After Glenn Curtiss, an aviation pioneer, retired from aircraft development and manufacturing in the 1920s, he became a real estate developer in Florida. In 1926, during the Florida land boom of the 1920s, Curtiss founded the Opa-locka project on 4.2 acres of land in northwestern Miami-Dade County, Florida. The Opa-locka Company was the development and sales company established by Curtiss for his Opa-locka project.[2]
Curtiss named the development "Opa-tisha-wocka-locka", which meant "a big island covered with many trees and swamps."[3][1] He shortened it to Opa-locka. Curtiss hired the American architect Bernhardt E. Muller to design the town in the themes of an "Arabian Fantasy" or "Arabian Nights."[4] Some sources indicate that Curtiss was inspired by his viewing of the 1924 motion picture The Thief of Baghdad.[4]
Muller designed over 80 buildings in Opa-locka in a Moorish Revival style.[1] The buildings elements include onion-shaped domes, minarets, crenelated parapets, Saracenic arches, watchtowers, mosaic tile, and outdoor spiral staircases. The streets were given Arabian-related names, such as Ali Baba Avenue, Sharazad Avenue, Caliph Street, Sinbad Avenue, Sesame Street, and Aladdin Street.[3][1]
The Administration Building has been described as "the anchor of the new city,"[1] and was designed by Muller as the headquarters for the Opa-locka Company. It was later used as Opa-locka's City Hall. The building has been called "The Nation's Weirdest City Hall",[4] and was reported to have been inspired by the description of the palace of the Emperor Kosroushah in One Thousand and One Nights. The Administration Building includes "a dazzling array of domes, minarets, and arches, which combined to create a delightful oriental palace and afforded the appearance of a magical, fantasy city."[1]
The 1926 Miami hurricane struck in September of that year and destroyed many of the original Moorish-style buildings, but some survived.[3][5] Based on a survey and documentation prepared later in the twentieth century, twenty of the surviving structures have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[3] The Opa-locka Company administration building is one of the listed buildings.[3] Three other commercial buildings were listed on the National Register together.[1]
The following buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of a Multiple Property Submission with the 1981 study, or later, consistently with the study guidelines of the Opa-locka Thematic Resource Area report.
The Opa-locka Heritage Trial in the Historic Downtown District
Opa-locka Heritage Trail
The Opa-locka Heritage Trail is a significant public outdoor installation made up of 15 "stations" that interpret and promote the founding history of the City of Opa-locka.
Developed as a curated and sequential storyline of the people, places, and themes that made Opa-locka America's uniquely designed Arabian Nights themed community, the Opa-locka Heritage Trail is the first permanent museum-like experience ever placed in the city boundaries in its 97-year history. Significant to the Trail is the inclusion of Opa-locka's Black history, the beginning of a larger initiative to document, assess, and preserve the Black communities contribution to the founding of the city, as well throughout the decades.
Of a unique design, the Trail includes designs, icons, and colors resurrected from original architectural drawings, watercolors, and marketing of the Opa-locka Company, Inc. Font selections were inspired by the city’s original source of inspiration, the Arabian Nights Entertainment novels, and sites were purposefully referred to as “chapters” to align with the grander storybook fantasy of the development’s concept. Additionally, several images can be seen on each marker, one of which per location has been colorized to help entice younger generations to interpret history.
As part of a larger program to reinvigorate the historic core of Opa-locka and part of the Thematic Resource Area, the Trail also features native landscaping around each site, with donations being provided from the generosity of Lowe’s Home Improvement in North Miami, Community Greening in Boca Raton, and Fairchild Garden’s Native Plant Network in Coral Gables.
Historic images, many of which have never been seen in public view, as well as stories long forgotten or newly told, had been sourced from a variety of resources, both at local institutions and archives, as well as platforms such as Newspapers.com. Most notably, thanks extends to the following for their support of the project’s curatorial approach: HistoryMiami, Miami-Dade Public Library System, Miami Springs Historical Society, the Curtiss Mansion, the Glenn Hammond Curtiss Museum, Miami-Dade County Historic Preservation Office, and the State of Florida archives.
The Opa-locka Heritage Trail was conceived and developed by Alex Van Mecl, founder of the Opa-locka Preservation Association, Vice Chair of the City of Opa-locka’s Historic Environmental Preservation Board, and an Opa-locka resident and historic homeowner. Funding was provided by Opa-locka non-profit Ten North Group, and fully supported and installed by the City of Opa-locka.
It was officially unveiled and commemorated on April 13, 2024 by the Opa-locka Mayor and City Commission.
See also
Curtiss & Bright, a partnership entity that also developed in this area
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