Edward (Edmund) Arnold Nolan Miami FL Architect

Edward Arnold Nolan born February 7, 1874 in Elkton, Giles, TEnnessee. He moved from Tennessee to Missippi then North Carolina and Florida with his parents when he was eight years old. He grew up in Tampa and Ocala in Central Florida. In Tampa he worked for General Pulman and went with him and Teddy Roosevelt when the Spanish American War started in 1895. He went to Pureto Rico as a civilian courier during the Spanish American War.  He bought Margerita a black dress with feathers, which she did not like. But there are pictures of her wearing the dress in Puerto Rico. He was just over 21 and his dad was a successful builder and Orange grower in the Ocala, Florida, area. 

 He was on a horse one day and the horse kicked down a tent.  The occupant of the tent was furious and let out a stream of explitives.  That occupant was Theodore Roosevelt.  The story goes that Ed cursed out TR in return, for he was a civilian and not subject to Courts Marshal. He never liked Roosevelt after that incident.

After the war, General Woods (or Miles) got Edward a job in Indianappolis working on the
Street Railway.  When he came to the defence of a woman he was fired.  He then worked as a fireman for the Burlington Railway, and went to school nights studing Architecture at the
Chicago Avenue Technical School.  With this training he gained work with a Mr. Creedon, a
Contractor in Omaha, as a draftsman.
Edward then moved his family to Miami, Florida where he got a job as a Deputy Sheriff. 
His son Charlie told a story that Ed killed a black man on the steps of the Dade County Court House.  There has not been a confirmation of this story. 
One day as Edward walked down the steet in Miami he passed a dress shop.  Suddenly he
went in side and bought all the dresses in the window for his daughters.  Edward was an
architect for the rest of his life and his son Charlie worked for him  the teens and 1920's
and again in 1940 and 41. The first building that we have identified as done by Edward was the Chamberlain Appartments done in 1916. He was probably still a Deputy Shariff.

Edward did many small hotel and appartment designs on Miami Beach and in Coral Gables from 1916 till the 1940's. He was still working when he died in 1948. It is also believed he did designs in Tyler, Texas, in the 1930's.

He passed away on July 9th, 1948, in Coral Gables, Florida. He and his wife Margaret are burried in a cemetary in South Miami with one of their children that died early.