The Curtiss-Bright Cities:
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By Seth H. Bramson
The story of the Curtiss-Bright cities is an incredible, fascinating, totally unbelievable story! Except that it is true. The Seminole interpretation of Hialeah's name, "High Prairie," evokes a picture of the grassy plains used by the native Indians who came from the Everglades to dock their canoes and display their wares for Miami's newcomers and tourists. That "high prairie" caught the eyes of pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss (May 21, 1878-July 23, 1930) and Missouri cattleman James H. Bright (1866-January 5, 1959), who as early as 1909 saw its great potential. The opening of Hialeah Park in 1925 received more coverage in the Miami media than any other sporting event in the history of Miami up to that time. In the early Roaring Twenties, Hialeah was considered a party city and entertainment was plentiful. Sporting activities included jai alai and greyhound racing, while the cinema included silent movies such as D.W. Griffith's "The White Rose," which was made at the Miami Movie Studios located in Hialeah. Although the four catastrophic events of 1926, culminating with the September 17-18 hurricane, brought an end to the great Florida boom that essentially began with the ending of World War I, it could not quench the spirit of those who knew what Hialeah could be.
In the years since its incorporation in 1925, many historical events and people have been linked with the city. The opening of Hialeah Park (which was nicknamed the Grande Dame) in 1925 as a horse track following its several years as a greyhound track, received more coverage in the Miami media than any other sporting event in the history of Miami up to that time. Since then there have been countless thoroughbred racing firsts and historical events at the world famous 220-acre park. It opened as one of the country's grandest thoroughbred horse racing parks with its majestic Mediterranean-style architecture and was considered the “Jewel of Hialeah" at the time, although, as this is being written, attempts and efforts are underway to save the now mostly abandoned park.
Across the river from Hialeah, Mr. Curtiss planned a Pueblo Indian-themed town, which, according to historian Hazel Streun, was to be a residential community set aside for gracious living. In 1922, Country Club Estates, as the town was originally called, was surveyed and laid out, although there was, initially, nothing on the site of what would become Miami Springs except a riding stable. Curtiss, who believed in putting his money where his mouth was, built his first house in the area in the Deer Park section of Hialeah, but in 1925, he moved to his newer and larger home in Country Club Estates, giving away tracts of land to those who would build homes immediately. On August 23, 1926, Country Club Estates was incorporated as a town, and on April 15, 1930, the voters of that community changed its name to Miami Springs. With sixty registered voters at the time, thirty-three voted for the change with twenty-seven against. |
Opa Locka was planned with an Arabian nights theme, and the municipal building, the Seaboard Railway station and numerous other buildings fit that concept. To no small extent, since the 1930s Miami Springs has been home to innumerable transportation employees, both railroad and airline. The Florida East Coast Railway's Hialeah Yard is located just across the canal on the west side of the city, and airline employees appreciate the city's proximity to Miami International Airport just across Thirty-sixth Street to the south.
Of the three major cities that comprise this tome, one - Opa Locka - built by Curtiss with an Arabian nights theme, has sadly and unhappily fallen on hard times. Many of the original buildings either have been demolished or are uninhabitable, with too many of the current and extant buildings comprising substandard housing. Opa Locka began life with the Indian name Opatishawockalocka as part of the 120,000-acre Curtiss-Bright Ranch and Dairy Farm. Curtiss, though, planned to shorten the name, and the first plat of the area, dated 1926, does show it as Opa Locka. According to A Dream of Araby, the marvelously researched history of Opa Locka written by the late Frank S. Fitzgerald-Bush and published in 1976, Curtiss formed the Opa Locka Development Company on December 11, 1925, with construction beginning in 1926. The municipal charter was elated May 14, 1926.
The city was planned, as noted above, with an Arabian nights theme, and the municipal building, the Seaboard Railway station and numerous other buildings fit that concept. Many of the streets bear names indicative of the theme, including Sharazad and Ali Baba Avenues, but even with that fanciful plan, the city never became what Curtiss had planned it to be, likely due in no small part to his much too early death.
Although not built by Curtiss or Bright, two other cities are part of the mosaic in this volume, namely Virginia Gardens and Hialeah Gardens, the former being carved out of a portion of Miami Springs fronting on Northwest Thirty-sixth Street on the south and Lafayette Drive on the north, from Northwest Fifty-seventh Avenue (Curtiss Parkway) on the east to Northwest Sixty-sixth Avenue and the Ludlum Canal on the west. Virginia Gardens was incorporated in 1947 and celebrated its sixtieth anniversary in 2007. Hialeah Gardens, which extends northwest from Hialeah along and adjacent to U.S. 27 (Okeechobee Road), was incorporated by twenty-six voters in 1948. Its sixtieth anniversary year is 2008. With approximately twenty thousand people within its two and a half square miles, Hialeah Gardens is one of Miami-Dade County's most densely populated cities and is recognized as such with its own branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library System. |
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The Curtiss-Bright Cities: Hialeah, Miami Springs and Opa Locka
The Curtiss-Bright Cities: Hialeah, Miami Springs and Opa Locka