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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1. The Villages of South Dade, p. 169
2. 1895 Kansas State census of Wards 3 and 5, Topeka, Kansas
3. Illinois marriage records available on Ancestry.com
4. Obituary, Topeka State Journal, August 2, 1954, p. 6A
5. Obituary, Homestead Enterprise, December 15, 1922, p. 1
6. WWI draft registration card
7. The Western Baptist, November 3, 1886, p. 4
8. Commission merchants buy produce from farmers and sell it to grocery stores
9. Kansas Farmer, April 12, 1888, p. 20
10. The Alliance Tribune, May 22, 1890, p. 5
11. Topeka Mail, June 12, 1891, p. 1
12. Topeka State Journal, June 16, 1891, p. 4
13. The Baptist Visitor, February 1, 1893, p. 2
14. The Baptist Visitor, June 1, 1893, p. 1
15. Obituary for Gertrude E. Slater, Topeka Daily Capital, Tuesday, November 20, 1956, p. 20
16. Kansas Farmer and Mail and Breeze, April 1, 1898, p. 4
17. North Topeka Daily Argus, September 6, 1880
18. The Illustrated Poultry Gazette, July 1 and November 1, 1900, page 17
19. The Baptist Visitor, February 4, 1900, p. 1
20. Topeka Daily Capital, March 19, 1905, p. 5
21. Public tree on Ancestry.com
22. Topeka Daily Herald, January 17, 1903, p. 7
23. Topeka State Journal, December 1, 1903, p. 9
24. Topeka Daily Capital, April 12, 1908, p. 6
25. Topeka Daily Capital, May 3, 1910, p. 9
26. Tower birth records spreadsheet, available for download from this website
27. Miami Herald, May 10, 1911, p. 7. Dr. Tower’s name was misspelled as ‘Lower.’
28. Miami Metropolis, December 15, 1910, p. 1
29. South Florida Banner, April 5, 1912, p. 4
30. South Florida Banner, June 15, 1912, p. 1
31. U. S. census of Miami, 1910, page 14A line 7
32. South Florida Banner, April 5, 1912, p. 4
33. South Florida Banner, June 15, 1912, p. 1
34. Homestead Enterprise, January 7, 1915, p. 5
35. Taylor, Villages of South Dade, p. 201
36. The first mention of a rental house was in the February 8, 1917 issue of the Homestead Enterprise on p. 2. There were a number of subsequent notices giving the names of men to whom Frazeur had rented his houses.
37. Homestead Enterprise, November 6, 1919, p. 1
38. Homestead Enterprise, June 27, 1918, p. 1
39. Homestead Enterprise, August 12, 1920, p. 1
40. Taylor, Villages of South Dade, p. 201
41. Frazeur bought the grocery and fruit stand of J. C. Green, located on Krome Avenue, as reported in the Miami Herald on September 29, 1919, p. 3
42. Homestead Enterprise, September 23, 1920, p. 1
43. Interview with Shirley Alfonso Ryan, the daughter of Gertrude A. Frazeur Alfonso, on May 3, 2018 at the Historic Homestead Town Hall Museum. She stated that she had been told that Walter was “not nice.” She also said that he employed African-Americans, had money and lent it at interest.
44. Homestead Enterprise, December 14, 1922, p. 1
45. 1920 U. S. census of Princeton, Dade County, FL, page 5B, lines 86-92
46. Miami Herald, November 30, p. 1
47. Villages of South Dade, p. 201
48. Miami Metropolis, December 14, 1922, pp. 1 & 4
49. Miami Metropolis, December 14, 1922, pp. 1 & 4
50. Homestead Enterprise, December 14, 1922, p. 1
51. Miami Herald, February 23, 1923, p. 11
52. Miami Daily News and Metropolis, November 2, 1927, p. 7
53. Miami Daily News and Metropolis, October 22, 1929, p. 2
54. Miami Herald, March 15, 1949, p. 26
55. Miami Herald, July 21, 1923, p. 15
56. Personal communication with the widow of Walter G. Frazeur, III