Florida Senate - 2018                            (NP)    SR 1816
       
       
        
       By Senator Campbell
       
       
       
       
       
       38-01385A-18                                          20181816__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing the City of Miami on the
    3         occasion of the 122nd anniversary of its
    4         incorporation.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, before the Spanish claimed the land along the
    7  Miami River in the 1500s, it was a Tequesta Indian settlement
    8  named for a word in their language meaning “big water,” and
    9         WHEREAS, when the Spanish established a mission on the
   10  river’s north bank in the late 1500s, the Tequestas were
   11  targeted for conversion to Christianity and subsequently
   12  perished after contracting smallpox and other European
   13  introduced diseases, and
   14         WHEREAS, a wave of Native Americans migrated to South
   15  Florida in the 1700s, including the “Cimarron,” or “wild men” in
   16  Spanish, later known as the Seminole tribe, and
   17         WHEREAS, after Florida was purchased from Spain and became
   18  part of the United States in 1819, three major wars were waged
   19  by the Seminoles against the government, slowing the settlement
   20  of the Miami area by white pioneers, and
   21         WHEREAS, in the 1840s, plantation owner William English
   22  established the Village of Miami on the south bank of the Miami
   23  River, and wealthy widow Julia Tuttle established a large citrus
   24  plantation on the north side of the river, and
   25         WHEREAS, Julia Tuttle, along with William and Mary
   26  Brickell, persuaded railroad magnate Henry Flagler to extend his
   27  railroad line to Miami, and
   28         WHEREAS, the City of Miami was incorporated in 1896,
   29  boasting 444 residents, infrastructure, and a resort hotel
   30  financed by Flagler, and
   31         WHEREAS, Miami became an instant tourist attraction and
   32  retreat for the rich and famous, earning the nickname “the Magic
   33  City” and prompting several real estate booms, and
   34         WHEREAS, during one of the real estate booms, John Collins
   35  and Carl Fisher transformed Miami Beach into a tourist haven,
   36  and
   37         WHEREAS, Miami rebounded after a devastating hurricane in
   38  1926 and blossomed in the post-hurricane development years, and
   39         WHEREAS, Miami today is still evolving as an international
   40  port and tourist destination and as a gateway for global
   41  industries establishing footholds in the United States, and
   42         WHEREAS, the City of Miami is led by Mayor Francis Suarez,
   43  City Manager Daniel J. Alfonso, Chair Keon Hardemon, Vice Chair
   44  Ken Russell, and commissioners Wifredo Gort, Frank Carollo, and
   45  Manolo Reyes, NOW, THEREFORE,
   46  
   47  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   48  
   49         That the City of Miami is recognized on the occasion of the
   50  122nd anniversary of its incorporation.