Miami History Podcast

This podcast episode features the story of South Florida during World War I. The story begins just prior to the United States entry into World War I on April 6, 1919, and shares how South Florida and Miami were transformed as a training center during the war.

South Florida began its journey as an aviation training ground preparing flyers for the war. Local residents in Dade County welcomed the soldiers and cadets as they prepared for war in places such as Coconut Grove, Allapattah, and Hialeah. Like so many other parts of the country, bond drives were an important part of daily life in South Florida and were pivotal in financing the war effort.

After the celebration of Armistice Day on November 11, 1918, the region was stricken with a world-wide flu epidemic that had far reaching implications. Once the epidemic concluded, South Florida would return to life before the war. Given the exposure of the area to soldiers who trained in Miami and surrounding areas, the decade that followed the war, and subsequent flu epidemic, was one of the most prosperous boomtimes in Miami’s history.

This podcast episode features the story of Miami Pioneer Locke T. Highleyman and his family. Highleyman was the developer of the Point View subdivision in Brickell, Palm and Hibiscus Islands, the Meyer-Keyser building, and helped judge the selection of the name for the Wynwood neighborhood. He also held the lease to manage the Elser Pier and served as a four-term councilman for the City of Miami. While Locke did not spend his entire adult life in Miami, his contributions were extensive.

Tune into this week’s podcast episode to hear more about Locke and the Highleyman family. You can download this episode on your favorite podcast platform (iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify), or listen directly on the Miami-History website. Please remember to click on the subscribe button and to provide a rating and comment on any of the aforementioned platforms.

Correction: Locke and Katherine Highleyman were married in 1900, not 1902 as was stated in the podcast episode.

This podcast episode features the history of the Ingraham Building at 25 SE Second Avenue in downtown Miami. This building is named for Miami pioneer James Ingraham and was constructed from 1926 – 27, near and during the end of the building boom of the 1920s.

James Ingraham played an important role for Henry Flagler as a vice president of the Florida East Coast (FEC) Company, and as president of the Model Land Company, the organization responsible for marketing and selling land acquired by the FEC. Ingraham was an icon in early Miami. When he died unexpectedly on October 25, 1924, the city and the FEC organization were shocked and left to fill a big void in leadership.

When the Model Land Company announced that they would construct their corporate office building at the western edge of the former Royal Palm Park, the corner of SE Second Avenue and SE First Street, they naturally named it for their former leader. Despite several setbacks during construction, the building finally celebrated its grand opening on May 1, 1927.

This podcast episode features the inception and the history of Dade County and its many different county seats. Originally slated to be named Pinckney County, the municipality was named for Major Francis Dade who lost his life in a battle with the Seminole Indians in December of 1835. The county was formed in January of 1836 and was named to honor the fallen West Point graduate. The original county seat was placed in Indian Key and was there from 1836 until 1844.

It was moved to the banks of the Miami River, then referred to as Biscayne Bay Country, when William English used his influence to initiate a special election in 1844 to change the county seat. By 1888, the northern part of the county, which included what is now Palm Beach and Broward County, became more densely populated and triggered another special election to move the county seat to Juno. A decade later, in 1899, a third special election was initiated to move the county seat back to the new City of Miami, founded in 1896, which had become the largest city in the county by that time.

This podcast episode features the buildings that served as the federal courthouse and post office in Miami from 1915 through the present day. The first courthouse was designed by Oscar Wenderoth in the early 1910s and opened at 100 NE First Avenue in downtown Miami. This building provided for all federal agencies including the courthouse, post office, and weather bureau from its opening until the peak of the Great Depression in 1933.

When the city’s federal business outgrew the original building, a new federal courthouse and post office building was constructed beginning in 1932 on the site of Miami’s first school building known as the Miami Central Grammar School which opened on that site in the early 1900s. This edifice was designed by the architectural firm of Paist and Steward and opened two blocks north of the first building at 300 NE First Avenue in 1933. The second federal building was in use as a federal building from its opening until it was replaced in 2008 by today’s Wilkie D Ferguson Jr. building at 400 North Miami Avenue.

This podcast episode discusses the early history of the Port of Miami. From the first channel dredged by Henry Flagler in 1897 to the move of the port to the Dodge Islands, the overriding theme throughout the history of this most important institution was “Watch the Port of Miami”. What began with the start of steamship service from Royal Palm Docks to transport tourists from Miami to Key West, grew into one of the largest port operations in the nation by the 1930s.

When the port moved from the mouth of the Miami River to today’s Maurice Ferre Park (aka Bicentennial Park), it was not well received by many of Miami’s civic leaders. The fear was that the beauty of the shoreline along the bay would be overtaken by the industrial operations of the port. From the onset, city leaders had a plan to move the port from the shoreline to somewhere else. Finally, beginning in the late-1950s, the Metro Dade County government partnered with the City of Miami to bulkhead and connect the chain of Dodge Islands to create one of the busiest ports in the world.

Tune into this week’s podcast episode to hear more about the Port of Miami. You can access this episode on your favorite podcast platform (iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify), or listen directly on the Miami-History website. Please remember to click on the subscribe button and to provide a rating and comment on any of the aforementioned platforms.

This podcast episode features the stories of presidents and world leaders who visited Miami from 1920 – 1946. By the start of the second decade of the Twentieth Century, newly elected presidents began traveling to Miami as part of their pre-inauguration vacation to relax, fish and prepare for their presidential term. This was the case for Warren G. Harding in 1921, Herbert Hoover in 1929, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933.

In addition, as Miami grew over the course of the first few decades of the last century, visiting the metropolitan area became politically advantageous for sitting presidents. In January of 1928, Calvin Coolidge made a brief stop in Miami for a parade through downtown to allow local residents to see their president while he was enroute to Havana, Cuba, for a Pan-American conference.

However, it was not just American presidents who enjoyed visiting the Magic City. In the winter of 1946, coming off a loss for his bid for reelection as Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill spent January and February in Miami for rest and relaxation. While his trip may be most be remembered for the commencement ceremony at Roddy Burdine Stadium where he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Miami, he also made time to visit the Hialeah Race Track, Parrott Jungle, and the Surf Club where he painted an ocean vista from his cabana on the beach.

This podcast episode features the different Dade County courthouses that were located in the City of Miami from the formation of the county. Dade County was created in 1836 and the county seat resided in Indian Key, along the banks of the Miami River, and in Juno, until a county-wide vote placed it in the City of Miami in 1899.

The first county courthouse in Miami was located in a two-story building on the east side of Avenue D, the future South Miami Avenue, from 1899 until 1904. The first courthouse located on Twelfth Street, the future Flagler Street, opened in 1904 and was expected to accommodate the county’s business for fifty years. However, the growth of the county required a larger courthouse by the mid-1920s. Today’s Dade County courthouse was opened on September 6, 1928, but will soon be replaced by a new structure being constructed just west of the current building.

The year 1972 was a special year for the Miami metropolitan area. It was an election year when South Florida hosted the political conventions of both major parties, when the sitting president made Key Biscayne famous as the winter White House, and when Dade County approved a $553 million “Decade of Progress” bond issue to fund projects that would upgrade the county’s infrastructure and cultural institutions. It was also the year of the “perfect season” for the Miami Dolphins.

Tune into this week’s podcast episode to hear about the early history of the Miami Dolphins and that magical season in 1972. Perfection, or going undefeated and untied for an entire season through the championship game, is a feat that had never been accomplished before or since the Miami Dolphins of 1972.

This podcast episode features the story of one of South Florida’s prominent municipalities on the northeastern section of Dade County. What was once part of an area referred to generically as ‘Biscayne Country’, it became America’s Mediterranean when the Shoreland Company purchased and platted the future Village of Miami Shores.

The development of Miami Shores began to market property during the peak of the 1920s building boom and set records for lot sales in a single day. However, the Shoreland company took on too much debt and had to file for bankruptcy after the boom abruptly ended in 1926. Miami Shores was completed after new investors took over the project, and the area incorporated as the Village of Miami Shores on January 2, 1932.