Miami History

On September 30, 1843, William Burdine was born in Monroe County, Mississippi. Burdine formed W.M. Burdine & Son store that would later become the Burdines Department Store after his death in 1911.

His establishment was considered the finest store in Miami at the time of his death. The store continued to grow under Roddy Burdine's stewardship.

Just published: The Glenn Miller Story Movie Premiere in 1954.

The latest article on the Miami History Substack shares the details of the world premiere of the movie “The Glenn Miller Story” which premiered in South Florida in January 1954.

The movie starred Jimmy Stewart and was shown at three different Wometco theaters in Coral Gables, downtown Miami, and on Lincoln Road in Miami Beach.

Click on the link attached to read more.

Glenn Miller Story Movie Premiere in 1954 The world premiere of the Glenn Miller Story movie which took place over several days at several South Florida theaters beginning on Saturday, January 16, 1954.

On September 27, 1963, demolition of Miami's downtown Florida East Coast Railway Station began.

The station opened in 1912 and was the second permanent railway station in downtown Miami.

Locals complained about how the train depot would constrict automobile traffic in and around the county courthouse.

The razing of the structure was met more with celebration than nostalgia when it was demolished in 1963.

Attached is the front page of the Miami Herald the next day with photos of the demolition.

Attached is a photograph of the Townley Building, taken on November 24, 1906. The three-story structure stood at the northwest corner of NE First Avenue and Flagler Street from 1905 until 1952.

The building is perhaps best remembered as the longtime home of Red Cross Pharmacy, one of downtown Miami’s prominent early businesses. Its third floor also served as meeting space for several of Miami’s early civic organizations, including the Elks Lodge.

Among the professionals who maintained offices in the Townley Building was prominent Miami physician Dr. Peter T. Skaggs, who practiced medicine there during the building’s first few decades.

The Townley Building was demolished in 1952 and replaced by the Morris Lapidus-designed Ainsley Building, which still occupies the same prominent downtown corner today.

The first photo is of the residence at 1430 South Miami Avenue in the Brickell neighborhood of Miami in 1976.

It was the long time home of Thomas and Jane Hamilton who moved into the neighborhood in the early 1930s. The second photo is of the Hamiltons in 1950.

The structure was a duplex that featured a main living quarters on the ground level, which the Hamiltons occupied, and an apartment on the second level. The Brickell neighborhood consisted of many of these types of dwellings from the 1930s until the 1980s.

The property had been vacant for decades before it began being redeveloped for the Cipriani Residences tower which is under construction at the time of this post.

The condominium tower will reach 80-stories and will top off at 950-feet making it the tallest building in Miami for the moment.

The third photo is of approximately the same vantage as the first photograph, taken in September 2026, illustrating the change in view from the street level.

The fourth photo is of the Cipriani Tower from SE 14th Street and Biscayne Bay looking west. The tower with the crane at the top is the Cipriani Residences building.

The tower recently topped off giving it the designation as the tallest building in Miami for short while. The Waldorf Astoria building on Biscayne Boulevard will eclipse it soon when it reaches its pinnacle of 1,049 feet.

On September 22, 1915, Ocean Beach Realty Company, which was owned and operated by James E and John Newton Lummus, sold the Town of Miami Beach a mile long stretch of ocean front land for a park for $40,000.

The land for the park extended from between Fifth and Sixth streets north 4120 feet to Fifteenth Street, with an average width of 250 feet.

The park was named Lummus Park as part of a resolution, passed on July 28, 1921, to honor Miami Beach's first Mayor John N. Lummus.

Attached is an aerial photograph of Miami Beach in 1915, courtesy of State of Florida Archives, Richard B. Hoit photographer.

On September 22, 1899, Miami’s first hospital opened at Fourth Street and The Boulevard, today’s NE 8th Street and Biscayne Boulevard, across from the FEC Pier in downtown Miami.

Known initially as the Friendly Society Hospital, the medical facility began with Building #3 seen in this photograph, it was named for Father A.B. Friend, pastor of the Church of the Holy Name, who was largely responsible for establishing the facility in 1899.

As Miami grew, so did the hospital. The building to the left of #3 was later added to provide additional patient beds, while Building #2, the annex on the right, was constructed in 1910 and included an operating room.

The facility was renamed Miami City Hospital in 1911 after the privately operated institution could no longer sustain itself financially. Facing overwhelming operating expenses, the Dade County Hospital Association recommended that the City of Miami assume responsibility for the hospital’s operation.

A few years later, the city deemed the facility inadequate for the growth it was experiencing and hired August Geiger to design a new hospital which was constructed west of downtown Miami. The new Miami City Hospital opened on June 25, 1918.

The complex was renamed for Dr. James Jackson after his passing in April 1924.

This photograph was taken in 1911. The original image, found on the Jackson Memorial Hospital website, was digitally enhanced using ChatGPT AI and Adobe Photoshop.

On September 21, 1920, the City of Miami reached a deal with the estate of Henry Flagler to purchase seven blocks of bayfront, from NE Fourth Street to SE Second Street in downtown Miami, exclusive of the shoreline occupied by Elser Pier, to construct Bayfront Park.

The city paid the Flagler Estate $1 million for this parcel of shoreline.

The photo is of Biscayne Bay and the FEC docks in 1921. Courtesy of State of Florida Archives.

Just published: The latest Miami History podcast episode which features author and "arm chair historian" (his words), Jeff Davies.

Jeff and Mike McGinness published the book "Florida - A History in Pictures" and maintains a very large social media page with the same name.

Listen to the podcast to hear Davies' journey to South Florida and what got him interested in history. Hear his ties to historical figures in Miami and his stories as he researched his pictorial history.

Click on the link below to access this podcast episode, or download on the iTunes, Stitcher, or Spotify platforms.

Florida - A History in Pictures co-Author Jeff Davies Listen now (30 mins) | An interview with author and self described “arm chair historian”, Jeff Davies, where we discuss his book, social media page, and upcoming initiatives on Florida history.