Dr. John DuPuis and the Lemon City Drug Store

When the Florida East Coast Railway pulled into the Lemon City depot at 11pm on October 29, 1898, a 23-year-old aspiring physician disembarked to begin a transformative journey in a sparsely populated area just five miles north of downtown Miami. After getting off the train, he approached the depot agent, a Mr. Wallace, who gave him directions toward the Connelly Hotel, the only place that offered lodging in Lemon City in 1898.

John G. DuPuis arrived with only clothes, some medical books and instruments, and an umbrella. He began his journey toward the hotel navigating through the darkness and fighting off the swarm of hungry mosquitos. He passed a four-room, two-story schoolhouse and noticed a dance happening on the second floor of this wood-framed building, which was the only activity from the train station to the inn. When he arrived at the hotel, the barking of the proprietor’s dog woke the night manager to open the door, allowing John to check-in and get his first night’s rest in Lemon City.

Over the next 57 years, this young man would mature, practice medicine, establish a dairy, pharmacy, high school, tourist camp, become a charter member of the Dade County Medical Association, and would establish a larger-than-life legacy in a neighborhood of Miami that very few contemporary South Florida residents remember as Lemon City. This is the story of Dr. John Gordon DuPuis and the concrete structure at 6045 NE Second Avenue which became the doctor’s medical office, family residence, and drug store when it was completed in 1902.

Dr. John Gordon DuPuis

Figure 1: Dr. John DuPuis, his wife Katherine, and his son John Jr. in 1906

John G. DuPuis was born in Newnansville, Florida, in Alachua county, on September 22, 1875, as son to John Samuel DuPuis and Mary Sidney (Lowman), DuPuis. The family were of French Huguenot and Welsh descent with the family name dating back to France in ancient times with the spelling of ‘DuPuy’, which is an old French word meaning “mountain.”

Both of John Gordon’s parents were originally from South Carolina and migrated to northern Florida in 1855, where John Samuel engaged in farming as his occupation. John Gordon was educated in public schools and worked on his father’s farm as a boy. In 1890, at the age of 15, he passed the teacher’s examination and taught for eight terms in schools in Florida, Georgia, and Kentucky.

It was during his teaching career that he noticed that the children who were not getting proper nutrition at home tended to have trouble learning in school. He believed that children who were written off as sick, stupid, or bad pupils were just hungry or malnourished students. It was an observation that would later inspire him to get involved with agriculture and education after arriving in Lemon City.

He went on to attend school at the Hospital College of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky, where he earned his degree on June 30, 1898. After completing medical school, he took time to decide where he would like to establish a medical practice, and when he began to research the young City of Miami, he noted that many of the soldiers who trained at Camp Miami, a training ground for soldiers to prepare for the Spanish-American War, would likely return to Miami which would lead to a northward growth of the city towards a small community called Lemon City. Just four months after graduating medical school, John DuPuis purchased a ticket on the FEC Railway to Lemon City.

Figure 2: Dr. John DuPuis first medical office from 1898 to 1902 in Lemon City on NE 61st Street near Biscayne Bay

Upon arrival to Lemon City in late October of 1898, the young doctor leased a small wood structure and established his medical practice. His first office was located at the end of today’s NE 61^st Street near Biscayne Bay. Once he established a place to hang his shingle, he left Lemon City for Jacksonville to take the state medical examination. When he passed the test, he returned to Lemon City and began seeing patients. Many of his treatments required a house call visit, sometimes requiring the doctor to travel several miles into what were difficult to reach rural areas with only trails to provide a passageway.

In his autobiography, Dr. DuPuis recalled his first house call which required him to trek more than five miles from Lemon City to a little shack located in the desolate Humbugus Prairie, which is part of today’s West Little River. DuPuis traveled by bicycle with his English Setter by his side when they encountered a Florida Panther seeking a meal. Fortunately for the doctor, he brought a small 32-caliber pistol which he used to protect himself and his dog from danger. The panther quickly disappeared into the night not to be encountered again that evening.

After establishing himself in Lemon City, John returned to Kentucky to marry Katherine Elizabeth Breyer of Paducah, Kentucky, on January 18, 1899. The couple had one son, John Gordon Jr, who was born on March 10, 1905, in the family’s residence on the second story of the John’s medical building and drug store along NE Second Avenue.

As part of his long career as a physician, Dr. DuPuis was a founding member of the Dade County Medical Association and became president of the organization in 1907. He was also a member of the Florida State, Southern States, and the American Medical Associations.

During his time in Lemon City, he faced a number of challenging epidemics. A year after he arrived in South Florida, a yellow fever epidemic quarantined Miami as far up as Lemon City. In 1918, a flu epidemic, referred to as camp fever because it afflicted many of the returning soldiers from World War I, challenged the medical community of South Florida. With each major epidemic, Dr. DuPuis played a vital role in providing care to those impacted by the illness and for helping to manage the spread of disease.

As John’s medical practice flourished, and his family became well established in Lemon City, he never forgot the lesson of good nutrition for the health and well-being of children and the impact good nutrition has on the quality of their education. This lesson led to the formation of the area’s first dairy farm.

Figure 3: White Belt Dairy worker in 1921

White Belt Dairy

In the early years of Dr. DuPuis practice, clean, raw milk was not readily available in Lemon City. The doctor had seen plenty of sick babies who were emaciated from poor nutrition, and he wanted to do something to change that condition. During the early years of Miami, the infant mortality rate was as high as 60 percent, which inspired John to purchase a Dutch White Belt cow to provide pure milk and better nutrition for his young patients. He built a barn, established a milk-bottling plant, and then one head of cow led to another, which led to a few more, until the doctor had a small herd of cattle.

Initially, Dr. DuPuis purchased a few dairy cows to help his young patients who were suffering from malnourishment, but demand for quality milk in the community grew to a point that launched the DuPuis family into the dairy business which led him to establish the White Belt Dairy in 1913. Over time, John purchased 2000 acres of land and had more than 900 head of cattle. The dairy farm included land along NE Second Avenue adjacent to the medical office and drug store building the family constructed in 1902, but also included acreage that was located as far as two and a half miles northwest of the drug store. Later, the family purchased land in Hialeah, and other parts of Florida, as they expanded the operations of the business.

While John practiced medicine he relied on his wife, Katherine, to run the dairy. As the couple’s only child, John Gordon Junior, got older, he started in the dairy business working for ten cents a day by washing bottles and pasting labels on produce crates used to ship the milk to market. After learning all facets of the business, John Junior eventually took over the day-to-day operations running White Belt Dairy.

By the mid-1950s, White Belt exited the dairy business to focus on raising beef cattle, and a decade later, the DuPuis family eased out of the cattle business altogether and began entertaining offers for the land that was once used by the White Belt Dairy to raise, feed, and milk the herd. The land in both Miami and Hialeah was sold to investors who redeveloped the former farm land into residential housing.

Figure 4: Lemon City School in the late 1910s

Dade County Agriculture High School

When the DuPuis family settled in Lemon City in the late-1890s, John recognized that there were very few schools in the area and, as a strong advocate for education, felt he needed to get involved. In his book “History of Early Schools”, John described the state of education in Dade County upon his arrival when he wrote: “There were not more than a half of dozen small elementary schools, and no high school, between Stuart, Florida, on the north to Monroe County on the south, a distance of nearly 150-miles.” In the newly formed City of Miami, there was the Grammar School established in 1897 which included all grades until the original Miami High School building was constructed in 1903.

It was Dr. John DuPuis’ vision that, in addition to institutions providing the basics of an elementary and high school curriculum, an agricultural and manual training school would make sense for the Lemon City community. DuPuis was an advocate for growing fresh vegetables and good nutrition and felt that young people should learn the skills of farming and manual labor.

In 1909, the State of Florida established a Special School Tax District that included Lemon City. This newly formed tax district led to a bond issue in 1913 that raised $25,000 to provide for the construction of the Lemon City school building, which opened in 1914. A few years later, in 1917, Dr. DuPuis went to Tallahassee when the legislature was in session to lobby for the development of an agricultural training school. He solicited the help of Florida State Senator John W. Watson, and the pair was successful in persuading the Legislature to approve the establishment of the Dade County Agricultural High School to be located in Lemon City.

The first high school building was a 36 X 100-foot edifice constructed in 1917 at 6100 NW Second Avenue and was given the moniker the “Fighting Farmers of Aggie High.” In an article in the Miami Herald published on November 4, 1975, entitled ‘The Way They Were’, Pat Roberts writes: “they studied the three Rs, but also tended cows and chickens, hoed a garden plot and propagated citrus trees.”

By the early 1930s, the high school had gravitated away from Dr. DuPuis’ original vision for the school, and it had begun to offer more traditional coursework. On October 21, 1931, by a unanimous vote of the students during an assembly, the name was changed to Miami Edison Senior High School in memory of Thomas Edison, who passed away on October 18, 1931.

While the school’s curriculum gravitated away from Dr. DuPuis’ original vision as an agricultural training center, his early work to help establish a special tax district and to spearhead the construction of the schools in Lemon City were a big part of Dr. John DuPuis’ extensive legacy in the community.

Figure 5: DuPuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store building in 1948

DuPuis Medical Office & Lemon City Drug Store

Figure 6: DuPuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store in 1906 prior to the additions and renovations in 1907

One of the last remaining artifacts of Dr. John G. DuPuis’ time in Lemon City was a building he erected in 1902 at 6045 NE Second Avenue, which became his medical office, a drug store and the family’s home. Initially, the doctor and his family lived on the second story of the building, which also served as the first office for the White Belt Dairy, until 1925 when they moved into a modern two-story residence near White Belt Dairy at 3105 NW 62^nd Street. After the family moved, Dr. DuPuis continued to see patients at his medical office, which was listed at 6043 NE Second Avenue, still in the same building but with a different address than the drug store.

In 1907, DuPuis modified the concrete drug store building to include an arcade, or overhang, spanning and covering the sidewalk, as well as added an addition to the original building. The two-story edifice was said to be the first concrete building constructed north of downtown Miami when it opened in 1902.

Throughout its history, the building served as a medical office, headquarters for White Belt Dairy, the Lemon City Drug Store, a post office, a voting precinct, as well as home to other retail establishments over time. By the mid-1980s, the demographics of the neighborhood began to change when Haitian immigrants began to settle in the area. During this time, the name of the neighborhood shifted from Lemon City to Little Haiti, and a lot of the old building stock from the early years of Lemon City began to be replaced. The DuPuis building constructed in 1902 was one of the last remnants from the neighborhood’s early years.

In 1985, the Heritage Conservation Board, now known as the City of Miami Historic Preservation Office, recommended that DuPuis Medical and Lemon City Drug Store building be historically designated based on its association with a prominent Lemon City pioneer, Dr. John DuPuis, but also its role as a prominent building during Lemon City’s formative years. The Miami City Commission codified the designation on June 20, 1985, providing protection of the building from demolition, in theory.

Figure 7: DuPuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store building on February 21, 1985

Demolition of Historic Structure

When the Magic City Properties purchased a several block tract of land in 2014 along NE Second Avenue to redevelop the area into the Magic City Entertainment District, they also acquired the historically designated Lemon City Drug Store building. One of the requirements to getting their plans approved was that they renovate the historic building as part of their overall redevelopment project. The principals of the Magic City organization were enthusiastic about including the building in their project plan for the tax incentives that renovating and maintaining a historic structure on their property would provide.

When the Magic City team hired a structural engineer to assess the condition of the building, they found that years of neglect and lack of maintenance left the building in a very poor condition. The engineer concluded that the only part of the building that was structurally sound enough to include in a renovation was the north wall of the original building.

Figure 8: Rendering of what was planned for the DuPuis Medical Building incorporated into the Magic City Entertainment District

In order to keep their commitment to renovate the historic building and earn the tax credits, Magic City put together a plan to use the one structurally sound wall and recreate the rest of the building with like materials. This plan needed approval by the city’s historic preservation office, as well as the Miami Dade County Department of Transportation because the building sits on a county road, and the county needed to approve any renovation that would impact their jurisdiction.

Given that the renovation was considered a rebuild according to county officials, they could not give approval for the arcade that would cover the public sidewalk, which was part of their jurisdiction. The county outlawed arcade easements over county owned sidewalks unless the arcade was part of a legacy building that was constructed prior to the change in policy. This left the Magic City team in a bind because they would not be able to replicate the structure exactly as it was designated in 1985.

After years of trying to get in front of the historic preservation board and being told that there was no room on the docket for Magic City to try to resolve their dilemma, the building continued to rot in place. One year led to two, two to three, and so on until the southern section of the building collapsed in January of 2024. At that time, City of Miami officials did act quickly and decided to issue a demolition permit and raze the building in the name of public safety.

Although the north wall seemed to have been exempt from demolition for now, creating a replica of the building while incorporating the north wall may no longer qualify the project for the historic structure tax incentives. The historic designation protection for the building could not overcome decades of demolition by neglect. While many will blame the current ownership group, the city, and county for the conditions that led to the demolition of the building, the dye was cast years earlier. Historic designation is only one step to preserve the city’s historic buildings, but if there is not a commitment by the owners to invest and maintain these buildings, it is only a matter of time before a building reaches a point where it is not salvageable.

Figure 9: Historic marker with the north wall, the only remaining section of the DuPuis Medical and Lemon City Drug Store building on January 22, 2024

Legacy of the DuPuis Family

When John Gordon DuPuis stepped off that train in Lemon City for the first time in 1898, he likely had no idea of the impact he would make during his fifty-seven years in the community. Dr. DuPuis died in his home at 3105 NW 62^nd Street on September 17, 1955, at the age of 80 years old. His son would continue to operate the dairy until he retired in 1975, the same year his mother passed away at the age of 96, outliving her husband by nearly twenty years.

Dr. John DuPuis will be remembered fondly for his work in the field of medicine and nutrition. His childhood working on his father’s farm helped him convey the value of good sustenance through gardening and providing fresh and nutritious milk through the White Belt Dairy. He cultivated the minds of students by establishing a school district, raising money to build schools, and founding the area’s first high school. The family even established a tourist camp to the south of the DuPuis Medical and Lemon City Drug Store building called the Magic City Tourist Camp to provide visitors on a budget an affordable place to stay while traveling through South Florida.

While much has been forgotten about the time period when Little Haiti was known as Lemon City, the impact of the DuPuis family should not be overlooked. There was hope that the Magic City Entertainment District could feature the last relic of Lemon City’s foregone era, but that hope may have been dashed with the demolition of most of the Lemon City Drug Store building in January of 2024. Even a replica of the structure would provide at least a visual connection to the history of Lemon City, and the impact that one doctor and his family had on that community.

Resources:

• Book: “History of Early Medicine, Schools, and Agriculture”, by Dr. John G. DuPuis
• Book: “Lemon City: Pioneering on Biscayne Bay 1850 – 1925”, by Thelma Peters.
• Historic Designation Application: “DuPuis Medical Office and Drug Store”, February 7, 1985.
• Miami Herald: White Belt Dairy Started as Sideline, Now Largest in State”, August 5, 1921.
• Miami Herald: “May We Present, Dr. JG DuPuis”, June 15, 1936, by Pauline Carley.
• Miami Herald: “After 52 Years, Lemon City Doctor Still Serves Town”, April 23, 1950.
• Miami Herald: “Dade in Infancy Subject of Book”, April 24, 1955.
• Miami News: “Dr. DuPuis Dies, at 80, Fought Flue and Pellagra”, September 18, 1955.
• Miami Herald: “Progress Ok, but Lemon City Wants History, Too”, February 9, 1958, by Lawrence Thompson.
• Miami News: “A Little Black Bag and a Big White Udder”, October 18, 1964.
• Miami Herald: “Katherine B. DuPuis, A Pioneer Miamian”, August 21, 1975.
• Miami Herald: “Miami Saves a Legacy of Lemon City”, February 21, 1985.
• Miami Herald: “Doctor’s Legacy Preserved in 1902 Medical Building”, October 31, 1993.
• Miami Herald: “Demolition by Neglect Fells Historic Miami Building Long Designated for Protection”, January 25, 2024, by Andres Viglucci.

Images:

• Cover: Dupuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store building on February 17, 1958. Courtesy of the Miami Herald.
• Figure 1: Dr. John Dupuis, his wife Katherine, and his son John Jr. in 1906. Courtesy of the Dr. John G. Dupuis.
• Figure 2: Dr. John Dupuis first medical office from 1898 to 1902 in Lemon City on NE 61st Street near Biscayne Bay. Courtesy of the Florida State Archives.
• Figure 3: White Belt Dairy worker in 1921. Courtesy of the Florida State Archives.
• Figure 4: Lemon City School in the late 1910s. Courtesy of the Dr. John G. Dupuis.
• Figure 5: Dupuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store building in 1948. Courtesy of the Miami Herald.
• Figure 6: Dupuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store in 1906 prior to the additions and renovations in 1907. Courtesy of the Dr. John G. Dupuis.
• Figure 7: Dupuis Medical Office and Lemon City Drug Store building on February 21, 1985. Courtesy of the Miami Herald.
• Figure 8: Rendering of what was planned for the Dupuis Medical Building incorporated into the Magic City Entertainment District. Courtesy of the Magic City Innovation District.
• Figure 9: Historic marker with the north wall, the only remaining section of the Dupuis Medical and Lemon City Drug Store building on January 22, 2024. Courtesy of Casey Piket.