North Miami is located in the state of Florida and a suburban city of Miami-Dade County and is in the northeastern part of Miami. It sits on Biscayne Bay and is home to the Biscayne Bay Campus of Florida International University. The area where the present-day North Miami stands was initially known as the town of Arch Creek and was changed to the Town of Miami Shores, and was then turned to the Town of North Miami in 1931. During the last few years of the Indian inhabitation, the site eventually came to be known as North Miami. And in 1856, the United States Army soldier cut through the nearly impassable rivers and thickets that connected Fort Lauderdale to Fort Dallas going through the mouth of Miami River. Even before the 1890s, there were already several adventurer pioneers who had spent brief periods around the Arch Creek Natural Bridge, a centuries-old Indian settlement.