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Miami Living
The first South Floridians were the
Tequesta Indians, who discovered the area more than 10,000 years
ago
and had it all to themselves until
the Spanish claimed it in the 16th Century. In 1821, the Spanish
flag was lowered and the Stars and Stripes
raised over Florida. Enterprising wreckers from the Bahamas came
to South Florida and the Keys in the early 19th Century, to hunt
for the remains of an international array of ill-fated ships that
crashed onto the treacherous Great Florida reef.
At about the same time, the Seminoles
arrived, along with a group of runaway slaves. They fought to stay
in Florida, and the area became a war zone from 1836 until 1857,
with most non-Indian residents being soldiers stationed at Fort
Dallas on the Miami River. Some of these soldiers and a few other
adventurous frontier settlers gave Miami yet another new,
foreign-born population. At war's end, many of the Indians
remained in the Everglades.
The
Bahamians who stayed became Miami's first permanent residents and
helped found South Florida's first real community, Coconut Grove.
The area's greatest change came
thanks to a visionary Cleveland widow named Julia Tuttle, who
purchased 640 acres on the north bank of the Miami River in 1891,
moving her family into the abandoned Fort Dallas buildings. Within
four years, Tuttle -- the "mother of Miami" -- convinced Standard
Oil co-founder Henry Flagler to extend his railroad to Miami,
build a luxury hotel, and lay out a new town. The railroad arrived
in 1896.
The City of Miami was incorporated
on July 28 that same year.
All kinds of people flocked to the new
city, which was never an ordinary Southern town. Miami's first
mayor was an Irish Catholic. Most of the early merchants were
Jewish. African Americans and Black Bahamians made up one-third of
the city's incorporators.
Greater
Miami never lacked for forward thinkers, including John Collins (a
New Jersey Quaker) and Prest-O-Lite king
Carl Fisher,
who together in 1913 embarked on an agriculture venture on a spit
of oceanfront beach and started a bridge across the bay.
Miami Beach was born.
During the
Depression, Pan American Airways launched the era of modern
aviation with "Flying Clippers" from Miami's Dinner Key. Even
then, Pan Am advertised Miami as the "Gateway to the Americas."
Today, Greater Miami has overtaken New York's JFK as the nation's
leading gateway for international arrivals with 5.1 million
international travelers arriving in the U.S. through Miami in
1994.
Also
during the Depression, another new group, predominantly Jewish,
came to Miami Beach and built a large number of small hotels with
stark modern lines along lower Collins Avenue and Ocean Drive.
This building boom helped bring the area out of the Depression and
forty years later would become the world-famous Art Deco District,
which includes the internationally renowned South Beach area.
World War II
brought another 100,000 people to Greater Miami and the Beaches
when the Army Air Corps and the navy established major training
centers. Many of these servicemen made the area their permanent
home after the war. By the end of the 1950s, South Florida had
doubled its pre-war population.
When Fidel Castro
took over Cuba in 1959, no one dreamed that the revolution would
change Miami as much as Cuba. The Cuban exiles who were just
beginning to pour into the area were bringing the next Miami with
them. The '60s and '80s brought mind-boggling change as more than
half-a-million Cuban exiles fled to Miami to start a new life.
These enterprising refugees launched the area into its future as
what many call the "Capital of the Americas."
The 1980s and early '90s brought a multi-billion dollar infusion
of investment capital that produced a beautiful new Miami downtown
skyline, a reborn Miami Beach, a modernized transportation
infrastructure and a new way of life that features the arts,
culture, sports and entertainment, all with an international
accent. Although it has changed almost beyond recognition (again),
Miami Beach has thrived amidst change and overcome many
difficulties.
Greater Miami and
the City of Miami Beach continue to be an international mecca for
travel, business and to establish a home.
History
From the coral reefs to the everglades the unique subtropical
environment of South Florida makes this area unlike any other in
the United States. Four hundred years ago the area was a center of
international rivalry between the English and French to the north
and the Spanish to the south. When the United States gained
possession of Florida, the major industry was “wrecking” – living
off the spoils from shipwrecks caused by sailing too close to the
coral reefs. Early settlements were located near the Miami River
and Biscayne Bay. In 1825 a lighthouse was built on Key Biscayne
to warn passing ships of the dangerous reefs.
The modern era
began with the arrival of Henry Flagler’s railroad in 1896. A
system of drainage canals began to crisscross the area after the
turn of the century. The destruction of mangroves and draining
swampland created new land for settlers. In the 1920s a real
estate boom changed the area as new subdivisions and tourist
resorts were built. From one winter season to the next the City of
Miami changed so rapidly that visitors remarked that it had “grown
like magic” and Miami came to be know as the “Magic City.”
During World War II
the military brought thousands of troops to the area for training.
When the war ended many returned with their families to live here
permanently. A growth surge in population followed the war and the
number of tourists began a steady increase as advancements in
transportation helped Miami-Dade become a year-round resort.
Miami -- The
name comes from Mayaimi, which means "very large lake" and
probably refers to Lake Okeechobee. The Miami River marked the
beginning of a canoe trail through the everglades to the big lake.
In the 1960s
thousands of refugees from Cuba began coming into the area. In the
1990s Haitians fled their homeland to come here seeking a better
life. Emigration helped the County’s
population surpass one million in 1962. Today many
different ethnic groups and cultures live in this modern
metropolitan community.
When European ships
first arrived on the South Florida coast Native American peoples
called the Tequesta already inhabited the area.
The first people to
live in the area, perhaps as long as 10,000 years ago, were nomads
following herds of big game animals such as mammoth and bison. As
these animals became extinct, the people turned to smaller game,
along with fish and shellfish. Miami-Dade County’s archaeologist
has uncovered evidence of these early peoples. The county is one
of a very few to have its own archeologist on staff.
In 1998 archaeologists
uncovered the “Miami Circle,” a series of holes cut into the
oolitic limestone forming a 38-foot diameter circle located on the
south side of the mouth of the Miami River. Radiocarbon testing of
artifacts found at the site suggests that it is about 2,000 years
old and that it served as a ceremonial site long after the arrival
of the Europeans.
Juan
Ponce de Leon visited the area in 1513. Two years after founding
St. Augustine, Spanish Admiral Pedro
Menendez de Aviles established the first European mission on the
Miami River’s north bank in 1567.
Hostile Indians and mosquitoes soon forced them to leave. The
Spanish controlled Florida for the next 250 years, bringing with
them modern weapons and diseases that eventually caused the
Tequestas to vanish. In the early 1800s a few Bahamian families
accepted Spain’s offer of land and began to settle and farm land
along the Miami River.
Spain sold Florida to the United States
for five million dollars in 1821. By 1830 the Bahamian lands along
the river were purchased and became a slave plantation. A barracks
built by the slaves was relocated to downtown’s Lummus Park in the
1920s.
A
series of wars against the Seminoles kept the environment hostile
to settlers. During the Second Seminole War army troops and navy
sailors built Fort Dallas on the north bank of the mouth of the
Miami River. At the end of the nineteenth century Henry Flagler
built his elegant Royal Palm Hotel on the site so that travelers
on his train would have a place to stay when they came to Miami.
When the county was created in 1836, it stretched from Indian Key
to Jupiter inlet. By the late 1890s there were fewer than 1,000
residents in all of Dade County.
Indian Key was the first county seat,
home to a new courthouse where the bounty from wrecked ships was
awarded. The Key West courts were too busy and too far from the
eastern keys, so locals persuaded the state to split Monroe and
form a new county.
In 1844 the County seat was moved to
Miami. Six years later a census reported 96 residents living the
area.
Following the Civil War and the passing
of the Homestead Act, determined homesteaders slowly began staking
claims and farming the land.
Rapid development followed the arrival of the railroad 1896. The
City of Miami was incorporated later that year with 344 voters.
The real estate boom of the 1920s was
interrupted by a major hurricane and halted by the stock market
crash and the Great Depression. On August 24, 1992 one of the
country’s worst disasters caused more than $20 billion in damage
when Hurricane Andrew hit Miami-Dade County.
Since that time communities have been
rebuilt and today tourism and transportation continue to be the
major local industries.
Dade – On February 4, 1836 the Florida legislature voted to
name the new county for Major Francis
Langhorne Dade who was massacred by Indians in north central
Florida at the beginning of the Second Seminole War on December
28, 1835.
Sightseeing

RESTORATION UNDERWAY AT VIZCAYA VILLAGE
Most people
know Vizcaya as the lavish Italianate villa on Biscayne Bay,
surrounded by formal gardens. But Miami's beloved Renaissance
masterpiece was originally an estate of 180 acres. The property on
which Chicago industrialist James Deering built his winter home
extended south to where Mercy Hospital now stands and west to
include the neighborhood of Bay Heights.
Also on the
west side of South Miami Avenue, Deering created an area to
resemble a typical northern Italian village, with a dairy barn,
poultry house, mule stable, greenhouse, machine shop and staff
residences. Miami-Dade County had until recently occupied this
historic cluster of buildings.
Vizcaya
Museum, along with the Foundation for Villa Vizcaya and the State
of Florida, announces the commencement of a $1.2 million
restoration project at Vizcaya Village. The initial phase of the
restoration will be to renovate the Garage and Blacksmith's Shop,
including new roofing. New roofs will also be added to the Family
Residence and the East and West Gate Houses, providing
stabilization for future restoration of those buildings. Expected
completion of this phase is April 2003. The master plan is
underway to determine how the Village buildings will be utilized.
Vizcaya, the
winter home of International Harvester vice president James
Deering, offers a unique glimpse of a vanished lifestyle in
America.
Today one of
South Florida's leading attractions, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
provides a window to both the history of Miami, graced by the
villa since it completion in 1916; and to the Italian Renaissance,
represented in the Museum's architecture. Its art and furnishings
portray 400 years of European history.
Vizcaya was
originally an estate of 180 acres, designed to resemble a typical
Italian villa, self-sufficient, with a dairy, poultry house, mule
stable, greenhouse, and staff residences. The house and gardens
are the creation of three architects: F. Burrall Hoffman designed
the buildings; Diego Suarez planned the gardens; and Paul Chalfin
was the general artistic supervisor for every phase of the
project. Together they created an estate that looked as if it had
been lived in by succeeding generations of the same family with
each generation adding their own period furnishings of the time.
All of the decorative elements including furniture, lighting
fixtures, doors and fireplaces were purchased by Deering on
shopping expeditions throughout Europe. The house took two years
to build. The formal gardens were not completed until 1921 due to
the outbreak of World War I. During construction, 1,000 workers
were employed, representing nearly 10% of Miami's population.
After
Deering's death in 1925, a minimal staff maintained the house. The
hurricane of 1926, which devastated much of Miami, severely
damaged the estate. In 1952, Miami-Dade County purchased Vizcaya
and opened it as a museum. Extensive restoration has brought the
house and the remaining 50 acres back to the way they appeared in
Deering's day.
Nearly
200,000 people visit Vizcaya each year including some of the
world's leading dignitaries such as President Reagan, Pope John
Paul II, Queen Elizabeth of England and King Juan Carlos I and
Queen Sofia of Spain. In 1994, the historic Summit of the Americas
was held at Vizcaya with President Clinton and the 34 leaders of
the Western Hemisphere.
Vizcaya,
possessing national significance to the history of the United
States, has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Vizcaya
is accredited by the American Association of Museums.
In 1998,
Miami-Dade County Commissioners officially granted governing
authority to the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens Trust.
The rooms of
industrialist James Deering's winter residence, now Miami's
landmark Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, provide visitors with a
glimpse of a long-lost lifestyle, as well as the finest collection
of 15th through 19th century furniture and decorative arts in
America.
More than 85
years ago, when Deering set out to build his winter estate in the
then-infant city of Miami, he enlisted the assistance a young New
York painter named Paul Chalfin. Together they made buying trips
to Europe to select and purchase the important architectural
components, furniture and art for the house. These included wall
panels, ceilings, mantels, tapestries, sculptures and paintings.
Deering was not an art
collector in the manner of many other wealthy men of his time.
Consequently, while each of the 34 rooms of the Italian
Renaissance style villa convey the general feeling of a particular
period style, with its historic art and furnishings, the items
were selected by Deering to actually be used in the house by
himself and his guests. In addition, they were chosen to create
the impression that Vizcaya was the home of a family over a
400-year span, and furnished by succeeding generations in their
own contemporary styles. Consistent with that concept, the periods
represented through the house are Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and
Neoclassic.
The
reception room, styled after a Rococo salon, demonstrated how
effective this concept was and how the acquired elements were
brought together. The room's 18th century plaster ceiling came
from the Rossi Palace in Venice and the wall silks, made by
Scalamandre of New York, are exact copies of the original 18th
century French silk wall panels that previously graced the house.
The room is illuminated by an 18th century Venetian chandelier.
The French furniture of the Louis XV period is set on an 18th
century Portuguese rug.
The adjacent
Adam Library is furnished in the late 18th century English
Neoclassic style, incorporating the molded wall and ceiling
decoration designs of Robert Adam. A mahogany center table is
American. The 18th century inlaid desk, featuring a frieze of
swan, squirrel, giraffe, winged unicorn and griffonne is French. A
pair of delicate shield-back chairs is Italian but inspired by
English Hepplewhite designs. The library connects to the Reception
Room via a mahogany walk-through bookcase.
Chalfin
displayed the talent of combining elements from different sources
to create complete components such as fireplace mantels, lamps or
wardrobes. A 16th century Caen mantelpiece, for example, is
combined with a Chalfin-designed statuary group to create the
massive fireplace that dominates the Renaissance Hall. And a 17th
century Neapolitan painting of the Virgin with Saints screens a
pipe organ, framed by baroque columns and entablature, which may
have been a church altar.
Similarly, Vizcaya's guest
bedrooms feature different period designs and furnishings, and are
identified by exotic names suggestive of the design theme. The
guestroom called Manin is named for the president of the 1848
Venetian republic and is furnished in the Biedermeir style, a
provincial version of the Empire style popular in Austria, which
dominated Venice at the time. The 18th century European
interpretation of Chinese themes, Chinoiserie, set the whimsical
mood in the Cathay Room. A canopied-bed and other Italian painted
furniture are
enhanced flowered Chinese silk wall panels.
James Deering's own suite
covers several Neoclassic
periods. In the sitting room, Italian
carved wood paneling frames Louis XVI silk panels on the walls and
the massive mahogany desks are French Empire. A richly colored
French Savonnerie rug dates from the early 19th century. His
adjoining bedroom contains elements such as a gold laurel wreath
on the ceiling, bed drapery supported by a bronze eagle and
gold-decorated mahogany furniture of the Napoleonic French Empire
period.
Deering's bathroom features a linen ceiling canopy, suggestive of
a Napoleonic campaign tent. The marble walls are decorated with
Sheffield silver plaques.
Since
Vizcaya was acquired by Miami-Dade County in 1952, the main house
and its contents have undergone extensive restoration. The house
had been unoccupied since Deering's death in 1925. Consequently,
the effects of South Florida's humid climate, the salt air of the
Bay and neglect had taken their toll. In 1987, the open courtyard
was enclosed in glass. Although the courtyard allowed the flow of
bay breezes through the house, the need to preserve the
collection, as well as the building itself, necessitated the
installation of a climate-control system.
Educational
Programs
| Film & Photo
Permits |
Membership |
Image Gallery
|
Evening Rental
Guide |
Calendar of Events |
Planning Your
Visit |
Contact Us
About Vizcaya

Miami Sporting Entertainment
Miami
is a

Coconut Grove is known for its artsy flavor with
Renaissance-style castles, popular festivals and endless
nightlife. Miami
also boasts unique attractions, such as the Miami Metro-zoo,
Viscaya Museum and Gardens, Miami Seaquarium, Ichimura Miami-Japan
Gardens and the Parrot Jungle and Gardens. Fairchild Tropical
Garden in Coral Gables includes 83-acres of tropical plants
from around the world, conservatory, museum, rainforest, garden
shop, cafe and narrated tram tours.
When the sun goes down, Miami nightlife heats up with hundreds
of nightspots, including cozy taverns, hip jazz bars, and trendy
dance clubs. Definitely a place to "see and be seen," Miami has
long enjoyed a reputation as a playground for the rich and famous,
and celebrities can often be found reveling in one of the many
fashionable nightspots.
Often referred to as the "Gateway to Latin America," Miami's
flavor is heavily influenced by the confluence of cultures that
meet in this diverse urban area. Ethnic food, artwork and crafts
abound in the area, as well as many colorful festivals and events.
Little Havana, Miami's most concentrated Cuban community, is
centered around Calle Ocho (S.W. 8th Street), where
visitors can enjoy steaming cups of café con leche or shop for
exquisitely embroidered guayabera shirts and cigars made in the
finest Cuban tradition. The city's Caribbean community is centered
around Little Haiti, where Caribbean culture melds with American
spirit. Be sure to stop by the Marketplace, an unusual shopping
area noted for its unique architecture.

|
Miami Metrozoo
Directions |
Print |
|
Address |
12400
SW 152 Street
Miami, Florida 33177 |
|
Phone Number |
(305) 251-0400 |
|
Hours of Operation |
Every day of the year (incl.
holidays) 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Admission gates close at 4:00 p.m. |
|
Amenities and Facilities |
 |
One of the world's great zoos is right
here in Miami-Dade County. Metrozoo houses more than 900 wild
animals in a cageless setting that closely approximates the
animals' natural habitats and gives the visitor the feeling of
embarking on an international safari. Large, open-air exhibits
allow visitors to enjoy beautiful and endangered wildlife at a
safe yet remarkably close range. With nearly 300 developed acres
on a 740-acre parcel of land, Metrozoo is the only zoo in the
continental United States located in a subtropical climate. This
enables the Zoo to showcase animals that cannot easily be
exhibited in colder climates. Trek through Asia and see Asian
River Otters, Komodo Dragons, and Bengal Tigers. Hike the African
Plains with giraffes, zebras, and lions. Walk about Australia with
koalas, kangaroos, and wallabies.
Tours/Services
Metrozoo offers guided tram tours, fascinating behind-the-scenes
tours, a free elevated air-conditioned monorail tour,
state-of-the-art playgrounds and water play areas for children,
dining areas scattered throughout the Park, and souvenir/gift
shops.
Location/Cost
Metrozoo is located at 12400 SW 152nd Street, ½ mile west of the
Florida Turnpike Extension in Miami, 3 miles west of U.S. 1 and 20
minutes southwest of Miami International Airport. It is open every
day of the year, including holidays, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.,
with admission gates closing at 4:00 p.m. Admission is $8.95 plus
tax for adults, $4.75 plus tax for children ages 3-12. Free for
children under 3 and members. Rates are subject to change. For
information call (305) 251-0400.
Event Planning
For picnics, company and group get-togethers, conventions,
meetings, parties and school reunions (minimum 100 people), call
the Metrozoo Sales Department at (305) 251-0400, ext. 246.
For birthday parties (minimum 20 people),
call (305) 233-8389.
Shows at Miami Metrozoo
12400 SW 152 Street
Miami, Florida 33177
(305) 251-0400
Get eye-to-eye with snakes, gators, the bearded lizard and much
more at the Ecology Theater in the Children's Zoo as you focus on
Florida's native animals. The enormously popular Wildlife Show in
the Amphitheater spotlights a variety of birds, reptiles and
mammals. Majestic hawks and vultures swoop overhead as they
demonstrate how they capture their prey in the wild. Amazon
parrots tickle your funny bone when they sing and imitate their
animal friends. And your breath is taken away when a sleek, very
rare king cheetah strolls out onto the stage.
Talk to the animal keepers and learn more about the Zoo's
fascinating animals. Keeper talks and animal feedings begin at
11:00 a.m. and run to 3:30 p.m. You'll find it hard to pull
yourself away from the keepers and the tiger, orangutan, Asian
river otter, meerkat, dromedary camel, pygmy hippopotamus,
chimpanzee, Himalayan black bear, giraffe, African elephant and
Galápagos tortoise.
Catch a ride on the
restored carousel by the sea at Crandon Park. The historic
carousel is at the heart of the new Family Amusement Center that
includes an old-fashioned outdoor roller rink, dolphin-shaped
splash fountain, and a host of marine play sculptures at the
beachfront playground. In 1972, the Carousel and roller rink were
locked up when the Crandon Zoo moved to South Dade. Left behind in
the dark silence were the historic jumping horses, crafted of wood
and molded aluminum in 1949 by the famous Allen Herschell Company.
Crandon Park Family Amusement
Center
Directions |
Print |
|
Address |
4000 Crandon Boulevard
Key Biscayne, Florida 33149 |
|
Phone Number |
(305) 361-7385 or (305) 361-5421 |
|
Hours of Operation |
10:00 am- 7:00 pm |
|
Amenities and Facilities |
 |
Today, the Carousel
swirls once again to the tunes of the soulful organ music that
first filled the air more than a generation ago. The brightly
painted horses recall the whimsy of a child's dream with their
pictures of dancing dolphins, butterflies, and pirates painted
onto their sides. With names like "Mercy," "Pretty Phoebe" and
"Danny Boy," the horses also immortalize the volunteers who
lovingly, painstakingly brought them back to life with fresh coats
of paint and much imagination.
The amusement area is
open daily from 10 AM-7 PM. A birthday picnic shelter at the
Amusement Area is also available for rentals. For more information
and directions, call the Crandon Park Beach office at
305-361-5421.
|
Larry and Penny Thompson Park
Directions |
Print |
|
Address |
12451
SW 184 Street
Miami, Florida 33177 |
Phone Number
E-mail |
(305) 232-1049
l&p_campground@miamidade.gov |
|
Hours of Operation |
Park: Sunrise to Sunset |
|
Amenities and Facilities |
|
Larry and Penny
Thompson Campground
Larry and Penny Thompson Campground is a first-class camping area
adjacent to world-famous Metrozoo. It has 270 acres of natural
South Florida woodland, bridle trails and hiking paths. The
Campground has 240 separate campsites for recreational vehicles,
with full electrical and water hook-ups, four large
restroom/laundry facilities with hot showers, a camp store, picnic
shelters, a large freshwater lake with its own beach and water
slide (open seasonally) (lifeguards on duty), a playground,
concession stand, a 20-station fitness course, access for the
disabled, a jogging and bike trail, and more. Pets are welcome,
but must be kept on a leash.
The camp ground is
open every day, with daily, weekly and monthly rentals; advance
seasonal reservations are available. Rates are $22.00 daily;
$135.00 weekly and $400.00 monthly and include full hook-up, water
and sewer and taxes. Tent sites are $10.00 nightly. For
reservations, call (305) 232-1049.
History and Natural Assets
Larry & Penny Thompson Park is dedicated to the memory of Larry
Thompson, a popular humorist and columnist with the Miami Herald
for more than 25 years. Mr. Thompson was a nature enthusiast and
advocate of park beautification. The parkland, which was once part
of the Richmond Naval Station, was acquired in December 1974 as
part of a 1,010 acre land transfer from the federal government and
included the Miami Metrozoo property.
In the campground, you'll see remnants of fruit groves, which once
belonged to the University of Miami. These groves acts a natural
buffer in the campground and feature avocado, mango and lychee
trees.
Larry & Penny Thompson is one of the last portions of wilderness
in Miami-Dade County, with wildflowers, palmettos, and rock
pinelands. The facility truly harmonizes the recreation experience
with Miami-Dade County finest natural assets.
TOP
Waterslide
Larry and Penny Thompson Park features three mammoth water
slides carved into a rock mountain. Each slide offers a different
sensation as sliders spill into a cool refreshing pool. There's
also a sandy white beach and clear blue lake that visitors boast
is "the ideal inland swimming spot." Nearby is a concession stand
that sells cold drinks and ice cream.
The slide is open
during the summer.
Admission to the slide
and beach is $4, adults; $3, children ages 3-17; $2.00, seniors
over age 62. Individuals must be at least four feet tall to ride
the slide. Beach only admission is $3, adults, $2.00, children
ages 3-17; $1.50, seniors over age 62.
|
Fruit and Spice Park
Directions |
Print |
|
Address |
24801 SW 187 Avenue
Homestead, Florida 33031 |
Phone Number
E-mail |
(305) 247-5727
fsp@miamidade.gov |
|
Hours of Operation |
Park:
Sunrise to Sunset |
|
Amenities and Facilities |
 |
Fruit and Spice Park Annual Calendar of Events (.pdf format)
In 1944, the Miami-Dade Park and Recreation Department established
the Fruit & Spice Park, the only garden park of its kind in the
United States, on 32 acres of fertile farmland in the area known
as the Redlands, 35 miles south of Miami. The Fruit and Spice Park
is internationally known for its more than 500 varieties of exotic
and subtropical fruit, nut, spice and herb trees and shrubs.
Visitors can sample and learn about many of these varieties and
take daily guided tours and naturalist-led workshops.
Among the park's many services are classes and tours of various
fruit and vegetable-growing regions, including farm tours and
fruit safaris, plus expert gardening and botanical advice. The
park has its own store, where visitors from around the world can
buy exotic and wonderful jellies, canned preserves, aromatic teas,
unusual seeds, cold fruit juices, plus an amazing selection of
books ranging from cookery to plant propagation.
The Fruit and Spice Park plays an important role in the
introduction of new crops to the public, and of providing new germ
plasm for nurseries, farms and backyard growers. The park has an
active exchange program with botanical gardens and parks in
Central American, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
Every January, more than 15,000 people flock to the annual Redland
Natural Arts Festival at the park, where local artisans, artists,
and gardeners display and sell their crafts. A like number of
participants attend the annual Asian-American Arts Festival, held
in March, to experience the culture and food of more than 40 Asian
nations. This festival has helped to bring many new and unusual
vegetables and fruits to the South Florida market.
Also of interest in the Park is one of the original coral rock
buildings constructed in South Florida in 1912. This structure
exemplifies early pioneer life in south Miami-Dade County.
|
The City
of Miami- facts and figures
Now
105 years old, Miami is part of the nation's eleventh
largest metropolitan area. Incorporated in 1896, Miami is
the only municipality conceived and founded by a woman -
Julia Tuttle. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami's
population in 1900 was 1,700 people. Today it is a city
rich in cultural and ethnic diversity with 362,470
residents, 60% of them foreign born. In physical size the
City is not large, encompassing only 34 square miles.
As the gateway to Latin
America and the Caribbean, Miami is a growing center of
international trade and commerce. Tourism is one of the
area's most important industries.
Millions of visitors flow
through Miami International each year. They come to do
business and enjoy the area's countless pleasures. They
also join millions of others who cruise to the Caribbean
from the busiest passenger cruise port in the world, the
Port of Miami.
The Miami Free Trade Zone,
the first and largest privately-owned and operated trade
zone in the world, provides importers and exporters with a
secure area to store, label, assemble, display and ship
commodities to and from almost 100 countries.
Exports and imports
processed through U.S. Customs in Miami have increased.
Miami's workforce has grown steadily during the past
decade. Approximately 160,000 new employees entered the
workforce in the past 10 years.
Miami is a center of world
finance with 135 financial institutions and foreign
agencies located here.
The film and TV industry
has experienced a tremendous economic growth, making Miami
one of the largest production centers in the nation. Last
year productions in the County, ranging from television
commercials and print ads to music videos and films,
totaled more than $200 million. The Miami-Dade Office of
Film, Print and Television helps facilitate productions,
and supplies the industry with no-cost permits and
location scouting. The office issued more than 2,000
production permits last year.
Agriculture continues to be
an important economic force. Miami-Dade County harvests
more tropical vegetables than any county in the U.S.
Miami-Dade also holds the title of Florida's largest
producer of squash and ornamental nursery products.
Miami-Dade growers are diversifying into tropical fruits
and specialty Asian vegetables.
Manufacturing, which also
ranks as a key industry in Miami-Dade County, is comprised
of almost 3,000 companies with approximately 80,000
employees.
Some
interesting statistics on Miami:
- Cruise ship capital of
the world: 3,112,355 passengers in 1999.
-The Miami airport is the
third largest in the United States for international
passengers.
- Financial Capital of
Latin America and the Caribbean:
- 38 State licensed foreign bank agencies with $12.5
billion in deposits
- 13 Edge Act banks with $7 billion in deposits
- 59 Commercial banks and 11 thrift institutions with 38.8
billion in deposits
- More than 500
multinational corporations
- 61 foreign consulate offices
- 25 foreign trade offices
- 40 bi-national chambers of commerce
Miami
Weather
- Average daily winter
temperature: 67 degrees (January)
- The coldest months are December through February (61 -
77 degrees)
- Average daily summer
temperature: 82 degrees (July)
- The warmest months are July and August when the
temperature ranges from 76 - 91 degrees
Miami-Dade numbers
- Miami Population:
2,253,362
- Registered drivers: 1.598,322
- Registered cars: 1,290,001
- Registered voters: 817,628
- Registered boats: 53,290
- Hotels: 277 with 35,196
rooms
- Motels: 189 with 11,937 rooms
- Broadcast Television
Stations: 13
- AM Radio Stations: 15
- FM Radio Stations: 19

History of Miami
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Few cities of such youth can claim a
history as eventful, significant, and tumultuous as
that of Miami. From its beginnings as a tiny
settlement along the Miami River to the robust
international city of today, Miami has represented for
multitudes of new residents a place to begin anew, a
gateway to a better tomorrow. And at no time has this
been more true than the present.
The
Beginning
The story of Miami begins more
than 10,000 years ago with a settlement of Paleo-Indians
along the edge of south Biscayne Bay near today’s
Charles Deering Estate. Many millennia later, Tequesta
Indians entered the lush, subtropical area and built
settlements stretching from the Florida Keys to
Broward County, with the largest concentrations along
the north bank of the Miami River and on Key Biscayne.
Like Florida’s other native
inhabitants, who numbered more than 350,000 at the
time of the Spanish entrada in 1513, the lifestyle of
the Tequestas changed radically, and for the worse,
following the Spanish arrival. Victims of disease, war
and other dislocations, the Tequestas, along with
Florida’s other native populations, had virtually
vanished 250 years after the entry of the Spanish.
Beginning in 1565, Spain
exercised control over Florida for nearly 250 years.
Spain’s colonization effort is divided into two eras
separated by a twenty-year British interregnum in the
late eighteenth century.
During the Second Spanish
Period, which stretched from 1784 to 1821, Spain
liberalized her settlement policies in an effort to
develop her colony, encouraging, in addition to her
own countrymen, residents of other lands and faiths to
settle in Florida. In the early 1800s, a few Bahamian
families accepted Spanish land offers along the Miami
River and on Biscayne Bay, and farmed in those lush
areas.
In 1821, Spain sold Florida to
the United States for five million dollars in Spanish
damage claims against the American government. One
year later, Florida became a territory, marking the
beginning of its march toward statehood. In 1830,
Richard Fitzpatrick, a prominent figure in the
politics of Territorial Florida, purchased the
Bahamian-held lands on the Miami River, and
established a slave plantation over a portion of them.
Sixty slaves cultivated Fitzpatrick’s land.
Fitzpatrick, however, abandoned his plantation soon
after the commencement of the Second Seminole War.
The
Seminole Wars
The Second Seminole War,
fought between 1835 and 1842, was the longest,
bloodiest Indian war in American history (The First
Seminole War was waged in several parts of northern
Florida in 1818). The conflict erupted following
efforts by the United States to relocate Seminole
Indians west of the Mississippi River in Indian
Country (today’s Oklahoma and a portion of Arkansas).
The Seminoles were renegade members of the Creek
nation who had left their ancestral home in Georgia in
the previous century for Florida.
The Second Seminole War led to
the rapid depopulation of Miami and other parts of
southeast Florida. A small military force replaced the
civilian population near the end of the 1830s, as the
United States Army established Fort Dallas on a
portion of Fitzpatrick’s abandoned slave plantation on
the north bank of the stream. Soldiers from Fort
Dallas periodically paddled upriver and into the
nearby Everglades in an effort to engage the elusive
Seminoles in combat.
The Second Seminole War ended
in 1842. Shortly thereafter, Fitzpatrick’s nephew,
William English, acquired the former’s Miami River
possessions and reconstituted the slave plantation,
adding new buildings to the complex. A man of large
ambitions and vision, English platted the “Village of
Miami” on the south bank of the river. He sold several
lots in that development before leaving the area, at
the beginning of the 1850s, for California and the
gold rush.
The Third Seminole War
(1855-1858) prompted the United States Army to
reestablish Fort Dallas on the English property.
Although it was fought on a far smaller scale than the
previous conflict, this final Seminole War further
discouraged settlement in Miami.
While the Indian problem had
receded by the latter decades of the nineteenth
century, the site of today’s Miami consisted of only a
few families as late as the 1890s. Dade County,
stretching from Indian Key to the Jupiter Inlet,
contained less than 1,000 persons by the beginning of
the century’s last decade. Undoubtedly, the area was
among America’s last frontiers.
Miami Is
Born
But change was in the air.
Small homesteading communities were arising along
Biscayne Bay and many influential pioneers were among
the incoming residents. Julia Tuttle moved to the area
in 1891 and purchased the Fort Dallas land to build
her home. A woman of great foresight, Tuttle
prophesied that a great city would someday arise in
the area, one that would become a center of trade with
South America and a gateway to the Americas.
Across the river from Tuttle
lived William and Mary Brickell and their large
family. The Brickells arrived in Miami at the outset
of the 1870s, and quickly established themselves as
successful Indian traders as well as shrewd real
estate investors.
Meanwhile, Henry M. Flagler, a
multi-millionaire from his partnership with John D.
Rockefeller in Standard Oil, was extending his
railroad south along Florida’s east coast, and
developing cities and resorts along the way. In 1894,
Flagler’s railway entered West Palm Beach.
During the following year, in
the wake of two devastating freezes that wreaked havoc
on Florida’s farm crops but failed to reach Miami,
Flagler met with Julia Tuttle. He agreed to extend his
railway to Miami in exchange for hundreds of acres of
prime real estate from Tuttle and the Brickells.
Additionally, the great
industrialist agreed to lay the foundations for a city
on both sides of the Miami River and build a
magnificent hotel near the confluence of the river and
Biscayne Bay. Flagler had been quietly planning this
extension long before his fateful meeting with Tuttle,
since he wanted to bring his railroad all the way to
Key West and link it with other parts of his vast
system, which included a steamboat line and a resort
in the Bahamas.
The first train entered Miami
on April 13, 1896. By then a city was arising on both
sides of the Miami River. The heart of the community
was a retail district along Avenue D (today’s Miami
Avenue) emerging north of the river, in an area of
piney woods.
On July 28, 1896, 344
registered voters, a sizable percentage of whom were
black laborers, packed into the Lobby, a wood frame
building on Avenue D standing near the Miami River.
They voted for the incorporation of the City of Miami,
along with the Flagler slate of candidates.
By then, the trappings and
institutions that accompany developing communities
everywhere, such as a newspaper, bank, stores, and
churches, had appeared. What separated Miami from
other frontier communities was Henry M. Flagler’s
magnificent Royal Palm Hotel.
Standing five stories tall
(its rotunda in the center added another story to the
structure), the yellow frame building was topped by a
red mansard roof and counted among many prominent
features a 578-foot long verandah. The building
contained more than 400 rooms.
Soon after it opened in
January 1897, the Royal Palm became a popular resort
for America’s Gilded Age princes, including John D.
Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and the Vanderbilt
family.
Miami endured a series of
traumas during its first years as a city. A fire
destroyed much of the business district on the morning
after Christmas 1896. Restless, troublesome and even
violent troops among the 7,500 men bivouacked in Camp
Miami during the Spanish-American War of 1898
threatened the residents of the small community. The
following year a fearsome yellow fever epidemic forced
many families out of their homes to seek temporary,
safe housing until the disease subsided.
In spite of these perils,
early Miami grew quickly and by the beginning of the
new century, the fledgling city contained 1,681
residents. Tourism and agriculture represented its
chief economic endeavors. New neighborhoods appeared
on both sides of the river. Miami had shed its
frontier ambiance for that of a small southern town.
Significant projects in the
century’s first decade dictated future directions.
Henry Flagler succeeded in securing federal funds for
the construction of a deep water channel as well as
for the dredging of the Government Cut, connecting
Miami’s new bayfront port with the Atlantic Ocean
lying several miles east of it. Flagler was also
instrumental in connecting the Keys through the
extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key
West, some 120 miles south of Miami.
“Land by
the Gallon”
The State of Florida embarked
on an ambitious program of Everglades drainage in
1906. Its goal was to provide fertile new lands for
agriculture. Two years later, a dredge started digging
a drainage ditch near the headwaters of the Miami
River, and by 1913, the Miami Canal connected the
river with Lake Okeechobee, while the water from the
swampland was carried out to sea along connecting
waterways.
Everglades Reclamation (or
drainage) led to the birth of a feverish real estate
industry for Miami and much of southeast Florida as
large speculators purchased millions of acres of
reclaimed land from the State of Florida, then
marketed it aggressively in many parts of the nation.
The unsavory sales tactics of promoters who sold
unwitting investors land that was underwater earned
for Miami an enduring reputation for marketing “land
by the gallon.”
By 1910, Miami’s population
had soared to nearly 5,500, while the number of
tourists and new business establishments rose sharply.
Twelfth Street, today’s Flagler Street, had eclipsed
Avenue D as Miami’s most important thoroughfare
becoming the address for the city’s leading business
establishments. Twelfth Street’s cachet continued to
rise with the opening of the Burdine department
store’s new five-story building, the city’s first
“skyscraper,” in 1912.
Colored
Town
Colored Town arose in the
immediate aftermath of the city’s incorporation when
land deeds to property within the municipal limits
prohibited its sale to blacks everywhere except for
that quarter. Despite deep pockets of poverty and a
glaring absence of municipal amenities found
elsewhere, this “suburb” hosted a rich array of
enterprises, institutions and activities. The
quarter’s main thoroughfare was Avenue G (Northwest
Second Avenue), known as Little Broadway for its
nightclubs and dance halls, as well as the sparkling
roster of nationally renowned black entertainers who
visited and performed in those attractions.
Black Miami grew quickly,
comprising twenty-five to forty percent of Miami’s
population in its first generation of existence. Later
called Overtown, this region would grow rapidly before
experiencing a period of steep decline beginning in
the 1960s for a host of reasons, including the
construction of an extensive expressway system that
ripped through the heart of the quarter and led to the
displacement of 20,000 residents (about one-half of
its population).
Miami’s
First Flight
Miami’s boisterous 15th
birthday celebration in 1911 featured an aerialist
soaring in a Wright Brothers airplane over a
Flagler-built golf course west of Colored Town. For
most Miamians this event marked their first glimpse of
an airplane. The experience served as a harbinger for
the city’s emergence as one of the nation’s early
aviation centers, since Miami’s climate, level
topography, and close proximity to water made it
ideally suited for aviation activity.
Soon after the inaugural
aerial display, Glenn Curtiss, a famed aviator,
arrived and established a flight school. By the time
America entered World War I in 1917, Miami and the
surrounding area hosted several flying schools,
including a facility near the Miami Canal that Curtiss
operated for future combat pilots in the Great War.
Beauty of
Miami
Tourism boomed before and
after World War I primarily through the efforts of
Everest G. Sewell, a self-taught public relations whiz
who headed the Miami Chamber of Commerce’s tourist
promotional campaign. Many prominent visitors built
large, stately homes along beautiful Brickell Avenue,
creating a “Millionaire’s Row.” The thoroughfare’s
most prominent resident was William Jennings Bryan,
presidential candidate and a sterling orator, who
regaled crowds in Miami’s Royal Palm Park with his
Sunday Bible addresses.
Bryan’s beautiful Villa Serena
was overshadowed, however, by James Deering’s Villa
Vizcaya, a multi-million dollar Renaissance-era
palazzo with extensive gardens overlooking Biscayne
Bay. Built between 1914 and 1916, Vizcaya employed ten
percent of Miami’s population in its construction.
Miami was already booming when
the Roaring Twenties began. The city’s population had
climbed to nearly 30,000, a 440 percent increase over
the figure for 1910. It represented the largest per
capita increase of any municipality in the nation. Its
expanding borders now extended several miles in each
direction beyond the original parameters. At the
outset of the 1920s, the Miami Herald marveled at the
“astounding growth of Miami as a tourist center.”
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Increasing numbers of tourists
remained in the area after the winter season had
ended, many becoming permanent residents. But this
growth would pale by comparison with what lay
ahead—the onset of the great real estate boom of the
mid-1920s.
The Land
Boom
Speculation brought people
from all parts of the nation to Florida in quest of
quick wealth in the overheated Florida real estate
market and Miami was its storm center. In the late
summer of 1925, as the boom neared its zenith, nearly
1,000 subdivisions were under construction in Miami
and its environs. Speculators were selling lots
several miles from the city’s center for fantastic
profits. Beautiful developments bearing a Spanish
eclectic or Mediterranean Revival style of
architecture arose in areas that had only recently
been farms or woodland. Most prominent here were the
sparkling new municipalities of Coral Gables and Miami
Shores.
The annexation of Lemon City,
Coconut Grove, and other historic communities and
neighborhoods in 1925 led to the expansion of the city
of Miami from 13 to 43 square miles. This event,
together with a population that unofficially stood in
excess of 100,000 by 1925, was indicative of Miami’s
emerging status as a metropolitan area.
The boom was accompanied by a
breakdown in law and order. Bootleggers sold liquor
obtained from the nearby Bahama Islands or from local
moonshine stills to thirsty “boomers” and natives
oblivious to Prohibition and its enforcement. Owing in
part to the wrenching changes that accompanied the
boom, the rate of violent deaths (homicides, suicides,
and accidents) for Miami and Dade County in the middle
years of the 1920s, was greater than at anytime since
the state of Florida began record keeping.
And the
Bust
The boom began dissipating in
1926. Wary speculators backed off from further
investment in light of inflation, and a series of
setbacks brought construction to a standstill. The
spring and summer of 1926 witnessed a mass exodus of
speculators. The boom was over.
In September, a hurricane with
winds of 125 miles per hour smashed into the Miami
area, with a portion of the eye passing over downtown.
More than 100 Miamians and Dade Countians lost their
lives in the storm. Thousands of homes were destroyed.
Unfinished subdivisions were leveled. The entire
region was plunged into a severe economic depression
three years before the rest of the nation.
Miami weathered the Great
Depression of the 1930s better than many other
communities. This was due in part to the advent of
commercial aviation—Pan American Airways and Eastern
Airlines established headquarters in the Magic
City—and a resurgent tourism in the second half of the
decade. Tourism was pegged to special events and
activities such as the Orange Bowl Festival, which
began in the mid-1930s, and became a popular tourist
draw.
New Deal programs put more
than 16,000 Miamians to work, building fire stations,
schools, and post offices. The federal government was
also responsible, in this era for the creation of
Liberty Square, one of the nation’s first black public
housing projects. It arose in Liberty City, a new
African-American community in the city’s northwest
sector.
World War
II
America’s entry into World War
II in 1941, led to a radical shift in Miami’s
fortunes, as the city and other parts of Dade County
became a huge training base for hundreds of thousands
of member of the armed services. Dimouts and blackouts
were the rule in the early part of the conflict due to
the German submarines in nearby waters.
The United States Navy
operated a submarine chaser school, also known as the
“Donald Duck Navy,” from the busy port of Miami. The
headquarters for the Navy’s Gulf Sea Frontier, which
oversaw naval operations in this region, was located
in the Alfred I. DuPont Building. The Army Air Force
Transport Command took control of the municipal
airport at N. W. 36th Street.
Local businesses, such as
shipbuilding and upholstering, worked double shifts on
government contracted projects. Miami enthusiastically
met its war bond quotas helped by weekly patriotic
parades along downtown’s Flagler Street.
The Magic City was even
involved in the Japanese surrender. Paul Tibbits, a
Miamian, commanded the Enola Gay, a B-29 airplane
named for his mother, herself a resident of Miami’s
Riverside neighborhood. The Enola Gay dropped the
first atomic bomb over Hiroshima in August 1945. One
week later the Japanese surrendered, ending the most
destructive war in the history of humankind.
“Sand in
their Shoes”
Postwar Miami bustled as never
before. Many veterans who had trained here during the
war had acquired “sand in their shoes,” and returned
as permanent residents. The new Miamians represented
one ingredient in a new boom whose impact was
evidenced by soaring enrollments at the University of
Miami, a suburban building explosion, and record
numbers of winter visitors, especially on Miami Beach.
Change was everywhere, most
notably in such vital sectors of the economy as
aviation. The creation of the Dade County Port
Authority resulted in the purchase of Pan Am Field,
and its merger with the Army Air Transport Field led
to create Miami International Airport.
Increasingly, Dade county was
assuming a more important role over the destiny of its
citizens. Miami delegated some of its powers to that
entity, as in the case of city-operated Jackson
Memorial Hospital, which became a county facility in
this period. At the beginning of the 1950s, the Port
of Miami came under the joint management of the
governments of Dade County and the City of Miami,
preparatory to the construction of a new port on Dodge
Island.
The county’s growing powers
culminated in the creation of a Metropolitan form of
government, which provided for the consolidation of
many of the functions and services, formerly provided
by Dade’s separate municipalities, within one entity.
By 1950, the City of Miami
contained 172,000 residents, or little more than
one-third of the county’s population. Miami remained a
Southern city but one with a prominent Jewish
community and a large annual tourist population. The
races were segregated, and would remain so until
desegregation brought vast changes in society in the
1960s. Miamians called their city “Miamah,” as earlier
residents had, with more than a trace of a Southern
accent.
A New Ellis
Island
One of the city’s most
defining moments came in 1959 with Fidel Castro’s
takeover of Cuba. Castro’s transformation of the
island nation into a Marxist state led to a vast
exodus of Cubans to Miami. Many of the first wave of
refugees were highly educated persons who left behind
successful careers and businesses.
Their presence in older Miami
neighborhoods helped revitalize areas that had been
suffering from an exodus of middle class residents to
the new suburbs ringing the city. Moreover, the
business acumen of many exiles was a boon to the city
and region’s economy while their vibrant culture
brought new life to their new home.
At the same time, Miami and
south Florida became a center for intrigue as
America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) prepared a
force of exiles for an armed overthrow of Castro’s
government. But the failure of the CIA-sponsored Bay
of Pigs invasion in 1961, and an agreement between the
United States and the Soviet Union during the Cuban
Missile Crisis in 1962, providing that the former
would refrain from invading Cuba, left a bitter taste
in the mouths of many Cubans toward the government of
their adopted country.
Nineteen sixty-five marked the
beginning of the U. S. sponsored “Freedom Flights,” a
massive airlift of Cubans to Miami. By the time of
their termination in 1973, more than 3,000 “Freedom
Flights” had delivered 150,000 Cubans to America,
primarily to Miami and its environs, and in the
process had instituted the radical transformation of
the city into a Latin American capital.
By the 1980s, the large Cuban
refugee population, whose countywide numbers by the
end of the decade exceeded 600,000, was actively
engaged in the political process, dominating the
government of the City of Miami, as well as those of
neighboring communities. Through its fervent
anti-Communism stance it added a more conservative
bent to the city’s politics. Little Havana, the
initial entry point for early waves of Cubans, had
additionally become, by the 1980s, the destination for
refugees from other countries in the hemisphere,
especially Nicaragua.
In Miami’s northern sector,
refugees from Haiti, the poorest nation in the
hemisphere, were pouring into Lemon City and
transforming that bastion of old Miami into a vibrant
black Caribbean community. By the 1980s, that
neighborhood had come to be known as Little Haiti.
Clearly, Miami could claim for
itself in the century’s final decades the persona of a
new Ellis Island for persons fleeing troubled
countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. Miami’s
place as a refugee haven, however, placed tremendous
financial burdens upon it, and left it one of the
poorest cities in the United States by the 1990s.
The influx of refugees who
vied with blacks for many entry level jobs--and were
perceived by the latter as receiving special
governmental benefits denied them--led to simmering
tensions between them and resentful residents of
Liberty City, Brownsville, and other native black
communities.
Black Miamians were also
instrumental in affecting another major transformation
of the city, as they began, in the 1960s, to spread
beyond their cramped confines into adjacent white
neighborhoods in Miami’s northern sectors,
dramatically changing their demographics.
Despite gains realized by
Miami’s African Americans in the aftermath of
desegregation, poverty and crime remained
disproportionately high among the race, while black
anger over the perceived inequities and biases of the
criminal justice system led to a series of searing
riots, beginning in the summer of 1968, at the time of
the Republican Party’s Presidential nominating
convention on Miami Beach.
Another riot in May 1980,
following the acquittal of several white policemen by
an all white jury in the brutal killing of Arthur
McDuffie, a black businessman, resulted in the loss of
eighteen lives and property damages in excess of $50
million. It was the worst race riot up to that time in
American history.
Adding to Miami’s woes in
recent decades has been the city’s notoriety as a
haven for drugs, especially cocaine, brought in from
Latin America, and the pervasive problem of crime.
Drugs, along with its propensity for political
intrigue, has given Miami an image of a subtropical
Casablanca. This image was burnished by “Miami Vice,”
a popular television program of the 1980s, well as
numerous movies playing to this theme.
For all of its problems, Miami
could point to a lengthy list of accomplishments. In
1960, Dade County Junior College, today’s Miami Dade
Community College, opened its doors for the first time
in the Magic City. The largest community college in
the world, Miami-Dade was, by the mid-1990s, preparing
nearly 125,000 full and part-time students for more
productive, fulfilling lives.
Florida International
University, which opened in 1972, has already carved
an enviable place for itself among America’s
institutions of higher learning. Since the 1960s,
Miami has become one of the nation’s most important
centers for high school, college and professional
athletics, with championship teams represented at each
level. This achievement has knitted together
periodically—and temporarily—the disparate denizens of
Greater Miami.
The passage, in the early
1970s, of the county’s “Decade of Progress” bond issue
led to the opening of several important cultural and
educational institutions in downtown Miami. Downtown
underwent a significant renaissance in the century’s
final decades with the appearance of glistening new
downtown skyscrapers, scenic retail facilities, and a
vital educational complex within close proximity to
the Port of Miami, home to the greatest collection of
cruise ships and the largest number of vacationers of
any port in the world.
Nearby Brickell Avenue has
emerged as a center of commerce, with its shimmering
glass skyscrapers, home to untold numbers of foreign
banks and other financial institutions. Coconut Grove
remains one of the city’s most picturesque and
exciting neighborhoods.
Today Miami contains
approximately 375,000 residents. One hundred
fifty-thousand of them are Cuban; other Hispanics
number about 100,000. More than one-half of Dade
County’s two million residents are Hispanic, making it
the largest county in the nation with a Hispanic
majority. With their wide array of cultures,
languages, lifestyles, and festivals, multicultural
Miami and Dade County represent one of America’s most
vibrant, colorful communities.
Miami has made extraordinary
progress in its brief century as an incorporated
entity. All indicators point to its growing importance
as a nexus of trade and finance for the Americas, and
as a hallowed sanctuary for peoples fleeing tyranny in
our hemisphere in the twenty-first century. A major
ingredient for its continued success over
unprecedented challenges and obstacles will come from
its willingness to draw comfort, direction, and
inspiration from its proud past. |
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From
South Florida History Magazine, v. 24, no. 2
(Summer 1996).
History
Museum Store
Historical Museum home page
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Famous Names in Miami History
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Their names are everywhere- Brickell Avenue. The
Julia Tuttle Causeway. Flagler Street. Collins
Street. Who are the people behind these names? How
did they help shape the history of Miami? Begin your
history lesson here with a quick who's-who guide of
our most famous historical residents.
William Brickell -- Brickell moved to the Miami area
from Cleveland, Ohio in 1871. He and his family
opened a trading post and post office. They owned
large tracts of land stretching from the Miami River
to Coconut Grove, some of which he later contributed
to the railroad company for the rails that put Miami
on the map.
Julia Tuttle -- Tuttle was the second land owner in
Miami, purchasing 640 acres on the North Bank of the
Miami River. Also from Cleveland, Tuttle's father was
good friends with the Brickell family until a falling
out ceased the friendship. It was at the urging of
Julia Tuttle that Henry Flagler brought his railroad
south to Miami.
Henry Flagler -- Flagler was a magnate in the oil
industry who created a vast empire with John D.
Rockefeller. His attention turned to expansion, he
began to develop the east coast of Florida. He began
in St. Augustine purchasing land and hotels. Starting
a railroad system, he extended the rails south a
little each year. When Julia Tuttle suggested that he
consider bringing it all the way to Miami, he was not
interested. There was very little apparent value in
the area. In 1894, a freeze hit Florida, destroying
the agricultural base of Florida's economy. Tuttle
wrote to Flagler that Miami was untouched, and that
the crops in the area continued to thrive. This
prompted a visit, and it is said Flagler decided
within one day to continue his railroad to the
paradise he found. Tuttle and Brickell both offered
to share some of their landholdings for the project,
and it was soon underway.
John Collins -- In 1910, Collins joined with Carl
Fisher to take on a daunting task. He believed that
the mangrove swamp he observed on the coast could be
profitable. Together he and Fisher purchased the
land, much to the amusement of onlookers. The
tremendous project of transforming that swamp into
habitable property was a difficult one, but when
completed, the resulting present-day Miami Beach kept
Collins amused- all the way to the bank! |
Excavating the News: Miami Stone Circle
11/14/99
Radiocarbon on the Miami Stone
circle provides five dates for the site. Four dates taken
from wood charcoal and animal bone provide a (I assume
calibrated) date of 125 AD; the fifth, taken from a shark
vertebrae, dates to the 1600s.
Fox News (dead link)
09/05/99
Rebuttal of the Milanich article
appeared Friday in the
Miami Herald. The investigator of the circle,
Robert Carr, states that Milanich is ignoring evidence
which supports his contention that the site is of ancient
Tequesta construction, including the fact that there are
similar structures cut into the limestone elsewhere in
Florida. Carr has the support of many archaeologists and
geologists in the community.
Index to all Brickell Pointe site stories in the Miami
Herald.
08/24/99
An astonishing opinion piece in
the September issue of Archaeology magazine
suggests that the Miami Stone Circle has not been yet
proven to be of Native American manufacture, or
prehistoric in period; in fact,
Jerald Milanich suggests that the excavators have yet
to rule out the possibility that the site is actually
associated with the septic tank which clearly is located
within the circle's limits. Although his case is not
convincing in the face of what has been published (which
is all any of us outside of Florida can go on), the
possibility exists that he is correct. Well worth the
price of a copy of Archaeology: I
recommend you rush out and snag a copy. One supporter of
Milanich's viewpoint, by the way, is the
Amazing Randi, that well-known debunker of the
terminally weird.
07/01/99
Update: Advocates
for the preservation of the Miami Stone Circle have won
the first step toward being able to purchase the site from
the developer. A Miami-Dade Circuit judge has determined
that the site may be
considered a "taking".
Takings law says that the government may appropriate
private property for public use, but only if the owner is
fairly compensated. Takings law takes its direction from a
clause in the 5th Amendment to the US Constitution: "nor
shall private property be taken for public use, without
just compensation." It is generally associated with the
government expropriation of private land for a road or
some other public facility, but this is not the first time
it has been used to protect archaeological resources.
At this point, the county must
come up with a fair price for the property, in these cases
this is usually based on the value of the real estate--the
developer paid something on the order of $8 million. But,
in this case the developer is trying to work out a deal
for just compensation for the value of the archaeological
property, and I don't believe this argument has been used
successfully before (but somebody correct me if I'm
wrong).
05/30/99
According to the latest
news, Florida Governor Jeb Bush and his cabinet are
putting the Brickell site on the Conservation and
Recreational Lands program, slating it for purchase in the
next fiscal year for its appraised value or 50 percent of
the developer's selling price, whichever's cheaper.
The
Brickell site, you'll recall, was the focus of intense
international scrutiny earlier this year, when the site
was rediscovered within the proposed right-of-way of an
exclusive Miami beachfront condominium project. The site
is cut into the native bedrock, with a series of holes
which have been interpreted (by some people) as sea animal
shapes such as whales and dolphins. The ensuing debate was
typical of development vs. preservation discussions in
this country and around our planet.
This step is not the
end point for the Brickell site because the money to pay
for the site has yet to be found, but it goes a long way
to protecting this one-of-a-kind resource.
John Carpenter Speaks Ou...
Alexandria Altman Mysteries of the Deep
Frank Spaeth
A legendary triangle of Ocean lies between 3 countries
upon the Atlantic ocean. The Cities are Bermuda, Puerto
Rico and Fort Lauderdale. Ships, people and aeroplanes
have been reported mysteriously disappearing off the face
of the earth whilst travelling inside this triangle. It
soon acquired the name "Devils Triangle" owing to peoples
superstitions that the devil was at play on this stretch
of ocean and gobbling up weary and lost travellers with
great delight, but what actually was at play inside this
triangle of rough water, is it really the devil?, or
perhaps aliens are using this spot as their home base on
earth. Maybe it really does contain a mystical vortex that
sucks people down into a third dimension.
The myth of the mysterious triangle was first begun in an
Associated Press dispatch of September 16, 1950. Reporter
E.V. W. Jones wrote of "mysterious disappearances" of
ships and planes between the Florida coast and Bermuda.
Two years after this article appeared Fate magazine ran an
article by George X. Sand about a "series of strange
marine disappearances, each leaving no trace whatever,
that have taken place in the past few years" in a "watery
triangle bounded roughly by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto
Rico".
It was not long before ideas and suggestions started
forming about this piece of ocean. M.K. Jessup wrote about
the disappearances and gave ideas about alien
intelligences being behind them in the book "The Case for
the UFO. The view was also echoed by Donald E. Kyhoe who
is noted for his "The Flying Saucer Conspiracy" of 1955.
Frank Edwards (Stranger Than Science) agreed with the
theory of aliens having a local hangout in the triangle as
well. Finally a man by the name of Vincent H. Gaddis came
up with the phrase "Bermuda Triangle".
Vincent Gaddis wrote an article in February 1964's edition
of Argosy and incorporated the story later in his book
"Invisible Horizons" titled "The Deadly Bermuda Triangle".
And there was the birth of the now world famous myth of
the Bermuda Triangle.
Throughout the years it has featured in many many
articles, books, television series and movies and always
portrayed as a very real and mysterious thing, but anyone
out there with any sense surely will ask themselves " how
in this day and age could boats, planes and other
travelers just go mysteriously missing in a certain piece
of water?" "wouldn't an aeroplane full of international
travelers be afraid to travel over this part of the
ocean"....Well let me tell you I've always asked the same
questions myself and I personally have come to the
conclusion that the entire thing is nothing more than a
myth hyped up over the years by wrong facts and silly
over-exaggerated stories told down through the generations
of people willing to listen to any kind of mysterious
story with a unknown edge to it.
One of the most famous stories to ever surround the
Bermuda Triangle is the mysterious disappearance of the
Naval Air Flight 19.

So what happened?
On December 5th, 1945, five Avenger torpedo bombers left
the Naval Air Station at Fort Lauderdale. They never
returned home.
The Avenger bombers contained 14 men, 13 of those were
trainees in the last stages of their training along with
Lt. Charles Taylor. The five pilots had been recently
transferred from the Miami Naval Air Station. Lt. Taylor
knew the Florida Keys well but had no knowledge of flying
over the Bahamas which was the direction Flight 19 was
headed in.
Their mission on that day was for practice bombing at hens
and Chicken Shoals fifty-six miles away. Once that was
accomplished, the Avengers were to continue on eastward
for another sixty-seven miles, then head north
seventy-three miles. Following that they would turn
southwest and head for home. In other words they were
flying a triangular flight path through what would be
called the Bermuda Triangle.
At 3.50pm that afternoon a pilot and his flight
instructor, Lt. Robert Cox were about to land at Fort
Lauderdale. They overheard a radio transmission addressed
to someone named Powers. Powers replied, "I don't know
where we are. We must have got lost after that last turn."
A little later on Lt. Cox managed to establish radio
contact with another of the Pilots on the lost Avengers
out at sea. Speaking with Lt. Taylor he was informed that
Taylor's compasses were not working and he was sure that
they were in the "keys", meaning Florida keys, and that he
didn't know how to get to Fort Lauderdale. Cox urged him
to fly north toward Miami "If you are in the keys."
Taylor was badly mistaken, he in fact was not in the keys
as thought. He was in the Bahamas and by taking Cox's
advice and flying north he would only go further out to
sea. Efforts by Cox and others to establish the location
of Flight 19 were hampered by poor communications. At one
point Taylor was urged to turn over control of the flight
to one of the students, though apparently he did not do
so.
As dusk slowly approached Fort Lauderdale realized with
great horror that Lt. Taylor and his Avengers had no idea
of where they were, they were completely lost. The
atmospheric interference with the radio signals got a lot
worse at sunset and communication was almost impossible
with Flight 19. Lt. Taylor exclaimed that they would fly
north-northeast for a short time, then head north.
The continued on with their course changing to veer
slightly off to the east when the contact made with Fort
Lauderdale at 5.15pm by Taylor. "We are now heading west"
exclaimed Taylor as he was overheard addressing his
companions and telling them that they should join up; as
soon as one of them ran out of fuel, they would all go
down together.
The sun sank down on Fort Lauderdale at 5.29pm. Bad
weather was moving in from the north and the situation was
escalating into a full blown emergency. No one knew where
Flight 19's location was and there was much speculation as
to where they could be. At 6.00pm reception improved for a
short time. Taylor was urged to switch to 3,000
kilocycles, the emergency frequency. Taylor refused to do
so for fear he and the other planes would fall our of
communication; unfortunately, interference from Cuban
commercial stations and the inability of other coastal
stations to translate the Fort Lauderdale training signal
easily would effectively shut off Flight 19 from the rest
of the world.
At one point the ComGulf Sea Frontier Evaluation Center
thought it had pinpointed the flight's approximate
position; east of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and far to
the north of the Bahamas.
The first rescue craft was sent out at 6.20pm. It was a
Dumbo flying boat and it soon lost contact with the shore,
leading all to believe that they had also lost the Dumbo.
The problem turned out to be and iced over antenna.
Within the hour more aircraft joined in the search. The
weather was overcast and the seas were reported as rough
and turbulent. One flight a Martin Mariner (Training 49)
failed to make its scheduled rendezvous and did not answer
radio calls. At 7.50pm the crew of a nearby ship reported
of seeing an enormous sheet of fire caused by the
explosion of an aero plane. The ship reported of passing
through a large pool of oil soon after and not finding any
survivors or bodies of the crashed aircraft. They did not
try to retrieve any debris from the ocean as weather
conditions were at this point deteriorating rapidly making
it impossible for any kind of retrieval.
Flight 19 by this time had exhausted their fuel and were
assumed to be down. Taylor's last transmission was heard
at 7.04pm. The search for the lost Avengers continued on
through the rough night and hundreds of planes and ships
joined the search the next day.
No trace of the Mariner or Avengers have ever been found.
On April 3, 1946 the conclusion of an extensive Naval
Investigation declared that the "flight leader's false
assurance of identifying as the Florida Keys, islands he
sighted, plagued his future decisions and confused his
reasoning...He was directing his flight to fly east...even
though he was undoubtedly east of Florida." Taylor's
mother and aunt refused to accept this verdict, the Navy
set up a panel to review the report. In August this panel
announced it could only agree with the original
conclusion. Furious, the two women hired an attorney and
secured a hearing the following October. On November 19
the Board for Correction of Naval Records retracted the
original verdict and officially laid the disaster to
"causes or reasons unknown". The Mariner's fate was
believed to be from explosion. The Mariner's had a bad
habit of blowing up if even the tiniest of sparks were
ignited. There is no particular disagreement with this
fact.
The Avengers total disappearance would be owing to the
rough seas at the time and they were well known to be
incredibly heavy. Known through the Navy as "Iron birds"
they weighed 14,000 pounds empty. After impact they would
of immediately sunk to the bottom; any debris remaining
would of been swallowed up by the violent ocean at that
time, leaving no trace of themselves to be found anywhere
by anyone.
The mistakes and misguided information about the Mariner
and Flight 19's disappearance soon began in the early
50's. Stories about "a mysterious place where ships and
planes disappeared into" and a "limbo of the lost" caught
the public's interest immediately, the legend of the
Bermuda Triangle began and is still carried on to this
day.

Taylor is often misquoted as saying in his radio
transmissions that "everything is wrong...strange ...the
ocean doesn't look as it should" and "They look like
they're from outer space - don't come after me." He in
fact never uttered those words. This leads to some
seriously silly stories about alien abduction and
motherships hovering above the triangle. Even in the move
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" Steven Speilberg
documents Flight 19 returning to earth off a large
spaceship. It is also often reported that on the day of
Flight 19's disappearance the seas were calm and smooth.
They were indeed the very opposite!!
In 1991 a newspaper report ran of a salvage ship named
"Deep See" finding intact the remains of Flight 19 on the
ocean bottom ten miles northeast of Fort Lauderdale. One
plane bore the number 28, the same as Taylor's aircraft.
But on June 4 graham Hawkes, who had headed the search,
concede that further investigation had proved that the
craft were not from Flight 19. The numbers on the other
planes were different from those on the fabled flight. The
Avengers were an older model than the one on Flight 19.
There are in fact many many stories of strange
disappearances of both ships and planes either somewhere
near or inside the Bermuda triangle - The fact is that 1/2
the time they are not even inside the rough triangle
dimensions, and are quite a long way away from it but
somehow get their disappearance linked with the Triangle,
so far the triangle must have some kind of mysterious
ocean powers to allow it to travel all over the world and
suck down all sorts of vessels all over the place.
The fact is that accidents happen, for one reason or
another, planes crash, boats sink....just look at the
Titanic, claimed as "unsinkable" in it's day! The research
of Larry Kusche, has dispelled a lot of the untruths about
the place. After searching endlessly through newspaper
accounts, weather reports and other official documents,
Kusche found (as he suspected) that the Bermuda Triangle
had no more disappearances than any other section of the
world. He has a book out called "The Bermuda Triangle
Mystery - Solved. You can read more about the stories and
how they were twisted and changed to suit the myth and
mystery more.
On 4th of April, 1975 Lloyd's of London issued a statement
to Fate magazine declaring that "428 vessels have been
reported missing throughout the world since 1955" they
continued to state that there was no cause to suspect that
the Bermuda Triangle was swallowing more ships than any
other section of the planet.
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Peter Fragos, P.A.
786.200.5333
7 days, 8am to 10 pm
peter@searchmiamihomes.com
www.search4miamihomes.com
Turnberry International Realty
19495 Biscayne Blvd
Suite 601
Aventura, Florida 33180
Specializing in Aventura Real Estate, Aventura luxury homes and condominiums,
Commercial properties
throughout Miami homes, Miami
Beach ocean front condos,
Key Biscayne communities, Coral Gables by the Sea, Coconut Grove luxury
homes
Fisher Island, Bal Harbor ocean front condos and North to Boca Raton.
Exclusive agent for
Turnberry International Realty
established in 1978
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