Q. What is this instrument made of?

(Credit: Historical Museum of Southern Florida)

The instrument depicted above is called a “pan” in Trinidad, the country in which they were invented. There are several types of pans, each with a specific range of notes, in a standard band. For example, the tenor or lead pan’s surface is divided into approximately 30 notes!

Q. First streets in Miami were made of a material which caused them to be blinding white by day and like snow on a moonlit night. What was the material?*

A. Oolitic limestone or limestone

As thousands of people moved to Miami in the early 1900s, the need for more land quickly became apparent. This also meant more roads would come into existence. These roads were unique because of the material used to create them.

 

Street Scene (Miami, Fla.), [ca. 1900.]. Credit:Historical Museum of Southern Florida.

Q. Fill in the blank: The freezes of December, ________, and February, _______, brought to light the problem of cold protection and opened South Florida to the citrus industry.

A. 1894, 1895

Henry Flagler had already been corresponding with Julia Tuttle when a terrible cold front took hold of Florida. Ms. Tuttle had been asking for the extension of his railroad south to a small community called Fort Dallas.  These letters were not as convincing as the case of oranges and orange flowers she sent to show him how Miami’s climate was different from the rest of Florida.

(By streamliner through Florida [ca. 1940.] Credit: Historical Museum of Southern Florida.)

Q: Who was the first African-American woman to be elected to the Miami City Commission?*

(First African American city commissioner [ca. 1965?]. Credit: Historical Museum of Southern Florida.(

 

A: M. Athalie Range

In the 1970’s this African American woman would go on to be appointed as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs. This made her the first woman to lead a state agency, as well as the first African American in to be in such a position in over 100 years. The roots of her good work go back to Miami Dade County.

Q. During the Spanish American War, Miamians thought Spaniards would ____________.

In February of 1898 the battleship “Maine” was blown up the harbor of Havana. The insurrection in Cuba put the young city of Miami on high-alert. Roughly 7000 men, all volunteers, were stationed in ‘Camp Miami’ and were prepared to fight.

 

(Tents during the Spanish American War, Florida. [ca. 1910.] Credit: Historical Museum of Southern Florida. )

Q. What was the name of the Bronson, Fla. doctor who was sent for to act as house physician for the Royal Palm Hotel and to begin a practice in Miami which was still a city-to-be?

A. James M. Jackson whose practice is the namesake for Jackson Memorial Hospital

 

The Royal Palm hotel was a thriving place to be in 1897. Many of South Florida’s wealthiest vacationers spent late nights at Flagler’s lodge. The burgeoning city of Miami had an ever growing population of seasonal workers, investors and tourists, but one very important piece of the puzzle was missing.*

 

Q. Charles Avenue in Coconut Grove was the location of what?

A. The first black community on the South Florida mainland.

 

From the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, the economy of the Caribbean was based primarily on plantation agriculture. When institutionalized slavery ended, many people from the African Diaspora remained in the Caribbean and were in search of work. In the late 1880’s the Fort Dallas offered a lot of opportunity.*

 

Q. In the early 1900’s in Miami, it was common practice to burn smudge spots under the dining room tables. Why did people use smudge spots?

A. to ward off mosquitoes

With the population in the new town of Miami growing, the need to build on the Everglades became an increasing necessity. The low lying regions of Miami were susceptible to pooling water. These areas, in addition to those closer to Biscayne Bay, were habitats to many animals and insects. Some of the insects would swarm in such thick mists that many Miami residents turned to innovative prevention practices.

Q. Who was the American president who dedicated the Everglades National Park to the public’s use in 1947?

A. Harry S. Truman

 

During the 1920s and 1930s, Ernest F. Coe led the campaign to create a national park in the Everglades. Congress passed an act to create the park in 1934, but the Depression and World War II delayed its founding until 1947.

Q. Who was the man who provided the necessary funds to complete the job in exchange for 200 acres of Beach Land?

A. Carl Fisher

The island we now know as Miami Beach was originally a barrier island made up of red mangroves. When John S. Collins and the Lummus Brothers began building the wooden bridge connecting Miami Beach to Miami they ran out of funds when the bridge was only half finished. Their hopes for a winter resort town could have slipped away were it not for one man’s donation of $50,000.