Lemon City Library

Dade County's first library was established in Lemon City on April 7, 1894, two years prior to the incorporation of the City of Miami.

Cover: Lemon City Library building in 1902. Courtesy of Florida State Archives.

On April 7, 1894, the Lemon City Public Library was founded and opened as a reading room in the residence of one of the community’s notable residents. This institution is the oldest in the Miami-Dade Public Library System and the collection of books was gathered through donations from some very prominent visitors and builders of Miami. The Coconut Grove library was founded in 1901 and is the second oldest institution in the Miami-Dade County library system.

What began in the spare bedroom of Mrs. Cornelia Keyes’ residence grew into an impressive assemblage of literature provided by some of the region’s most notable visitors and seasonable residents. Andrew Carnegie, who docked his yacht at Lemon City, was solicited for a few volumes to begin the collection. Charles B. Cory, curator of the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago, lived in Lemon City during his annual excursions into the Everglades, provided a few dozen books over the course of many trips to South Florida. Henry Flagler donated a large volume of books to the library after agreeing to extend his railway to the banks of the Miami River.

During the early years of the library, some of the favorite books read from the collection were the “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” “Wonders of the World,” “Ben-Hur,” “Barriers Burned Away,” and “The Farmer’s Almanac.” Given the demand for books, the region out grew the small reading room in the Keyes’ residence, necessitating the need for a dedicated structure to house the ever-expanding library of books.

Figure 1: Lemon City Library in 1954. Courtesy of HistoryMiami Museum.

In 1902 the association built a wood-framed building to house the growing library collection. Its architectural design was to resemble a country railroad station. During the dedication of the new structure, Miss Ada Merritt recited a poem by Keats and even added a few lines of her own:

“Now his memory is enshrined in fragrant wood, in gleaming paint, in 2,000 books. And his name is Lemon City Library.”

This 1902-era building was much more than a reading room and bookcases full of novels and publications. It had a kitchen, stage for performances, and was a community meeting place. The library was also made available for church services through the years. It was an important institution in an evolving community over the course of the 62 years it stood in Lemon City.

Figure 3: Lemon City Library in 1958. Courtesy of the Miami Herald. Photographer: Bill Kuenzel.

The quaint white building stood at 412 NE 61^st Street in Lemon City until the early 1960s when it became obsolete and no longer served the needs of the community. A new building was constructed and opened on April 13, 1964, at 430 NE 61^st Street. After the library relocated to its new location, community leaders and preservationists began planning for a way to preserve and utilize the original building.

However, a fire in the summer of 1964 damaged the interior of the structure and sealed the fate of the original library building. The destruction was extensive enough that local officials had no other choice but to raze the historic edifice on September 30, 1964.

The building constructed in 1964 is currently undergoing renovations at this time, but it is still standing and remains an important institution within the Miami-Dade County public library system. Although Lemon City is better known today as the community of Little Haiti, the history of Miami-Dade County’s first public library provides a connection to a bygone era that even preceded the founding of the City of Miami.