Power Point on Gaston Drake

1. Miami Pioneer
Gaston Drake
and Princeton
Miami Pioneers and
Natives of Dade
Daniel Patrick O’Connell
October 8, 2022

2. Miami Herald
20 December 1955
2

3. Gaston Drake born 8/23/1871 at
1406 Lucas Place, St. Louis
3
Source: Campbell House
Museum, St. Louis

4. Gaston (1871), Trusten (1873),
Bertrand (1875) & James (1877) Drake
4

5. Gaston’s Maternal Grandfather:
U.S. Sen. Trusten Polk (1811-1876)
5
Source: Campbell House
Museum, St. Louis

6. 1/10/1862: Trusten Polk
Expelled from U.S. Senate
6
Chicago Tribune,
1/11/1862

7. Gaston’s Maternal Grandmother:
Elizabeth Newberry Skinner (1819-1896)
7
City of Alton Steamship
Alton Telegraph, 10/8/2017

8. Gaston’s Mother:
Cornelia Bredell Polk (1844-1895)
8
Patapsco Female Institute,
Ellicott City, MD

9. Gaston’s Paternal Grandfather:
Dr. Gaston Drake (1809-1884)
9
Drake-Northrup House,
Greensboro, AL

10. Gaston’s Father:
James Elias Drake (1843-1877)
10
 1860-1862:
Southern University (right)
 1862-1863:
University of Alabama
 1865-1867:
University of Virginia
 December 1867: Joins Polk & Causey in St. Louis
 November 1869: Partner in Polk, Causey & Drake
 October 1870: Marries Cornelia Polk

11. South to Florida (1871-1874)
Selma (AL) Times-Argus, 12/12/1873
11
A Trip on the Oklawaha,
Frank Hamilton Taylor, 1880
Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, FL

12. St. Johns, Lake Eustis & Gulf Railroad
James E. Drake, Founder (1875-1879)
12
James E. Drake,
St. Johns & Lake Eustis Engine #1
Manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Works,
Philadelphia, August 1879

13. Yalaha on Lake Harris (1874-1883)
13

14. Boarding School in Philadelphia
(1883-1890)
14
Watercolor sketch of Ury House
Benjamin Latrobe, 1800s
Library of Congress
Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/10/1889

15. Princeton (1890-1893)
15

16. Princeton (1890-1893)
16
Woodrow Wilson ’79
Professor of Jurisprudence &
Political Economy, 1890-1902
University President, 1902-1910
Gaston Drake ’94
Special Student
Pitcher for Baseball Team

17. Coming to Miami (1894-1902)
17
 1894-1895: Drake Point
Orange Grove, Yalaha
 1896-1897: Liggett & Meyer
Tobacco, St. Louis
 1898: J. Kennard Sons Carpet
(& Polk Estate Co.), St. Louis
 1899-1901: Fruit & vegetable
broker, Nassau, Bahamas
 1902: Drake Produce, Miami

18. Raising the Infante Maria Teresa (1900)
18
Our Navy in Time of War,
Franklin Matthews, 1899
Kansas City Star, 3/30/1900

19. Drilling for Oil in Florida (1901)
19
Ocala Evening Star, 7/31/1901
Lucas Gusher at Spindletop
Beaumont, TX, 1/10/1901

20. Drake Produce (1902-1906)
20
Miami River looking east, with Flagler’s
Royal Palm Hotel on far left, early 1900s

21. Drake Produce: North bank of Miami River
at foot of Avenue E (S.W. 1st Avenue)
21
Sanborn Map Company
April 1903

22. FEC to Homestead (1903-1904)
22
Henry Flagler, 1830-1913
First FECRy passenger train to Miami,
4/22/1896. Engine #12 sold to Drake Lumber,
1914.

23. Key West Extension of
Florida East Coast Railway (1905-1912)
23

24. Dade County Pine
24

25. Drake Lumber Company (1906)
25

26. Lumber to New Jersey (1908)
26

27. “FEC is straight behind us with
their orders” (1909)
27
Quindecennial
Record of the
Class of 1894,
June 1909

28. Drake Lumber Shipped into Key
West on the Over-Sea Railroad
28

29. Shutts, Fisher & the Collins Bridge
(1911-1913)
29

30. Vizcaya (1914-1916)
30

31. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
31

32. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
32

33. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
33

34. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
34

35. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
35

36. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
36

37. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
37

38. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
38

39. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
39

40. Company Town of Princeton, Florida
40

41. Silver Green Cemetery, Princeton
41

42. Fire in Princeton (1924)
42
Miami News, 3/31/1924

43. Rebirth in Kelsey City (1924)
16

44. The Kelsey City Brewing Co. (2020)
44
“When Harry Kelsey needed lumber to build his
city, he turned to Gaston Drake. Drake Lumber
moved its entire operation from Miami-Dade County
to build an enormous sawmill just outside of town.
This mill went on to harvest over 3,000 acres of
pine, providing finished lumber to Kelsey City.”
“Drake Lumber Company was moving so much lumber
through Kelsey City that a train was the only thing that
could keep up, so Drake purchased his very own. The
steam engine and tracks ran 25 miles through the
pinelands and plantations along what is now Northlake
Boulevard.”

45. Drilling for Oil in Florida II (1930-1931)
45
Miami News, 3/8/1931
Miami News, 6/29/1930

46. Prohibition Agent (“Prohi”) (1933)
46
Miami Herald, 7/21/1933
Joseph F.
Guffey ‘94
Breckinridge
Long ‘04

47. Replace Linen with Ramie (1938)
47
Miami Herald,
5/22/1938

48. Railey-Milam Hardware (1910-1954)
16

49. Drake Lumber Yard (1908-1940)
49

50. Mary Eleanor Robinson (1885-1974)
50
 6/6/1906: 34-year-old Gaston
married 21-year-old Mary Robinson
 Mary was graduate of Florida
Agricultural College in Lake City
 Gaston moved from boarding house at
1300 Ave. B to summer cottage on 12th St.
Miami Metropolis, 5/25/1906 Miami Record, 5/24/1906

51. 1014 Boulevard (1906-1911)
51
West side of Biscayne
Boulevard, between
N.E. 1st and N.E. 2nd
Streets
Biscayne Bay Yacht
Club in 1909, with
1014 Boulevard in
background

52. Gaston Jr., Polly, Cornelia
52
 Gaston Jr.:
Born 3/13/1907
Died 5/21/1908
 Mary Polk (Polly):
Born 2/11/1909
 Cornelia Hartsell:
Born 11/1/1912
Miami News, page 1, 5/22&25/1908

53. The Lost Watch (1907)
Miami News-Record, 12/11/1907 53

54. N.E. 27th Street, Buena Vista (1911-1920)
16
Miami News, 8/15/1911

55. Miami’s First Commuter (1911-1920)
55

56. Opening of Vizcaya (December, 1916)
56
The guests walked through chambers festooned with
Renaissance tapestries, paintings, Baroque and Rococo
carvings. Deering arrived in a gondola, stepping onto the
landing like a Medici. Mrs. Gaston Drake, Miami socialite,
came wearing a multi-hued dress with velvet bodice, linen
headscarf and holding a gypsy tambourine that she rattled
whenever being introduced.
Liquid Light: A Ramble through Old Coconut Grove,
Alastair Gordon, 10/19/2019

57. Goldcourt on Drake Avenue
57
Miami News,
10/16/1919

58. 447 N.E. 39th Street, Magnolia Park
(1920-1955)
16
Sanborn Map Company,
1921-1924
Sanborn Map Company,
1914

59. Astatula in the Berkshires (1925-1945)
59

60. Rose Blooms & Thorns (1930-1932)
60
Miami Herald,
2/1/1931
Miami News,
6/3/1932
Miami Herald,
7/3/1932

61. Princeton Club of South Florida (1926)
61
Miami Herald, 1/27/1926
Miami News, 1/19/1936

62. The Last Hunt (1954)
62
Mary Polk Drake Hoeffel
1955

63. Gaston Drake
(1871-1955)
63