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Biscayne Bay Directory

A Miami Chronology

PRE 19th CENTURY
19th CENTURY
20th CENTURY
21st CENTURY

16th Century

The Tequesta tribe moved to the mainland (today's City of Miami).

1567

The Jesuit Mission of Tequesta, the first white settlement in Dade County, was established at the mouth of the Miami River.

1750

The Seminoles entered Florida.

1763

The French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years' War, between Great Britain and France, ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1763, with France relinquishing all its territories, including Florida, in mainland North America. With the British scored critical overseas victories against France, including conquering French Canada as well as French colonies in the Caribbean, French King Louis XV, in March 1762, issued a formal call for peace. But with news of the British capturing Havana, including the Spanish colony of Cuba, Spanish King Charles III had refused a treaty that would require Spain to cede Cuba. Meanwhile the British Parliament refused to ratify a treaty that failed to reflect territorial gains made during the war. After ardent negotiations, the Treaty of Paris was ratified, becoming effective on February 10, 1763. Signors included Great Britain, whose parliament had overwhelmingly favored the terms (319-64) and Hanover on one side, Spain and France on the other, and Portugal “expressly understood to be included.” The Treaty restored most of the conquered territories to their original owners, with Britain allowed to keep most of its spoils, though it did, for example, return Havana to Spain. The Treaty also had the British resolving to defend Catholicism.

1763

Eighty Tequesta families were transported to Havana, losing their identity as a race to the native population of Cuba.

1783

Though it was the Spanish who named Florida in 1513, the 1783 Treaty of Paris gave the British control, ending two centuries of Spanish rule. The British divided the area, creating the colonies of East Florida and West Florida, not counted among the original thirteen. Both Florida colonies had remained loyal to the British during the Revolutionary War.

1808

John Egan, after successfully petitioning the Spanish government, was, on February 27, granted 100 acres bordering the Sweetwater River.

1817

Following the Revolutionary War, Spain had regained control of Florida from Britain as part of the Treaty of Paris of 1783. When the British left the area, Spanish colonists as well as settlers from the newly formed United States flocked Florida, many of the new residents lured by favorable Spanish land grants which paved the way for land ownership. The Seminoles were encouraged to set up farms, providing a buffer between Spanish Florida and the US. Even slaves desperate to escape their owners’ reach found refuge in Florida, though that agitated the US government. Steered by General Andrew Jackson, US military forces invaded the area, scattering the villagers, burning their towns and seizing Spanish-held Pensacola and St. Marks, resulting in the First Seminole War that would end in 1818.

1821

The Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty or the Purchase of Florida Treaty, has been said to represent “perhaps the greatest victory ever won by a single man in the diplomatic history of the United States.” Though negotiations over Florida had begun with the 1815 mission of Spain’s Don Luis de Onís to Washington, resolution would materialize when President James Monroe appointed John Quincy Adams Secretary of State. In response to Adams’ demand for control over the inhabitants of East Florida or its cessation to the United States, Onis agreed that Spain would not only surrender the colony but would also renounce all claims to West Florida. The Treaty also defined the western limits of the Louisiana Purchase with Spain surrendering its claims to the Pacific Northwest. The US, in return, recognized Spanish sovereignty over Texas. Spain received no compensation though the US agreed to assume liability for $5 million in damage done by American citizens who had rebelled against Spain. Although ratified in 1821, the US could not immediately open the territory to newcomers as private land claims remained unsettled, and the government had to confirm all Spanish land grants issued before January 24, 1818, as in order to secure its remote region in the territory, Spain had offered land donations to anyone loyal to the Spanish Crown.

1821

Pirate Black Cesar and his partner Gasparilla were killed in an ambush by the US Navy. The Cocolobo Bay Cay Club still presides over the fallen pirate’s empire. The site of Black Cesar’s original landfall known as Cesar Creek (Elliott Key), is one of the finest fishing grounds in the world today.

1827

Richard Fitzpatrick bought James Egan’s entire acreage as well as the original 100 acres belonging to Egan's son.

1827

James Egan filed a residence claim and was granted 640 acres adjacent to the original Egan tract which comprised what would become the heart of Miami 100 years later.

1835

Named after Commodore Alexander James Dallas who was in charge of the US Naval Forces in the West Indies, Fort Dallas was built on the present site of Miami.

1835

With the discovery of gold on Cherokee in the 1820s, Native Americans, especially those in the southeast United States, found themselves fighting to retain possession of their land. Desperate, some sought a sympathetic ear of the newly-elected President Andrew Jackson. But instead, the president, a Tennessean and veteran of the First Seminole War, in 1830, signed the Indian Removal Act, authorizing the resettlement of all Native Americans to lands west of the Mississippi River, dissidence met with force as necessary. While some tribes moved, without reluctance, as they saw the usurping of their land as inevitable, some sought legal remedy. Others, including the Seminoles who broke rank with the so-called "Five Civilized Tribes," and with Osceola emerging as a young leader among the tribe, opted for war. On a resupply mission on December 28, 1835, as Major Francis Dade, for whom Dade County would later be named, was leading 110 troops from Fort Brooke (near Tampa) to Fort King (today’s Ocala), nearly twice as many Seminoles and allies ambushed the men, killing Dade and just about all his battalion. Though three soldiers were initially spared, only one ultimately survived, returning to Fort Brook with tales of what became known as the Dade Massacre, signaling the start of “the most expensive war the white man ever waged against Native Americans—the Second Seminole War. The war ended in 1842, as early as 1837, some 46,000 Native Americans were relocated.

1835

“Long John” Sturvenant was commissioned to carry the mail and military dispatches between Miami and St. Augustine on foot.

1838

Named after Major Francis L. Dade whose 1837 killing had spawned the Second Seminole War, and with Indian Key as the county seat, Dade County was created by an act of the Territorial Legislative Council.

1839

A post office was opened on Key Biscayne.

1840

Harriet English, John Egan’s sister, bought 644 acres from Richard Fitzpatrick. She transferred the property to her son William F. English.

1840

Dr. Henry Perrine was killed during the August 7 Massacre at Indian Key.

1842

A prelude to the official declaration of the end of the Second Seminole War ten days later, Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act on August 4, bequeathing 160 acres to settlers, provided they built a home and cultivate at least five acres for five years in southern and eastern Florida. Extended in 1848, the act’s intent was to fill the frontier with homesteaders, with the expectation that should it become necessary, they provide militia service in quelling the warring Seminoles.

1842

Though no peace treaty was officially signed, with the Armed Occupation Act in place, the Second Seminole War was declared over on August 14, just ten days after Congress passed the act that promoted white settlement. By the end of the war, some 4,000 Seminoles had been relocated to Indian Territory, today’s Oklahoman, leaving only a few hundred in Florida.

1845

With about 66,000 people, Florida finally became a state on March 3, after eons being bounced about between Spain and Britain, and after almost 20 years as a US territory. The road to statehood began with the 1838 referendum in favor of joining the union, and a state constitution approved a year later. Congress rolled out the welcome mat, making Florida the 27th in the United States of America. By May, the new state held its first election and William D. Moseley emerged as the inaugural governor, while David Levy Yulee, a leader in the fight for statehood, became a U.S. Senator. Seventeen state senators and 41 state representatives were also elected to serve a population that, by 1850, would blossom to 87,445, including about 40,000 African-Americans: 39,000 enslaved and “1,000 free blacks.”

1851

William English sailed to the goldfields of California where he would die in 1855, bequeathing his estate to his mother Harriet and his uncle John.

1855

Land disputes led to the Third Seminole War, also known as the Billy Bowlegs War. Though no large battles were fought, as the final war between the Seminoles and the US consisted mainly of “raids and reprisals,” the United States’ attempt to destroy the Seminoles’ food supply was a turning point for the majority of Seminoles who still called Florida home. War-fatigued and facing starvation, many relented, agreeing to be shipped to Oklahoma. By the time the war ended in 1858, Florida’s Seminole population had dwindled to around 200 who had simply refused to relinquish their land, though they would retreat to lands unwanted by whites.

1856

William P. Wagner arrived at Fort Dallas, homesteading 40 acres on the tract where the Allapattah schoolhouse would eventually be built.

1858

George W. Ferguson was made postmaster of the Fort Dallas Post Office which had opened in December 1856.

1862

Enacted during the Civil War, the Homestead Act, signed on May 20, was the latest attempt to encourage settlement of ‘unchartered’ frontier lands. The act made provisions for any adult citizen, intended or actual, to receive 160 acres with stipulations that included 1) the recipient had never borne arms against the US government; 2) claimants improve the parcel by building a house and cultivating the land for five years; and 3) after the prescribed five-year period, pay a nominal registration fee in return for a free and clear title. Claimants who preferred not to invest five years, could purchase the land at $1.25 per acre while Civil War veterans would credit for time served as part of the five-year requirement.

1866

William F. Gleason arrived at Fort Dallas in July, becoming lieutenant-governor in 1868 and in that same year, having tried to impeach Governor Harrison Reed, named himself governor. For one month, Florida had two governors. He was then impeached because he did not live in Florida three years prior to holding office.

1870

William Brickell and his wife Mary moved to southern Florida from Cleveland, Ohio. After acquiring land from Harriet English who was selling four Spanish land grants she acquired from her late son, the Brickells opened a trading post as well as a post office on the south bank of the Miami River, near Fort Dallas. But prior to Miami, William had had a rich life, despite losing both parents by the time he was 18. With the 1851 discovery of gold in Australia, the enterprising William, along with Adam Kidd, set out for the land down under. Together the pair would found Kidd & Brickell, peddling wares to hopefuls. William and his partner met resounding success, eventually building the town’s first hotel, as well as operating a barge, even and a coach service. William and Mary were, however, fated to return to the US, eventually making way to Cleveland, Ohio, as well as the acquaintances of the up-and-coming Henry Flagler and John D. Rockefeller. Still enjoying his wealth gained in Australia, William was Flagler and Rockefeller’s benefactor, loaning the pair money to pay taxes on 375 acres of oil land.

1870

Dr. Porter opened a store in Coconut Grove.

1871

The bakery and two of the officer’s quarters of Fort Dallas were burned to the ground. The fire spared the stone barracks as well as a third officer’s house, which would eventually become Julia Tuttle’s home.

1875

Twenty-six-year-old Julia Tuttle, future “Mother of Miami,” visited her father, Ephraim Sturtevant, at his homestead in Dade County.

1875

Originally from Ohio, Adam C. Richards arrived in Dade County on January 26, and would become the first in South Florida to produce vegetables for the northern midwinter market. He grew tomatoes, beans and eggplants on land that would eventually host Flagler’s Royal Palm Hotel.

1877

In the employ of Merritt Wrecking Company of New York, Ralph Monroe was sent to the area to supervise coastal salvage work (from the Town of Alligator (today Lake City) to Town of Jupiter). The multi-talented Monroe also reported on local plant life to the Department of Agriculture and kept the Bureau of Fisheries informed on local fish. His knowledge of medicine made him invaluable in a community which then had no regular doctor. A registered naval architect, Monroe would eventually go on to design a number of boats in a young city of Miami. Upon completion of assignment, Monroe returned to his Staten Island, New York home where he married and started an oyster business.

1880

Shortly into their marriage, Ralph Monroe’s wife contracted the dreaded tuberculosis, prompting a move to Miami in hope the warmer weather would be encourage healing. That wasn’t to be as Mrs. Monroe died in April 1882, after which the newly-minted widower returned to New York only to find his infant daughter had died. He then decided to return to Miami where he convinced Charles and Isabella Peacock to build a hotel as there was no public lodging in the area.

1880

The marriage of Anti-Semitism and poverty in Eastern Europe spawned the great wave of Jewish immigration.

1881

Having acquired 31 acres from John Frow and at the urging of Ralph Monroe, London-born Charles Peacock built the Bayview Hotel (later renamed the Peacock Inn) in Coconut Grove. Peacock had lured black Bahamians back from Key West to work at the hotel. Only a short distance from Peacock’s hotel, the workers in turn built Kebo, a small settlement named for the majestic peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro.

1883

Henry M. Flagler who was born poor in 1830 in New York State but who would go on reap to millions as a Standard Oil magnate, paid his first visit to Florida at the age of 53.

1884

Charles Peacock, who had established a boat business as well as a general store in Coconut Grove, was made postmaster.

1885

To close out the year, Henry Flagler, on December 31, bought the holdings of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine & Hallifax River Railway.

1886

Kirk Monroe, writer of boys’ stories, migrated to Coconut Grove with his wife, daughter of Amelia Barr

1887

Kirk Monroe, along with his distant relative Ralph, organized the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club of which Ralph was the commodore for 22 years.

1888

Henry Flagler’s Ponce de Leon Hotel opened in St Augustine.

1888

Henry Flagler bought the St. Augustine & Palatka Railway, extending it to Daytona.

1889

Originally from the Bahamas, John Saunders homesteaded the land on which he had been living and started selling lots, including to an enterprising newcomer, Eugene C. Harrington, who bought a half-mile strip, subdividing it into Lemon City.

1890

Following the death of her father, 41-year-old Julia Tuttle acquired title to 640 acres, including the site of the original Fort Dallas where she transformed one of the old officer’s quarters into her home.

1891

Ralph Monroe donated some of his land to a new church known as the Union Chapel.

1836

On July 23, John W.B. Thompson, keeper of the Cape Florida Lighthouse at the south end of Key Biscayne, survived a 24-hour Seminole on the facility. Built in 1825, the lighthouse is still operational.

1858

Though Fort Dallas, located on the north bank of the Miami River, would close and reopen as conflicts necessitated, the US government permanently abandoned the fort on June 10, its last reactivation the Third Seminole War in 1855. Incidentally, during the final occupation, soldiers rebuilt the rock houses and added a hospital, stables, new officer’s quarters and other structures, lending an air of an actual fort.

1891

Ralph Monroe built his house, the Barnacle, at 3485 Main Highway, though it would be razed in 1908 to make room for a two-story structure he designed. It remains the area’s the oldest building.

1894

Henry Flagler’s railway reached Palm Beach in March.

1894

The Great Freeze of 1894/5 struck most of Florida but spared Miami. Julia Tuttle, whose plans for a thriving metropolis were being thwarted by a lack of decent transportation, was eager to attract Flagler’s railway if her dreams for a city were to be realized. With produce still thriving in Miami, unlike the case in central or northern parts of the state, a determinedly enterprising Tuttle sent Flagler a bouquet of citrus flowers to prove the economics of extending the railway to Miami.

1895

Lemon City had three short business streets, with its thoroughfare, Lemon Avenue (today’s 62nd Street) home to fifteen buildings including several substantial houses, two small hotels, two or three small saloons, one restaurant, a blacksmith shop, a real estate office and a sawmill.

1895

Coconut Grove and Lemon City were thriving as Cutler (today’s Palmetto Bay), another settlement in south Dade County, began to flourish.

1895

Later renamed the Breakers, Henry Flagler built the Palm Beach Inn.

1895

Having been enticed by Julia Tuttle’s gesture and convinced by economic prospects, Henry Flagler went to Miami in February, heralding news of the extension of his railroad from Palm Beach. He had made a deal with Tuttle and the Brickells, accepting 525 acres on the north bank of the river and 400 acres on the south. Though Tuttle had added 100 acres along the bay and river for Flagler’s Royal Palm Hotel that he had commissioned McGuire and McDonald to construct, she reserved Fort Dallas and 13 acres for her own home. As was her custom, Tuttle inserted a clause prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages into the land deed but acquiesced to Flagler’s demand that for three months of the year, guests at his hotel would be free to have their little nips. News of the impending railroad had the same effect on Miami as the Gold Rush had on Sutter’s Creek, California.

1896

Miami’s first school opened at today’s NE 1st Street and Miami Avenue.

1896

During the construction of the Royal Palm Hotel, workmen leveled the large Native American mound, which stood like a small mountain near the mouth of the river, to make way for the hotel’s verandah. They discovered several graves near the top of the mound, as well as around 60 skeletons in the center.

1896

Dr. James A. Jackson arrived in Miami and became the city’s first physician, setting up a temporary office in the Townley Brothers shoe store that also doubled as a drugstore.

1896

February 15 witnessed the groundbreaking for Henry Flagler’s Royal Palm Hotel.

1896

What started with Julia Tuttle’s invitation months earlier, ended at 9pm on April 22, with the arrival first passenger rail service, the station located at today’s NE 6th Street ad NE 2nd Avenue, with Herbert S. Rogers as the first official engineer and Ed Steinhauser as the first official conductor. (The first non-passenger train had arrived on April 15, transporting lumber and building supplies.)

1896

Established by Walter S. Graham and Wesley M. Featherly, Miami’s first newspaper, Miami Metropolis, was published on May 15, and would be bought by B.B. Tatum in 1899. In 1905, S. Bobo Dean bought a half interest and Tatum would later sell his interest to A.J Bendel, who, along with Dean ran the newspaper until 1915 when Dean became the sole owner.

1896

Much to the delight of Julia Tuttle and with the vote of 344 men—the majority (183) of them black—Fort Dallas was incorporated as the City of Miami in the Lobby Pool room on July 28. John B. Reilly was elected as the new city’s inaugural mayor. Though Tuttle had been a catalyst in bringing affecting the conditions for Fort Dallas to become a city, she was not allowed to vote as women were not yet granted that right.

1897

Henry Flagler’s Royal Palm Hotel opened on January 16.

1898

The City of Miami welcomed its first saloons, as unlike his mother Julia, Harry Tuttle sold a few lots of land, neglecting to include the ‘no alcohol’ clause.

1898

An explosion destroyed the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor at 9:40pm on February 15, killing 268 men, of them, only 200 bodies recovered and of those, 76 identified. Suspicions engendered by a distrust of the Spanish and perhaps bolstered by a March 28 United States Naval Court of Inquiry that concluded “the Maine was destroyed by a submerged mine,” was enough to spark the short-lived Spanish-American War. Henry Flagler, concerned about safeguarding his interests in Miami, convinced the US government to build a fortification on South 15th Street (today’s Point View), for a war that lasted only two months.

1898

The City of Miami created its fire department on July 17, with Charles H. Garthside as its first chief.

1898

Julia Tuttle "The Mother of Miami" died on September 14, heralding the outbreak of Yellow Fever and subsequent three-month quarantine just two years after the founding of her beloved Miami. To keep people busy and Miami afloat until the epidemic subsided, Henry Flagler poured money in the construction of new streets, sidewalks and other municipal improvements.

1899

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1886, George Edgar Merrick and parents Solomon and Althea left Massachusetts for South Florida.

1985

Miami Film Festival was launched.

1984

When a group of ‘bookies’ including the Miami-Dade Public Library System, Mitchell Kaplan, Craig Pollock and Eduardo J. Padron, the latter the president of Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, launched the two-day Miami International Book Fair on November 9, Miami was only three years removed from the glaring Times headline, “Paradise Lost.” Hosted at the Wolfson campus since its inception, the fair, originally subtitled Books by the Bay 1984, grew into one of the largest in the nation, attracting the writers of every caliber and making the staple event a “standard-bearer in the world of literary and cultural programming.”

1986

Designed by Spillis Candela & Partners, Metromover started operating in downtown.

1986

Coral Gables passed an ordinance, inspired by Mayor Bill Chapman, to “re-Mediterraneanize” the city, giving zoning bonuses and variances to downtown development.

1986

The Bakehouse Art Complex opened in an abandoned bakery in Wynwood.

1987

New World School of the Arts, a public magnet high school and college in the heart of downtown Miami, with Seth Gordon as its inaugural chair, opened, offering innovative dual-enrolment, curriculum in visual arts, dance, theater and music. Administered by the Dade County Public Schools, the Dade Community College and Florida International University, NWSA would go on to produce top-rated talents, including Tarell Alvin McCraney, a 1999 graduate of the school’s theater program who won shined at the 2017 Academy Awards, winning three awards: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for “Moonlight.”

1987

Completion of the I.M Pei-designed 47-story Miami World Trade Center (today’s Miami Tower).

1988

US District Judge Stanley Marcus’ refusal to issue an injunction was a death sentence for the financially-struggling Miami News that published its last edition on December 31, closing out the year with a headline that read simply: 'Farewell, Miami.' The Miami News, according to Cox, the paper’s owner, was hemorrhaging $28,000 per day, about $9 million a year, prompting the decision to bid farewell to the 92-year-old publication.

1992

On August 14, US District Judge Donald L. Graham ruled that county’s at-large elections diluted the rights of African-Americans and Hispanics. In response, the county presented several plans, including the Graham-approved single-member districts that provided better representation of minorities, resulting in its current 13-member commission.

1992

South Florida was aroused from its slumber in the wee hours of August 24, when Hurricane Andrew, packing sustained winds of 165 miles per hour and gusts up to 177 mph, slammed into the southern section of Miami-Dade County, completely flattening entire neighborhoods. Though the hurricane, dubbed “The Big One,” also affected south Louisiana as well as the Bahamas, South Florida bore the brunt of its fury as 15 people died as a direct result, with another 25 deaths indirectly attributed to what was then the most catastrophic hurricane in US history. The category-5 Hurricane Andrew left an estimated 250,000 people homeless in Miami-Dade County alone, and caused around $27.3 billion in its wake.

1993

Don and Mera Rubell, “mega-collectors, trailblazers in the private museum field in Miami and the force behind the transformation of a whole district in the Florida city,” were in the habit of collecting—and sharing, prompting their acquisition of the former Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) warehouse on NW 29th Street. The former gynecologist and his wife, a former teacher, repurposed the building to house parts of their collection, naming it the Rubell Family Collection. The gallery predated the now uber chic Wynwood, then a seedy area to be avoided, its transformation credited, in part, to the presence of the Rubells.

1994

Completion of the Metromover extension between Brickell and Omni links.

1998

The Circle, believed to have been built by Tequesta Indians, was discovered beneath an apartment complex at 401 Brickell Avenue.

1999

The Miami Heat bid farewell to the Miami Arena, moving to its new 782,400 square-foot architectural wonder, the American Airlines Arena at 601 Biscayne Boulevard. But even the Heat would have to wait until Gloria Estefan blessed the new halls with a concert on December 31, closing out the century with the christening of Miami’s new landmark flanking Biscayne Bay. The Heat, would play its first game in the swanky 19,600-seat $213 million adaptable arena, designed by Arquitectonica with Heinlein Schrock, defeating the Orlando Magic 111-103, just two days into the new year.

1999

Martin Margulies, a real-estate developer, opened the WAREhOUSE at 591 NW 27th Street in Wynwood.

2001

Groundbreaking for the Cesar Pelli-designed Carnival Center for the Performing Arts at 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, the site of the old Sears Department Store. Completed in 2006, it was later renamed the Adrienne Arsht Center in 2008.

2003

Incorporated on June 24 as one of Miami-Dade County’s 34 municipalities, Doral is a combination of Doris and Albert names, the Kaskels who were early developers of the area.

2003

Designed by Gary Edward Handel & Associates and Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Inc., construction of the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at 1435 Brickell Avenue began. The hotel was the tallest building in Florida for fourteen years, until the Panorama Tower surpassed it in 2017.

2004

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who favored development and who pledged to save Miami from the brink of financial disaster, was reelected.

2005

Designed by Arquitectonica and developed by the Related Group, One Miami on Ball Point was completed.

2005

The Urban Environmental League and Miami Neighborhoods United partnered to oppose over-development, filing suit to stop what they considered misplaced or over-development.

2006

Designation of the City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board’s “MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District,” an area noted for its wealth of 1950s-era motels, many of which have been renovated and rehabilitated for adaptive use.

2006

Designed by Bernard Zyscovitch, Midtown opened on 56-acres of the former storage of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Dubbed “real-urbanism,” it was Zyscovitch’s first planned, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.

2006

To amp its culture quotient, Miami-Dade County engaged its largest public-private partnership, netting the 570,000 square-foot Cesar Pelli-designed performing arts center at 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, just north of Miami’s downtown. Opened on October 5 as the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, the $472 million multi-building complex would soon change name, having been gifted $33 million by Adrienne Arsht, founder of Total Bank. But even before construction began, changes had to be made, resulting in the historic Sears Roebuck building, the Art Deco masterpiece known locally as the Sears Tower, had to be rescued from the wrecking ball. The 1929 Nimmons, Carr & Wright-designed tower owes its reimagined life, in part, to the Dade Heritage Trust, who having learned the building was to be demolished, waged a multi-year successful campaign for its stay of execution. The Adrienne Arsht Center encompasses the 2,400-seat Ziff Ballet Opera House; the 2,200-seat John S & James L. Knight Concert Hall; the Carnival Studio Theatre; the Parker & Vann Thomson Plaza for the Arts, the Peacock Education Center and the Carnival Tower, the rescued Sears Tower forced into the center’s design, reincarnated home to Books & Books.

2008

The Sub-Prime crisis slowed speculation.

2008

A brainchild of Mayor Manny Diaz, Miami 21, the first new urbanist zoning code to be applied to a large, preexisting city, was introduced. The code, enacted as the growing city was quickly running out of land, has led to a reassessment of how Miami works, prompting a more logical regeneration of the city’s urban core.

2010

Miami Design District Associates was established between DACRA and L Catterton Real Estate, a global real estate development and investment fund, specializing in creating luxury shopping destinations. In September 2014, General Growth Properties (GGP) would purchase an interest in Miami Design District Associates.

2013

What started as the Center for the Fine Arts in 1984, eventually blossomed into the Perez Art Museum, the 200,000-square-foot facility flanking Biscayne Bay, just steps from Miami’s downtown. Named in recognition of developer Jorge Perez’s $40 million gift, the Herzog & de Meuron-designed structure meant to mimic Stiltsville, a group of wooden houses built on stilts off the coast of Key Biscayne, is part of Museum Park, a 30-acre waterfront parcel, known formerly as Bicentennial Park. On May 8, 2017, the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science would join PAMM on the land donated by the City of Miami who also funded the construction of PAMM.

2014

Miami’s tallest building, Panorama Tower, commissioned by Tibor Hollo and designed by Kobi Karp, inched closer to reality with its groundbreaking, nearly a decade after having received the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration as well as the City of Miami. The 85-story mixed-used 2.6 million-square-foot skyscraper, located at 1100 Brickell Avenue, would be open July 9, 2018.

2017

The Grimshaw Architects-designed Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science opened on May 8, joining the Perez Art Museum at Museum Park, former site of Bicentennial Park

2018

Babylon, the first building designed by Arquitectonica, was demolished.

2018

Skirting the fringes of Overtown at 600 NW 1st Avenue, MiamiCentral, the ‘Grand Central’ of the south was opened on May 19. Dubbed the “new hub for all things transportation, leisure, and business,” the 11-acre mixed-use complex spans six blocks and boasts over three million square feet retail, residential and commercial offerings. That is, in addition to service from four rail systems, including Brightline and Virgin, the latter for whom the name of the station would become Virgin MiamiCentral. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, in association with Zyscovich Architects, the resurrection of passenger train service met with much ado, drawing parallels to April 1896, when Henry Flagler extended his railroad to the Magic City. In fact, Virgin’s Richard Branson, who said he hoped to “sprinkle some of its magic dust” on the operation by delivering an experience with some panache,” got a rock star’s welcome at rollout of his partnership with Brightline, the first private US train service in over a century.

1933

To help rescue the economy from the grips of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, a series of regulations, programs, financial reform and public work projects, the latter paving the way for the creation of the William Lyman Phillips-directed Matheson Hammock Park. Other New Deal projects included Fairchild Tropical Garden as well as Greynolds Park.

1940

Key Biscayne is de-annexed from Coral Gables.

1944

The Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the G.I. Bill, was enacted, providing a range of benefits to veterans returning from World War II. Benefits included dedicated payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college or vocational/technical school, low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans to start a business, as well as one year of unemployment compensation.

1945

Dade County created the Dade County Port Authority, purchasing the Pan American Field and merging it with the Army Air Transport field to create today’s Miami International Airport.

1947

Comprised in part of land donated by the Florida Federation of Women’s Club and wetlands offered by the state, President Harry S. Truman dedicated the Everglades National Park on December 6.

1948

A group which included Miami Herald publisher James L. Knight, Miami Daily News publisher Dan Mahoney, FPL president McGregor Smith and Burdines president George Whitten, formed the “Secret Six,” dedicated to the eradication of rampant illegal gambling that had permeated the city. The “Secret Six” would, in 1950, found the Crime Commission of Greater Miami, hiring former FBI agent Daniel P. Sullivan as its director. At the invitation of the commission, crime fighter Estes Kefauver submitted a damning report that revealed corruption at every level of government.

1948

The 1947 hurricane underscored the need for federal assistance in controlling flooding, and with the authorization of Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study, one that led to the dredging of additional canals with locks and levees. Once completed, much of the eastern Everglades would dry up, creating hundreds of thousands of acres of new habitable land. More than a million people would live on the reclaimed land in the ensuing years.

1949

Miami took its place as only the 16th city in the nation, and the first in Florida, to have a television station, when on March 21, WTVJ-TV aired its first broadcast. The new station was home to the era’s four major networks (NBC, CBS, ABC and Dumont), and is today home to NBC News Channel 6, winner of multiple local Emmy awards for its coverage of the 1992 Hurricane Andrew.

1949

The GI Bill had extended educational opportunities, helping to transform the University of Miami into a major educational institution, prompting the need for expansion, including the Merrick Building, designed by architects Robert Law Weed and Marion I. Manley, the latter only the second woman to be licensed in the state.

1950s

The Mackle Brothers Company developed Key Biscayne as well as the southwest Dade area.

1950

Established through a gift from philanthropists Joe and Emily Lowe, the Lowe Art Museum, operated by the University of Miami, would open to the public two years later as South Florida’s first art museum.

1951

Dade County built two performing arts centers: The Dade County and Miami Beach auditoriums.

1952

On 160 acres purchased from Mary Brickell, and with construction of the main house completed in 1916 and the surrounding villages and gardens in 1923, Villa Vizcaya was commissioned by John Deering. When Deering, the retired vice-president of the International Harvester Company died in 1925, Villa Vizcaya was inherited by his brother, though he too would die only two years later, leaving the estate to Deering’s two nieces. With the 1926 hurricane causing extensive damage to the main house as well as the surrounding village and gardens, Deering’s nieces had had the estate converted into the museum it became, despite another battering from the infamous “Labor Day Hurricane” in 1935. By 1952, in great disrepair, the property was acquired by Dade County for $1 million and converted to the Dade-County Art Museum, its art and antiquities donated to the museum by Deering’s heirs.

1952

One of two downtown buildings designed by Morris Lapidus, the Ainsley Building (Foremost Building) at 14 NE 1st Avenue was completed.

1954

The U.S Supreme Court struck down segregation in public schools with its landmark Brown v Board of Education decision.

1955

Designed by Weed Johnson Associates, the Jordan Mash opened at 1501 Biscayne Boulevard. Twenty years later, Jordan Mash became somewhat of an anchor when the Omni Mall was built around it. Following the failure of the mall, the stores on the lower floors were converted to house the International University of Art and Design at Omni.

1956

Ratified by election, the Dade County Metropolitan Government represented a solution to alarming suburban growth.

1956

Hungarian-born Tibor Hollo created the Florida East Coast Realty, developing more than 60 million square-feet of residential and commercial space in Brickell and Downtown Miami.

1957

The Weed Johnson Associates-designed One Bayshore Plaza was completed at 100 South Biscayne Boulevard. The headquarter of the First National Bank of Miami, it was the first major office building erected in downtown since the Alfred I. DuPont Building in 1939.

1960

Exiled from Castro’s Cuba, refugees began moving into declining neighborhoods, including the old Riverside (today’s Little Havana).

1960

The Coconut Grove Bank, designed by Weed Johnson Associates and the first office building along South Bayshore Drive, was completed (today’s Grove at Grand Bay).

1961

Built in stages between 1958 and 1962, the then four-lane Palmetto Expressway, one of the first freeways to be designed and built in metropolitan Miami, opened to the public.

1962

The Sengra Development Corporation, formed by the Graham family, created Miami Lakes, its planned community designed by Collins, Simonds & Simonds.

1962

The US government seized control of the Miami News Tower, renamed it the Freedom Tower and made it the Cuban refugee services center.

1962

Doris and Alfred Kaskel opened the Doral Golf Resorts & Spa on a swampland bought in the 50s. Born in Poland on June 26, 1901, Alfred Kaskel moved to NYC when he was 21 and became a real estate developer. Recognized as the official founders of the city, Doral is a combination of their names Doris and Alfred.

1963

Construction of 100 Biscayne, the first high-rise building since the 1930s and the first to be spearheaded by Latin interests.

1965

Half of Overtown’s population was displaced to make way for the construction of a major interchange between I-95, I-395 and State Highway 836. With segregation disallowing input from residents, many were relocated to different areas, including Brownsville, Allapattah, Liberty City and parts of North Dade—without compensation from the city.

1967

Alvah Chapman, president of the Miami Herald, created the Miami Downtown Development Authority (DDA) as the economic development and marketing arm for Miami’s urban core. Today, the Miami DDA is a city agency tasked with promoting Downtown Miami as a destination, luring financial investment, and supporting on-the-ground services to improve quality of life for residents and visitors.

2001

Groundbreaking for the Cesar Pelli-designed Carnival Center for the Performing Arts at 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, the site of the old Sears Department Store. Completed in 2006, it was later renamed the Adrienne Arsht Center in 2008.

2003

Incorporated on June 24 as one of Miami-Dade County’s 34 municipalities, Doral is a combination of Doris and Albert names, the Kaskels who were early developers of the area.

2003

Designed by Gary Edward Handel & Associates and Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Inc., construction of the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at 1435 Brickell Avenue began. The hotel was the tallest building in Florida for fourteen years, until the Panorama Tower surpassed it in 2017.

2004

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who favored development and who pledged to save Miami from the brink of financial disaster, was reelected.

2005

Designed by Arquitectonica and developed by the Related Group, One Miami on Ball Point was completed.

2005

The Urban Environmental League and Miami Neighborhoods United partnered to oppose over-development, filing suit to stop what they considered misplaced or over-development.

2006

Designation of the City of Miami Historic and Environmental Preservation Board’s “MiMo Biscayne Boulevard Historic District,” an area noted for its wealth of 1950s-era motels, many of which have been renovated and rehabilitated for adaptive use.

2006

Designed by Bernard Zyscovitch, Midtown opened on 56-acres of the former storage of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Dubbed “real-urbanism,” it was Zyscovitch’s first planned, mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.

2006

To amp its culture quotient, Miami-Dade County engaged its largest public-private partnership, netting the 570,000 square-foot Cesar Pelli-designed performing arts center at 1300 Biscayne Boulevard, just north of Miami’s downtown. Opened on October 5 as the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, the $472 million multi-building complex would soon change name, having been gifted $33 million by Adrienne Arsht, founder of Total Bank. But even before construction began, changes had to be made, resulting in the historic Sears Roebuck building, the Art Deco masterpiece known locally as the Sears Tower, had to be rescued from the wrecking ball. The 1929 Nimmons, Carr & Wright-designed tower owes its reimagined life, in part, to the Dade Heritage Trust, who having learned the building was to be demolished, waged a multi-year successful campaign for its stay of execution. The Adrienne Arsht Center encompasses the 2,400-seat Ziff Ballet Opera House; the 2,200-seat John S & James L. Knight Concert Hall; the Carnival Studio Theatre; the Parker & Vann Thomson Plaza for the Arts, the Peacock Education Center and the Carnival Tower, the rescued Sears Tower forced into the center’s design, reincarnated home to Books & Books.

2008

The Sub-Prime crisis slowed speculation.

2008

A brainchild of Mayor Manny Diaz, Miami 21, the first new urbanist zoning code to be applied to a large, preexisting city, was introduced. The code, enacted as the growing city was quickly running out of land, has led to a reassessment of how Miami works, prompting a more logical regeneration of the city’s urban core.

2010

Miami Design District Associates was established between DACRA and L Catterton Real Estate, a global real estate development and investment fund, specializing in creating luxury shopping destinations. In September 2014, General Growth Properties (GGP) would purchase an interest in Miami Design District Associates.

2013

What started as the Center for the Fine Arts in 1984, eventually blossomed into the Perez Art Museum, the 200,000-square-foot facility flanking Biscayne Bay, just steps from Miami’s downtown. Named in recognition of developer Jorge Perez’s $40 million gift, the Herzog & de Meuron-designed structure meant to mimic Stiltsville, a group of wooden houses built on stilts off the coast of Key Biscayne, is part of Museum Park, a 30-acre waterfront parcel, known formerly as Bicentennial Park. On May 8, 2017, the Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science would join PAMM on the land donated by the City of Miami who also funded the construction of PAMM.

2014

Miami’s tallest building, Panorama Tower, commissioned by Tibor Hollo and designed by Kobi Karp, inched closer to reality with its groundbreaking, nearly a decade after having received the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration as well as the City of Miami. The 85-story mixed-used 2.6 million-square-foot skyscraper, located at 1100 Brickell Avenue, would be open July 9, 2018.

2017

The Grimshaw Architects-designed Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science opened on May 8, joining the Perez Art Museum at Museum Park, former site of Bicentennial Park

2018

Babylon, the first building designed by Arquitectonica, was demolished.

2018

Skirting the fringes of Overtown at 600 NW 1st Avenue, MiamiCentral, the ‘Grand Central’ of the south was opened on May 19. Dubbed the “new hub for all things transportation, leisure, and business,” the 11-acre mixed-use complex spans six blocks and boasts over three million square feet retail, residential and commercial offerings. That is, in addition to service from four rail systems, including Brightline and Virgin, the latter for whom the name of the station would become Virgin MiamiCentral. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, in association with Zyscovich Architects, the resurrection of passenger train service met with much ado, drawing parallels to April 1896, when Henry Flagler extended his railroad to the Magic City. In fact, Virgin’s Richard Branson, who said he hoped to “sprinkle some of its magic dust” on the operation by delivering an experience with some panache,” got a rock star’s welcome at rollout of his partnership with Brightline, the first private US train service in over a century.

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