The Birth of the City of Miami 23


Miami. In the April 22 edition of the Florida Times-Union, the
journal's West Palm Beach correspondent, under an April 21 date-
line, reported, "There is a daily through train from each end, and a
mixed one between Fort Pierce and Miami."89
 The arrival of regular train service was a catalyst to the rapid
settlement and development of the entire area. On April 24, the
Brickells deeded a right-of-way to the FEC Railway through their
Fort Lauderdale property. One week later, on May 1, the Brickells
deeded every other lot in the town site of Fort Lauderdale to the Fort
Dallas Land Company, Flagler's land company, headed by James
Ingraham, that was organized to market Flagler's lots in Miami and
Fort Lauderdale.9
 Commercial activity increased with the opening of the Bank of
Bay Biscayne on May 2.9 Miami's first newspaper, the Miami Me-
tropolis, issued its first edition on May 15, under the editorship of
Walter S. Graham. The newspaper reported that the Miami lots
owned by Brickell went on sale "last Monday."" It complained that
there was still no bridge across the river and people who wanted to
get mail had to spend an hour waiting for the ferry and pay a ten-
cent toll to learn if they had any mail. The Metropolis ridiculed the
mail service and pleaded for a post office on the north side of the
river, where the Miami community now was firmly entrenched.93
 The Metropolis lobbied for the incorporation of Miami before
August 1, 1896. The journal argued that incorporation was necessary
in order for Miamians to "frame and enforce such ordinances as are
necessary." More specifically, an ordinance was necessary to deal
with a problematical sanitary situation. "The removal of excrement
and all kinds of disease-producing products at stated intervals should
be rigidly insisted on," the paper said. In addition, it observed a
problem with "indecent bathing," as workers bathed nude in both the
river and along the banks of the bay.94
 To begin the process of incorporation, an informal meeting was
held on the evening of June 17. Frederick S. Morse was called upon
to chair the meeting of about 100 people, forty of whom were reg-
istered voters. To incorporate as a municipality, at least twenty-five
registered voters would be necessary to form a town; 300 or more
voters would enable the municipality to incorporate as a city. The
process required the twenty-five voters desiring incorporation to pro-
pose boundaries for the municipality and publish a notice to all eligible
voters. This notice, to appear in the local newspaper, had to contain