Year	Month	Day	Event	Related Resource
1960			The Lincoln Road Mall was built in Miami Beach. Lincoln Road business owners felt threatened by the trend towards building large tourist hotels with their own selection of upscale shops, such as the Fontainebleau, that were blocks away from Lincoln Road. They taxed themselves in order to raise the necessary funds for a large revitalization project. Morris Lapidus, designer of the Fontainebleau and other Miami Beach hotels, was hired for the project. Soon, the Lincoln Road Mall became one of the most significant arena for Modernist architecture in Miami Beach.	display
	March	11	The Reverend Edward T. Graham and six other black clergymen attempted a sit-in at the Burdines store in downtown Miami. The police denied them entrance. When a boycott of downtown stores was threatened, city leaders sat down to negotiate a settlement. In April, it was agreed that all stores would open to black customers simultaneously in August later that year.
	May	03	Dade County voters approved a new county-wide road system. With their vote, they allowed a $46 million bond to be issued for what would be a six year project.
	August	01	Six blacks - all CORE (the Congress on Racial Equality) members - were served at several department store lunch counters. While the color barrier was only broken at three stores on this day, it fell elsewhere soon after.
	August	02	The Metropolitan Dade County Transit Authority was created.
	September		Miami's black residents were allowed to use the city's public swimming facilities. In a suit filed by the local NAACP, a United States federal court ruled that desegregation in the city's pools was unconstitutional.
	December	20	Operation "Pedro Pan" began. These flights from Cuba brought 14,000 children to the United States by 1962.
1961			Developer Steve Muss arrived in Miami Beach. His father, Alexander Muss had established the family as developers with the founding of Alexander Muss & Sons in 1952. Steve would come to have dramatic influence in the ways that Miami Beach developed.
	April	01	The first major Miami hotel that had previously been segregated admitted blacks. Six black players in town with the Chicago White Sox stayed at the Biscayne Terrace Hotel in downtown Miami.
	June		The University of Miami admitted three black students. They were the first to attend the private university.
	July	22	The town of Sunrise was incorporated.
1962	February	20	Dade County's population reached one million. The man who was recognized as the city's millionth resident moved to Arizona four months later.
	October	01	Dadeland Mall opened. At this time, it was only an outdoor strip-mall with fifty-eight tenants. One of them was a Burdines.
1963			The Bacardi U.S.A. building at 2100 Biscayne Boulevard was built. The building, which was designed by Enrique Gutierrez of Puerto Rico's firm of Sacmag International, is one of the many examples of Modernist architecture along Biscanye Boulevard. Unlike others, however, the Bacardi U.S.A. building incorporates a number of Latin American and Spanish motifs, such as Meso-American ball courts and mosaics done in tiles glazed in Spain.
	June		Black and white teachers met together at Convention Hall in Miami Beach. This was the first time that both groups joined to discuss professional issues.
1964	February	16	The Beatles stayed at the Deauville Hotel. Their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan show was broadcast from there.
	March	31	The first Coconut Grove Festival was held. Now called the Coconut Grove Art Festival is one of the largest art fairs in the nation.
1965			Mary Athalie Range became the first black person to occupy a seat on the Miami City Commission. She was appointed to the position by the mayor after electoral fraud in her race for another seat on the commission, but went on to win two subsequent elections after her appointment.
	August	1965	The National Football League (NFL) awarded the City of Miami a franchise. Joe Robbie and Danny Thomas, the teams owners, were the individual recipients.
	September	08	Hurricane Betsy hit south Florida. Thirteen people died during the storm that caused a barge to sever Rickenbacker Causeway. Collins Avenue and Biscayne Boulevard were severely flooded.
	October	10	Fidel Castro opened the port of Camarioca in Cuba. By November 15, 5,000 would depart for Miami.
	October	25	The Disney Corporation announces plans for Walt Disney World. The company plans to establish it in central Florida.
	December		"Freedom flights" from Cuba began to arrive in Miami. These twice a day flights from Varadero, Cuba resulted in over 100,000 Cubans being brought to Miami in one year.
	December	12	The first group of Haitian refugees arrived in south Florida. They were treated as political refugees and given asylum in the United States.
1966			The Jackie Gleason Show began broadcasting from Miami Beach.	display
	April	11	Martin Luther King Jr. visited Miami. He spoke at a rally attended by 1,200 people.
	September	02	The Miami Dolphins played their first NFL game. They lost to the Oakland Raiders 23-14 at the Orange Bowl. 26,766 fans attended the game.
	December	19	The maiden voyage of Ted Arison's "MS Sunward I" marked the beginning of Miami's cruise industry. Arison owned this boat that departed Miami for the nearby port of Nassau, Bahamas. Over time, hundreds of cruise ships would call at Miami's port on their way to destinations around the globe.
1967			Several Florida species were put on the federal endangered list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed Florida panther, the snail kite, and the Cape Sable seaside sparrow on the list.	display
	February	19	The town of Coconut Creek was incorporated.
1968			Biscayne Bay was listed as a national monument. Congress cited its "rare combination of terrestrial, marine, and amphibious life in a tropical setting of great natural beauty."
	January	14	The first NFL Super Bowl was played in the Orange Bowl. The Green Bay Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders.
	May	08	The Vatican elevated the status of the Diocese of Miami to an Archdiocese.
	August	05	The Republican National Convention was held in Miami Beach. It lasted through August 8.	display
	August	07	A riot took place in Miami's Liberty City. After a rally organized by the Congress of Racial Equality and the Black Panthers, a man with a bumber sticker reading "George Wallace for President" was attacked. Shortly thereafter, a number of youths and other individuals vandalized and looted areas of Liberty City. The violence continued through the night, taking place during the Republican Party convention.
	August	08	The riot beginning on August 7 continued after City of Miami officials took no action to address the concerns of those rioting in Liberty City. After Miami police opened fire on the crowds, two black men were killed and a black child was wounded. Over the next two days, two more black men were killed by police.
	December	29	The passenger terminal at the Port of Miami was dedicated.
1969	January	24	Feeder ramps opened from downtown Miami to Interstate-95. They allowed for traffic to flow more freely between the city and the highway at a variety of points downtown.
1970			Extreme droughts across South Florida though this year and the next heightened awareness of the looming threats to the regions water supply. In addition, the Governor's Conference on Water Management in South Florida found that the quality of water was also declining.
	April	22	The first national "Earth Day" was celebrated in Miami. A teach-in at the University of Miami was held, as was a "Dead Orange Parade" on Biscayne Boulevard.
	June	15	The "rotten meat" riot occurred in the section of Miami known as Brownsville. Protesters had been picketing at a white-owned Pic-and-Pay since June 12, when the owners were accused of overpricing poor quality meet and other goods. When police arrived firing tear gas several days later, rioting ensued and continued for three days, extending into Liberty City and some sections of Coconut Grove.
1971			Maurice Gusman purchased the Olympia Theater. Architect Morris Lapidus was hired to restore the historic building. It was later transferred to the City of Miami and renamed Gusman Hall.
	October	01	Walt Disney World opened in central Florida.
1972			Father Theodore R. Gibson succeeded Mary Athalie Range on the Miami City Commission. Gibson served until 1981 and never lost an election.
			The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 was passed. It was aimed at protecting all marine life, specifically Florida's manatees.	display
	July	06	Manolo Reboso was appointed to the Miami City Commission. He was the first Cuban exile to serve as such.
	July	10	The Democratic National Convention was held in Miami Beach.	display
	August	21	The Republican National Convention was held in Miami Beach.
	October	20	The Gusman Philharmonic Hall opened.
	December		A second boatload of Haitian immigrants arrived in south Florida. Over the next several decades, thousands more would follow. At this point in time, the most common way of dealing with Haitian immigrants was to detain them for a short period of time before dropping them off at local black churches. As the U.S. government began extending these detentions, they came under fire for providing Cubans with such a considerably easier road to citizenship than Haitians.
1973	January	14	The Miami Dolphins won the NFL Super Bowl, completing their undefeated season.
	April	07	Freedom Flights from Cuba to the United States ended.
	November	06	Maurice Ferre was elected mayor of Miami. He was the city's first Hispanic mayor.
1976			Florida's state legislature created the South Florida Water Management District.	display
	March	30	The Miami Herald first published El Herald, a Spanish language supplement paper.
	June		The Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL) was established. Five designers were responsible, and their goal was to preserve the Art Deco style and all historic well-built buildings in Miami Beach.	display
1977	January	18	The Dade County Commission passed a human rights ordinance. It protected individuals against discrimination based on sexuality.
	June	07	Dade County voters repealed the human rights ordinance passed by the county commission less that one half year earlier. The vote came following a fervent anti-gay rights campaign led by Anita Bryant.
	December	02	The Fontainebleau Hotel was purchased by a group led by Steve Muss. It was part of a deal that Muss made with Hilton Hotels. The hotel's new name was the Fontainebleau-Hilton, and for the first time since it opened in 1954, a sign displayed its name.
1978	March	12	The first Calle Ocho Festival was held in Little Havana. Called Open House 8, over 100,000 people attended the event.
1979			The Everglades were designated as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations.	display
			Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaragua's ousted dictator, fled to Miami. Along with other members of his fallen government, roughly 15,000 wealthy Nicaraguans moved into or purchased residences in Miami during the late 1970s. The primary areas of concentration for these moves and purchases were Key Biscayne, Brickell Avenue, and the western suburb of Sweetwater.
	May	14	The Miami Beach Art Deco District was listed as an historic landmark in the United States national register. It was the first district created in the twentieth-century (largely in the 1930s and 1940s) to receive this designation.	display
	December	16	Arthur McDuffie was brutally beaten by a group of Dade County police officers. He died four days later as a result of the beating. The acquittal of all the officers involved sparked a riot in Miami that caused what came to be known at the "Miami Riot of 1980."
1980			Biscayne Bay National Park was established. As the status was changed from a national monument to a national park, Congress authorized the acquisition of new keys and reefs in the bay.	display
	April	21	The Mariel boatlift from Cuba to the U.S. began as the first boats began to reach Key West. By the end, nearly 140,000 Cubans would be brought to South Florida.
	May	17	A group of Dade County police officers was acquitted in the beating that left Arthur McDuffie dead the previous December. After the verdict was reached by an all-white Tampa jury, Miami descended into violence and what came to be known as the "Miami Riot of 1980." The riot cost tens of millions of dollars in damage.
	May	20	The INS detention center on Krome Avenue opened. It had previously been used as a missile base.
	July	07	The Metrozoo opened. This first section was twenty-five acres.	display
	September	26	The Mariel boatlift ended.
	November	04	An "English Only" referendum passed in Dade County.
1981			A Haitian boat traveling to the United States sank just offshore and thirty-three bodies washed up on the shores of South Florida that fall.
1984			The City of Miami's Metrorail began operating.
	September	16	"Miami Vice" debuted. The television series by Peter Yerkovich and Michael Mann brought visions of a rich, vibrant, and lush tropical paradise to the entire United States.
1986			The Metromover began running in downtown Miami. This addition to the city's mass transit system came two years after the establishment of the Metrorail system.
1987			Bayside opened along the bay in downtown Miami. Full of shops, restaurants, and other attractions, its creation gave the city its first bayfront gathering place since the 1920s.
			The Everglades were designated as a Wetland of International Importance. An intergovernmental treaty, the Convention on Wetlands, aimed to promote conservation and wise use of the area.	display
1988			Lummus Park is listed as an historic landmark in the United States historical register.
			Barbara Baer Capitman's Deco Delights was published. She had fought since the late 1970s to preserve the Art Deco style in Miami Beach and historic buildings throughout Miami.	display
	February	01	The American Airlines Arena was built with dredging from the bay.
	July		The Miami Arena opened in the Overtown/Parkwest area. Julio Iglesias performed at the first event held at the arena. It was also to serve as the first home of the Miami Heat from the time of the team's debut later in the year. The city had received an NBA franchise one year earlier.
	October	12	The Senator Hotel was demolished. Author and preservationist Barbara Baer Capitman had called it a "symbol of the Deco District." Nevertheless, the Royale Group proceeded to raze the strcture as the nearly seventy year-old Capitman was taken away by Miami Beach police. The company was seeking to build a parking garage on the site to service their other nearby properties.
1989			The Everglades National Park Protection and Expansion Act of 1989 was passed. The act authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to restore, as much as possible, the park's natural hydrological conditions, and the purchase of 107,000 additional acres of land to increase water flow on the park's eastern side.
1990	February		Miami's Holocaust Memorial was dedicated. South Florida's large Jewish population raised the funds for Ken Triester to design the memorial that was placed on Miami Beach.
1992	August	24	Early on the morning of August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida. Following the storm more than 1.4 million families were left without electricity; more than 107,000 private homes were damaged or destroyed; 49,000 were uninhabitable and 250,000 people were left homeless. Damages from the storm were estimated at $20 to $30 billion, making it the most costly natural disaster in American history until Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
1993	April		The Florida Marlins brought professional baseball to Miami. They played in Joe Robbie Stadium, which like the Dolphins, was in part owned by the man who owned the city's new MLB team - Wayne Huizenga.
	August	24	Groundbreaking for the Homestead-Miami Speedway took place one year after Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida. After Hurricane Andrew devastated South Dade, particularly the City of Homestead, longtime Miami motorsports promoter Ralph Sanchez met with Homestead's then-city manager Alex Muxo to negotiate a deal that would bring the facility to town with hopes of aiding in the revitalization of the city. Before completion of the project, H. Wayne Huizenga, owner of the Miami Dolphins, joined the team as a partner.
1994			The Everglades Forever Act was passed. Passed by Florida's state legislature, this act underwrote $685 million for construction, land acquisition, and water treatment. $320 million was to come from sugar farmers to clean up farm runoff, and the rest was to come from taxpayers.	display
2000			Miami Beach was named the #1 Urban Beach by the Surfrider Foundation.
Return to top

Copyright         Send Comments University of Miami Libraries       Department of History         University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida