History of Opa-locka
“The location of Opa-locka has been held for some five years in view of its becoming a townsite. The native oak hammock, pine woods, the strategic location in relation to the center of population in the Miami zone and the agricultural area to the west were the original reasons for holding this property for development. This year when the Seaboard Air Line announced its route it became obvious that now is the time to develop the property.”
- Glenn Curtiss, Miami Daily News, February 7, 1926
FloIn the early 1920s, Florida was widely celebrated as the place to be. World War I had ended, the nation was flush with wealth, and people from across the country looked southward, seeking new opportunities and a fresh start. Railroads, luxury resort hotels, and other attractions sprang up, driven by the vision of industrialists like Henry Flagler, Henry Plant, and Henry Stanford. With agriculture thriving and industries booming, migration to Florida reached unprecedented levels—a movement unmatched in U.S. history.
Competition in real estate development was fierce. With transportation and infrastructure in place, names like George Merrick (Coral Gables), Addison Mizner (Boca Raton), and Carl Fisher (Ocean Beach, later Miami Beach) were staking their fortunes on ambitious, uniquely designed communities. Florida was no longer just a frontier state; it was becoming a land of dreams, promoted with strategic advertising and public relations as a place of opportunity and elegance.
Into this booming landscape came American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss, who saw an opportunity to leave his mark on a state he already knew well. Curtiss leveraged his wealth to create three communities that would become cornerstones of South Florida’s development.
After establishing Hialeah and Country Club Estates (now Miami Springs) with rancher and business partner James Bright, Curtiss set out on his own. Drawing on his previous experience, he sought to develop a community that would be the most appealing—and transportive—of the three. The land, described in a February 7, 1926, Miami Herald article as 1,000 acres, was part of the 120,000 acres Curtiss and Bright co-owned. Once Tequesta Indian territory known as “Opatishawockalocka” (translated variously as “big island covered with many trees in the swamp” or “wood hammock in a swamp”), it later became known to European settlers as “Cook’s Hammock” or “Ford’s Hammock.” Like Hialeah, Curtiss retained a nod to its Native American heritage, giving the new community a hyphenated name: Opa-locka.
The Moorish and Arabian theme of the city has several origin stories. Some say Curtiss was inspired after reading the popular novel One Thousand and One Nights (a.k.a. The Arabian Nights); others claim an associate described the land as resembling a “dream of Araby”; yet another account says the city’s architect wired Curtiss with his vision. Whatever the inspiration, Curtiss enlisted New York architect Bernhardt Emil Muller—a family referral and designer of Mediterranean-style homes in Miami since 1923—to bring this elaborate and visionary concept to life.
With the support of 28 residents who gathered at the Opa-locka fire station, Opa-locka was charted as a town on May 14, 1926. By this time, few structures were standing, the Opa-locka Company Administration building was still under construction, and many articles were written that told of great things to come for the fledging town with a grand vision of its future.
“The Seaboard Railway, with an eye to this impending development work, will build a main-line station at OPA-LOCKA. The heads of this corporation can see growth, profit - yes, richness - for their stockholders in the fertile lands of Dade County. They are building now, so that Dade County may have a direct route for its agricultural products to the Northern Markets.”
- May 21, 1926, Hialeah Press
On January 8, 1927, Curtiss, his Opa-locka Company board, and residents, would commemorate Opa-locka’s existence with an elaborate event called the “Arabian Nights Fantasy,” full of festivities and with invited dignitaries, such as Florida Governor John Martin and the Seaboard Air Line Railway President S. Davies Warfield, to bear witness to the vibrance of this place. Residents especially enthusiastically bought into the Arabian Nights theme, with many dressing up in Arabian-styled theatrical costumes shipped down from New York with Muller’s help.
Incorporation and Celebration
To begin planning the city’s layout, Glenn Curtiss enlisted New York planner and architect Clinton McKenzie, whose work for Opa-locka was entirely informed by the Garden City Movement. Created by Sir Ebenezer Howard, this early 20th-century urban planning methodology sought to connect a city’s parts into a self-sustaining whole, with designated areas for agriculture, industry, and residences.
While most of Bernhardt Muller’s architectural drawings were completed in late 1926, some of Opa-locka’s most iconic structures—designed to draw visitors and potential buyers—were created earlier. One account even notes that drawings began arriving at Curtiss’ South Florida home as early as 1925. Muller drew inspiration from the 1907 edition of One Thousand and One Nights, particularly the illustrations by French-born British artist Edmund Dulac, working alongside associates Carl Jensen and Paul Lieske.
Among the earliest buildings were a 50-foot observation tower, intended to showcase the potential of the development and entice land buyers; an archery club, reflecting Curtiss’ favorite pastime; the Opa-locka Swimming Pavilion, a venue for popular vaudeville acts; the Opa-locka Fire Station; and the grand centerpiece, the Opa-locka Company Administration Building, which served as both a leasing office and a showpiece for the city’s unique Moorish and Orientalist design.
“And if you haven’t seen Opa-locka from the tower of the new Administration Building, you should do it… It is a pleasant afternoon’s drive.”
—1926 Opa-locka Advertisement
The development also featured Dade County’s largest—and initially its only—zoo, displaying several hundred animals. Other attractions included a golf course, a horse-riding academy, and a flying school where visitors could pay 50 cents for aerial tours of the area.
In line with the Garden City philosophy, agriculture and manufacturing were positioned on the city’s perimeter. Commercial farms thrived in the fertile Florida “muck,” producing crops like papayas, strawberries, and beans, while community gardens allowed residents to grow and sell their own produce. Manufacturing enterprises also took root, including Curtiss’ innovative Aerocar (an early Airstream-style mobile home) and the King Trunk Factory Store.
Early advertising and public relations by the Opa-locka Company, Inc. were aggressive, highlighting the city’s unique characteristics and attractions. Skeptics sometimes dismissed the development as a temporary facade or a film-set fantasy, prompting the company to promote slogans that emphasized authenticity and vision: “The City Substantial,” “A City of Parts,” “Beauty in Building, Permanence in Plan,” “The City Progressive,” and even “The Bagdad of the South.”
The company also published two newspapers, The Opa-locka Times and The Lamp, chronicling Muller’s architectural creations, infrastructure progress, and civic events with meticulous detail.
The message was clear: Opa-locka was South Florida’s fastest-growing, most exciting community—a place to invest in, visit, and experience, a city where vision and reality converged in a bold, new way.
Design, Promotion, and Industry
All signs initially pointed in Opa-locka’s favor. It had a visionary founder in the form of famed aviator Glenn Curtiss, who funded construction projects and donated land to sustain interest and investment. It had a committed board and a growing, enthusiastic community. Yet despite these advantages, no amount of money or influence could propel Opa-locka into the bustling city that its architectural drawings had promised. Ambitious plans, such as the Aladdin Hotel—an elaborate Oriental-style resort—and the Opa-locka Hotel, a grand complex modeled after Coral Gables’ Biltmore, suggested the scale the city was intended to reach.
Three major events, however, derailed the city’s trajectory. The first was the catastrophic hurricane of September 17, 1926. One of the worst storms in the region’s history, it devastated Miami Beach, Coral Gables, and Hialeah. Opa-locka largely survived the storm, with many buildings weathering the event relatively well. Still, widespread media coverage of the destruction discouraged many Northeasterners from relocating to South Florida, and land sales began to slump. Construction projects in Opa-locka would continue through 1927–1928, but the momentum was already faltering.
Next came the onset of a far graver economic crisis: the Great Depression. Beginning in 1929, this global economic collapse brought countless grand development projects across the country to an abrupt halt and hit real estate ventures like Opa-locka especially hard.
Finally, on July 23, 1930, Glenn Curtiss died unexpectedly at the age of 52 following surgery in his native New York. Curtiss had been the singular force keeping Opa-locka afloat, and his passing created a leadership vacuum that would be felt for decades. Without his vision, funding, and influence, the city’s ambitious plans could not be sustained, leaving Opa-locka a shadow of its intended grandeur.
A Vision Never Fully Realized
Where today the airport sits Curtiss had urban planner Clinton McKenzie lay out Opa-locka’s country club section featuring an archery club with a swimming casino and a small private airfield for the Florida Aviation Camp surrounded by an eighteen-hole golf course and Cook’s Hammock Park. The opening of the Florida Aviation Camp in 1927, two years before Pan American Field, the precursor to Miami, International Airport, marks the beginning of aviation-related activities at the site of Miami-Opa locka Airport. In 1929, the city of Miami bought a World War I blimp hangar located in Key West to house the Goodyear Blimp during its winter sojourn in Miami. The hangar was dismantled, its components carried north on the overseas railroad and erected on the Florida Aviation Camp airfield.
Before Mr. Curtiss’ untimely death at age 52 in 1930, he lobbied to have one of the nation’s first Naval Aviation Reserve Bases established in an 80-acre parcel north of the blimp hangar on land leased from the city of Miami. By 1939 this facility encompassed some 350 acres with a hangar, two paved runways, and about a dozen small buildings, most of which still exist.
In 1933 the Navy built a dirigible mooring mast in the western half of the airport, adjacent to the Aviation Reserve Base. This was one of only five such installations around the United States. The U.S. airships Akron, and Macon and the German Graf Zeppelin all made well-publicized visits to Miami-Opa locka. After the departure of the Graf Zeppelin, a Cuban worker hired to secure mooring lines could not be found, prompting the first front page Miami Herald story about Cuban stowaways. The Hindenburg had received permission to dock here one week before it crashed. After the crash of the Hindenburg, the Navy determined that large zeppelins were too dangerous and the base was destroyed when the Naval Air Station was built.
In 1940, the Navy undertook a crash training program for fighter pilots and acquired 1533 acres of Opa-locka to build a Naval Air Station. This site encompassed what remained of the golf course, the Goodyear blimp hangar, Cook’s Hammock, and even the old Florida Ranch and Dairy Corporation farm buildings which the city of Miami had used as a working farm for indigents during the Depression. Robert and Company of Atlanta, then the nation’s second-largest design firm, prepared a master plan for the base and designed the entire infrastructure, eight runways, and almost 100 buildings. After Pearl Harbor, the Naval Air Reserve Base merged with the Air Station, and by the end of the war Miami-Opa locka Airport had the general profile of today’s facility.
The Naval Air Station was decommissioned in 1946 and the Navy leased the airside to the Dade County Port Authority, who ran it as an airport, and the landside complex of barracks and warehouses to the city of Opa-locka, who turned it into an industrial park. By 1951 there were over 120 base tenants (including the forerunner of North Shore Hospital) employing 3,000 workers with a gross annual business of $65,000,000. In 1952, the base was re-commissioned as a Marine Corps Air Station, but the promises of 6,000 base jobs, a million-dollar monthly payroll and an extensive expansion program never panned out except for the construction of an 8,000-foot runway.
Starting in 1954, the CIA used Miami-Opa locka as the headquarters for covert operations, first against Guatemala (successfully) and later Cuba (disastrously). Transfer of the base to the Port Authority was delayed over one year because of its role in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. After 1962 the Port Authority began to transfer all general aviation activity from the old Tamiami Airport to Miami-Opa locka and to aggressively recruit new tenants for the facilities. These efforts came to a screeching halt on October 21, 1962 when President Kennedy declared a National Emergency as a result of the Cuban Missile Crisis and reclaimed Miami-Opa locka for use as the Peninsula Base Command for an invasion of Cuba.
After the Soviet Union agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba, the airport facilities were returned to the Port Authority and by 1964 it had become the nation’s third busiest airport. By 1967, Miami-Opa locka was the world’s busiest civilian airport prompting the need for remote auxiliary runways for flight training activity. In 1970, the two remote auxiliary runways at Miami-Opa locka West opened, earning Miami-Opa locka the distinction of being the only reliever airport with its own reliever airport for flight training activity. The fuel crisis and recession of the 1970s removed Miami-Opa locka from the busiest airport lists. Today the two fields combine to accommodate over 175,000 general aviation yearly operations, such as corporate flights and training exercises.
Through the last forty years many activities not normally associated with airports have taken place at Miami-Opa locka. In 1980, the blimp hangar and several other structures were used to process and house Cuban refugees during the Mariel Boatlift. When Christo came to Miami in 1983 to do his “Surrounded Islands” art project in Biscayne Bay, he leased the blimp hangar to assemble with the help of forklifts the giant pink polypropylene petals that surrounded the bay island. Miami-Opa locka has been a very popular film set, many Miami Vice episodes, and portions of The Flight of the Navigator. Just Cause, True Lies and Holy Man all filmed there. The blimp hangar, sadly deteriorated, was blown up in 1994 for the final sequence of Bad Boys.
On a more serious note, Miami-Opa locka as the airport least damaged by Hurricane Andrew, became the staging point for South Florida’s recovery effort in September 1992. Four years later, the two Brother’s to the Rescue aircraft shot down by Cuban Air Force MIG’s over international waters while on a humanitarian mission, took off from Miami-Opa locka. Elian Gonzalez’s grandmothers flew in on a chartered jet for their meeting with their grandson in January 2000. And finally, in the wake of 9/11, it was discovered that terrorists Mohammed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi had trained in a 727 simulator at the Simcenter in Miami-Opa locka nine months before the attack.
This report was prepared by Antolin Garcia Carbonell, R.A. who retired in May, 2006 after 30 years with the Aviation Department.
(sourced from https://www.miami airport.com/opalocka_history.asp)
Aviation and the Military
Opa-locka Historical Timeline
1925
December 11: Opa-locka Company is formed, with Glenn Curtiss as controlling stockholder and half-brother G. Carl Adams as president.
End of December: Construction begins on the hammock.
1926
February 7: Miami Daily News realty editor Truman T. Felt publishes “Opa-locka Seen as Newest Suburb of Importance.”
Early February: Everglades Construction Company completes two of 20 miles of streets. Temporary offices, an observation tower, an airplane shed (flying academy), and several houses are finished.
February 14: Construction of the Opa-locka Company Administration Building begins. Full-page ads run with the headline: “The Overture to the Building Program at Opa-locka: The City Substantial.”
March 7: Full-page ad: “The Seaboard Will Enter Miami Through the Golden Gate of Opa-locka: The City Progressive.” Orientalist “Arabian Nights Zone” buildings begin construction.
March 29: Florida’s first archery clubhouse is photographed in the Miami Daily News and Metropolis, highlighting Curtiss’ favorite sport. Photos of the Administration Building entrance under construction also appear.
April 6: Miami Daily News ad details construction progress: six miles of rock roads, four miles of water mains, sidewalks, a 42,300-gallon water tank, and archery clubhouse nearing completion. Administration Building foundation is finished, walls underway. Swimming pool construction begins; nearly two homes are occupied. Development of Opa-locka Boulevard and The Esplanade, the city’s main artery, continues. Over 60 buildings exist, with permits issued for about 40 more. Birds and animals are added to the Opa-locka Zoo.
Opa-locka Chamber of Commerce holds its first meeting at the archery club, attended by more than 50 people; meeting called by insurance agent E. Bruce Youngs.
Riding academy announced by G. Carl Adams; Clyde G. Meredith appointed instructor with horses from Miami and Kentucky; John S. Stewart leads the school.
Florida Aviation Camp, Inc. reorganized with aviator Andrew H. Heermance as president and Fred H. Arnold as secretary; company continues aerial photography for Fairchild Aerial Camera Company and Underwood & Underwood.
Article notes Seaboard Railway construction: “A mile a day of track can be laid. The quicker the Seaboard gets here, the better we will like it… the better Miami will like it… the better Hialeah and Opa-locka will like it.”
Governing body established as “Board of Managers”: J.C. Secord (Mayor, PR), H. Sayre Wheeler (President, Finance), Harry Hurt (Public Safety), C.S. Russell (Health & Sanitation), Carl E. Long (Public Utilities), J.C. Robinson (Public Welfare).
Summer: Opa-locka Chamber of Commerce officially established with 50+ members.
May 14: Opa-locka incorporated as a town by 28 voters.
August: Opa-locka Company turns over police and fire departments, including operational codes, construction, and sanitation regulations.
September 17–18: Great Miami Hurricane strikes; Opa-locka largely spared.
December 15: Opa-locka Times reports 62 buildings completed, 31 under construction. Thirty-five men begin work on the $50,000 Opa-locka train station.
1927
January: First Arabian Nights Fantasy Festival coincides with the Orange Blossom Express arrival; attendees include the state governor, railway president, Curtiss, his associates, and local residents.
May 1: Opa-locka upgrades from a town to a city, citing increased taxation benefits.
1930
City population recorded at 319, with 100 registered voters.
1931
January: Naval Reserve Base commissioners survey Curtiss’ Florida Aviation Camp site.
1941
Naval Air Station expansion.
2023
May 1: Discover Opa-locka launched as Phase I; future updates will include additional historical events, dates, and notable figures.
The first town council of Opa-locka, circa 1926
The Founding Players
Below is a collection of names associated with Opa-locka’s founding years.
The Opa-locka Company, Inc. Officers
Glenn H. Curtiss, chairman of the board
G. Carl Adams, president of the Opa-locka Company, Inc.
G. L. Waters, vice-president
J. Alden Michael, secretary
F. S. Arnold, assistant secretary
H.C. Genung, treasurer
Additional Opa-locka Company Figures
J.C. Secord, mayor, manager of PR, city sales manager
H. Sayre Wheeler, president of the board, manager of finance
J.B. Renshaw, general sales manager
Harry Hurt, manager of public safety;
C. S. Russell, manager of health and sanitation
Carl E. Long, manager of public utilities, superintendent of construction
J.C. Robinson, manager of public welfare
F.C. Harper, head of the welfare department (July 1926)
Dan Chappell, attorney for Opa-locka Company
Phil Larrimore, sales promotion representative for Opa-locka Company
A.C. Brown, agricultural director, Opa-locka Company
City Design & Infrastructure
Bernhardt E. Muller, from New York, architect-in-chief, the Opa-locka development
J. W. Leigh, supervising architect
Mr. Clinton MacKenzie, city planner
Louis Bradt, landscape architect appointed by G. Carl Adamas
W. H. Tinsman, contractor
S.M. Johnson, contractor
Mr. Donald Lawrence - experienced landscape gardener in South Florida, responsible for Opa-locka beautification in 1926
E. F. Sirman, “animal man” in charge of Opa-locka Zoo
Frederic B. Squires, Opa-locka Chamber of Commerce president
P.B. Samson, postmaster, Opa-locka Post Office
Alexander Ott, director, Opa-locka Pool
Harold Robinson, Opa-locka garage
Frank S. Bush, Bush Electrical Shop
William Heveron, manager, Archery Club Cafe
A.H. Heermance, president, Florida Aviation Camp
Dan Lawrence, owner, Opa-locka Nursery
Mr. William S. Flynn, from Philadelphia, architect of the Opa-locka 18-hole golf course, and completed ones in Boca Raton
O.S. Baker, superintendent of the Opa-locka golf course
Mr. Bruce Youngs, assistant Marshal, was in charge of police department
Wade Bortle, Fire Chief of a volunteer fire department
Hugh Robinson, chief of the fire department
John M. McGreevy, editor of “The Lamp,” head of publicity
R. A. Samson, editor, “Opa-locka Times”
W.H. Euchner, business manager, “Opa-locka Times”
The Opa-locka Company maintained its primary office at 132 East Flagler Street, with a branch office at 181 East Flagler Street and a local office near the observation tower in Opa-locka. Sales offices were open daily to visitors, with special attention on Sunday excursions, during which potential buyers were shuttled to Opa-locka on company-branded buses.
Major infrastructure projects—roads, utilities, and anchor attractions such as clubhouses and gas stations—were managed by the Everglades Construction Company and Everglades Engineering Company. Home construction was handled by the New England Construction Company and Donathan Building Company, led by K.H. Cassidy, G.L. Hutton, Fred J. Helms, and W.L. Helms.
According to an April 6, 1926, advertisement, the terms for purchasing a new Opa-locka home were 10% down and 2% monthly, with homes averaging $6,000–$8,000. Typical land parcels ranged from $1,200–$1,500.
The city’s original newspaper outlets included The Lamp, occasionally printed by the Opa-locka Company’s PR lead, and The Opa-locka Times, founded August 26, 1926 and published biweekly by the Opa-locka Publishing Company in the Hurt Building.
The first structure erected in Opa-locka’s “business zone” was the Hurt Building in early 1926. It housed seven apartments, five stores, a gas station, and a large garage.
From an August 6, 1926, Hialeah Press article, the Florida Home Exhibit was featured in a five-room stucco house on a corner lot, billed as an “Ideal Florida Home.” Fully furnished, landscaped, and ventilated, the exhibit included a sweepstake for a Frigidaire refrigerator, and more than 100 people registered the prior Sunday afternoon.
The city’s first gas station, known as Pioneer Filling Station, was located on Opa-locka Boulevard.
The first church service was conducted in August 1926 at the archery club at 9 a.m., led by Reverend Robert Palmer of Holy Cross Parish in Buena Vista, with music provided by Sayre Wheeler.
Curtiss was meticulous about landscaping and the placement of specific plant species. According to the Hialeah Press (August 1926), the following species were planted:
Royal Poinciana, Bamboo, Pithicolobiaum – used extensively along Sharazad Boulevard
Acalypha – “used sparingly”
Cajuput – planted “in large numbers”
Coconut palm – approximately 2,500 trees to be planted
Eucalyptus, Pomjam – planted “in profusion”
Parkinsonia, Acacia latifolia – included among other plantings
Curtiss’ careful attention to both design and greenery reinforced Opa-locka’s vision as a planned, ornamental city reflecting his grand aesthetic ambitions.
