properties, contained a clause forbidding the manufacture or sale of "any spirituous or intoxicating liquors, either distilled or fermented." (77) Thus Miami was to be a "dry" town, with the notable exception of Flagler's Royal Palm Hotel. (78) Already an addition to Miami had sprung up. Called "North Miami," it was platted and placed on the market in late March. (79) Its southern border was today's Fourteenth Street, located about one quarter of a mile north of the Miami townsite several blocks west of today's Omni shopping mall. The addition was comprised of two subdivisions, one owned by E. A. Waddell and J. W. Johnson and the other by the law firm of Robbins, Graham and Chillingsworth. Its lots contained no liquor clause and saloons quickly moved in. It would grow to become Miami's den of inequity until it was cleaned up some fifteen years later. (80) The railroad tracks reached Lemon City, near today's Northeast Sixty-second Street, on April 3, 1896. Only seven miles remained to Miami. Those seven miles were covered in four days. The tracks reached Miami on April 7. There have been several conflicting accounts of the entry of the first train into Miami. Some indicate that the event occurred at night and others maintain it happened during the daytime. Accounts from two contemporary newspapers appear to settle the argument as to when the first train arrived. (81) The first train actually arrived on Monday, April 13, 1896. It was a special, unscheduled train and Flagler was on board, as was his custom. One reason for the discrepancy over the arrival of the first train may be that the first regularly scheduled FEC passenger train did arrive late at night on Wednesday, April 15, the date generally given as the arrival date of the first train. However, the Florida Times-Union of April 14 carried a dispatch from its St. Augustine correspondent, dated April 13, which reported the following: "Mr. Henry Flagler's private car left for the south last night, with Capt. J. J. Vandergrift, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Mr. J. E. Ingraham, Mr. Flagler's general agent; Mr. C. B. Knott, superintendent of the East Coast hotel system; Vice President J. R. Parrott and Superintendent R. T. Goff, in the former's private car, also went south. Messers. MacDonald and W. H. Merrill will join the party at Palm Beach. At Ft. Lauderdale, contractor McLain will take the party to inspect the new extension of the F. E. C. railway to Miami, which is completed, and on which Mr. Joseph Richardson, general passenger agent, believes this summer schedule will be put in operation next Wednesday." (82) The weekly Indian River Advocate, in its edition of April 17, reported the following: "THE FIRST PASSENGER TRAIN OVER THE NEW EXTENSION "At noon Monday last the first passenger train over the new extension of the Florida East Coast Railway rolled into Miami. Among those on board the train were Mr. H. M. Flagler, president of the road; Vice-President J. R. Parrott, Land Commissioner J. E. Ingraham, Supt. J. T. Goff, Gen'l Freight Agent W. J. Jarvis, Contractor J. A. McDonald, C. B. Knott, superintendent of the East Coast Hotel System; H. W. Merrill, manager Hotel Royal Poinciana; Dr. Andrew Anderson, St. Augustine; Capt. Van Dergriff, Pittsburg, Pa.; A. E. Robbinson, John B. Reilly and D. C. Sutton. Most of the party, soon after their arrival, started for a few days' cruise on the steamer Biscayne among the Keys." (83) Additional confirmation for the arrival of the first train into Miami on April 13, is found in the diary of Mary Barr Munroe of Cocoanut Grove, who wrote that Flagler visited the Grove that day on the Biscayne. (84) In the Florida Times-Union of April 18, the West Palm Beach correspondent, under an April 17 dateline, reported: "The special [train] containing Mr. Flagler and his officers, which went south Monday [April 13], returned to St. Augustine last night, passing here about 5 o'clock." (85) The first regularly scheduled train arrived on the night of April 15. Later published histories claim that the first week of train service provided only for freight and that passenger service did not begin until a week later, April 22. contemporary newspaper accounts, however, contradict this claim. (86) The Indian River Advocate of April 17 reported that "Regular trains are now running between the above places [Jacksonville and Miami]." (87) The Florida Times-Union noted on April 17 that "The through schedule started April 16th." (88) The use of April 16 is explained by the fact that the through schedule called for a train to leave Miami at 5 a.m. In order for the schedule to begin, a train had to be in Miami to leave at 5 a.m. Since there was no train in Miami until the night of April 15, it would fall to April 16 to be the first day that the schedule could start with trains arriving in and leaving from Miami. In the April 22 edition of the Florida Times-Union, the journal's West Palm Beach correspondent, under an April 21 dateline, reported, "There is a daily through train from each end, and a mixed one between Fort Pierce and Miami." (89) The arrival of regular train service was a catalyst to the rapid settlement and development of the entire area. On April 24, the Brickells deeded a right-of-way to the FEC Railway through their Fort Lauderdale property. One week later, on May 1, the Brickells deeded every other lot in the town site of Fort Lauderdale to the Fort Dallas Land Company, Flagler's land company, headed by James Ingraham, that was organized to market Flagler's lots in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. (90) Commercial activity increased with the opening of the Bank of Bay Biscayne on May 2. (91) Miami's first newspaper, the Miami Metropolis, issued its first edition on May 15, under the editorship of Walter S. Graham. The newspaper reported that the Miami lots owned by Brickell went on sale "last Monday." (92) It complained that there was still no bridge across the river and people who wanted to get mail had to spend an hour waiting for the ferry and pay a ten-cent toll to learn if they had any mail. The Metropolis ridiculed the mail service and pleaded for a post office on the north side of the river, where the Miami community now was firmly entrenched. (93) ===== The Birth of Miami, Part 3 Incorporation In 1896, close to 400 people crowded onto the second floor of the Lobby Pool Room to vote to incorporate Miami as a city. The building to the left is the site of this historical meeting. 1975-025-103 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Metropolis lobbied for the incorporation of Miami before August 1, 1896. The journal argued that incorporation was necessary in order for Miamians to "frame and enforce such ordinances as are necessary." More specifically, an ordinance was necessary to deal with a problematical sanitary situation. "The removal of excrement and all kinds of disease-producing products at stated intervals should be rigidly insisted on," the paper said. In addition, it observed a problem with "indecent bathing," as workers bathed nude in both the river and along the banks of the bay. (94) To begin the process of incorporation, an informal meeting was held on the evening of June 17. Frederick S. Morse was called upon to chair the meeting of about 100 people, forty of whom were registered voters. To incorporate as a municipality, at least twenty-five registered voters would be necessary to form a town; 300 or more voters would enable the municipality to incorporate as a city. The process required the twenty-five voters desiring incorporation to propose boundaries for the municipality and publish a notice to all eligible voters. This notice, to appear in the local newspaper, had to contain (1) the declaration of a desire to incorporate, (2) the proposed boundaries, and (3) the date and time that another public meeting would be held at which all voters living within the boundaries could vote for or against the incorporation. (95) This initial meeting proceeded without incident, with the exception of the question of whether or not to include North Miami within the city limits. Rev. Asbury Caldwell, the local Congregational minister, spoke in favor of including the "wet" area in order to control the saloon and other elements which, he claimed, "need checking now." After it became known that neither Flagler nor Tuttle wanted North Miami included, the proposed boundaries were settled with that sector excluded. Using today's street numbering system, these boundaries included: On the north, a point just above Eleventh Street; on the west, Northwest Seventh Avenue (north of the Miami River), Northwest and Southwest Eighth Avenue (south of the Miami River); on the south, beginning at the intersection of Southwest Eighth Avenue and Southwest Eleventh Street, going east along Eleventh Street to the intersection of Fifteenth Road and following that road southeast to a point in the middle of Biscayne Bay; on the east, the middle of Biscayne Bay. (96) The final order of business before adjournment was to set the date of the next meeting, which was decided upon as July 28. (97) The legal notice of the meeting appeared in the Miami Metropolis each week for five weeks. It outlined the proposed boundaries and was signed by the required minimum twenty-five voters. It stated in part: "That notice is hereby given to all persons who are registered voters residing within the above proposed limits of the proposed corporation to assemble on the 28th day of July, A.D. 1896, at the room over 'The Lobby,' which building is situated on Avenue "D," in the town of Miami, Florida, to select officers and organize a municipal government." (98) At 2 p.m., on July 28, 1896, the incorporation meeting took place. The vote was restricted to all men (women did not receive the right to vote until 1920) who resided in Miami and who had lived in Dade County for at least six months in order to register to vote. This allowed men who had moved from West Palm Beach, Juno or Lemon City to Miami to vote, as those places were all part of Dade County. Joseph A. McDonald, Flagler's chief of construction on the Hotel Royal Palm, was elected chairman of the meeting, H. J. Burkhardt was elected secretary and John B. McIntyre assistant secretary. (99) The secretary called the roll to verify that at least two-thirds of the registered voters were present as the law required. There were 312 in attendance. However, as the meeting progressed, at least 32 stragglers arrived, since 344 votes were tallied in the final voting. The official minutes of the meeting indicate that the County Supervisor of Registration certified that there were 424 registered voters eligible to vote. This number consisted of 243 whites and 181 blacks. Of those registered voters, 368 were present at the meeting — 206 white and 162 black. (100) After ensuring that the required number of voters were present, Walter. S. Graham moved to vote by acclamation for the first three items on the ballot. The motion was made and unanimously carried to incorporate and organize a city government under the corporate name of "The City of Miami," with the boundaries as proposed, and "that a corporate seal of this municipality shall be as follows: A round seal two inches in diameter, with the words 'The City of Miami' arranged in a semicircular form, constituting the border around the base and the design of the Royal Palm tree in an upright position in the center of the seal, with the inscription 'Incorporated 1896' inserted just below the center of the seal." (101) The next order of business was to elect officers. This was carried out by ballot. After the ballots were cast and while they were being tabulated, most people left to eat and then reassembled after dinner to learn the results, which were not announced until 10 p.m. (102) The vote was a straight ticket win for the proposed "citizen's ticket" candidates. There were five proposed tickets, each of which endorsed 26-year-old John B. Reilly for mayor. (103) Reilly headed Flagler's Fort Dallas Land Company in Miami. He received 341 votes. The following were elected as Miami's first aldermen: Joseph A. McDonald (334 votes); Walter S. Graham (341 votes); William M. Brown (343 votes); Frederick S. Morse (343 votes); Edward L. Brady (317 votes); Daniel Cosgrove (343 votes); Frank T. Budge (233 votes). J. M. Graham (199 votes) was elected city clerk and Young F. Gray (247 votes) was chosen marshal. (104) The next item of business was the passage, by a unanimus vote, of a resolution urging the Postmaster General to direct the postmaster of Miami, Alice Brickell, "to immediately move the post office to a convenient location on the north side of the Miami River" since more than ninety percent of the population of Miami was living on that side. The voters also requested that the Miami post office be made a full money-order post office. (105) Following the post office resolution, Justice of the Peace George W. Pierce administered the municipal oath of office to the new mayor Reilly who, in turn, administered the oath to the seven aldermen. (106) The meeting closed with County Solicitor James B. Sanders of West Palm Beach "calling for three cheers for Miami and the new officers, which were given with a vim," and with speeches delivered by J. A. McDonald, lawyer E. F. McKinley, who had provided legal advice, Walter S. Graham and J. J. Haggerty. (107) Isidor Cohen later recalled that one of the best speeches had been made by a black voter, whom he identified as A. C. Lightburn, but whom later records recognize as Alex C. Lightbourn. (108) After the meeting, McKinley telegraphed the results to J. R. Parrott and J. E. Ingraham, who were spending the night in West Palm Beach before coming to the new city of Miami. (109) Early the next morning, McDonald wired the results of the voting to Flagler in New York. Later that day, the following telegraph message, addressed to Joseph A. McDonald, was received in Miami: "Telegram received. I congratulate the citizens of Miami upon the harmony which marked the election yesterday and trust that the auspicious beginning will result in future prosperity which will equal the most sanguine expectation of the people of the new city. H. M. Flagler" (110) The election results came as no surprise to Flagler, who has been called "Miami's Benevolent Dictator." He had invested no small sum in the railroad extension and development of Miami. He could not afford to sit by and watch an anti-Flagler group take control of his city. As he employed the great majority of the potential electors in the city, his men could decide the election. John Sewell wrote that his boss, J. A. McDonald, had put together a proposed slate of candidates but had chosen banker William M. Brown for mayor. (111) Sewell felt that the honor of being the first mayor of Miami should go to a Flagler man and chose John B. Reilly, who happened to be McDonald's son-in-law. McDonald didn't think it would look good if he put his relative in the top spot, but later acquiesced when Sewell told him that he, McDonald, could be an alderman. Sewell then went to Tuttle and let her choose an alderman candidate and then did the same with the Brickells. (112) The resulting "citizen's ticket" carried the election. This slate probably was the best that could be found among the early residents and was instrumental in the development of the fledgling city, with the notable exception of Marshal Gray, a bibulous lawman, who was replaced in 1899 by John Frohock. (113) The incorporation meeting on July 28 and the prior meeting on June 17 were both held "at the room over The Lobby." (114) The exact location of this building had been somewhat of a mystery in recent years. The only known picture of a building labeled "The Lobby" depicted a small, one-story wood frame structure that was not large enough to have held all of the incorporators. (115) This photograph appeared in a Miami Herald feature called "The Good Old Days" on January 29, 1939. The caption claimed J. M. Graham provided the picture, "which was taken a short time before Miami's incorporation. The Lobby Pool and Billiard Parlor, housed in the low-lying structure in mid-scene, was the center, Graham recalled, of the city's early social life. The men working on the Royal Palm Hotel used to come over there [on] evenings and shoot pool." (116) In its first edition, which appeared on May 15, 1896, the Miami Metropolis carried a brief description of several of Miami's businessmen, one of whom was Willis M. Myers, proprietor of the Lobby: "Myers ... was one of the first businessmen in Miami. When he talked about a pool room and cold drink stand about three months ago, most people thought he was wild or foolish. But he started the affair just the same. Nobody thinks he was a fool now. Look at the crowd at his place every night. He must be coining money and he deserves to. He is gentlemanly, courteous and obliging." (117) The answer to the mystery of the one-story building is found in the Florida Times-Union for May 14, 1896, with the report from the Miami correspondent that, "W. M. Meyers [sic] has removed his poolroom several doors down the avenue toward the river." (118) Thus, the picture was taken before Myers moved his business from the one-story building to the ground floor of the larger two-story building, located five buildings south of his first location. All of those buildings were on the east side of today's South Miami Avenue between Southeast Second Street and the Miami River. They were owned by Tuttle and rented out to merchants. The exact location of the larger building at the time of the incorporation was 350 feet south of the spur track leading to the Hotel Royal Palm. (119) Myers sold the business to H. J. Burkhardt in June 1896, who had closed the pool room by July 10. However, the building continued to be referred to as "the Lobby building" and was used for large meetings. In July 1899, the building was removed to the south end of the west wing of the Hotel Miami. Five weeks later, P. C. Hainlin leased the lower floor for a steam laundry to be known as the "Magic City Steam Laundry." (120) But, on November 12, 1899, during a severe Yellow Fever epidemic, an explosion of a blue flame oil stove caused a fire to break out in the adjacent Hotel Miami. Within thirty minutes after the first alarm, the hotel, the Lobby building and four other structures "were in a mass of ruins." (121) Thus, Miami's "birth place" was gone little more than three years after incorporation while the municipality it spawned has not only endured, but it has achieved, since that time, a prominence as one of the hemisphere's most important cities. --footnotes at web site-- ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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