Historic Lemon Avenue

Historic Lemon Avenue. . (Side 1) , Lemon City began as an agricultural community of homesteaders in the 1870s. Entrepreneur Eugene C. Harrrington, credited as the father of Lemon City, bought an 11-acre strip of land from homesteader John Saunders in 1889. Harrington sold an acre of bay-front land to Charles S.B. Moffat, and subdivided the remaining acreage. The origin of the name of Harrington's subdivision, Lemon City, was reportedly due to the abundance of lemon trees growing in the area. The first official mention of the name was in the 1889 Harrington/Moffat land sale. Eighty-one small lots were platted with a street running down the middle. In 1890, the lots were sold for between $35 and $65. The street was named Lemon Avenue, and served as the community's main street. It originally ran from the bay to Rock Road (NE 2nd Ave.), was forty feet wide, and consisted of sand and exposed rock. Much of Lemon City's development took place along Lemon Avenue, including the construction in 1892 of the first hotel, run by Harrington's mother, Cornelia Keys. In 1895, Harrington deeded the street to Dade County. (Continued on other side). (Side 2) (Continued from other side). With no municipal government, the residents of Lemon City had to finance their own community improvements. The all-woman Village Improvement Association (VIA) was organized in 1896 in the home of Cornelia Keys. The VIA's first goal was to "rock" Lemon Avenue from the bay to the railroad crossing. Rocking began in 1897, and was completed in 1902. Dade County purchased a new 20,000-pound steamroller to help finish the road. In conjunction with the paving of Lemon Avenue, a plan was laid out to surface another road, which ran south to Miami. The second road, named Rock Road (now NE 2nd Ave.), was completed in 1902 and provided easier ground transportation between Lemon City and Miami without having to take the train. The rocking of Lemon Avenue significantly impacted the community. It allowed Lemon City to expand westward as renewed construction sprang up. On this street, the Lemon City Library opened in 1904, followed by the first independent post office in 1905. When Miami expanded and annexed Lemon City in 1925, a new system of numbered streets was introduced, beginning in downtown Miami. Lemon Avenue was renamed NE 61st Street.