Peacock Inn

Bay View Inn in 1880s

Miami in 1893 – Part 2 of 2

In the previous installment of this series, we followed the journey of Dr. Walter Graham through Miami and other portions of southeast Florida in 1893, at a time when that region was essentially an undeveloped wilderness. We left Graham as…


Royal Palm Hotel under construction in 1896

MIami’s First Christmas in 1896

Christmas 1896 in the newly-incorporated city of Miami was euphoric for many of its estimated 1,000 residents, who exhibited feelings of pride in for the transformation of a wilderness into an instant municipality in less than one year. In fact, some were already calling it the “Magic City.”


Coconut Grove Residents in 1887

Early Stirrings in Coconut Grove

We’ve noted in the previous blog that a vast wilderness with small clusters of hardy settlers living along Biscayne Bay was the greater Miami of just 125 years ago. Further, we observed that Coconut Grove, one of those communities, was…