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Essay: No single group can claim to have built Miami
Miami skyline at night. Photo: Videoblocks.com
A heated exchange erupted at a recent Miami-Dade County Commission meeting over who "made" Miami. Cuban-American Commissioner Javier Souto and African American Commissioner Dennis Moss each contended that members of their respective ethnic groups made the city. Both are right and both are wrong, and a recent archaeological discovery at the site of a downtown commercial developments makes a case that Miami started with the Tequesta Indians. Read the essay by Helen Aguirre Ferre in the Miami Herald: Miami is everyone's creation
Free lectures kick off Historical Society's new Archaeological Institute
Florida Historical Society, the state's oldest institution dedicated to preserving Florida's history, commemorated Florida Archaeology Month by announcing its new Archaeological Institute. To kick off the new department, the society is offering an archaeology lecture each Friday at the Library of Florida History in Cocoa. Read the story from Florida Today: Society starts Archaeological Institute • Check out the schedule of events at Florida Historical Society's web site
Park donates 97,000 artifacts
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Work restarts on Cuban museum
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St. Pete's historic YMCA must raise $1.2 million
in four months or risk possible demolition
Historic YMCA building in St. Petersburg
A series of missteps have endangered plans by the purchasers of the historic YMCA building in St. Petersburg to create a music attraction and hotel at the site, and now the owners are seeking 12 wealthy donors to contribute $100,000 each. Otherwise, the purchasers could lose their contract and the 87-year-old Mediterranean Revival-style building could be demolished.
Site of the former Solla-Carcaba Cigar Factory
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Historical marker to distinguish former
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Also see:
Just tractors everywhereRetired construction worker Stewart Paquette never farmed or owned a tractor when he moved to Leesburg. But somehow he was bitten by a tractor collecting bug that has grown into a 140-piece museum.
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Commentary: Archaeology is important. Preserve Miami now
Is there any reason to believe Miami will preserve the ancient Tequesta Indian circles beneath a downtown commercial development site in light of the city's dismal record of destroying natural and historic treasures? Read Dinizulu Gene Tinnie's commentary in the South Florida Times: Preserve Miami Now
Miami Gardens plans to showcase its history in 1926 farmhouse
Enrico Dairy Farmhouse, built in 1926
It needs some work, but the city of Miami Gardens plans to use its oldest building -- the 1926 Enrico Dairy Farmhouse -- as a mini-museum to showcase documents and photos from the city's 2003 incorporation campaign. It was built by Italian immigrant Sam Enrico, who kept cows on the property and sold milk door-to-door in the neighborhood. Read the story in the Miami Herald: Miami Gardens farmhouse played a pivotal role in Miami's early dairy history.
Historic trolley tours recreate drive through 1940s West Palm Beach
S. Fla. LGBT museum seeks Smithsonian partnershipThe Stonewall Museum and Archives, a repository of gay culture history in Fort Lauderdale, is applying to become affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. as part of a new effort to reach beyond its core patronage in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Read more in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Big steps for Stonewall
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St. Pete Beach historian,
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Bartow struggles to find developer for cigar factory restoration
Thompson Cigar Factory, Bartow
Bartow is taking another shot at luring a developer to renovate its historic Thompson Cigar Factory after its request for proposals last fall failed to generate a single bid. The mission-style structure was built in 1925 and is the only remaining cigar factory in Polk County. Preservationists convinced the city two years ago not to demolish it, but officials say they cannot wait forever. Read the story in the Lakeland Ledger: Firms See Challenges Outweighing Potential So Far In The Effort To Preserve Polk's Only Cigar Factory
New historic district approved in Coral Gables
The Coral Gables Historic Preservation Board approved a new historic district along Coral Way that the city's Historic Resources Department hopes will help preserve the streetscape and vision of the city's founder, George Merrick. It encompasses 38 properties, including some of the first homes built in Coral Gables in the 1920a and 30s. Read the story in the Miami Herald: Coral Gables approves new historic district
New historical marker tells
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View of the Boynton Inlet bridge on S.R. A1A in Lake Worth. Date unknown. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
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Daytona Beach Bandshell gets $350k for emergency roof repair
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Daytona Beach's iconic Bandshell, built during the Depression as a Public Works Administration project, is getting $350,000 to fix a damaging roof leak. The leak stemmed from damage during the 2004 hurricanes, but officials thought the water was seeping through the structure's coquina rocks. Read the story in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach's Bandshell gets $350k grant for roof repair
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Undated postcard postmarked in 1941 depicts the Daytona Beach Bandshell shortly after its construction in 1937. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory
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St. Petersburg celebrating a century of spring training baseball
"Little Cooperstown" exhibit in St. Petersburg Museum of History
Spring training baseball was first played in St. Pete when the St. Louis Browns swung their bats in a place called Coffee Pot Park. Other teams followed, and the St. Petersburg Museum of History is celebrating with the new Schrader's Little Cooperstown exhibit, featuring Dennis Schrader's collection of autographed baseballs. It's the largest such collection in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Read the story and watch the video at wfla.com's site.
Author follows travel route outlined in 1937 Florida guide book
In the 1930s, the federal Works Progress Administration employed struggling authors to write guide books to various states. In 2011, Cathy Salustri decided to trace routes outlined in one of the guides, Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State, published in 1937. She described her journey in her thesis for her Master of Liberal Arts degree from the University of South Florida's College of Arts and Sciences and hopes to publish a book in December. She recently discussed her adventure in a talk at Heritage Village in Largo. Aside from discovering historic landmarks invisible from the interstate highways, her travels taught her that Florida still offers the "ultimate road trip" across a "patchwork blanket" of every culture in the U.S.
Read the story in The St. Petersburg Tribune: Gulfport author retraces 1937 Florida travel guide • Download Salustri's thesis: Finding Florida: The Guide to the Southernmost State, Revised
Read the story in The St. Petersburg Tribune: Gulfport author retraces 1937 Florida travel guide • Download Salustri's thesis: Finding Florida: The Guide to the Southernmost State, Revised
Prominent Orlando African-American history museum struggling
 Dr. Wells
The most prominent African-American museum in Central Florida is struggling to stay afloat amid declines in donations to non-profit organizations. But some observers say the Wells' Built Museum needs to do a better job organizing its collections and soliciting support from neighboring colleges.
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The Wells' Built Museum in Orlando started as a hotel and casino in the segregation era
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The museum was built by Dr. William Monroe Wells and operated as a hotel and casino during the segregation era. Read the story in the Orlando Sentinel: Low-profile Wells' Built Museum struggles for support
Delray Beach historical museums
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Documentary on early days of
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Preservation board supports saving entire Tequesta archaeological site
The Miami Historical Preservation Board on Friday voted to support saving an entire archaeological site recently discovered on the grounds of a planned hotel and commercial complex, rejecting the developer's plan to carve out a slice of the site and display it at a nearby plaza. Read the story in the Miami Herald: Miami historic preservation board moves to protect Tequesta site
School district weighs cost of maintaining Sanford's Student Museum
With $5 million in repairs looming, Seminole Schools officials are weighing the costs and benefits of maintaining a 1902 Sanford elementary school as a student museum. Read the story in the Seminole Voice: Sanford's historic Student Museum faces uncertain future
Cultural center piecing together story of lost African-American communityWith most of its landmarks destroyed or shut down following integration, the community of Glenwood in Panama City exists primarily in the memories of its former residents. Members of the African American Cultural Center are collecting photos and artifacts to tell the story of the once-thriving community. Read the story by Jacqueline Bostick in the Panama City News Herald: Center looks to piece together Glenwood's story
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UF receives $1.97 million grant to develop paleontology networkThe National Science Foundation has given the University of Florida a $1.97 million grant to create a network of amateur and professional paleontologists. Fossil enthusiasts don't network with each other as most science-hobbyists do, according to a UF news release. The university aims to change that, beginning with the North American Paleontology Convention in Gainesville this weekend. Read more in this report from UF News
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American Historical Association honors FAMU professor
FAMU professor David H. Jackson Jr. received the American Historical Association's 2013 Equity Award at the association's annual meeting in Washington D.C. The award recognizes individuals or institutions that have achieved excellence in recruiting and retaining underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the historical profession. Read the story from WTXL-TV.
Irving Eyster, renowned
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Cypress Gardens may land
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