James Madison Knight (1879-1953) grew up in the Rays Mill District of Berrien County, GA; He was a great grandson of William Anderson Knight, pioneer settler of the district. His father was Ulysses A. Knight (1859-1934); his mother Mary J. Baskin (1861-1902). His father briefly served as postmaster of Rays Mill, GA. After attending Grand Bay School, near Ray’s Mill (now Ray City, GA), J.M. Knight attended Stanley’s Business College at Thomasville, GA. Other Rays Mill students at the college were Lane Young and W. D. Sloan. In 1904 J.M. Knight moved to Florida where he became a general contractor.
Image source: Pete Mohney
A biographical sketch of James M. Knight appeared in Cuthbert’s History of Florida, Volume 3, published in 1923:
James M. Knight, prominent contractor and builder at Miami, is a master of several of the basic arts involved in the building construction, and long mechanical skill and experience give him great advantage in directing his present organization and equipment for handling every class of building construction.
Mr. Knight was born near Valdosta, Georgia, in 1880, and represents a lineage that has been in Berrien County, Georgia, from earliest pioneer times. One of the earliest settlers there was his Great-grandfather [William Anderson] Knight, a rifle maker, who made many of the guns with which warfare was carried against Cherokee Indians. Mr. Knight’s ancestors were soldiers in the Indian wars, the Revolution, and later on the Confederate side in the war between the states. His two grandfathers, Jonathan H. Knight and J. N. [James Madison] Baskin, built the famous and historic school at Grand Bay, in Berrien County. Mr. Knight’s father, [Ulysses] Hugh A. Knight, came to Florida some years ago, and owns one of the finest farms in the state, a large place near Arcadia, stocked with fine cattle and containing citrus groves.
James M. Knight grew up on a Georgia farm, and from an early age took his place between the plow handles. His excellent education was due largely to the splendid Grand Bay school mentioned above. There he was an appreciative pupil under Dr. R. C. Woodard, then principal. Doctor Woodard was a teacher of genuine distinction, one who not only instilled learning, but character, into his pupils. After an honorary career as a school man Doctor Woodard took up the practice of medicine, and is now highly esteemed in his profession in Miami. James M. Knight also finished a course at Stanley’s Business College at Thomasville, Georgia.
His years were industriously spent on the farm until he was twenty-three. Then, in 1904, having learned the trade of stone mason, he came to Florida, locating at Tampa, and made the building trade his permanent business. After spending several years in building operations in and around Tampa and after a short period in the central part of the state, he came early in 1917 to Miami. Here he has been one of the busy contractors. One of his first large jobs as superintendent of construction was the Clyde Court Apartments. His business has involved both business and residence structures at Miami and Miami Beach. A few examples of his work that may be mentioned as an indication of the character and scope of his business include two large residences for Carl Fisher at Miami Beach, the beautiful home of E. B. Kurtz in Magnolia Park, the plastering and masonry contracts on the Ohio Hotel, the Keystone Hotel, the Leamington Hotel, the new building of the South Atlantic Telephone Company, and he was the builder of the drug store of Dr. D. S. Boles on Northeast Second Avenue, the Llewellen Building on North Miami Avenue, the Bishop Apartments on Miami Beach, the Municipal Warehouse, Municipal Dock for the City of Miami, and many other noted structures.
Mr. Knight is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Stanton Memorial Baptist Church. He married Miss Mary J. Swann, of Savannah, Georgia. They have three sons, G. B. [Girth Baskin Knight], U. A. [Ulysses A. Knight] and J. E. [James Earle] Knight.
In 1920, J.M. Knight formed a partnership with George Lomas and for four years did business as the firm of Knight & Lomas. The company completed a large number of buildings before dissolving in 1924.
On New Years Day, 1924 The Miami News-Metropolis did a piece on the firm, in which it was observed the company was doing much to build up the city. About Knight, it was said,
J. M. Knight is a native of Georgia, in which state, in his earlier days, he followed the plow in fields of cotton, sugar cane and sweet potatoes, but as long as the demand continues in Miami for new buildings he has no intention of returning to the Goober state and the fields. He has his comfortable home in Miami, and prefers this to all localities he has seen.
But J.M. Knight was proud of his Georgia heritage. He and his sons were prime organizers in the Dade County Georgia Society. In 1922, the society put on a huge barbeque for the 4th of July. Among the south Georgians who removed to Miami were Lester Griffin & family, Lawson S. Rentz, Dr. D. Frank Rentz, and Benjamin L. Wilkerson.
During the Miami boom years from 1923 to 1926 J.M. Knight partnered with his brother Oliph May Knight under the name of Knight Construction Company. O.M. Knight invented and patented a cruise control device for automobiles, and built a manufacturing plant in Atlanta, GA.
The boom period in Miami construction ended with the Great Miami Hurricane of 1926. The Conners, of Ray City, GA were among Berrien County residents vacationing in south Florida when the storm hit. Lester Griffin’s family, who had moved to Fort Lauderdale, FL narrowly escaped the disaster, as they were visiting relatives in south Georgia; Lester Griffin rode out the storm in Fort Lauderdale.
The 1926 storm was described by the U.S. Weather Bureau in Miami as “probably the most destructive hurricane ever to strike the United States.” It hit Fort Lauderdale, Dania, Hollywood, Hallandale and Miami. The death toll is estimated to be from 325 to perhaps as many as 800. No storm in previous history had done as much property damage.
1926 Miami: The blow that broke the boom
About 1928, James Madison Knight left Miami and moved to Birmingham, AL.
Related Posts:
- Ray City Residents Among Refugees from 1926 Hurricane
- Family of Lester Griffin
- Obituary of Dr. L.S. Rentz
- James M. Baskin Loses Sawmill Equipment
- Civil War Service of James Madison Baskin
- James Madison Baskin Settled at Beaver Dam Creek.
- A note on the Estate of William Anderson Knight
Ray City History Blog 