{"id":19249,"date":"2019-04-08T18:01:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T01:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/?p=19249"},"modified":"2019-04-14T10:40:58","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T17:40:58","slug":"sunset-drive-historic-buildings-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/somimag.com\/sunset-drive-historic-buildings-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"SUNSET DRIVE Historic Buildings – Part One"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/a>

SOUTH MIAMI PAST:
\nHISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE<\/h1>\n

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South Miami Town Center\u2019s streetscape\u00a0sports a mix of architectural styles, among them, historically designated buildings dating from 1914 to 1955. They serve to bookend two major periods of construction activity; from the Jazz Age in the 1920s to the post World War II boom in the 1950s.<\/b><\/p>\n

South Miami began much as other south Florida towns with the arrival of pioneer families in the late 19th century. The early development of what was to become the City of South Miami is inextricably linked to the establishment of Henry Morrison Flagler\u2019s Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) in Miami and the rail\u2019s southward expansion to Homestead and Key West. Arriving in Miami in 1896, the railway became essential to the prosperity of those pioneers who came to the region to establish homesteads, farm the land, and cut the timber. The railway provided those living in what was essentially an outpost serviced by unpaved trails, a sophisticated link to ever-expanding markets for their products. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those pioneering families was headed by Wilson Alexander Larkins (1860-1946), a Tennessee native, who with his wife Essie (c.1869-1948) and five of their children, settled about 1897 in an area near current day Cocoplum Circle. When the time came to name the growing community, the residents chose \u201cLarkins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t