A Full Catalogue of Miami Archways

Islandia takes its role as clearinghouse of Miami archway lore very seriously. This is a catalogue but also the unveiling of a very hidden arch in Miami's Design District.

We Know Arches

Trail Arches

It’s been one year since we broke the news that the mysterious Tamiami Trail had been demolished. Miami locals expressed both nostalgia and intrigue on learning about the arch and its demise.

We’ve also shared images of the other Tamiami Trail Arch—The Original—which sat at the border of Dade County and Collier County.

Tamiami Trail Archway, 1928. (State Archives of Florida)

Other Arches

In the past, we’ve maintained awareness about other area arches as well.

1. The Sunshine State Arch in Miami Gardens

2. Demolished 1939 arch from Seaboard Rail Terminal (photo’d by Phillip Pessar)

3. The Hialeah Opa-Locka Flea Market Arch

Other Miami Arches

But there is still one arch which has escaped Miami folklore… UNTIL NOW

There is an Intersection

Picture this: You are driving north on Miami’s Northeast 2nd Avenue at rush hour. You arrive at the red light at Northeast 36th Street.

You have three options:

1. Turn left onto Northeast 36th Street towards Midtown Miami or back towards Wynwood.

2. Veer left’ish—the middle option—towards Miami’s Design District and some of its most valuable commercial property.

3. Or go straight down Federal Highway, a road which provides rear entry to Biscayne Boulevard facing businesses and which historically was just more train track stations and land.

Option 2 is Correct Choice

Miami’s NE 36th Street and NE 2nd Avenue intersection with transposed historic “Gateway to Miami”.

Why? Not because I recommend shopping at Fendi but because you would be driving under the ghost of a missing Miami arch, an arch whose story begins with the story of a highway…

The Dixie Highway

(State Archives of Florida/Florida Times-Union)

In 1913, Carl Fisher, the same loco who developed Miami Beach, came up with the idea of a highway which would connect the upper midwest with South Florida. Tin can tourists would be able to access the lush tropics and all they’d have to do is drive.

The terminus of the Dixie Highway would be in Miami.

At the time of the highway’s development, the limits of the City of Miami were at the present day location of the entrance to Miami’s Design District, at Northeast 36th Street and Northeast 2nd Avenue.

The neighborhood was not the Miami Design District then but rather the unincorporated city of Buena Vista. Back then, the street intersection was different. Instead of numbered streets, we had Buena Vista and Biscayne Drive.

Selection from a 1918 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Miami

Caravans of passengers took their inaugural drives down the Dixie Highway—a highway which in portions of South Florida has since been renamed the Harriet Tubman Highway, by the way—and were greeted along the way with decorative arches.

There’s the Georgia Arch and the Boca Raton Camel Arch.

Other Dixie Highway Arches

Fisher commissioned the construction of a grand archway in Buena Vista.

Renderings of the glorious stone arch were shared in the paper.

But they were up against the clock and a temporary arch had to be constructed. Though it paled in comparison to the rendering, it could stand proud knowing it was the only arch to ever lord over the Dixie Highway in Miami.

From the Author’s Personal Collection

Any other arches missing? Please do tell…

UPDATE!!! CORRECTION!!!

Thanks to famed Miami architect Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, we are reminded of the big red M archway that sits below the Riverwalk Metromover Station. Design by R & R Studios.

Big Red M renderings and photos