Fort Dallas Park Subdivsion in 1910s

Fort Dallas Park Subdivision

Fort Dallas Park Subdivision

The cover photo is of the Fort Dallas Park subdivision in downtown Miami in the 1910s. Fort Dallas Park was platted by Harry Tuttle in 1900. It was divided into lots from thirteen acres of land retained by Julia Tuttle after her donation to Henry Flagler. The donation by Tuttle was used as an incentive to get Flagler to extend his railroad to the Miami River.

Entrance to Fort Dallas Park in 1905

Entrance to Fort Dallas Park in 1905

The Fort Dallas Park subdivision was located on the north side of the Miami River approximately where the Hyatt Regency, Convention Center and Fort Dallas Park now reside. The FEC spur from the original railroad terminus to the Royal Palm Hotel separated Fort Dallas Park from the rest of downtown Miami. The southern border of Fort Dallas Park was the Miami River.

The photo features some of the homes of prominent residents in Fort Dallas Park during the early 1900s. The home to the right was the residence of Richard Maxwell and family. Maxwell managed Budge’s Hardware.

The home to the left of the Maxwell’s was of Miami’s famous fisherman Captain Charles Thompson. It was Thompson that caught a 30,000 pound whale shark in 1912 that was eventually stuffed and put on tour throughout the nation.

Other homes in the photograph were that of jeweler Oscar Maynard and plumber William Brown. Harry Tuttle’s house is not seen in the photograph, but was located on the Miami River on the eastern portion of the thirteen acre subdivision.

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Read more information at “Miami 1909” by Thelma Peters (pages 12-18). Photos courtesy of HistoryMiami.

Special thanks to Dawn Hugh at HistoryMiami for help finding this photograph!!