History of Dade County Courthouses in Miami

Cover: Dade County Courthouse on Twelfth Street in 1904. Courtesy of Casey M. Piket.

This podcast episode traces the history of the Dade County courthouses located in the City of Miami, beginning in 1899, when a county-wide vote relocated the county seat to the growing city.

Miami’s first county courthouse occupied a two-story building on the east side of Avenue D, later renamed South Miami Avenue, from 1899 until 1904. That year, Dade County opened a new courthouse on Twelfth Street, today’s Flagler Street. Although the building was expected to accommodate the county’s needs for fifty years, Miami and Dade County grew so rapidly during the early twentieth century that a much larger courthouse was needed within little more than two decades.

Figure 1: 1928 Dade County Courthouse from the FEC Railway Station in downtown Miami in the 1940s. Courtesy of Florida State Archives.

The next Dade County Courthouse opened on September 6, 1928. Rising above downtown Miami, the imposing structure became one of the city’s most recognizable civic landmarks and has served the county for nearly a century. The episode explores the history of these three Miami courthouses and concludes with the latest chapter in that story, the construction of a new courthouse immediately west of the historic 1928 building.

Figure 2: The old and new Dade County Courthouses in 2023 during construction of the new building. Courtesy of Casey M. Piket.

Tune into this week’s podcast episode to hear more about the Dade County courthouses through the years. Below are additional resources and articles that tell the story of the courthouses located in the City of Miami from 1899 to current times. You can download and listen to this podcast episode on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Further Reading:

• Article: Dade County Courthouses, by Dr. Paul S. George.