Miami Avenue & Flagler Street in 1913

Avenue D and Twelfth Street (Miami Avenue & Flagler Street) in 1913Avenue D and Twelfth Street (Miami Avenue & Flagler Street) in 1913

The photograph features a view at the corner of Avenue D and Twelfth Street in 1913. The photographer stood in the middle of the western side of the intersection facing east.

If the street names don’t sound familiar, it is because the naming convention for Miami streets changed in 1921 as part of the Chaille Plan. Today we would know this corner as Miami Avenue and Flagler Street.

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North Side of Avenue D & Twelfth Street

Budges Hardware fire aftermath in 1902.

Budges Hardware fire aftermath in 1902.

The building closest to the corner on the north side (left) of the street, was Budges Hardware. This was the second Budge’s hardware that was built at this location following a fire that burned the prior building to the ground in 1900.

Continuing east on the north side of Twelfth (Flagler) Street, the next set of businesses were the Miami Beef and Miami Grocery Company. Both retail businesses were established by George B. Romfh. The Miami Grocery Company is not the same as T.N. Gautier’s Miami Grocery Store which was located at today’s North Miami Avenue and NW First Street and opened in 1897.

Just east of the Miami Grocery was the New Everglades Hotel. Continuing east was Seybold’s Bakery and Ice Cream Parlor. John Seybold would later replace the 1913 building with the Seybold Arcade on the same site. Seybold was also the builder of the Spring Garden sub-division along the Miami River.

In the distance on the north side (left) of the street one could see part of the Halcyon Hotel. The Alfred I Dupont Building now resides where the Halcyon once stood. In the 1913 photo, Dr. James Jackson’s home and office would have been directly east of the Halcyon Hotel.

South Side of Avenue D & Twelfth Street

Burdines on Twelfth Street (Flagler) in 1910s

Burdines on Twelfth Street (Flagler) in 1910s

The building closest to the corner on the south side (right), of the street was primarily occupied by the Hotel Biscayne. However, it did have other tenants. The Biscayne Drug Company and Sewell-Harley Realty were also located in the building.

Moving east along the south side (right) of the street, the next structure was considered the tallest building south of Jacksonville when it was built in 1912. The Burdine Building was five stories in height and consisted of 151,000 square feet. Also in 1912, Roddy incorporated the family business and changed the name to W.M. Burdine’s Sons from Burdines and Sons.

The Burdine Building provided too much square footage for W.M. Burdine’s Sons retail operation, so Roddy Burdine rented some of the higher floors to other tenants. A number of professional firms rented office space from Roddy. One notable firm that rented in the Burdine Building in 1913 was Shutts, Smith & Bowen law firm. They rented offices on the fifth floor.

Other businesses on the south side (right) of the photo within view include the Hatchett Building, Arcade Theater and the Atlantic Realty Company. Although not visible in the photograph, beyond the Atlantic Realty Company, was the HT Whaler Company store. Whaler was one of Miami’s first jewelers.

H.T. Whaler also bought Dr. James Jackson’s home and office in 1916 while both buildings were being moved from downtown Miami by barge. Dr. Jackson wanted to preserve his home and office and was in the process of moving them to Miami Beach. However, Whaler ended up buying both buildings and redirected the move to today’s SE Twelfth Terrace in the Brickell neighborhood. The Jackson office still remains at 190 SE Twelfth Terrace. It serves as the office of Dade Heritage Trust.

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Photos:

  • Avenue D and Flagler Street (Miami Avenue & Flagler Street) in 1913. Courtesy of Magic City of the South.
  • Avenue D (Miami Avenue) looking north from Thirteenth Street (South First Street) in 1899. The Hotel Biscayne and original Budges Hardware building are on the right. Courtesy of Flagler Museum.
  • Budge’s hardware fire aftermath in 1902. Courtesy of Florida Memory.
  • T.N. Gautier’s Miami Grocery Store at Avenue D and Eleventh Street (North Miami Ave & North First Street). Courtesy of History Miami.
  • Seybold’s Bakery and Ice Cream Parlor on Twelfth Street (Flagler Avenue) in 1910s. Courtesy of Connie Seybold Prunty.
  • Avenue D (Miami Avenue) looking north from Thirteenth Street (South First Street) in 1909. Focused on west side of street. Courtesy of Miami News.
  • Burdines and Air Dome Theater on Twelfth Street (Flagler) in 1910s. Courtesy of Dade Heritage Trust.
  • Miami Avenue and Flagler Street looking east from Majestic Hotel in 1922. Courtesy of HistoryMiami. Photographer was Gleason Waite Romer.

4 Comments on "Miami Avenue & Flagler Street in 1913"

  1. Ginger Pedersen | May 22, 2016 at 8:52 pm |

    Seybold was from Stuttgart, Germany and first baked in West Palm Beach. He married a Boynton woman – Freedlund family. Many went to Miami for better fortune.

  2. David Walters | May 22, 2016 at 11:33 pm |

    Herbert Thompson Whaler was also a manager of the Miami Telephone Company and he became the second elected Fire Chief of the Miami Volunteer Fire Department and served from 1899 to 1904.

  3. Thank you for the insight on John Seybold. I knew he was from Germany, but I didn’t know his home town.

  4. Whaler had a very diverse business background. I found an old picture of him as the volunteer fire chief on the Miami-Dade Fire Department web site. See http://miami-history.com/dr-jacksons-house-and-office-moved-from-downtown-miami-to-brickell-in-1916 and scroll down to see the picture.

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