Miami-Dade County Courthouse facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Miami-Dade County Courthouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Miami-Dade County Courthouse
Location in Miami Show map of Miami Location in Florida Show map of Florida Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	Miami, Florida
Built	1925-1928
Architect	A. Ten Eyck Brown and August Geiger
Architectural style	Classical Revival
MPS	Downtown Miami MRA
NRHP reference No.	88002983
Added to NRHP	January 4, 1989

The Miami-Dade County Courthouse, once called the Dade County Courthouse, is a famous building in Miami, Florida. You can find it at 73 West Flagler Street.

This important building was constructed between 1925 and 1928. In 1989, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which lists historical places in the U.S.. The courthouse stands 361 feet tall and has 28 floors. When it was finished, it was the tallest building in both Miami and Florida!

Today, it is still used as the main civil courthouse for Miami-Dade County.

History of the Courthouse

Early County Government

After the Civil War, Dade County was just starting its government. Back then, there weren't many official records. The "courthouse" was simply wherever the county's main leader chose to work.

First Courthouses in Dade County

In 1890, Dade County's first official courthouse was in a town called Juno. This town was about 10 miles north of West Palm Beach. At that time, Dade County was much larger than it is today. It stretched from the middle of the Florida Keys all the way up to the St. Lucie River.

Juno was chosen as the "county seat" because it was a key travel spot. It was the end point for a railroad and the start of a boat and stagecoach line to Miami. The courthouse stayed in Juno until 1899. Then, it was moved to Miami on a barge and placed by the Miami River.

This building was a two-story wooden structure. It had offices and jail cells on the first floor, with a courtroom on the second.

The Limestone Courthouse

In 1904, a new courthouse replaced the wooden one. This new building was on Flagler Street. It was a grand building made of limestone with a red-domed roof. It cost $47,000 to build.

People thought this courthouse would be big enough for at least 50 years. However, Miami grew very quickly. By 1924, only 20 years later, everyone agreed that a much larger courthouse was needed.

Building the Skyscraper Courthouse

In the early 1920s, an architect named A. Ten Eyck Brown had plans for a new city hall in Atlanta. When those plans weren't used, he offered them to Dade County. City and County officials loved the design. They decided to build the new courthouse in the same spot on Flagler Street.

Construction began in 1925. Workers built the new, larger building around the old one. Then, the old courthouse was carefully taken apart. Everyone in the community was excited about the new 28-story "skyscraper" that would soon stand tall over the city.

Construction Challenges

During construction, work suddenly stopped when the building reached ten stories. Workers discovered that the tall building was sinking into the soft ground! Engineers asked for help from an architect in Mexico City. This architect had faced a similar problem while building an opera house there.

The expert found that the foundation supports were not deep enough. To fix this, new cement supports were poured. These supports still take up a lot of space in the building's basement today.

The courthouse was finally finished in 1928. It cost $4 million at the time. When it first opened, it served as both the Dade County Courthouse and the Miami City Hall.

Jail Cells and Escapes

The top nine floors of the building were used for jail cells. People thought these high floors would be very secure and impossible to escape from. However, in 1934, a prisoner on the 21st floor managed to pick the lock of his cell window. He then used a fire hose to climb down to freedom. Over the years, more than 70 prisoners escaped from this "secure" prison.

The Courthouse Today

For many years, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse was known as the tallest building south of Baltimore. It was the county's first skyscraper and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Since 1981, efforts have been made to restore this beautiful building. Architect James W. Piersol and engineer Don Youatt have led these projects. They first worked to fix the outside of the building and add new safety systems. In 1982, they started restoring the main lobby to its original grand look. Later, they also restored Courtroom 6-1, where many important trials had taken place.

Today, the Miami-Dade County Courthouse provides offices, rooms, and courtrooms for the clerks and judges of the Circuit and County Civil Courts.

Gallery

• 

  Southwest view of the Miami-Dade courthouse in 2011

• 

  Seen from the east

• Florida's Historic Courthouses by Hampton Dunn (ISBN)

See also

In Spanish: Palacio de Justicia del Condado de Miami-Dade para niños