Kyphoplasty in North Miami, FL

In the final phase of Indian inhabitation of the area that eventually became “North Miami”, United States Army soldiers in 1856 cut a Military Trail through nearly impassable thickets and rivers connecting Fort Lauderdale to Fort Dallas at the mouth of the Miami River. This eight-foot trail, Dade County’s first roadway, crossed a unique natural bridge — a natural limestone bridge spanning 40 feet (12 m) across the creek that no longer stands in Arch Creek Memorial Park — in an area that would attract a settlement that early on would be known as “Arch Creek”. Even before 1890, a handful of adventuresome pioneers spent brief periods around the Arch Creek Natural Bridge, a centuries-old Indian settlement.

In 1891, Mr. Ilhe was the first to put down roots in the Arch Creek vicinity. He purchased 80 acres (320,000 m²) from the State of Florida at one dollar an acre in the area of today’s N.E. 116th Street and Biscayne Boulevard. The place was so remote that his nearest northern neighbor was thought to live in Ft. Lauderdale. Mr. Ihle built a temporary palmetto frond shelter. During the next 27 years he grew shallots, coontie, squashes, bananas, sugar cane, Puerto Rican pineapples, lemons, guavas, limes, rose apples, Jamaican apples, and tomatoes.

By 1905 the area surrounding the nine-year-old Arch Creek Railroad Depot had become the community’s hub. It was located at 125th Street and the F.E.C. tracks. That year a post office and a school were opened nearby. By 1912, eighteen homes, a church, a general store, a blacksmith shop, and two tomato packing houses were located around the railroad. The population was estimated at less than one hundred. Farming was still the principal occupation.