Our History

The Early Days

Captain William H. Fulford was attracted to what is now North Miami Beach during his Coast Guard patrol along the Atlantic side of the peninsula during the Spanish-American War. In 1881 he explored Big Snake Creek (later renamed the Oleta River) and found this area amid lowlands, marshes, and mangroves, a retreat from the fury of the Atlantic. See Oleta River State Park History.

When Henry Flagler extended the Florida East Coast Railway from West Palm Beach to Miami in 1896, he placed depots at numerous spots along the route, and small towns quickly developed around those stops. Many of the settlers to the area were homesteaders who were attracted to the area by offers of 160 acres of free land by the federal government. In 1897, utilizing the Homestead Act, Captain Fulford acquired a 160-acre land patent from President Grover Cleveland.

During the 1890s settlers established farms along the east side of the Oleta River. That area was originally named Ojus in 1897 by Albert Fitch, a farmer who wanted to grow pineapples in the rich soil. The word Ojus is a Seminole word for "plenty" or "lots of", and when Fitch was in the area, Ojus grew plenty of peas, beans, sugar cane, and tomatoes.  See A Bit of Ojus History.

The distance between Fulford and Ojus was only a mile or so, but it was great enough in those days of poorly paved roads and difficult travel conditions to generate separate communities. In the early 1900s rock mining in the area began and it was discovered that the rock coming out of Ojus had qualities that made it ideal for road building. Rock mining continued around the area, creating many lakes such as Maule Lake and the lakes in the Sky Lake neighborhood.

Homestead of Captain Fulford, built of natural coral rock.

Plans For "Perfect City"

In 1912 Lafe Allen, a former newspaper owner, came to Florida. He and an associate purchased Captain Fulford's original grant plus additional property with the idea of developing and selling lots. Eventually, they purchased 557 acres of land. In 1917, Mr. Allen made plans for a "perfect city" calling for 80-foot wide residential streets and 100 and 125-foot wide business thoroughfares. North Miami Beach's street layout is as the pioneer pictured it in 1917 with wide avenues named Fulford Boulevard (now known as Northeast 172nd Street) and Flagler Boulevard (now known as Northeast 19th Avenue). The Fulford-by-the-Sea Company began selling lots in 1922. During the Florida land boom of the 1920's, lots were sometimes sold eight times before ever being recorded.

Original Fulford By-the-Sea Street Map

Fulford by-the-Sea Rapidly Growing

The years of 1924 through 1926 saw rapid developments when Merle C. Tebbetts, president of the Florida Cities Finance Company, took over development. A Chamber of Commerce was formed to disseminate information and produced the Fulford By-the-Sea News, a monthly newspaper providing development news for the area.  A group of administrative buildings were located in Central Park, on the area occupied by today's city hall building.

One of south Florida's first radio stations, WGBU, a 500-watt station, began broadcasting in 1925 from its 150-foot tower also located in Central Park. A power plant generating 125 kilowatts was built on Flagler Boulevard opposite Central Park.

Florida Land Boom

There were a great many people from all over the United States with money to invest in the great Florida Land Boom of the mid-1920s. They flocked to South Florida in hopes of getting riches made when orange groves and swamp lands were subdivided, sold, and developed.

Merle Tebbets brought people in from all over the state by busloads to see his Fulford By-the-Sea and to give his land sales pitch.  He also brought them up from Miami Beach using his tour boats on the Intracoastal Waterway.

Buses used to promote land sales

Tour boats on Intracoastal Waterway (courtesy of FL State Archives)

The Seafoam makes daily trips from Miami Beach (courtesy of NMB Library)

Fulford-Miami Speedway

In 1925, Carl Fisher (who built the Indianapolis Speedway in 1909) was developing Miami Beach and envisioned this area as the winter auto racing capital of the world. He built the world's fastest 1-1/4 mile "boardtrack" (a wooden, oval race track). The outstanding features of the track were the 50-degree banked turns. Turns banked this steep required a speed of at least 110 miles per hour to keep the race car from sliding down into the infield. The turns at today's Daytona International Speedway are banked at only 32 degrees. In 1926, the Fulford-Miami Speedway held its first and only racing event attracting a crowd of 20,000 spectators, some of whom paid up to $15 for a box seat. It was located at the northern end of Flagler Boulevard (NE 19th Avenue) in today's Sky Lake neighborhood before being demolished in the hurricane of 1926.

See a collection of images of Fulford Speedway.

Advertising Poster

Hurricane of 1926

The city, which had been unincorporated at the time of the great hurricane in 1926, sustained devastating damage. The speedway and radio station were blown down and demolished. The hurricane essentially ended the South Florida real estate boom, and it did not flourish again until after World War II.  In an effort to obtain funds and assistance to alleviate their losses and suffering, the local residents banded together as the Town of Fulford and in 1927 incorporated as the City of Fulford.

See a collection of images from the 1926 Hurricane.

Speedway after 1926 hurricane

The City is Renamed

In 1931, the state legislature authorized a new charter for the city. Beachfront property was annexed and the name of the municipality was changed from Fulford to North Miami Beach to reflect the 1931 boundaries and to take advantage of the nationwide advertising associated with the Miami Beach area in an effort to capitalize on that city's growing fame. At that time there were about three miles of beach property from Sunny Isles south that were in the incorporated area, so it was a legitimate name. By 1933 there was a councilmanic form of government with five council members and a mayor as the capital head.

City Hall Constructed

In this photo, the building on the right was the the original 1923 North Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce building, later used as a City Hall in the early 1930s.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed approval of a Works Progress Administration appropriation of $16,000 for remodeling and rebuilding the old Fulford By-the-Sea power plant building (located on the west side of Northeast 19 Avenue at Northeast 170 Street) into a city hall.

Renovations of power plant into city hall (courtesy of NMB Library)

NMB City Hall in 1930s (courtesy of NMB Library)

Greynolds Park

A.O. Greynolds owned an old rock quarry near the Oleta River in Ojus, a site which had been inhabited by the Tequesta Indians and had later become a Seminole trading post. As road construction moved north, the quarry was abandoned. Dade County approached Greynolds to donate the land for a park and agreed to name it after him. See the transformation of this Rock Quarry to Park Oasis (PDF) that in 1936 became a popular Miami-Dade County park for the residents of North Miami Beach.

Water Plant Purchased

In 1945, the city issued water bonds and the Sunny Isles Water Company was purchased. The second water expansion project was completed in 1954. Metered water customers increased from 1,611 in 1951 to over 32,000 today.