A Look at the Uses of Oral History by Jeff Blakley In this post, I am continuing to explore the lives of ordinary working stiffs in early Homestead. The subject of this post is Willie Alonzo King. Susan Dryer, the … Continue reading →
By Jeff Blakley I was recently sent a series of photographs taken in Detroit in 1911. I’ve managed to identify some of the people in the photographs. One of them, I think, is that of Alice M. Graves, wife of … Continue reading →
by Jeff Blakley If you grew up in Goulds or Princeton, you know where Baile’s Road is. For those who never ventured far from Homestead as a child, Baile’s Road joins U.S. 1 at about S.W. 224th St., where the … Continue reading →
I’m pleased to publish this piece about growing up in Homestead in the 1950s. The author, Paul McHugh, is the son of George and Delphine McHugh and he grew up in an oak hammock not far from South Dade High … Continue reading →
By Jeff Blakley Writing the post entitled The Beginnings of Goulds led me to want to find out more about Lyman B. Gould, for whom the community is named. I searched through issues of the Miami Metropolis from the era, … Continue reading →
by Jeff Blakley Jean Taylor, in her book Villages of South Dade, gives only the sketchiest of information about the founding of Goulds, writing only that it was named for a “Mr. Gould,” who was from Indiana and was the … Continue reading →
A Postcard Tells Its Story by Jeff Blakley Piecing together the small number of remaining fragments of early Homestead history is quite a challenge. I’m writing this post to show how, sometimes, we historians are fortunate to be able to … Continue reading →
Last December, Mike Emery, who is writing a book on the Coca-Cola Bottling Company in Florida, contacted the Town Hall Museum, asking what information we had about the Coca-Cola bottling plant here in Homestead. We have almost nothing – only … Continue reading →
by Jeff Blakley The subject of African-American history in general is a difficult subject to tackle, particularly for White historians. For historians working in a Southern city, it is even more difficult. Nonetheless, in this post, I am going to … Continue reading →
A Miamian Visits Homestead in 1923 Article transcribed by Jeff Blakley This article came from the July 31, 1923 issue of the Miami Herald and I thought it was a delightful piece that captured a sense of what Homestead was … Continue reading →
