|
Miami skyline from hospital room |
Flagler's Railroad Comes to Biscayne Bay
Severe freezes hit the West Palm Beach area in 1894 and 1895 where Henry Flagler had intended to have the southern terminus of his railroad. West Palm Beach recorded 30 degrees; ice formed one-eighth of an inch thick in a fountain in front of Palm Beach’s Royal Poinciana. It ruined Florida's orange and vegetable crops.
Two days after the second freeze, Flagler sent James E. Ingraham to investigate the reports that south Florida was "freeze-proof". Ingraham headed the railroad’s land department and was among Flagler’s most trusted employees
At that time, there were two influential families living in the area of the present Miami River which was then known as Biscayne Bay Country. The Brickell family, who had arrived in 1871 from Clevelend. William, his wife Mary, and eight adult children ranging in age from 18 to 38, operated a trading post and post office. And the widow Julia Tuttle and her two children who also came from Cleveland had moved near to where her father Ephraim Sturtevant, had homesteaded.
Twenty five years later, speaking before a meeting of the Miami Women’s Club, Ingraham said:
"..I gathered up a lot of blooms from these various trees, put them in damp cotton, and after an interview with Mrs. Tuttle and Mr. and Mrs. Brickell of Miami, I hurried to St. Augustine, where I called on Mr. Flagler and showed him the orange blossoms..
“Mr. Flagler looked at me for some minutes in perfect silence, then he said: ‘How soon can you arrange for me to go to Miami?’”"
Flagler's railroad reached Biscayne Bay by 1896.
According to
Flagler's biography"Flagler dredged a channel, built streets, instituted the first water and power systems, and financed the town's first newspaper, the Metropolis. When the town incorporated in 1896, its citizens wanted to honor the man responsible for its growth by naming it "Flagler." He declined the honor, persuading them to use an old Indian name, "Miami"."