As part of my ongoing research of Detroit’s Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, both areas severely impacted by freeway construction and urban renewal, I have been researching other cities that experienced similar deleterious impacts. I decided to dive deeper into Miami’s Overtown because Miami is my birthplace, and I have strong connections to the city.
The City of Miami is built atop one of the oldest indigenous civilizations in the United States. From roughly 500 BCE to the mid-1700s, Miami was inhabited by the Tequesta civilization. The Seminole and Miccosukee followed the Tequesta. The Miccosukee were part of the Creek Nation who were forced to leave Alabama and Georgia and fled to the Everglades in South Florida.
As early as 1880, the first Black residents arrived in Miami from the Bahamas and settled in Coconut Grove. Based on Julia Sturtevant Tuttle’s negotiations, Henry Flagler extended the Florida East Coast Railway to Miami in 1896, the year Miami was incorporated. On July 28, 1896, 162 Black men and 206 White men were present for the approval of the articles of incorporation for Miami. Miami became Flagler’s company town. The first Black workers were brought to Miami to work on the Royal Palm Hotel.
In the South’s segregation tradition, Henry Flagler set aside land west of the railway for “Colored Town” – now known as Overtown. At first, he rented shacks for his workers for $1 per month but later sold land for $50 per parcel (50’x150′). Main Street was Avenue G, now known as NW 2nd Avenue. He donated land for parks and schools.
The construction of the upscale Lyric Theater on NW 2nd Avenue in 1913 by Georgia businessman Geder Walker set the tone for NW 2nd Avenue to be later dubbed “Little Broadway” and “The Great Black Way.” Overtown businesses thrived in the 1920s, and NW 3rd Avenue was called “Little Wall Street.”
In 1955, Overtown had over 350 businesses, including medical services and doctors (21), eating places and restaurants (27), groceries and small markets (34), and barber shops and beauty salons (44). Throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s, Overtown was a thriving, tight-knit community.
In the mid-1960s, urban renewal and highway construction projects demolished much of Overtown and damaged the viability of what remained after construction. Interstate 95, Interstate 395, and State Road 836 razed large swathes of Overtown. The massive interchange displaced 10,000 residents and destroyed nearly 40 blocks of Overtown’s main business district. Due to highways, urban renewal, and code enforcement, Overtown lost an estimated 18,000 residents—about half its population—between 1960 and 1971. Very few displaced people received relocation assistance (affordablehousing.miami.edu).
The graphic below, which was prepared by Laura Weinstein-Berman, AIA as part of an application to the National Register of Historic Places, shows the approximately boundaries of Overtown and the freeways that cut through the neighborhood.
The aerial photo below shows the interchange under construction during the 1960s (from affordablehousing.miami.edu).
The growth of Miami Beach as a tourist destination brought many Black performers to Miami, but many found that they were not permitted to stay at the swanky hotels where they performed. The only option was to lodge in a Black neighborhood, and Overtown was the largest and most vibrant in the City. In fact, many would play a gig on the Beach and then play a gig later that night in an Overtown club. Featured entertainers in Overtown included Etta James, Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, Nina Simone, Otis Redding, Red Foxx, Flip Wilson, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, James Brown, and Sam Cooke. Boxer Clay (Muhammed Ali) trained in Overtown – including the pool at the Hotel Carver. Other key hotels included the Mary Elizabeth and Sir John. Venues included the Lyric Theater, Knight Beat at the Sir John, and Harlem Square Club.
As part of my ongoing interest in understanding the music and entertainment venues that were part of the social fabric of Black neighborhoods impacted by infrastructure and urban renewal projects, I have prepared a map showing key historical places related to jazz, blues, and soul music in the Overtown neighborhood.
Rod Arroyo, FAICP
Sources for above post include:
https://affordablehousing.miami.edu/housing-timeline/change-neighborhoods/index.html
Overtown is Waking Up, Miami Herald, July 27, 1886.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231128-miamis-little-known-indigenous-history
Connolly, N.D.B., Colored, Caribbean, and Condemned: Miami’s Overtown District and the Cultural Expense of Progress in Caribbean Studies (Vol. 34, No.1 2006)