To many, Miami is just a "babe in arms," but 100 years as a full fledged, fast growing city can produce a lot of fascinating history. In addition, this area was inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before the founders of Miami made their way to the glistening waters of Biscayne Bay. Members of the Junior League of Miami recognized the richness of Dade County's history and made efforts to preserve some of the available artifacts and to ensure that the facts were recorded for posterity.
One of the first endeavors was a program brought to the League in 1969 called Pioneer Voices. Miami was in the unique position of having many of its earliest pioneers still living, so the League was asked to organize a program to record their memories. This effort not only produced oral histories, but a collection of photographs and historical documents. During the 1971 - 72 League year, Cuban Oral History was added to the Pioneer Voices collection. Here's John Pickett Miles remembering the 1926 hurricane:
"Clyde Court Apartments was a reinforced concrete building and was supposed to be just about indestructible. Well, that hurricane took the back, the south wall off Clyde Court, just like you'd take a knife and cut into a pasteboard box. My mother was sitting up in bed with the Bible in one hand and an umbrella in the other, and looking out over the south side of Miami just as if there was no wall there, because actually, there wasn't."
Nancy Clemens of the JLM interviewed Mr. Miles in 1970 as part of the Pioneer Voices project. All the audio tapes and transcriptions from this project were donated to the collection of the Historical Museum of Southern Florida so that they are available to researchers and the general public.
During that same time period, Leaguer Sheldon Morehead heard of the Florida Eastcoast Railway's plans to dispose of The Princeton Florida Railway Station in South Dade. She started a successful one-woman campaign to save it. After receiving tentative permission to purchase the building if a use could be found for it, she contacted A.D. Barnes, director of the Dade County Parks and Recreation Department, and many meetings later, made arrangements for the station to be moved to the miniature train concession at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. The concessionaires, park supervisors, carpenters and many others agreed to pay the $5,000 cost to relocate the station if it was purchased and donated to the County. When these preservation plans were presented to the League, the membership voted unanimously to purchase the station and donate it. On October 22, 1968, the Board of County Commissioners accepted the gift of the League and passed a resolution of gratitude. On five dark nights in November the drab, weather-beaten little station made the 31-mile journey from Princeton to Crandon Park. The building was completely restored with the exception of huge cobwebs which were left on the baggage room rafters as a symbol of age. The official dedication took place on March 29, 1969, amid much fanfare.
In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew, destroyed the Princeton station.
In 1972, efforts to record our history began with the first of our historical films, Ours is a Tropic Land. (This award-winning film and those that followed are discussed in Caught on Camera, early in this issue.)
In addition to the film, the League granted $20,000 to the Historical Association of Southern Florida to furnish and equip a research library in their new museum and to help establish a volunteer training program.
Nestled just off busy Coral Way is one of Coral Gables' most important historic sites. "Coral Gables House" was the family home of Coral Gables' founder, George Merrick. In May of 1976 the City acquired this historic landmark. Several organizations, including the League, were instrumental in returning Merrick Manor to its original gracious state.
On the heels of the premiere of Miami, The Magic City, the second of the League's three historical documentaries, came the publication of five self-guided historical tour books. The series started in 1984 with Historic Downtown Miami, produced with League womanpower and financing, as well as a $5,000 grant from the Bureau of Historic Preservation, State of Florida Department of State. The sign of a job well done is often receiving another job, which is exactly what happened. In 1985, when the Historic Downtown Miami book was published, the League received another $5,000 from the Bureau of Historic Preservation to start another book. Research began immediately on a self-guided tour of Coral Gables.
Following the Coral Gables booklet came Coconut Grove in 1987, South Dade in 1988 and Northeast Dade in 1990. These handsome booklets received recognition from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation in 1990 - 1991 and are still popular today. The two most popular, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, have been out of print for two years. The Junior League of Miami, perhaps with support from a community partner, may reprint the booklets someday.
The dust had not settled from the last self-guided tour when the League started production on the third version of our historic film, Our Miami: The Magic City. In addition we served as "step-aboard" tour guides for attendees at the annual meeting of the National Trust for Historic Preservation scheduled to be held in Miami in the fall of 1992. Along came Hurricane Andrew, but with the spirit of our brave pioneers, the conference went on and was a big success.
What about the present Junior League involvement with historic preservation? On December 28, 1995, we closed on the purchase of the historic Venetian-style building located at 713 Biltmore Way. This landmark is our new headquarters and will be renovated during the next few years. Thus, the League continues its appreciation and commitment to the preservation of Miami's glorious past.
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