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 owner of Ages Ago Antiques in Homestead, donated a booklet to the Town Hall Museum…
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 Thomas L. Graves, who came to Detroit in 1911 from Pontiac, Illinois, where he was…
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 School. His father, George, was a general contractor, a member of the Homestead Power Squadron…
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 build on the knowledge contributed by others and are thus able to advance our knowledge…
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 the location of the plant, but Mike’s query led me to keep his request in…
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 like in that era. The Seminole Cafe, adjacent to the Homestead hotel, was owned by…
by Jeff Blakley The building which once stood on the southeast corner of Krome and N.W. 1st Street was built in 1921 by J. W. Conner for Archie J. Campbell, one of Thomas Alexander Campbell’s sons, for whom Campbell Drive is named. It is pictured in the photograph at the top of this page, next…
by Jeff Blakley The Town of Homestead was incorporated on January 27, 1913 but its officials had no municipal building in which to meet. They met at two different buildings before the Town Hall was built in 1917: Tatum’s Real Estate office on Railroad Avenue or in Sistrunk Hall, which was a wooden building located…
The following article appeared in the October 3, 1918 issue of the Homestead Enterprise and is re-published here because it will be of interest to many of you who subscribe to posts. The descendants of Charles H. Gossman married into the Caves, Chambers, Aman and Vihlen families, among others. “Uncle Nick” is Lilburn R. Nixon,…
The following article, by Lilburn R. Nixon, appeared in the Homestead Enterprise on September 26, 1918. In March of 1902, Nixon claimed John Brinzel’s relinquishment of his homestead, which ran south and west from the intersection of Newton Rd. and Silver Palm. Later, he sold the corner 5 acres to Will Anderson, who built and…
