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Source
State Library of Florida, WPA - Historical Records Survey, County Histories
Description
Brief history of Dade County, Florida, now Miami-Dade County, collected by the Works Progress Administration's Historical Records Survey.
Date
November 17, 1937
Format
Coverage
Personal Subjects
Subjects
Geographic Term
Note to Researchers:
Though the WPA field workers included extensive citations for the factual information contained in these county histories, it should be noted that these historical narratives were produced in the 1930s by federal government employees, and might reflect the inherent social biases of the era.
Natalie Newell
Dist. Supervisor
HRS & SAS
3310 Cornelia Drive
Coconut Grove, Fla.
Archer
Approximately __________ words
ESTABLISHMENT OF DADE COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Creation of Dade County:
Chapter 937 (No. XXVI) An Act to organize a County to be called Dade County, which also establishes original boundary lines of Dade County and County Government, by Military Act of Andrew Jackson, then Military Governor of the Territory of Florida, as follows:
Section 2- Governor of Territory empowered to appoint all such officers as he is authorized by law to appoint in the other counties of this territory.
Section 3- Inhabitants of said county "authorized to elect all such officers, Civil and Military, for said county, in such manner and at such times as are, or may be directed by law to be elected in the several counties of this territory.
Section 4- That the Judge of the County Court, in said county, after the court shall be organized, hold one term of each court at Indian Key, and one term at Cape Florida, in each year, until the County Seat be permanently established in said county; after which he shall hold his courts at the County Seat so established; and the Clerk of Court shall keep his office there."
(Sections 4 and 5 of this Act were repealed by An Act approved
NOV 17 1937
Title
Establishment of Dade County Government
Subject
Cities and towns--History
Florida--Miami-Dade County
County government
Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey
Description
Brief history of Dade County, Florida, now Miami-Dade County, collected by the Works Progress Administration's Historical Records Survey.
Creator
Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey
Source
State Library of Florida, WPA - Historical Records Survey, County Histories
Date
1937-11-17
Format
local histories
Language
eng-US
Type
Text
Identifier
wpa_county_history_dade_04
Coverage
Depression Era Florida (1926-1939)
Thumbnail
/fpc/memory/omeka_images/thumbnails/wpa_county_histories.jpg
Geographic Term
Dade County (Fla.)
Indian Key (Fla.)
Miami (Fla.)
Miami River (Fla.)
ImageID
wpa_county_history_dade_04_01
wpa_county_history_dade_04_02
wpa_county_history_dade_04_03
wpa_county_history_dade_04_04
wpa_county_history_dade_04_05
wpa_county_history_dade_04_06
wpa_county_history_dade_04_07
Subject - Person
McCrory, James A.
Pitts, N. W.
White, E. L.
Lambert, Geo W.
Shane, W. J.
Hendrickson, W. D.
Transcript
Natalie Newell
Dist. Supervisor
HRS & SAS
3310 Cornelia Drive
Coconut Grove, Fla.
Archer
Approximately __________ words
ESTABLISHMENT OF DADE COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Creation of Dade County:
Chapter 937 (No. XXVI) An Act to organize a County to be called Dade County, which also establishes original boundary lines of Dade County and County Government, by Military Act of Andrew Jackson, then Military Governor of the Territory of Florida, as follows:
Section 2- Governor of Territory empowered to appoint all such officers as he is authorized by law to appoint in the other counties of this territory.
Section 3- Inhabitants of said county "authorized to elect all such officers, Civil and Military, for said county, in such manner and at such times as are, or may be directed by law to be elected in the several counties of this territory.
Section 4- That the Judge of the County Court, in said county, after the court shall be organized, hold one term of each court at Indian Key, and one term at Cape Florida, in each year, until the County Seat be permanently established in said county; after which he shall hold his courts at the County Seat so established; and the Clerk of Court shall keep his office there."
(Sections 4 and 5 of this Act were repealed by An Act approved
NOV 17 1937
Establishment of
Dade County Government
Page 2 of
March 9th, 1844- section 3)
Section 5- "That the Judge of the Superior Court in the Southern Judicial District, shall hold one term of the Superior Court at Indian Key, in said county, on the first Monday of December, in each year and every year, until further provision by made by law for the holding of two terms of said court. And he shall appoint a clerk of said court, who shall keep his office at Indian Key, until the County Seat be established, after which he shall keep his office there."
Section 6- "That the Clerk of the Superior Court and Clerk of the County Court, of Monroe County of Monroe shall transfer to the Clerk of the [Superior] Court, and Clerk of the County Court of Dade County all papers and records in their respective offices, belonging to cases, the citizens of which reside in Dade County, and the clerks in Dade County shall note on their records, all such cases as may be transferred from Dade Dade [sic] County.
Passed January 28, 1836
Approved February 4, 1836.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
1837- It was passed and approved February 1837, Act No. 7; section 1: A repetition of the foregoing in content. Namely; appoint a clerk of the court to keep office at Indian Key until the Dade County Seat be established, at which time the clerk shall be moved and keep his office at the duly appointed County Seat. This County Seat at this time being indeterminate.
NOV 17 1937
Establishment of
Dade County Government
Page 3 of
March 2, 1840, Act No. 35. This Act shows that Jurors of the Southern District "may be summoned alike from Dade or Monroe to attend the Superior Court sitting in either county. Marshal to summon jurors upon receipt of the venire, from the clerk of either county."
February 25, 1841. Act No. 2; Section 2. That the Superior Court, Monroe County, shall organize and have exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes committed in the County of Dade and over all causes not coming under the Justice of Peace, and the County Court of said county, from and after the passage of this Act, until the same shall be repealed.
March 6, 1844. (Acts in this year are not numbered) An Act to legalize the Acts of the acting clerk of Dade County hereafter, since the de population or abandonment of Dade County, caused by the Indians-1840, the citizens have failed to elect a clerk for said county, and the then Clerk has acted in said capacity, and performed all the functions of a clerk of the County Court of said county. Therefore, be it enacted et cetera that the proceedings done by the acting clerk be declared valid. It may be assumed from the foregoing that the Acting Clerk was of Monroe County and that Dade County, due to depopulation by the Indian massacre, kept no records at this time other than what records were kept in Key West.
March 9, 1844. Repeal of above was made in Section 3 of an Act to establish County Site of Dade County and for other purposes.
Section 1 of this Act approved March 9, 1844 establishes Dade County Site at Miami, as follows: "That the County Site for the County
NOV 17 1937
Establishment of
Dade County Government
Page 4 of
of Dade, shall hereafter be at Miami, on the south side of Miami River, where it empites into Biscaino Bay; and two terms of court shall annually be held there, the one on the first Monday in April, and the other on the first Monday in October.
(Note) Although these Acts establish dates of Government, et cetera, in no place have we found, as yet, any citations for the actual location in building room or otherwise to cite as the first official court house. All we can determine is the place, namely; at various times, Indian Key, Monroe County, and Miami, Dade County according to the Acts above cited.
From 1844 to March 6, 1899 there appears to be a gap in available County Commissioners Minutes. In this period the Dade County Seat was moved from Miami to Juno. The corner stone of the Juno County Court House, a building erected for that purpose, being laid December 24, 1890.
From James A. McCrory, first Clerk of the Circuit Court, Dade County, 1881 to approximately 1890, (Mr. McCrory is still living) we learned that the old Barracks Building of the Indian fortification, Ft. Dallas, was used as a court house. This is the first definite location which may be cited, although we know from the records that some building or room at Indian Key and Miami must have been used at the respective times in which these locations were cited by law as County Seats.
The County Seat remained at [Juno] until, according to County Commissioners Minute Book "B"- page 81, filed March 6, 1899.
NOV 17 1937
Establishment of
Dade County Government
Page 5 of
"Petition praying for a change of location of the County Site, To the Honorable Board of County Commissioners of Dade County Florida--------." This plea was to have "The County Site of said county "Dade" changed from Juno to some more convenient point[.]" The petition claimed that "more than one-third of our registered voters of said county" had signed the petition; which contained 608 signatures. The petition was checked with the Registration books, and "as said petition had more than one-third of the registered voters in Dade County affixed to same, It was ordered that said petition be granted and a special election be held the 10th day of May, 1899 to designate a location for the County Site and the clerk was instructed to give notices by publication as required by Statute."
(Note) The original of this petition with all of the 608 signatures is preserved in a folder in the Dade County Court House, County Commissioner's office.
CHANGE OF COUNTY SEAT FROM JUNO TO MIAMI
From Minutes of the County Commissioners book "B", page 92; dated Juno, May 15, 1899; the Minutes read as follows:
"It appears from the canvas of the returns of election, held on the 10th day of May, 1899, to elect a location for the County Site of Dade County, made this 15th day of May, A.D. 1899, five days after said election that two localities appeared on the official ballot as locations to be voted for such County Site; towit;
NOV 17 1937
Establishment of
Dade County Government
Page 6 of
West Palm Beach and Miami, and that Miami received 690 votes and West Palm Beach received 468 votes, and that Miami has a majority over West Palm Beach of 222 votes. It is therefore ordered that Miami be and is hereby declared the County Site of Dade County.
Signed- N. W. Pits
E. L. White
Geo. W. Lambert
W. V. Rushing
W. J. Shane
It was ordered that the above should be spread upon the Minutes of the Board of County Commissioners and also should be published it was also moved as follows:
"Moved that the Chairman of the Board appoint a Committee of three to select a temporary location and make arrangements for removing the County Site to Miami, and that they have authority to take final action.
"Motion was seconded and carried and Messrs. White, Shane and Lambert were appointed Committee of three." From the County Commissioners Minutes book "B"- pages 97-98, dated June 5, 1899, we find that the Board of Commissioners met (all present) the Committee appointed to secure temporary court house reported that they had "rented a building belonging to the Tuttle Estate, East of Avenue D, on Miami River, at $15.00 per month, for as long as needed, with the privileges of removing vault and court house fixtures" (thereto presumably). The clerk was ordered to advertise for sealed bids to
NOV 17 1937
Establishment of
Dade County Government
Page 7 of
remove the county records and property from Juno to Miami. Said bids to be opened July 3, 1899 at which time it was "Ordered that the Records and County property be moved as soon as possible after July 3, 1899. - The County Records and Seals to be sent to Miami by freight in charge of some competent person". It was also, "Ordered Ream of heavy wrapping paper and a supply of twine be purchased by the Clerk for removal."
At this meeting was authorized an order to be placed with the Dribold Safe and Lock Company of Canton, Ohio for a vault of given specifications to be made by them for the new court house.
From County Commissioners Minutes, Book "B", page 102, we find that bids for the removal were opened and read as follows:
"July 3, 1899 W. D. Hendrickson, Lake Worth $280.00 July 3, 1899 Will E. Call, [Mangonia?], Fla. $294.00" "The contract was awarded to W. D. Hendrickson and the details of sitting the fixtures into new quarters are given by Hendrickson in his bid."
TO BE CONTINUED
NOV 17 1937
Chicago Manual of Style
Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey. Establishment of Dade County Government. November 17, 1937. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. <https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/321094>, accessed 31 December 2024.
MLA
Works Progress Administration, Historical Records Survey. Establishment of Dade County Government. November 17, 1937. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024.<https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/321094>
AP Style Photo Citation
(State Archives of Florida/Works Progress Administration)