IJf wwu 7^ GUIDE BOOK and HISTORY MIAMI— CjAecUefr AtUutu From two families, isolated in a little known extremity of the United States, to Florida's second largest city and resort of world-renown— This is the enviable and unmatched record of the City of Miami. In 1920, this "Magic City" boasted of a population less than 43,000, but, spurred by the Great Florida Boom of late 1925 and '26, it catapulted to more than 127,000 in the city proper! Since that time its advance has faltered not once. This figure does not include the respective populations of Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Hialeah, Miami Springs, Miami Shores, Opa-Locka, Homestead, North Miami and Florida City— all of which, together with Miami, go to make up what is known as the Miami Area. Nor does this figure include those hundreds of thou­ sands of tourists and vacationists who stream into Miami the year 'round, to enjoy its tropical grandeur and the hospitality of its permanent residents. The City of Miami is located in Dade County on the east coast of Florida, on Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It serves as the county seat and is likewise favored with excellent transportation facilities— on land, in the air, and on the water. I: I Miami enjoys an average annual temperature of approximately 75° and its soft ocean breezes and healthful sunshine make possible the indulgence in outdoor sports THOMAS R. WEST, MIAMI, FLA. THE MAGIC CITY and recreations each and every day of the whole glorious year. Its cultural, educa­ tional and spiritual advantages are so well proportioned as to bring the greatest possible joy to living. Let us delve# for a short while, into the interesting, colorful history of this remark­ able city— this "Playground of the World"— GREATER MIAMI - 9ii JlttttVUf According to records available, the first white man to see what is now Miami, was Escalante de Fontenada, a Spanish nobleman, sole survivor of a galleon, wrecked on the Florida Keys about 1545. Rescued and held in slavery by the Tekesta Indians for seventeen years, during which time he roamed at will throughout their country, he made many observations and notes which to this day constitute our only account of early exploration in Southern Florida. Sebastian Cabot, England's intrepid explorer, landed near Miami in 1497, and Albert Cantino, a Portuguese sea captain, skirted the lower East Coast in 1502. It remained, though, for Juan Ponce de Leon to name this beautiful section of the New World — "Florida" — when he sighted it near St. Augustine, at daybreak on Easter Sunday, March 27, 1513. It is interesting to note that Ponce de Leon's chief navigator was Anton de Alimones, of Lisbon, who had served Christopher Columbus in a like capacity nearly 22 years earlier. WkmmmWk 'Wings over <&YCiami mmmmm'tanmim ^Bayfront TarJc, <£MXami MIAMI— Ponce de Leon came South and examined the coast from about Baker's Haulover to Coconut Grove and then sailed to the Bahamas. The Calusa Indian Federation re­ tains an account of his landing about where "the 79th Street Causeway is now located, but this has never been authenticated by white men. Historians disagree on the origin of the name "Miami"; however, Fontenada wrote in 1551, as follows: "At the head of a bay of thousands of islands, I found a huge lake called 'Mayaimi' by the Calusa Indians. This lake is of such enormous extent that it drains into the sea on the East, into a river in the West near a great Ocean, and into a great swamp in the South where there is much tall grass and many more islands. This great lake also drains into the Rio Mayaimi which empties into a beau­ tiful lagoon I have named 'Laguna del Espiritu Sanctu'" (Lagoon of Heavenly Spirit, now known as Biscayne Bay.) In August of 1567, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a Spanish mercenary, came South from a point near the present location of Jacksonville and landed at the Indian Village of Tequesta. This occurred only two years after the founding of St. Augustine, oldest city in the United States. He erected a small blockhouse, left a garrison of thirty sol­ diers, a priest or two and sailed away to Spain, where he announced that he had settled the territory and named it "Mayaimi" after the huge lake to the West. (Both Fontenada and Menendez thought the Everglades a huge lake.) Little did these men realize, nor could they have possibly imagined, that three hundred years later, their discoveries and claims would have become the Playground of the World and the home of hundreds of thousands of souls! THE MAGIC CITY Then for 130 years, "Mayaimi" passed through a period of wars, Indian raids and massacres concerning which very few records were kept. The section grew in lore, however, through the persistence of the Spaniards, who claimed the existence of at least six Fountains of Youth and fabulously rich gold deposits, which in later days materialized in an entirely different form. Early in 1743, the Jesuits decided to Christianize the Indians, so Governor Gomez y Horcasitas of Havana sent Fathers Allana and Monaca to Florida. They stopped, after a stormy voyage up the coast from Key West, at the mouth of Rio Mayaimi, which they promptly renamed "Rio de los Ratones". They built a Jesuit Mission at the site of Coconut Grove and named it "San Ignacio". From 1743 to 1753 very little is known of historic value concerning this territory, particularly the section around "Bay Biscayne" (named after the Bay of Biscay by the Spanish). From then on, we trace a steady influx of settlers from Georgia, the Carolinas, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These were of Spanish, French, German and English stock. Their numbers were small but they built homes, cleared land and began to cultivate cotton, cane, grapes, limes and oranges. In 1759, Ferdinand, King of Spain, made a treaty with the English and when he died, the crown went to his brother Charles, who immediately launched a war with England. In 1762, the English finally captured Havana, which they traded back to Spain for a clear title to Florida. Now, the settlement of the Florida East Coast had begun in earnest. Uilla 'Viscaya, (fJAiami AaAAAAAvv-..^ ',.-: A AAA-A-vaA . H!&£hsSS_• AA. i wjmm-mmmmmmmSPiRKf'55 - S <l?l-SlSi<S- PHOTO BY PAN-AMERICAN PHOTO SERVICE ^uge Qlobe of the Sarth, Tan-cAmerican oAirways terminal MIAMI In October, 1763, King George III of England opened Florida to homesteading for the British soldiers who had served in America. Field officers were offered 5,000 acres each, captains 3,000, lieutenants 2,000,-non-commissioned officers and privates 50 acres. Very few took up the offer, but it is amusing to note the name of a Private Egan who from his original 50 acres appears 15 years later with a deed tp 4,000 acres on Biscayne Bay, and who later became one of the richest men in Florida. In 1810 we find Frank Lewis, Tolly Lewis, Egan and his son James, Rebecca Egan, Richard Tice, Joseph Delaspine, Archibald Clark and a few others as the prin­ cipal land holders in the Biscayne Bay region, although no effort had yet been made to incorporate a town. Miami as a South Florida metropolis soon began to take form. Settlers came in from most of the other States. The High Sheriff of New York being the first of many notables to arrive in the Promised Land of Plenty. Fort Dallas was established at the mouth of the Miami River during the year 1836. Then follows a swift succession of events. Hectic days and years for many, but through all of which the struggling town began to spread out in all directions and to assume an important place in the agricultural and trading world. Early families such as the Tuttles, Brickells, Fitzpatricks, Gibsons, Englishs, Joseph Days, Baileys, Thews, Wheeles, Fords and others had amassed nearly a mil­ lion acres of the best lands in the vicinity and when, in 1836, the Florida Legislature THE MAGIC CITY created Dade County (named after Major Francis L. Dade, who, with all but two of his command, was massacred during the Seminole Indian Wars) we find these families growing wealthy through the sale of their holdings to purchasers of home­ steads. In 1840, the Seminoles became enraged at apparent injustices meted out by local officials and raided the settlement, killing several people, burning many buildings. Miami, at this time, had a population of 440 people and was slowly but surely growing. However, crop failures due to storm and forays by Indians dismayed a large number of settlers and by 1850 we find the population had dwindled to 159. Then, toward the end of the nineteenth century, miracles began to happen. Northern capitalists, looking for newer and fresher fields, began to hear of this trop­ ical paradise and soon the population had jumped to 890. Good times were ahead and by 1900, there were 5,000 inhabitants and the first tourist hotels made their appearance. Miami's growth from then on is responsible for its becoming known as the "Magic City." 1910 showed 11,933; 1920, 42,753 and in 1932 more than 150,000 and to date there has been no sign of a let-down in the pace of its growth. When Henry M. Flagler, through an invitation from his friend, Mrs. Julia Tuttle, decided to visit here, a new era was ushered in for Miami. In 1896, Flagler brought the Florida East Coast Railway into Miami and built a great Hotel.