The Story of Epmore Drive

Historic South Dade Posted on by

by Jeff Blakley

One of the more interesting road names in South Dade is that of Epmore Drive. Most people interested in the history of this area know who Krome Avenue is named for and some people know who Roberts Road and Moody Drive are named for. But not many know about other roads, like Yetter, Comfort and Epmore. In this article, I will explore the history of Epmore Drive.

The story starts on March 14, 1866, when Elliott Prouty Livermore was born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Shrewsbury is in Worcester County, 30 miles west of Boston, which was an important manufacturing and industrial center at that time. His father Hiram, like most men in that era, was a farmer. His mother was Laura E. Prouty and he was named after his maternal uncle, Elliott Cutler Prouty. The Prouty and Livermore families were prominent in Worcester County and both sides of Elliott’s family traced their ancestry back to the Revolutionary War. In 1880, Elliott was attending school in Acton, Massachusetts and living with his grandparents, Jason and Laura Livermore. In 1886, he was working as a clerk in Worcester and lived with his father.1 He must have done well, as he stayed at the Waverly House in downtown Boston and enjoyed “the salt sea air” from its piazzas in July of that year.2 He married Carrie L. Goodwin on June 3, 1890 in Worcester and their son, Earl P., was born in Clinton, Massachusetts on April 23, 1891. A daughter, Myra, was born in 1894. During this time, he was working for the Bedford Lumber Co. in Bedford. By 1896, he and his family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he, Jesse and his father all worked for the Austin, Flint & Day Co., a manufacturer of “doors, sash, blinds and mouldings.”3 He moved on to the Manchester Sash & Blind Co. before hiring on as a superintendent of the Frank L. Miller Co., another sash and door manufacturer, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He stayed there until 1906, when he went to work for Osteyee Bros., a building contracting company, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He stayed there a few years and then moved back to Bridgeport, where he became president of the Livermore Lumber Co.

Livermore Lumber Co

Livermore Lumber Co.4

Elliott’s brother, Jesse Lauriston, who was born on July 26, 1877, figured prominently in his life. Known as the “Boy Cotton King,” he was a well-known stock market speculator who was a multi-millionaire by 1908, when he financed Elliotts’ purchase of the Tomlinson Lumber Co. in Bridgeport, Connecticut.5 In April of 1909, Jesse sold the property that the Livermore Lumber Co. stood on to E. F. Hutton. The factory burned to the ground in a suspicious fire on July 16 of that year, destroying $12,000 worth of inventory.6

Livermore then went back to working as a superintendent with the Frank L. Miller Lumber Co. but that company, too, was badly damaged in a fire on September 9, 1910.7 Despite Livermore’s business tribulations, he and his wife remained members of the upper-class. Carrie Livermore was a member of the Bridgeport Art League in 19118 and a patroness of the Bankers Club cotillion, held in the Bridgeport Masonic Club in March of 1913.9 He remained an employee of the Frank L. Miller Co. until 1913, when he moved to Hartford, Connecticut. There, he worked as a superintendent for Andrews & Peck, another building material supplier, until sometime in 1916.

Livermore first appeared in the Miami newspapers in 1917, when he was a guest of his brother Jesse on the chartered yacht Dorondo, which belonged to Henry W. Savage, a well-known New York theatrical producer.10 Jesse, along with his brother and Frank B. Shutts, established the Livermore Investment Co. Shutts was the owner of The Miami Herald and the founder of the law firm Shutts & Bowen, still in existence. In November, 1917, the Livermore Investment Co. leased 3 lots on the N.E. corner of what is now N.E. 1st St. and 1st Ave. The lease specified that the lessee would erect a building costing not less than $100,000, to be started in 90 days and completed within two years.11

In December of 1918, Livermore and his wife entertained a “large party” at the opening of the Berni Grill and Tea Room, a posh watering hole for the wealthy, located at the corner of N.E. 2nd St. and Biscayne Blvd. Gaston Drake, who founded the Drake Lumber Co. in Princeton, and his wife also entertained a large party.12 As befitting a man of his social standing, Livermore and his wife lived at 116 Kathryn Boulevard, now Brickell Bay Drive, in Point View, a wealthy enclave located between S.E. 14th St. and 15th Road on the east side of Brickell Avenue.13 He moved there after selling a “belvedere bungalow” on Bird Avenue, which is now N.E. 15th Terrace, for $5,000 to Mrs. W. S. Pratt14 of Atlanta, Ga.15 Bird Avenue was one street south of Tatum Avenue, named for the Tatum Brothers.

In 1919, Livermore purchased the west half of the homestead originally claimed by Walter H. Harper, who owned a sawmill and turpentine distillery in Wray, Georgia. Harper arrived in Miami in April of 1909, en route to Modello, where he intended to go into the turpentine business.16 After prospecting for a homestead, he claimed the NE 1/4 (160 acres) of 31-56-39 on December 4. His claim was bounded by what is now theoretical S.W. 172 Avenue on the west, Bauer Drive on the north, Tennessee Road on the east and Epmore Drive on the south. After Harper claimed his homestead, he got to work, setting out 7 acres of grapefruit, avocados and oranges and built a 6 room house.17 On July 26, 1911, Harper paid cash for his claim and patented it on December 9th of that year.

On July 26, 1910, a group of men petitioned the County Commission to declare as a public route a road that started on the west right-of-way line of the F.E.C. Railway tracks “where the south boundary line of the north half of section 33” crossed the Naranja public road and extended west 3 3/4 miles “to the rock road which leads from Homestead to Miami,” which was Redland Road.18 The route crossed the property of Matthew Q. Simmons, whose property straddled the road on the east side of S.W. 157th Avenue and then followed the half-section line (Epmore Drive) through the properties of David Chapelle “Chap” Brown and his brother Isaac H. who had claimed the quarter-sections on the east side of Tennessee on the north and south sides of the road. In response to a complaint letter to the Miami Metropolis, written by one A.P. Davis,19 who complained that Brown was getting preferential treatment from the County, Brown replied “that this road was built with funds raised of W. H. Harper, M. Q. Simmons, D. M. Roberts, Brown & Moody, myself and others” and that they had “furnished fuel for road engine and [paid] for the services of an assistant on the engine.” They had also raised $225 to pay for the road.20 Davis may well have been correct in his complaint about preferential treatment, as Chap Brown was the Brown in Brown & Moody, the mercantile company owned by George W. Moody, a prominent businessman in Perrine and Naranja.

Harper put his property up for sale in June of 1912 at a price of $6,50021 and sold the west half (80 acres) of it to Louis F. Flipse for $2,375 in July.22 Having paid just $1.25 per acre for his homestead ($200), Harper did well.

Louis F. Flipse was a native of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. His brother, Gustav, worked for his father, Cornelius, who owned a small business, C. A. Flipse & Son. After Cornelius died in 1905, Gustav took over and prospered in the business. His brother, Louis, was a teacher and an inventor, having been granted at least two patents by the State of Wisconsin.23 It is not known why Louis came to Dade County, but advertisements touting the fertile soils of the Redland District and opportunities to get rich in South Florida were placed in newspapers all over the country. After Flipse purchased his property from Hunter, his brother, Gustav, helped him with his “large grapefruit farm” for a period of time but soon went back to Milwaukee to run his business.24 The Miami Metropolis reported in 1914 that Flipse was “carrying out a number of original plans in the way of intensive farming in his Redland soil.” and that he was employing Italians because he found that “these people adapt themselves readily to conditions here and that their methods bring excellent results.”25 The 1920 census of Redland showed Vincent Critti and his wife Julia, Orazio Sincore and his wife Schanzia and Philip Beyando and his wife Leona living near Livermore. Critti owned a grocery store, V. Critti and Co., in Homestead in 191826 and Orazio Sincore was Nick Sincore’s grandfather. Leona Sincore, Philip Biondo’s wife, was Nick’s aunt.

It is not known what brought the Livermores to Homestead, but they registered at the Homestead Hotel on September 1, 1919.27 In October, the Homestead Enterprise reported that Livermore had purchased “the L. F. Flipse place, one of the finest in the vicinity,”28 so when the Miami Metropolis reported that he had set out 10,000 pepper plants,29 it is likely that he had them planted on his property by employing Flipse’s Italian laborers.

Livermore integrated himself into the community rapidly, becoming one of the shareholders of the new Citizens Bank, which was founded in April of 1920. Other shareholders included Alexander C. Graw, the owner of the Homestead Enterprise; Samuel A. King, a future mayor of Homestead and the father of Neva King Cooper; Edward C. Romfh, a Miami banker and Ira B. Jeffrey, the president of the Miami Lumber Co., which had a sawmill on West Mowry St.30 In 1921, Livermore was elected as a director of the Royal Palm Truckers Association,31 which had a packing house on lot 20 of Alsobrook’s Addition to Homestead. It was located on the west side of the railroad tracks at S.W. 2nd Street.
Royal Palm Truckers Association

The Royal Palm Truckers Association Packing House
Courtesy of the Florida Historical Society

In mid-August of 1921, Livermore was issued a building permit for $10,000 ($146,000 in 2021 dollars) worth of improvements32 to his property and was elected president of the Naranja Citrus Growers Association.33 In 1922, he attended the Shriners Convention in Key West with Charles T. Fuchs, J. D. Redd and his wife, A. R. Livingston and his wife, Sam McKinstry and F. H. Lindeman.

Livermore House

The Livermore House at Epmore Grove
Courtesy of the Florida Historical Society

The first mention of the name ‘Epmore’ appeared in the Homestead Enterprise on June 21, 1923, when it was reported that Carrie Livermore entertained the “Stars” (members of the Order of the Eastern Star) at Epmore Grove on July 3.34 The name is obviously a neologism combining the first letter of her husband’s first and middle names and the last four letters of his surname.

Carrie Livermore joined the Homestead Women’s Club in 192335 and her husband was elected a director of the Florida Avocado Association.36 Early in 1924, they visited Elliott’s brother Jesse and his wife in Miami Beach, where they had rented “a palatial residence at the Beach for several months.”37 In addition to the positions Livermore already held, he joined the Silver Palm Citrus Growers Association in 1924.38

HE June 20 1924 p 3 E P photo

Elliott P. Livermore39

In 1925, Livermore sold his grove to A. R. Livingston, the Kleagle of the Homestead chapter of the Ku Klux Klan40 for $100,000 ($1.5 million in 2021 dollars).41 He then purchased Waltonhurst, at the corner of Redland Road and Biscayne Drive, from the widow of Lindley H. Livingston, who was A.R.’s brother.

After he sold his grove, Livermore, who was 59, retired from farming and he and his wife devoted their time in Homestead to social activities and his duties on various boards. They attended social events at the Coral Gables Golf and Country Club, the Homestead Golf and Country Club, events sponsored by the Homestead, Redland and Princeton Women’s Clubs, the Redland Pioneer Guild and the American Legion. Their lives revolved around an active social schedule that included teas, dinner and bridge-playing parties.

In early May of 1930, they sold Waltonhurst to Edward Buckhour of Tarrytown, NY for $16,500 ($246,000 in 2021 dollars) and returned to South Acton, Massachusetts. There the Livermores lived quietly until he died on February 26, 1941. His wife lived until November 5, 1951.

The story of Elliot P. Livermore is one that is common in the history of this area. He came to Miami in 1916 with few assets, became very wealthy and went back home in 1930 not as wealthy due to the Depression but still well-off. He was here for only 14 years and left no one who knew much about him. His children never lived here – they stayed in New England. His brother, Jesse L. Livermore, who probably financed many of Elliott’s business ventures, went bankrupt at least four times and ultimately committed suicide in New York City on November 28, 1940. Jesse’s biography makes for fascinating reading. The only lasting mark that Elliott P. Livermore left on South Dade is Epmore Drive and virtually no one knows why the road is so-named.
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William C. Norwood

Historic South Dade Posted on by

By Jeff Blakley

William C. Norwood, an early merchant in Detroit, is only briefly mentioned in the histories of this area, which repeat the familiar tales about Wm. Anderson’s general store in Silver Palm, which was not the only store in South Dade. George S. Fletcher and Atka Harper both had stores in Silver Palm before Anderson and J. U. Free had one in Homestead before the Homestead Mercantile Co. was established. William H. Cauley had two stores – one in Goulds and another in Princeton. Charles R. Graham had a store in Black Point and Joseph M. Cormack and William C. Norwood had stores in Detroit. General stores existed wherever there was money to be made. Norwood, a smart businessman, took advantage of that opportunity with the help of his uncle, Thomas A. Feaster.

William Chaudoin Norwood was born in LaGrange, Brevard County, Florida on January 5, 1881 to William Shackleford Norwood and Mary Emma Feaster. William S. Norwood had been born in Perry, Houston County, Georgia in 1846 and his wife was from Feasterville, in Union County, South Carolina. She was a sister of Thomas Andrew Feaster (1858 – 1944) and a cousin of Jerome T. Feaster, the husband of Addie Lee King, who was a daughter of William A. King, who lived in Homestead.

In 1900, William S. and Emma F. Norwood were enumerated in Titusville, Brevard County, Florida. They were pioneers in that area, having arrived before 1871, when their first daughter, Lena, was born.1 Their son William was the seventh of fifteen children.
W S and Emma Feaster Norwood family

Courtesy of Nicole Norwood Woxberg

In the back row, left to right: Lena, Carrie, Henry, Burnham and Florence. Julia Christine and Annie Louise are on either side of their parents. William S. is holding Jeanette and Mary Emma is holding Marguerite. Front row, left to right: Russell, Call, William C. and Norris.

By 1900, Thomas A. Feaster, William’s uncle, was in the retail meat market business, being the manager of the City Market in West Palm Beach.2 His cousin, Jerome T. Feaster, was in business with K. B. Raulerson in West Palm Beach. Raulerson, who founded the East Coast Cattle Company in 1896, supplied nearly all the beef consumed on the East Coast from New Smyrna down to Key West.3 William C. Norwood and his uncle, Thomas A. Feaster, were qualified electors in District No. 3 in St. Lucie County in 1904.4 In 1905, T. A. Feaster became the sole owner of the City Market.5

William C. Norwood, Feaster’s nephew, held “an important position” with his uncle when he married Martha Caroline Cox on September 10, 1905 in West Palm Beach.6 She was born on September 10, 1887 in Orlando,7 the daughter of Peter C. Cox. Their first daughter, Carolyn, was born on August 22, 1906 in West Palm Beach.8 Their second daughter, Martha, was born in late January, 1913 in Detroit.9

In May of 1906, Feaster purchased the Miami Meat Market from A. B. Doane10 and in 1907, he decided to concentrate on his business in Miami and sold the City Market in West Palm Beach to the Faber Bros.11 The Faber Bros. were Albert and William E. Faber, brothers of George B. Faber, who was the husband of Bertha King, another daughter of William A. King of Homestead.

Because Feaster was kin to William A. King (his cousin Jerome T. was married to King’s daughter), he was well-aware of the business opportunities in the Redland District. From the time Feaster purchased the Miami Meat Market, he placed an advertisement in every edition of the Miami Metropolis until mid-July 1912, when he apparently decided to devote his time to farming.

Virgil M. Grennell, an early pioneer in South Dade, had come from Philadelphia and purchased the homestead claim of John W. Jones on Avocado Drive at Richard Road in late 1906. He soon became friends with Feaster and visited him in Miami in 1907. 12 In 1909 Feaster, his cousin Jerome T. and Grennell purchased 280 acres of land in the Redland District from Gus Mayo and Berry Sullivan13 and started advertising the sale of Redland property, along with his advertisements for his business in Miami. Their property was just west of that belonging to Grennell.

T A Feaster Redland Ad

He also sold “six acres and a house to Mrs. P. C. Cox of Palm Beach,” his nephew William’s mother-in-law.14 The 1910 census of Homestead shows that Leonard S. Mowry and Isaac L. Smith were her close neighbors, so her property was likely just west of Krome near Mowry St. Norwood was also enumerated in the 1910 census of Homestead, with his close neighbors being William D. Horne and Dr. Edward L. Brooks so he, too, lived in what is now downtown Homestead.

On March 25, 1910, the Miami Metropolis reported that Norwood was a “new arrival” in Homestead and would erect “a dwelling immediately.”15 After he got settled in, William no doubt started to look for a homestead claim. On July 27, 1911, he filed a claim for 160 acres on both sides of Redland Road from S.W. 352 St. south to S.W. 360 St.

Norwood Homestead

William got to work, building a house on his property while living with his in-laws. The Coxes did not stay in Homestead very long because shortly after William filed his claim, his wife went to Miami to visit her mother.16 In September, William moved into his new house and his wife went to Miami again to visit her parents.17 Norwood and his family didn’t live for very long in the house on his claim, either – he moved into Detroit in early August of 1912.18

Norwood paid cash for his claim on August 22, 1912,19 likely because he was more interested in business than in fulfilling the requirements for the claim. His cousin, Thomas A. Feaster, had left his business in Miami and was settling into the life of a farmer in Homestead. In May of 1912, he and his partner Virgil Grennell sold the 160 acres that they had purchased from Gus Mayo in 1909 to Henry L. Cook and W. A. Glass for $4,400, a hefty profit. He probably invested some of those profits in his nephew’s new store in Detroit.20

Shortly after Detroit was established in 1910, two stores were established to serve the new arrivals. Joseph M. Cormack, opened his store soon after purchasing two business lots in Detroit in November of 1910.21 Otis A. Hardin,22who opened the other store, was a civil engineer23 who worked for the Tatum Bros.24 in their efforts to settle new arrivals on their land. Otis’ brother, William H., was the foreman of the dredge which excavated the Florida City Canal, starting in the spring of 1911.25 Hardin only owned the store for a couple of months, selling it to J. B. VanHorn and M. L. Williams, of Missouri, in February.26 In November, Edward F. Brooker, a brother of Henry, and Lee Lehman purchased the store from J. B. Van Horn. Van Horn, not liking store-keeping, went to work for the Miami Engineering Construction Co.27 Brooker & Lehman didn’t stay long, either, selling out to William C. Norwood in August of 1912.28

Norwood s Store Ad SFB Sept 6 1912 p 2

South Florida Banner, September 6, 1912, p. 2

Norwood’s first store was located on the west side of the railroad tracks on the south side of Palm Avenue in the building that housed the Post Office. Edward Stiling, who was the first postmaster of Detroit, erected the building and served as postmaster from December 13, 1910 to June 9, 1911. Marion L. Williams, who, with J. B. Van Horn, had purchased the store in which the post office was located in February of 1911, served from June 10, 1911 to April 7, 1914.

Norwood in his store

William Norwood in his store. Note the postal boxes on the left.
Courtesy of the Florida Pioneer Museum

This photograph was taken before the summer of 1913, when he moved into his new store in the front of his warehouse.29

Shortly after purchasing the store from Brooker & Lehman, Norwood bought a “business lot of Edward Stiling” located “on the corner of Avenue A and Palme (sic) avenue.”30 According to the Miami Metropolis, he put up a warehouse across the street from his store.31 At the time he built the warehouse, he planned to build a store in front of it32 and he did so in July of 1913.33 Building a house and purchasing his homestead, followed by a move into Detroit, where he purchased a business and then erected a warehouse was a significant financial commitment and one that he was no doubt assisted in by his uncle, Thomas A. Feaster.
Florida City Post Office

Courtesy of the Florida Pioneer Museum

This photograph was taken sometime before February 22, 1924, when the building caught fire.34 35

Norwood needed the warehouse to hold the grain, hay, fertilizer and dry goods he sold to an ever-increasing population, just like J. U. Free in Homestead. He became a stockholder in the Detroit Ice, Light & Power Co.,36 added a soda fountain to his store and sold Seybold’s ice cream.37

Norwood s Store SFB January 24 1913 p 4

South Florida Banner, January 24, 1913, p. 4

He helped organize the Detroit Growers Association38 and partnered as a commission merchant with Jesse H. Simmons, who owned a packing house on the Terminal Basin.39 40 His uncle, one of the biggest shippers, hauled over 11,000 crates of tomatoes to the packing houses, harvested from 18 acres of “rich marl prairie” more than 10 miles southwest of Detroit.41 Norwood had packers “working night and day to keep up with the crates of tomatoes that are pouring in daily.”42

Packing Tomatoes in Florida City

Packing Tomatoes in the Chase & Co. Packing House in Florida City
Courtesy of the Florida Historical Society

A. B. Saunders, who had the contract to deepen the Detroit canal, engaged Norwood in 1913 to bring 500 cords of wood, with 20 cords delivered each week, to fuel the dredges doing the excavation work.43

During the summer of 1914, Norwood and his family, who were living in the Tatum Building in Detroit, moved back to his homestead.44 In 1915, he established the Florida City Dairy on 100 acres of land between his homestead and what is now Krome Avenue.45 The dairy was located on the land now occupied by the Gateway Estates mobile home park.46

In March of 1918, Norwood was elected to the Town Council of the Town of Florida City.47 In August, Norwood was reported to be ill but to have recovered under the care of Dr. Robert R. Teller.48 It is likely that Dr. Teller was Norwood’s physician because he came from the same town in Arkansas that Joseph L. Ishmael, who had been employed by Norwood,49 came from. Dr. Teller, unlike Dr. John B. Tower in Homestead, had a controversial past. He had been sued several times in Arkansas City, Kansas for non-medical matters and after he settled in Goulds, he was criticized as being a ‘quack’ by the Dade County Medical Society.50 He had his defenders, of course, who refused to believe what the medical profession had to say.51

William C. Norwood died on May 10, 1919, of “dilatation of the heart.”52 Whether his doctor, Robert Teller, was a quack or not would likely not have made any difference, as heart disease seemed to have affected men in the Norwood family. His brother, Burnham Andrew, died of heart failure at the age of 39, the same age William was when he died. Their father, William S. Norwood, died at the age of 63 and none of his sons lived to that age.

william-c-norwood

Florida City had two mercantile businesses from 1910 – 1922: William Norwood and Joseph Cormack. There was also a furniture store, the Model Furniture Co. (1914-1916), and the Palm Avenue Pharmacy (1914-1918). Neither of the mercantile businesses survived their founders: Norwood died in 1919 and Cormack in 1923. The Model Furniture Co. moved to Miami and the Palm Avenue Pharmacy was purchased by Dr. John B. Tower and liquidated.53 As the roads between Florida City and Homestead improved and more automobiles were purchased by residents, the owners of these businesses could not survive the competition from well-established businesses in Homestead.

Norwood had two daughters, both of whom moved to Miami. Cormack had three sons, none of whom lived here. The Caves, Brookers, Sullivans, Burtons and Hornes of Homestead all left several generations of descendants in the area to carry on their names. Because neither Norwood’s nor Cormack’s businesses survived them and because their children did not live here to continue their parents’ legacies, the histories of the Homestead area do not mention them. Such is history – a tale told by the winners.
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William A. King

Historic South Dade Posted on by

By Jeff Blakley

Many people who are interested in the history of South Dade know the origins of the names of some of the roads in the area. Roberts Road is named for Dan Roberts, Moody Drive is named for George Moody, Mowry Drive is named for Leonard S. Mowry, Krome Avenue is named for William J. Krome and so on. But few know that Baile’s Road in Goulds was named for John C. Baile and many probably don’t know that King’s Highway was named for William A. King, who claimed a homestead in 1906 where the Breezeway Drive-In was later located.

His homestead ran for 1,320 feet on either side of Tennessee Road from Avocado Drive on the north down to King’s Highway and Old Dixie Highway on the south. J. U. Free’s homestead was on the south side of King’s Highway and the homestead claim of James W. Campbell bordered King’s on the west side. James’ father, Neil, was a brother of Thomas A. Campbell. King and both Campbells all claimed homesteads during the period from June to September of 1906. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, at the southwest corner of Avocado and Tennessee, is on lot 5 of King’s homestead.

William Alfred King was born on 29 December 1860 in Troy, which is about 50 miles south southeast of Montgomery, in Pike County, Alabama. On February 28, 1882, he married Frances Elzada Jones in Hatchechubbee, Russell County, Alabama. She was born there on December 24, 1866. Hatchechubbee, between Seale and Hurtsboro, is an unincorporated community in Russell County, which is in southeastern Alabama on the Georgia border. William and Frances’ first child, Adele, was born there on October 27, 1882.1

Shortly after Adele was born, William moved his family to Arcadia, in Desoto County, Florida. There, on January 25, 1884,2 their second child, Bertha,3 was born. Willie, their third daughter, was born in Arcadia on March 2, 1885.4 William did not stay in Arcadia long, as his son, Benjamin Franklin, was born in Barberville in Volusia County on November 10, 1886.5 6 From Barberville, he may have moved to Lake Maitland, which is now a suburb of Orlando.7 It is possible that his daughter, Joe Paul,8 was born there on May 31, 1895.9 From there, he moved to City Point, in Brevard County, where William and Frances’ last child, Marie, was born on June 20, 1901.10

It is unknown what William did to make a living or why he moved around so much. In 1900, however, the census of City Point in Brevard County gave his occupation as “Section Foreman RR.” Though not stated, he would have worked for the F.E.C. Railway. No records have been located yet that provide an arrival date for William in Dade County, but his daughter Joe, in an article she wrote for the Homestead Leader in 1923, wrote that her family was “moved here by a work train, since Papa was connected with the railroad, and even at that time the main track was laid only as far as the present crossing.”11 The only railroad crossing in downtown Homestead in 1923 was at Mowry Street so her father arrived in Homestead at the same time the tracks were laid. King’s daughter Marie, in an article written by Earl DeHart for The Miami Herald and published on November 2, 1971, was quoted as saying “her daddy had built offices for the railroad agent, the section foreman, a room for workers, a tool shed and a depot.” She wasn’t “sure of the exact year her father arrived in Homestead from his Perrine headquarters but it was a year or so before the first train arrived on Dec. 15, 1904.”12

In their published histories of this area, historians unfamiliar with railroad terminology have made the mistake of conflating the job of a section foreman with that of a construction foreman. Section foremen supervised a crew of workers who were responsible for maintaining a stretch of track, usually twenty-five to thirty miles in length after the track was built. Construction foremen supervised the work of the men who built the railroad track.13

Joe King wrote that her Papa was moved here by a work train and Marie King was quoted as saying that her father arrived “from his Perrine headquarters.” This is consistent with the job of a construction foreman. King supervised the crew of workers who laid the ties and secured the rails to them. When the crew neared Homestead, his men built the depot, the houses for the section foreman and the station agent and housing for the workers. By August 2, 1904, the “depot, section house and agents house” were completed and “a number of residences” were being built.14 Neither Joe nor Marie ever referred to their father as a “section foreman.” There was no need for a section foreman until after December, 1906, when the tracks reached Jewfish Creek. The only documented evidence that has so far been discovered about the earliest presence of William A. King in Homestead is that his wife visited Miami, stayed at the San Carlos Hotel and stated that her residence was Homestead, Fla. on October 22, 1904.15

The first train to arrive in Homestead did so on July 30, 1904. The first passenger train arrived in Homestead on December 15, 1904.16 The Kings were here before W. D. Horne, as Joe, in her article, wrote that “[i]t was several months before we had a neighbor – who happened to be W. D. Horne. He erected a store which blew down the second day after it was finished, and of course, he rebuilt it right away. Our next neighbor was our first depot agent, Mr. Worrall,17 now agent at South Jan.(sic)” W. D. Horne’s wife did not make her first trip to visit her husband until she went down on the morning passenger train on December 17, 1904.18 King and his family lived in the section house, as Joe noted in her article that “deer were so plentiful they slept in the back of the section house, and the quail used to eat with our chickens.” We do not know how many men were working on the railroad in the Homestead area from mid-1904 to mid-July 1906, when the dredges which created the railroad bed from Homestead to Jewfish Creek finished their work, but Joe King wrote that “[l]ater, several hundred men were sent by the Florida East Coast railroad to start the extension from here to Key West.” She also wrote that “Mr. Horne and Papa were the first to plant tomatoes on the East Glade.”19

Laying Track 8 Miles South of Florida City

Laying Track 8 Miles South of Florida City on June 30, 1906
Courtesy of the Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum

After King quit working for the F. E. C., probably at about the same time as he claimed his homestead, he got into the business of supplying cross ties which he sold to the railroad. Having supervised a large crew of mostly African-American men during the construction of the railroad, he had a ready pool of labor to cut down trees for railroad ties. He had a portable sawmill, which he used on the homesteads of Lee Lehman20 and Ida Cowan in Longview21 and Charles H. Woodbury,22 on his property east of Redland Road and north of Coconut Palm Dr.

King’s homestead was first claimed by William P. Dusenbury on October 21, 1903. Dusenbury was a close friend of William J. Krome and a member of his survey party when the F.E.C. planned to go to Key Largo via Card Point. He was also in charge of survey parties on Key Largo and was at Long Key with Berte Parlin when both were swept out to sea on Quarterboat #5 in the October, 1906 hurricane. Parlin lost his life while Dusenbury survived. Due to his job responsibilities, Dusenbury was unable to spend much time on his claim and it was cancelled on July 7, 1906. King picked it up on July 18. It is very likely that this was pre-arranged as King surely knew Dusenbury.

W A King s Subdivision

W.A. King’s Subdivision

On August 31, 1912, shortly after he proved up his homestead on May 12, King submitted the above plat for the subdivision of his land. It was surveyed by Roy D. Marsh, who had claimed a homestead in 1910 on Lucille Drive just west of Tower Road. The eastern part of lot 23 of King’s subdivision is where the Breezeway Drive-In once was – it is now the site of a shopping center, anchored by Winn-Dixie.

King, like so many others, proceeded to sell off his homestead soon after obtaining title to it. In March of 1913,23 he sold lots 3, 4, 13 and 14, a total of 20 acres, to Helen Fanning McIntosh Adair. Helen was the mother-in-law of Arthur W. Chapman, an elector for the incorporation of the Town of Homestead in January of 1913.24 Chapman was also a lumberman who had a sawmill on his homestead 3 miles northwest of Homestead and he was the owner of the Homestead Lumber Co.25 Mrs. Adair turned around and sold those lots to Oscar Thomas on November 20, 191326 and then Oscar sold them to Wade H. Harley on September 18, 1914.27 Wade Harley was a real estate developer in Miami, with an office at 231 1/2 12th St., now Flagler St.28 Doubtless, King, Adair and Thomas made a good profit on their transactions. In 1914, King sold lots 18, 19, 20, 21 and 26, about 30 acres, to George E. Mallow, who had a barber shop in Miami at 336 12th St.29 30 in 1914 but later moved to Homestead and had a shop in the Alsobrook Arcade.31 Those lots mostly fronted on the rock road adjacent to the railroad track that crossed his property.

Oscar Thomas was married to Mollie Campbell, a daughter of Thomas Alexander Campbell, for whom Campbell Drive is named. He was a marshal for the Town of Homestead in 1917 but died during the Spanish Flu pandemic on January 21, 1919 at the age of 29.

In 1913, King was part of a group of men who went down to Cape Sable to look over the prospects for developing that area. The members of that party included W. D. Horne, Sid Livingston, Russ Tatum, Eb Caves, Ed Loveland, Orville Calkins, Fred Loomis and J. D. Redd.32

He also did a lot of road construction work, including working on the road to Cape Sable for the McCrary Co. In 1914, he was paid $915 ($23,815 in 2020 dollars) for his work by Dade County. In January, 1915, he was paid an additional $152.25 ($3,917).33 In addition to his other activities, he farmed tomatoes, cleared land, planted groves34 and dabbled in real estate, purchasing several lots in Ewing’s Addition to Homestead.35

Fannie King was a charter member of the Homestead Circle,36 the predecessor to the Homestead Women’s Club, the Homestead chapter of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union37 and was active in the Baptist Church, the Women’s Club and the Red Cross. In 1922, she was the chairman of the building fund of the Women’s Club, which owned “two valuable lots on Krome Avenue.”38

The Kings were solidly middle-class. Four of their daughters lived in Miami but their son Ben and daughter Marie stayed in Homestead. By 1925, with the real estate market heating up and King getting older, they sold most of their homestead property to developers and moved to Miami in late May.39 They continued to stay in touch with their friends in Homestead, though, and as late as October of that year, Fannie visited with her daughter Marie.40

King had purchased property in Quitman, Georgia and they moved there “as soon as repairs could be made on their home” after it was damaged in the 1926 hurricane which struck Miami on September 18, 1926.41 Sadly, Fannie died there on October 18, 1926, due to kidney and heart problems.42 43

Thomas J. Letchworth, a real estate developer who developed the Rosewood subdivision on King’s Highway and lived on the street when he was enumerated in the 1930 census of Homestead, was largely responsible for having N.E. 15th Street named King’s Highway. Before then, it was named in honor of Charles C. McMinn, who claimed his homestead on December 4, 1903. 40 acres of his homestead fronted on what was initially known as McMinn Drive.44 McMinn committed suicide on October 6, 1917 and by 1924, the road was re-named King’s Highway. McMinn Road, which is S.W. 172 Avenue, is still named for him.

After his wife’s death, King divided his time between his farm in Quitman and Miami, where he kept in touch with old friends and visited with his children. When his health failed, he went to live with his daughter Bertha in Sharpes and died there on June 14, 1936.

King Mausoleum

Photograph courtesy of Jeff Blakley

William A. King and his wife are buried in their mausoleum in Section A of the Palms Memorial Cemetery in Naranja, adjacent to James D. Redd’s grave site.
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Walter A. Frazeur

Historic South Dade Posted on by

by Jeff Blakley

Jean Taylor, in her book, The Villages of South Dade, wrote that in 1912, J.U. Free opened the People’s Telephone Company on the second floor of J.D. Redd’s dry cleaning shop. To establish his telephone company, J.U. Free “bought out the three circuits owned by Walter Frazeur.”1 I wrote a detailed history about the two competing telephone companies in early Homestead in my article, Telephone Companies in Early Homestead. In this article, I want to share more about who Walter A. Frazeur was.

Walter Arthur Frazeur’s parents, Walter Gilette Frazeur (1849-1916) and Almeda M. Harris (1850-1921),2 were born in Cumberland County, New Jersey. Walter G. was the eighth of ten children born to Samuel D. and Susan Maul Frazeur. The Frazeurs were an old family in the area – Walter A.’s mother and his maternal grandmother traced their ancestry back to before the Revolutionary War.

It is not known when Walter G. Frazeur and his future wife Almeda arrived in Woodford County, Illinois but they were married there on September 7, 1868.3 Their daughter Lillian Adella was born in Bloomington on July 27, 1869.4 Walter, his wife and daughter then moved to Sarpy County, Nebraska, where they were enumerated in 1870. They moved back to Eureka, 28 miles northwest of Bloomington, where their daughter Gertrude was on October 29, 1871 and in 1875 to Goodland, in Newton County, Indiana,5 where Walter Arthur was born on May 26.6

Americans of that era were a restless bunch, for the Frazeur family moved yet again, appearing in Emporia, Kansas in 1886,7 60 miles southwest of Topeka. They stayed there for a short time and then moved to Topeka, where in 1888, Walter and a brother, possibly Benjamin, established themselves as commission merchants8 doing business as Frazeur Bros.9 By 1890, Benjamin had sold out and the firm’s name had changed to Pratt & Frazeur.10 That partnership dissolved in 189111 and Walter went out on his own as the manager of the New York Commission Company.12 By 1893, Walter was back in the grocery business at 700 Lincoln Street in Topeka.13

During this period, with the exception of his daughter Gertrude, no trace of the rest of Walter G.’s family has been found. Walter did well in business, though, as there are numerous mentions of his daughter’s accomplishments in school and society. Gertrude graduated from Bethany College, a Lutheran school 135 miles west of Topeka, with a degree in elocution in May of 189314 and went on to become the editor of The Baptist Visitor and later to marry Frederick C. Slater, who became the American consul to Canada and later, to England.15 In 1898, when Walter A. was 23, his father took him into partnership in a new grocery business located opposite Parkhurst & Davis Wholesale Grocery,16 a business that was located on Kansas Avenue in North Topeka and had been established as early as 1880.17 In 1900, father and son parted ways and Walter G. tried out a new business: rabbitry. He joined the Kansas Belgian Hare Club and established Capital Rabbitry at the corner of Huntoon and Lane in Topeka.18 His son, having bought the stock formerly owned by his father, continued in business at 219 West 6th.19

On November 28, 1900, Walter A. Frazeur married Vivian Rush. That marriage didn’t last long, as Vivian sued for divorce on August 23, 1902 on the grounds of desertion. In 1904, he married Ora Phena Benning. Their daughter Thelma was born on March 15, 1905,20 followed by Gertrude Adele on August 22, 1907.21

Walter G. had actively pursued business opportunities in Topeka since he arrived and his son, Walter A., followed in his father’s footsteps. In January of 1903, Walter G. opened a second-hand furniture store at 304 E. 4th St.22 and by December of that year, he expanded into to selling gas ranges and heaters of all kinds.23 On January 17, 1907, he filed a patent for “a gas burner attachment for stoves, furnaces and the like …” Large deposits of natural gas had been discovered in eastern Kansas starting in the late 1880s and the market for gas appliances was increasing rapidly. Walter’s decision to sell stoves and heaters soon paid off handsomely.

Walter A. got out of the grocery business and opened a carpet cleaning business at 306 Kansas Avenue in 1908, the Compressed Air Carpet Cleaning Works.24 He had two telephone numbers: Independent 849 and Bell 1389. His father also had a telephone number: Independent 883.

During this period, both father and son also speculated in real estate, engaging in numerous transactions. They were both very familiar with establishing and operating businesses. On May 3, 1910, Walter A. Frazeur held an auction sale of his business – “Everything must go. Frazeur is going to Florida.”25 He had previously visited the Homestead area, as he claimed his homestead on April 9, 1910. It was bounded by 272 St. on the north, 280th St. on the south, 207th Ave. on the east and 212 Ave. on the west.

Walter A. and Ora’s first son, Robert Stone, was born on October 28, 1909. He was named for Robert Stone, a prominent lawyer in Topeka and the husband of Walter’s aunt, Lillian Adella Frazeur. After their arrival in South Dade, Walter and Ora were blessed with two additional children: Ruth Beatrice, born on July 3, 1912 and Walter G. II, born on August 31, 1914. Both were delivered by Dr. John B. Tower, whom the Frazeurs almost certainly knew from Topeka.26

Walter wasted no time in pursuing business opportunities in Homestead, erecting a frame building to be used as a store adjacent to Dr. Tower’s office27 in the Walbridge Addition to Homestead on Krome Avenue in early 1911.28 At the same time, he was busy establishing the People’s Telephone Line, with his “headquarters at Homestead.”29 In the summer of 1912, he turned over management of the store to Alexander McKenzie,30 who was a salesman for a grocery store in Miami,31 to devote more time to his telephone company, having completed six miles of lines connecting Naranja, Silver Palm, Redland and Homestead.32 He also was busy setting out a grove on his homestead.33 In 1915, he was selling lumber for $12 per thousand board feet34 using a portable sawmill which he had purchased.35

Starting in 1917, Frazeur built a number of rental houses located close to downtown Homestead both north and south of West Mowry Street.36 Frazeur had several vehicles, including an Indiana ton-and-a-half truck37 and a used Ford runabout he purchased from Sam McKinstry.38 He hauled compost for Ed Brooker,39 fertilizer to farmers near the Royal Palm State Park 40and groceries that he delivered to his customers. In 1920, Frazeur closed his grocery store,41 which he had moved from its first location next to Dr. Tower’s office to a new location next to J. D. Redd’s dry goods store.42

Walter A. Frazeur was a hustler, very much like J. U. Free, but, possibly because he had a rather abrasive personality, he was not as successful as Free.43

One person who Frazeur did not get along with was Louis S. Blocker.44 In 1905, he and his family lived at 320 2nd St., 10 blocks north of Flagler Street in Miami, where he worked as a carpenter. In 1910, he was enumerated as a steam engineer on a dredge boat. In 1916 and 1917, he worked at a sawmill, according to the Miami City Directory. The trees in northern Dade County had been rapidly cut down, so by 1918 Blocker apparently moved to South Dade, where he was enumerated in 1920, working as a manager for a sawmill.45 His wife Susan managed a boarding house and his son Stephen worked as a laborer in a sawmill. In addition, two boarders, Vic Smith and V. Ernest Woods, also worked at a sawmill as laborers. His place of residence was “Naranja Village” and the next household enumerated, 28, was that of George W. Moody, Sr. Arthur Fogle, who married George’s daughter Elberta, was household 30. On the same page of the census, in households 19-22, were eight African-Americans who worked as laborers at a sawmill.

On November 29, 1920, J. B. Harris, a 19-year-old African-American man, was lynched by a mob after being captured at “Blocker’s sawmill at Naranja.” He had allegedly entered the house of a White woman between Princeton and Black Point at about 10:00 o’clock that morning, was captured at 12:30 and hung from a pine tree at 2:15 p.m.46

In her account of the Frazeur family, Taylor wrote that Frazeur had “sold his sawmill to a man who moved it to Naranja.” She did not identify the man, but it was undoubtedly Blocker. She further wrote that the new owner “did too much work on credit and was unable to pay even the interest on the mill.47 Frazeur apparently filed a lawsuit against Blocker in an attempt to regain control of his sawmill. Frazeur was represented by G. W. Worley & Son and Blocker by Price & Price. In addition to Frazeur’s replevin lawsuit, Hickson & Cook, Inc. also filed a lawsuit against Blocker, seeking to prevent him from “cutting down certain timber.” At some point after the filing of the replevin lawsuit, Blocker’s mill burned down, destroying 60,000 board feet of lumber and Blocker suspected that Frazeur had something to do with the fire.48

On December 14, 1922, at about 8:00 a.m., Blocker confronted Frazeur in front of the residence of A. D. Hill at 240 N. E. 1st St. in Miami, and attempted to force Frazeur to accompany him to his lawyer’s office. According to Hill, Blocker told Frazeur, “You’ve got to come with me or I will kill you.” Frazeur replied, “I’ll go with you.” Apparently, Frazeur’s consent was not quick enough for Blocker, as he shot Frazeur in the hip with a .38 caliber Colt revolver. Frazeur crumpled to the ground and Blocker stood over him, shooting him again in the temple. “He then stood for a second or two over the fallen man with the smoking revolver in his hand before walking away.”49

The Homestead Enterprise, in its obituary for Frazeur, said that he “had a case in court against his assailant and it is known that there was considerable ill-feeling between them.”50

Blocker was almost immediately arrested and jailed. He pleaded insanity but was found guilty of first-degree murder on February 22, 1923.51 His attorney appealed the case to the Florida Supreme Court and he was granted a second trial, where he was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years at Raiford in November of 1927.52 On December 22, 1929, Blocker was released from prison after his attorney appealed for a pardon based on his client’s advanced age (63) and his ill health.53 Blocker died in Dade County on March 14, 1949 at the age of 83 and is buried in the Flagler Memorial Park.54

At the time of his death, Walter left a substantial estate. In addition to his homestead, which he never subdivided and sold off like other early pioneers, he owned 2 lots in Tatum’s Ridgedale subdivision, 1 lot in the Boulevard addition and another lot in the R.L. Moser 2nd addition.55 He also owned his rental houses near Mowry Street.

Walter left his widow and 5 young children. Walter G. Frazeur II, 8, married Elnora Simpson on January 2, 1937 in Broward County, Florida. Walter and Elnora’s son, Walter G. III, was born in Key West on July 25, 1937 because his mother had gone there to visit her sister. When the time came for Walter to be born, his mother could not return to the mainland quickly because the Key West Extension had been destroyed in the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 and the Overseas Highway had not yet been completed. Walter G. II owned an automobile repair business in Homestead and his son, Walter G. III, worked for him. Walter G. III died on February 20, 2015 in South Carolina.56

Ruth Beatrice, 10, married Mario V. Alfonso on July 5, 1929 in Miami. He was a brother of Armando and worked as a steward for Pan American World Airways in Miami. They later divorced and she married Harry Anderson and lived in New London, Connecticut.

Robert, 13, was known to many in Homestead as “Bobby.” He walked the streets of downtown Homestead, always dressed in a suit. He rang the bell for the Methodist Church on Sunday mornings and people noted that they could set their watches by when the bell was rung.

Gertrude, 15, married Armando Alfonso, a brother of Mario.

Thelma, 17, married Philip L. “Ben” Jenkins (1898-1963), who is buried at Palms Woodlawn. She owned the Blue Moon Cafe in Homestead. “Ben” Jenkins’ father, Philip L. , was another early settler in this area who claimed 160 acres in the area of Eureka Drive and Naranja Road in 1901. Philip’s brother, Rupert L., was a member of Krome’s Cutler Extension survey in 1903. Thelma’s second husband was a Mr. Pitts and her third husband was John F. Bogusky. Thelma and John are buried at Palms Memorial in Naranja.

Walter G. Frazeur is another of the forgotten pioneers of Homestead. He lived a short life, like J. U. Free, but established Homestead’s first telephone company and was a successful businessman. His wife died in 1974 and most of his children stayed in the area. They married and raised children, like so many others, but left no lasting mark of their lives in the history of this area. That was likely because they were not connected with those who wielded economic and political power in Homestead and have dominated the written histories of this area: the Caves, Brooker, Horne, Sullivan and Campbell families.
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