The Gesu Catholic Church was founded in April 1896. It was originally&nbsp;a building made of wood erected on&nbsp;land donated by Henry Flager, the founder of Standard Oil. &nbsp;The ever-growing catholic church was relocated to its present location and a new building, the present structure, was built in 1921.&nbsp;&nbsp;In addition to being a church, the Sisters of St. Joseph have run&nbsp;an elementary and high school out of the building for more than 75 years. The church also helped Central American and Cuban refugees by offering food, clothing, medical care, employment, shelter, and education between&nbsp;the years of 1959 to 1982. In 1961, the church became home&nbsp;Belén Jesuit Preparatory School. &nbsp;Exiled Cuban priests opened the school for Cuban refugee children to receive a Catholic education. &nbsp;A year and a half later, the school outgrew the walls of the church and moved to another location. &nbsp;It still operates in Miami today as an all-male Catholic school. &nbsp;Today, the church happily accepts visitors who are interested in its history. &nbsp;The church pastor still performs mass and various sacraments, and the church&nbsp;is available for weddings. &nbsp;Visitors to the church should call beforehand to ask about good times to tour the historic building.&nbsp;&nbsp;

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This salmon-pink cathedral that towers over the streets of downtown Miami is the Gesu Catholic Church, the oldest church in South Florida.  The building itself is from the 1920s, but the church and the influence of Catholicism in Florida goes back even farther in time.  Since its genesis, which is owed to the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, the Gesu Catholic Church has been a centerpiece for the catholic community in the city of Miami.  It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gesu Catholic Church

This short walking tour includes stops at over a dozen landmark buildings, monuments, museums, and historical markers in the heart of Miami's downtown business district. The tour concludes at the HistoryMiami Museum. 

Downtown Miami

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The City of Miami
entered a building frenzy during the 1920s, when the Florida Land Boom caused
the population to swell and investments to skyrocket. Skyscrapers first came to
Miami in 1925, when the city eliminated its ten-story height restriction.
Construction of one seventeen-story building was financed by the Meyer-Kiser
Bank. The Indianapolis-based bank was founded by cousins Sol Meyer and Sol S.
Kiser in 1906. In 1925, they decided to expand to Miami and provided $1,500,000
to build the structure that would be named the Meyer-Kiser Building. 

The Meyer-Kiser
Building was designed in the Commercial style of architecture by Martin L.
Hampton. Hampton was notable for creating multiple structures in Florida and
Hollywood such as the Congress Building, the Biltmore Hotel, and the old Miami
Beach City Hall. The seventeen-story Meyer-Kiser was one of the earliest
skyscrapers to be built with a steel frame. Construction began in 1925 and was
completed in December that same year. Less than a year later, on September 18,
1926, Miami was hit by a devastating hurricane. Much of the city was destroyed,
while the Meyer-Kiser was badly damaged. Thankfully the building had been
insured for wind damage, one of the few in Miami to do so. The building
received a $675,000 damage payment, the largest in Florida’s history at the
time. The decision was made to only repair the first seven stories and demolish
the remaining ten; the hurricane had plunged Miami into an economic tailspin,
and seventeen stories were not needed. 

The original tenant of
the Meyer-Kiser Building was the Meyer-Kiser Bank itself. The bank fell on hard
times however, and folded during the stock market crash in 1929. The next major
tenant was the American National Bank, which occupied the building in 1936. By
1944 the bank had been absorbed into First National Bank, and the
Dade-Commonwealth Title and Abstract Company took its place on the ground
floor. It was at this time that the Meyer-Kiser Building was renamed the
Dade-Commonwealth Building, the name that continues to be used to this day.
Throughout the following years, the building went through a series of tenants
and interior renovations. In 2015, the building was purchased for $9.2 million
by Dream Downtown LLC, a joint venture between Immocorp Capital and Beekman
REIM. The company has announced that it will rebuild the additional ten stories
on the Dade-Commonwealth Building, and convert it into a 169-room hotel.

The Dade-Commonwealth Building, also known as the Meyer-Kiser Building, was built in 1925. Its construction came during a downtown building frenzy amidst the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. The Commercial style building originally had seventeen stories, before a devastating hurricane in 1926 reduced the number to seven. For years some of the building's most prominent tenants were banks, including the Meyer-Kiser Bank of Indianapolis. It received its current name in 1944 when the Dade-Commonwealth Title and Abstract Co. occupied the ground floor. In 2015, the Dade-Commonwealth Building was purchased by a group of investors who plan to rebuild the additional ten stories and convert the structure into a hotel. 

Dade-Commonwealth Building

The City of Miami was
officially incorporated in 1896. For the first years of its existence, Miami
only had a small post office at Southwest 1st Street. As the city
grew, construction began on a large new post office and courthouse in 1912.
Miami’s first major federal building was completed in 1914. It was designed in
the Neo-Classical style by Oscar Wenderworth, a supervising architect for the
U.S. Department of the Treasury. The three story building was made up
reinforced concrete and brick, and included features such as Bedford Indiana
limestone, Ionic pilasters, Spanish roof tiles, and other exterior
ornamentations. The Florida Land Boom of the 1920s led to a significant
increase in Miami’s population, causing the post office and courthouse to move
to a new, larger building in 1931. For the next six years, the building was
used by government units such as the Federal Arts Project.

In 1937, the building
was purchased by the First Federal Savings and Loan Association, today known as
AmeriFirst Federal. The organization was the first federally chartered savings
and loan association in the nation, and was the largest one in Miami. The
building was renovated the same year by the firm of Kiehnel and Elliott, and
became AmeriFirst’s headquarters. In 1948, a two story wing was added as
AmeriFirst grew. In 1973 the company moved to a new thirty-two story building,
and converted the post office and courthouse building into a downtown branch. AmeriFirst
Federal finally vacated the building in 1990. Afterwards it was occupied by a
number of tenants, the last being an Office Depot which left around 2005. The
building would then sit empty for the next eight years. 

In 2013, the Old U.S.
Post Office and Courthouse underwent $300,000 of renovations, thanks to the
Miami chapter of the American Institute of Architects. It reopened as a cultural
center named the Miami Center for Architecture and Design, also known as the
MCAD. Designed to promote the rich urban and architectural history of Miami,
the MCAD hosts a variety of events year-round including lectures, exhibitions,
forums, film screenings, and guided walking tours. The facility also includes a
new Downtown Miami Welcome Center for tourists.

The Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse was the first signifigant federal government building in Miami. The Neo-Classical building was constructed between 1912 and 1914 to accommodate the new, growing city. In 1931, the post office and courthouse moved to a larger facility as Miami continued to expand. From 1937 to 1990 the building was owned and occupied by AmeriFirst Federal, the nation's first chartered federal saving and loan association. Today the building is occupied by the Miami Center for Architecture and Design, as well as the Downtown Miami Welcome Center. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and has been designated a city historical site. 

Old U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (1914-1931)

When Menéndez landed
here in 1567, the site was the main village of the Tequesta Indians. The
Tequesta were one of the first tribes in Southern Florida. They were hunters
and gatherers who subsisted mainly on fish, shellfish, nuts, and berries. By
the nineteenth century, only a few members of the Tequesta tribe remained. They
died out primarily from the introduction of European settlers who brought new
diseases, battles, and enslavement.

While on his way
to Florida, Menendez was racing French captain Jean Ribault to arrive first. Menéndez and
his crew first reached Florida on August 28, 1565, the feast day of St.
Augustine of Hippo. It was then that they founded Saint Augustine. The
settlement was formerly the Native American village of Seloy. The Timucua
people were prominent in Northeast and North Central Florida as well as
Southeast Georgia. St. Augustine legend claims that the first Catholic mass in
the continental United States was held by Menéndez and his crew after arriving.

After
establishing St. Augustine, Menéndez and his crew took control of Fort
Caroline and drove out the French. The French had previously attempted to
attack St. Augustine but were thwarted by a storm. Following this, Menéndez brought
his troops to the then-lightly defended Fort Caroline. Fort Caroline is located
on the St. John’s River.

Menéndez had
accomplished a distinguished career before landing in Florida. In 1560, he
served as commander of the Armada de la Carrera, the Spanish Treasure Fleet,
during its trip form the Caribbean to Mexico and Spain.

Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés  (February 15, 1519- September 17, 1574), a Spanish explorer and admiral from the Astunias region, landed in Biscayne Bay in 1567. He served as the first colonial governor of Florida from 1565-1574. He is also credited for founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565.

Menéndez on Biscayne Bay- Historical Marker

During the 1920s, Miami
and South Florida experienced what is today known as the Florida Land Boom.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans migrated to the Sunshine State, drawn to its
warm climate and the prospect of making money from land speculation. Land was
bought and sold rapidly, causing property values to rise dramatically. This
pushed the City of Miami to begin constructing high-rise buildings to house
offices and apartments. Even then the values of these new buildings increased;
the Biscayne Hotel, for example, quadrupled in value from $225,000 to one
million dollars in just five years, while the Greentree Inn skyrocketed from a
valuation of $75,000 to $600,000. 

In 1923, Thomas O.
Wilson, President of the Realty Securities Corporation, ordered the
construction of an office building on Northeast 2nd Avenue. Wilson,
previously a travelling salesman in Philadelphia, created the Realty Securities
Corporation in 1913, which specialized in buying and selling business
properties and subdivisions. Wilson was noteworthy for developing cemeteries
such as Woodlawn Park and Tampa’s Myrtle Hill Cemetery. He was also a member of
the Miami Realty Board, as well as the Chamber of Commerce. Wilson dubbed the
new five-story building on Northeast 2nd Avenue “The New Congress
Building” and used it as the Realty Securities Corporation’s headquarters. In
1925, at the height of the Florida Land Boom, Miami ended its ten story height
restriction on buildings. Soon an additional sixteen stories had been added to
the New Congress Building, which now began being called simply the Congress
Building. 

Both the original
Congress Building and the additional sixteen stories were designed by Martin
Luther Hampton. Hampton was a very notable architect in the Miami area. Some of
his works include the old Miami Beach City Hall, many homes in Miami Springs,
and the Biltmore Hotel and Country Club. He was also part of George Merrick’s
design team that created the community of Coral Gables. Hampton created the Congress
Building in the Mediterranean Revival style, which was popular in Florida at
the time, and also included aspects of the Chicago School style. 

The Congress Building
remains as an example of commercial architecture in 1920s Florida. The building
was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was
designated a Miami city historical site in 2003. In the late 1990s, the building
underwent restoration, and was converted into apartment units. The first floor
also contains retail space.

The Congress Building is a historic twenty-one story building in downtown Miami. The building was constructed in two phases, with the first five stories in 1923 and the remaining sixteen in 1925. It features elements of both Mediterranean Revival and Chicago School architecture. The Congress Building was created amidst the 1920s Florida Land Boom, which saw the population of Miami explode and land prices skyrocket. The Building itself was built and utilized by the Realty Securities Corporation, a real estate company specializing in suburban properties. Today the Congress Building has been restored and houses apartments. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been designated a Miami historic site.

The Congress Building

The DuPont building is Miami’s only Art Deco skyscraper and was built in the style of Depression Moderne architecture. Moderne style is a later form of the Art Deco style that came into existence during the thirties. Due to the Great Depression, industrial designers began to favor streamlined design over the ornamental design of earlier Art Deco work. Industrial design refers to the process of designing products for mass production.

Characteristics of the Streamline Moderne style include horizontal orientation, glass brick walls, porthole windows, chrome hardware, horizontal grooves or lines in walls, and smooth exterior walls, often made of stucco. Although Streamline Moderne is sometimes included within the Art Deco style, the most influential and innovative designers of the movement disliked Art Deco, considering it decadent and falsely posing as modern. This group included Raymond Loewy, Walter Dorwin Teague, Gilbert Rohde, and Norman Bel Geddes.

The DuPont building’s interior includes motifs inspired by Seminole Indian design and designs inspired by local flora and fauna. The building has served many purposes over the years, including the Fleet Headquarters for the 7th Naval District during World War II. During this time, it began being called the “USS Neversink.” Since 2001, the space has been used as a special events venue. The building underwent a two-year restoration project that was completed in 2005.

The Alfred I. DuPont building was one of Miami’s first skyscrapers and was added to the US National Register of Historic Places on January 4, 1989. It was built in 1939 and is 260 feet tall, with 21 floors. The building's construction symbolized Miami’s recovery following the Great Depression, as it was the first skyscraper built after the economic boom of the late 1920s. The building was named after the owner of the Florida National Bank, an important tenant in the building during its early years.

Alfred I. DuPont Building

The Olympia Theater was built in 1926 by Paramount Pictures as part of a new ten-story commercial building. It replaced an open-air theater known as the Airdrome that had previously occupied the same site. The Olympia was designed by the popular atmospheric theater architect John Eberson in the Mediterranean Revival style. Atmospheric theaters were popular in the 1920s, with auditoriums designed to look like outdoor environments and ceilings painted to depict a blue sky with stars. The Olympia is one of only two surviving atmospheric theaters in Florida, along with the Tampa Theater. It is also said to be the first theater in the South to have air conditioning. &nbsp;

Originally the Olympia Theatre screened silent movies, but it quickly began showing “talkies” and vaudeville acts, including the Marx Brothers. By the 1950s the theater was hosting concerts as well. The most notable performer was Elvis Presley, who played fifteen sold-out concerts in August 1956. Business declined at the Olympia during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1970, the building was purchased by businessman Maurice Gusman, who began a multi-year series of renovations to modernize the theater, led by architect Morris Lapidus. As part of the renovations, plastic seats replaced the original seating while the overall capacity was reduced from 2,170 to 1,710. In 1975 Gusman donated the theater to the City of Miami, which renamed it the Gusman Cultural Center and converted it into a venue for rock concerts. For over a decade the theater hosted concerts for acts such as The Police and Jimmy Buffett.

By the late 1980s, the building was showing signs of significant deterioration, and new renovations began in 1989. Restoration architect Richard J. Heisenbottle was commissioned to develop a multi-year plan to both restore the theater to its 1926 design and to convert it into a performing arts center. The plan was broken down into segments during which restoration would only occur during the summer months when attendance was typically lower. The renovations included adding period seating and using carpet and paint matching the original 1926 designs. In 2010, the Olympia Center Inc. was created to preserve and operate the theater. In 2014, the name of the venue&nbsp;was changed&nbsp;back to the Olympia Theater. Today the Olympia Theater hosts a variety of live programming, such as concerts, plays, operas, comedy routines, and lectures. It also has an annual film series known as Recent Cinema from Spain, and serves as the principal location for the Miami International Film Festival.

The historic Olympia Theater was constructed in 1926 by Paramount Enterprises. The theater showed silent films and vaudeville in its early years. The theater later hosted "talkies" (movies with sound0 as well as concerts, plays, and community events. The Mediterranean Revival style building is one of only two surviving atmospheric theaters in Florida and it may be the first theater in the South to offer air conditioning. It has been renovated, repurposed, and renamed several times. Today the Olympia Theater continues as a performing arts center, hosting various concerts, lectures, and other events throughout the year. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Olympia Theater

The Ingraham Building
was built by railroad magnate Henry Flagler’s Model Land Company. Flagler was
the president and founder of the Florida East Coast Railway. In the 1890s he
decided to extend his line down to south Florida, leading to the creation of Miami
in the process. The construction of the railroad also resulted in Flagler’s
company acquiring significant amounts of land in Florida, numbering in the
millions of acres. Flagler established a “Land Department” of the Florida East
Coast Railway to manage, develop, and sell these properties. In 1896, he turned
the department into a separate, independent corporation, the Model Land
Company. He appointed James E. Ingraham as the company’s president. Previously
the president of the South Florida Railroad Company, Ingraham was highly successful
in making Flagler’s properties profitable enough to rival his railroad and
hotel enterprises. 

Construction of the
Ingraham Building began in 1926 and was completed the following year. It was
named in honor of President James Ingraham, who had passed away in 1924. The
Ingraham Building, like many other buildings in downtown Miami, was created in
the middle of the Florida Land Boom. Reaching its peak in the mid-1920s, the
Land Boom was a time of intense land speculation and migration in Florida. With
the population exploding and property values skyrocketing, Miami was forced to
begin constructing high-rise buildings to meet demand. 

The Ingraham Building
is noteworthy for having been designed by the architectural firm Schultze and
Weaver. The famous New York firm designed such structures as Miami’s Freedom
Tower, New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and several Biltmore Hotels. The thirteen-story
Ingraham was created in the Second Renaissance Revival style and features elaborate
exterior ornamentation and Indiana limestone. Upon its completion, the Ingraham
housed offices for the Model Land Company; other early tenants included
architects, lawyers, realtors, and the Florida Power and Light Company. Today
the Ingraham Building is largely unchanged in appearance and continues to serve
as office and retail space. Noteworthy tenants today include consulates for
Jamaica and the Bahamas.

The historic Ingraham Building was constructed in 1927. Like many other buildings in downtown Miami, it was built as part of the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. It is noteworthy for having been designed by the architectural firm Schultze and Weaver, the same firm that designed buildings such as the Waldorf-Astoria. The Ingraham Building was originally built as offices for the Model Land Company, the real estate arm of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway. The construction of a railway through southern Florida left Flagler with considerable land holdings, resulting in him creating the Model Land Company to sell and develop those properties. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Ingraham Building

During the 1920s,
Florida experienced the phenomenon known today as the Florida Land Boom. It was
a period of mass migration, development, and land speculation in the Sunshine
State. Land prices and property values skyrocketed as Florida was inundated
with investors seeking to profit off the hundreds of thousands of people moving
to the state. With available land soon becoming scarce, high-rise buildings
began to be built in Miami’s downtown area. The mid-1920s saw the construction
of prominent commercial buildings such as the DuPont, Ingraham, and Congress
Buildings. In 1925, at the peak of the land boom, construction began on a new
building created by Frederick Rand.

Frederick H. Rand was
an attorney-turned-real-estate-developer who left Orlando and moved to Miami in
1916. He became very successful, developing subdivisions such as Broadmoor,
Edgewater, Miramar, and Highland Park. Rand also acquired all the land on Northeast
2nd Avenue from Flagler Street to 14th Street. He planned
to develop the area into a “Fifth Avenue” and make it a prosperous downtown center.
The implementation of his project began in 1925 with the construction of the
Huntington Building and Roosevelt Hotel. Rand’s plans subsequently came to an
end however, after a hurricane in 1926 left Miami badly damaged and hastened
the end of the Florida Land Boom. Frederick Rand would later go bankrupt when
the Great Depression began. 

Construction of the
Huntington Building began in 1925 and was completed in 1926. It was named after
Frederick Rand’s sister, Elizabeth Huntington Rand. The primary architect of
the building was German-born Louis Kamper. While the majority of his designs
were in Detroit, he is known for designing the Huntington Building as well as
the Roosevelt Hotel. The Miami-based firm of Pfeiffer and O’Reilly also served
as associate architects. The thirteen-story building was designed in the Commercial style,
rare for downtown Miami. The exterior was given much detailing, and boasted a
unique roofline decorated with eleven statues of knights. Four statues of
winged griffins were included originally but later removed. At one point, the
knights were each painted a different color and illuminated in the evenings.
The building has been renovated a few times, including in 1943 and 1976,
however the original exterior remains mostly intact. In 1983 it was designated
a city historical site, and in 1989 it was added to the National Register of
Historic Places. Today the Huntington Building houses offices and condominiums.

The Huntington Building, also known as the Consolidated Bank Building, was constructed in 1925-1926. It came, like many other downtown Miami buildings, at the height of the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s. The Huntington Building was created by real estate developer Frederick Rand, who sought to develop Northeast 2nd Avenue into a substantial downtown center. It is noted particularly for eleven knight statues that occupy the rooftop, giving it a unique appearance. Today the Huntington Building houses offices and condominiums. 

Huntington Building

The City of Miami
experienced an era of economic prosperity in the 1920s during the Florida Land
Boom. Many of the city’s most well-known buildings were constructed at this
time. The land boom ended however in 1926, in part because of a devastating
hurricane. The beginning of the Great Depression just a few years later threw
Miami into a deeper economic slump. The city’s fortunes began to look up in
World War II, when thousands of troops were stationed in Miami for training.
Local transportation infrastructure was also improved around this time. The
United States’ post-war boom led to an economic revival in Miami as the city
once again became a major tourist destination, fueling the construction of new
hotels and apartments. 

In 1952, the Ainsley
Building became the first skyscraper built in Miami since the DuPont Building
in 1937. The office building was designed by Russian-born Modernist architect
Morris Lapidus. Lapidus was famous for creating numerous hotels and condominiums
in New York, Miami, and Miami Beach, during the 1950s and 1960s. His most
notable work is perhaps Fontainebleau in Miami. He characteristically designed
his buildings with many colors, curves, and very few corners or straight lines.
Initially many of his creations were derided by critics, but in recent decades
they have become increasingly popular. 

The Ainsley Building
was one of the first buildings created in the International Style of
architecture, along with the Lever House and the United Nations Secretariat
Building, both in New York. The fifteen-story steel frame building lacks
ornamentation and features a glass curtain wall with tray-like projections on
its east side. It is also one of the first buildings to be made with aluminum
panel exterior walls as well as Artex
windows. The Ainsley Building was originally owned by Herman Greenfeld and his
Ainsley Realty Company. The company went bankrupt in 1963 and the building
subsequently changed hands numerous times. Over the course of its history, the
Ainsley Building has housed tenants such as banks, lawyers, and the Cuban
Consulate. The building was later renamed the Foremost Building, and renamed
again to One Flagler in 2010. In 2015, the building underwent a $10 million
renovation, converting it into office condominiums.

The historic Ainsley Building, today known as the One Flagler Building, was built in 1952. It was the first skyscraper constructed in post-World War II Miami and came amid an economic reawakening in the city. The Modernist building was designed by noted architect Morris Lapidus, famous for creating such hotels as Fontainebleau. The Ainsley Building has changed hands a number of times, and in 2015 was converted into office condominiums. That same year it was also designated a Miami historical site. 

Ainsley Building

Brief History of COREThe Miami Sit-Ins came as a indirect result of teachings and campaigning for greater equality by CORE, which was first established in 1942 as the Committee of Racial Equality. Based on a pacifist mentality that sought to change racist attitudes, University of Chicago student George Houser and the eventual First National Director (student at the time) James Farmer began organizing protests against segregation in public accommodations through the non-violent practice of sit-ins.&nbsp;From the beginning, sit-ins and CORE attracted significant tension from local communities and national leadership. The aftermath of the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 and the Montgomery Bus Boycott revived and revitalized CORE and its members, and the organization continually provided these events with a philosophical commitment to non-violence.1The Sit-Ins in MiamiThroughout the late 1950s, CORE moved south with its message of equality and non-violent protest. Then in September of 1959, CORE organized a two-week seminar on non-violent direct action called the “September Action Institute.” Participants in the seminar decided to stage a series of sit-ins at the segregated lunch counters located at Jackson-Byron and Grants department stores.&nbsp;These stores closed their counters as a reaction, and by the end of the seminar, Jackson-Byron notified CORE and stated that they would de-segregate their lunch counters. Of course, this was met with enthusiasm and a feeling of great success, but when the counter re-opened, Black members of CORE were refused service.When the sit-ins resumed on the 23rd of September, CORE and other activists occupied all of the Jackson-Byron’s 40 seats for around 5 hours. The peaceful situation quickly fell into violence as racist groups attacked CORE members while the police harassed and arrested sit-in members. The protests were temporarily suppressed until 1960, when sit-ins swept across the Southern states.2An Example of the Time:The August 19th, 1960 edition of the Ocala-Star Banner featured a small article on Page 10, next to the funnies, titled “Miami Sit-Ins Draw Criticism.” Although this is one small piece of the greater history pertaining to anti-segregation in the 1960s, the article does show the mentality of the time. The article read, verbatim, as follows:MIAMI (AP): A Miami restaurant sit-in that resulted in 18 arrests drew criticism from Florida’s Governor, the Mayor of Miami, and two Miami newspapers as un-constructive.&nbsp;Gov. LeRoy Collins said yesterday the demonstration by integrationists of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) hurt rather than helped their cause.Mayor Robert King High said the demonstrators deliberately aimed at being arrested and thus displayed a lack of spiritual substance in their approach.&nbsp;CORE spokesmen denied the group intended to be placed under arrest. They said their visit to a northeast Miami shopping center restaurant was to test reaction there to Negroes seeking service.&nbsp;The 18 were booked at Dade County jail under a law governing ejection of unwelcome guests. Twelve refused to be bailed out. One said getting out on bond would be like “paying to have segregation forced on you.”The Miami News, in a front page editorial, advised the “hothouse liberals” to “go home and grow up.”The Herald said editorially “Those who would integrate lunchrooms and restaurants were poorly served” by the group attested.3

In September 1959, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) held an Interracial Action Institute in Miami. Following this meeting, white and Black students and others began sit-ins at area department stores that refused to serve Black patrons. This image shows a later sit-in at Burdine's on East Flagler Street (presently the location of Macy's). Although these sit-ins did not immediately lead to the integration of Miami lunch counters, they gave activists important lessons that would help spur the wave of successful sit-ins that began in Greensboro, NC in 1960.

Miami Sit-Ins to Protest Segregation at Lunch Counters, 1959-1960

The idea for a historical museum covering the rich history of southern Florida was first conceived by famous Miami citizens George Merrick, Charlton Tebeau, and Marjory Stoneman Douglas. By 1940, these three visionaries founded the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Although the Historical Museum of Southern Florida remained as an association without a physical museum for two decades, it was able to open its doors for regular public use in 1962. Ten years later, the Museum moved to a larger facility within the Miami Science Museum, where it was able to expand its exhibition range and provide more educational and outreach programs for the city. From 1974 to 1979, the Museum gained esteem for its developing exhibition storyline, and in 1984, after years of fame for being the premier historical museum in the area, the Museum moved to its current location in downtown Miami in the Miami-Dade Cultural Center. By 2010, the Museum changed its name to HistoryMiami, and a year later, it was formally received as a Smithsonian Institution Affiliate.The sheer variety and depth of HistoryMiami’s exhibits have made the museum the premier cultural center in southern Florida, and this museum presents everything from standard historical subjects (such as Native American and Spanish arrival in the region) to more nuanced and specific exhibits. For example, the interactive “History &amp; Ourselves” exhibit features artifacts and other materials related to the theme of Arrive, Adapt, Grow, and Live, and highlighted objects range from the Miami Heat logo to an early Coral Gables street light. Other exhibits featured at the museum have included “Whitman Family Gallery,” “Folklife Gallery,” and “Operation Pedro Plan,” which showcases the Cuban child refugee exodus in the Western Hemisphere from 1960 to 1962. Artifacts at HistoryMiami present the three-dimensional history of Miami culture and innovation, and with over 37,000 objects covering archaeology, technology and home furnishings, aviation life, and even community life, visitors to the museum can discover the real objects that played a role in the growth and cultural diversity of the area.In addition to galleries and collections, HistoryMiami also offers a variety of educational resources. Since the organization's inception, it has hosted programs attended by over 500,000 area students. A non-circulating library provides historical documents, photographs, and other materials to both public and private researchers. In addition to gallery and school tours, HistoryMiami also offers group city tours. A variety of tours are offered, including via walking, bike, boat, or coach. Finally, HistoryMiami has published Tequesta since just a year after the organizations founding in 1940. Tequesta is an annual scholarly journal which focuses on the history of south Florida and Miami. Topics range from pre-Columbian history to late twentieth-century. As one of the largest local history museums in Florida, HistoryMiami offers stellar resources and exhibits while maintaining a local feel.

HistoryMiami, formerly known as the Historical Museum of Southern Florida, preserves the history and culture of Miami and southern Florida. Because southern Florida has historically stood as the cultural crossroads of America, HistoryMiami interprets and presents its vast collection of artifacts, providing locals and visitors with meaningful ways to connect to the region’s past and its ever-evolving future. In addition to the Museum’s 40,000 square feet of gallery space that features a variety of exciting and interactive exhibits, the museum also offers a variety of city tours. The top floor houses the museum’s permanent exhibition, where the “Tropical Dreams: A People's History of South Florida” exhibit (2015-2017) showcases over 12,000 years of regional history. The lobby contains the gift shop as well as two galleries that rotate temporary exhibitions. HistoryMiami also includes the Archives and Research Center, which contains historic photos and documents useful to scholars, distant learners and industry professionals.  

Downtown Miami

Gesu Catholic Church

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information