Rare Early Atlas of Miami & Environs
Rare early atlas of Greater Miami, published by Hopkins in 1925.
Finely detailed large format insurance atlas of the greater Miami area, which is an exceptionally important record of Miami's history. This is the first large scale work of its kind devoted to Miami and its early suburbs, such as Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, with a separate section covering Miami Beach.
Contents Include:
- Two Index Maps of Greater Miami (one overprinted in red)
- 41 Maps of Miami and Suburbs (1-41)
- 7 Maps of Miami Beach (A-G)
This is the earliest of three plat books of Miami by the Hopkins, the latter two being 1936 and 1957. G.M. Hopkins Company was a map-making publishing company founded in 1865 in Philadelphia, by G.M. and Henry Hopkins.
While the Sanborn Company's earliest maps of parts of Miami date back to about 1899 (5 sheet map at the Library of Congress), Hopkin's atlas would seem to be the largest and most comprehensive work to date. Moreover, the only surviving Sanborn maps for Miami seem to be those at the Library of Congress,
Miami History
In 1891, Julia Tuttle of Cleveland, Ohio purchased 640 acres on the north bank of the Miami River in present-day downtown Miami. Tuttle tried to persuade railroad magnate Henry Flagler to expand the Florida East Coast Railway, southward to the area, but he initially declined. Following two devastating freezes in the north of Florida in December 1894 and February 1895, Tuttle again reached out to Flagler, and this time convinced him to extend his railroad to Miami and build a resort hotel.
On April 22, 1895, Flagler wrote Tuttle a long letter recapping her offer of land to him in exchange for extending his railroad to Miami, laying out a city and building a hotel. The terms provided that Tuttle would award Flagler a 100-acre tract of land for the city to grow. Around the same time, Flagler wrote a similar letter to William and Mary Brickell, who had also verbally agreed to contribute land.
While the railroad's extension to Miami remained unannounced in the spring of 1895, rumors of this possibility continued to multiply, fueling real estate activity in the Biscayne Bay area. The news of the railroad's extension was officially announced on June 21, 1895. In late September, the work on the railroad began and settlers began pouring into the promised "freeze proof" lands. On October 24, 1895, the contract agreed upon by Flagler and Tuttle was approved. On March 3, 1896 Flagler hired John Sewell from West Palm Beach to begin work on the town as more people came into Miami. The first regularly scheduled train arrived on the night of April 15, 1896. On July 28, 1896, the City of Miami, named after the Miami River, was incorporated with 502 voters.
In the early decades of the 20th Century Miami experienced a very rapid growth. In 1900, 1,681 people lived in Miami, Florida; in 1910, there were 5,471 people; and in 1920, there were 29,549 people.
Beginning in 1906, canals were made to remove some of the water from those swamp lands west of the city. Miami Beach was developed in 1913 when a two-mile wooden bridge built by John Collins was completed. During the early 1920s, the authorities of Miami allowed gambling and were very lax in regulating prohibition, so thousands of people migrated from the northern United States to the Miami region. This caused the Florida land boom of the 1920s, when many high-rise buildings were built.
By 1910, the population of Miami was 5,471. In 1920, it had grown to 29,549.
By the mid-1920s, the boom was ending. Massive inflation, construction delays and transportation problems made continued growth unsustainable. On January 10, 1926, the Prinz Valdemar, an old Danish warship on its way to becoming a floating hotel, ran aground and blocked Miami Harbor for nearly a month. The three major railroads stopped delivering all incoming goods except food. The cost of living skyrocketed and affordable housing was virtually non-existent. In 1926, the Great Miami Hurricane became the final catastrophe, decimating any hope for a swift economic recovery. Between 25,000 and 50,000 people were left homeless in the Miami area. The Great Depression followed and it would be nearly 10 years before Miami saw a return to growth and good times.
Rarity
The Atlas is extremely rare. OCLC locates 3 examples (Library of Congress, Florida International University and University of Miami).
While the 1936 edition has appeared once at auction in recent years (which included pasted corrections to the 1940s), we were unable to locate any examples of the 1925 edition at auction or in dealer catalogues.