Florida City, Florida
Encyclopedia
Florida City is a city in Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and is the southernmost municipality in the South Florida metropolitan area
South Florida metropolitan area
The South Florida metropolitan area, also known as the Miami metropolitan area, and designated the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area by the U.S...

, which had an estimated population of 5,413,212 in 2007. The population was 7,843 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau is 8,363. Florida City is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area.

The city lies to the south and west of, and is contiguous with, Homestead
Homestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

. Both cities suffered catastrophic damage in August 1992, when Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...

 struck South Florida.

The city originated as a land promotion named Detroit. There were no buildings in the area when the first thirty families arrived in 1910, and they had to stay in Homestead until their houses could be built. The name was changed to Florida City when the town incorporated in 1914. It has a small historic area, but much of the city is hotels and other tourist facilities.

The city is at the eastern end of the only road running through the Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is a national park in the U.S. state of Florida that protects the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades. It is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest...

, which terminates at Flamingo
Flamingo, Florida
Flamingo is an unincorporated community and ghost town in Monroe County, Florida, United States. It began as a small coastal settlement on the eastern end of Cape Sable on the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, facing Florida Bay...

. Florida City is the southernmost city in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 which is not on an island. It is also the last stop on the mainland north of the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...

. The southern terminus of the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike
Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike
Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike , designated as the Ronald Reagan Turnpike, and originally known as the West Dade Expressway is a north–south free-flow toll road southern extension of the tolled Florida's Turnpike...

 where it ends at its junction with U.S. 1
U.S. Route 1 in Florida
U.S. Route 1 in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River into Georgia north of Boulogne, and south of Folkston. US 1 was designated through Florida when the U.S. Highway System was established in 1926.US 1 runs in the state of Florida, and...

 is located in Florida City. Homestead is immediately north and east of Florida City, and these two cities comprise the greater Homestead-Florida City area. Some of the notable unincorporated communities in the area are Redland
Redland, Florida
Redland, sometimes pluralized The Redlands, is an agricultural community in metropolitan Miami, Florida, United States, about southwest of Downtown Miami. Many farms, original clapboard homes of early settlers, u-pick'em fields and coral rock walls dot the landscape. It is named for the red clay...

, Leisure City
Leisure City, Florida
Leisure City is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 22,152 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Leisure City is located at ....

, Naranja
Naranja, Florida
Naranja is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Many orange groves were once located in this area, so the community name came from the Spanish word for orange, "naranja". Naranja was also a stop for the Florida East Coast Railroad that once ran through this area...

, and Princeton
Princeton, Florida
Princeton is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The population was 10,090 at the 2000 census.- History :...

.

Geography

Florida City is located at 25.451331°N 80.484383°W.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 8.3 km2 (3.2 mi2), all land.

Surrounding areas

Homestead
Homestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

  • Unincorporated Miami-Dade County
    Miami-Dade County, Florida
    Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

     
    Homestead
    Homestead, Florida
    Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

  • Unincorporated Miami-Dade County
    Miami-Dade County, Florida
    Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

      Homestead
    Homestead, Florida
    Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

  • Unincorporated Miami-Dade County
    Miami-Dade County, Florida
    Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

      Unincorporated Miami-Dade County
    Miami-Dade County, Florida
    Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...

     Unincorporated Miami-Dade County
    Miami-Dade County, Florida
    Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...


Physiography and natural history

Florida City is situated mostly atop a limestone ridge called the Miami Rock Ridge
Miami Rock Ridge
The Miami Rock Ridge is a continuous limestone outcropping which formerly encompassed a large extent of far southern Florida, including portions of the Everglades ecosystem...

 that extends south from present day North Miami Beach
North Miami Beach, Florida
North Miami Beach is a Miami suburban city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Originally named Fulford in 1926 after Captain William H. Fulford of the United States Coast Guard, the city was incorporated in 1927 as Fulford, but was renamed North Miami Beach in 1931. The population was...

 to a location in Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is a national park in the U.S. state of Florida that protects the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades. It is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest...

. The ridge, consisting of Miami Limestone, serves as the higher ground within the community. The ridge extended from northeast to southwest across the city. The old location of the Florida East Coast Railway track marks the approximate boundary of the location of the limestone ridge south of Davis Parkway. The range of elevation of the ridge is from 5 to 8 feet above sea level.

Prior to settlement, the ridge was vegetated by South Florida Slash Pine trees, which were alternatively known as "Dade County Pine"
Slash Pine
Pinus elliottii, commonly known as the Slash Pine, is a pine native to the southeastern United States, from southern South Carolina west to southeastern Louisiana, and south to the Florida Keys....

 (Pinus elliottii var. densa). (Remnants of these pines can be seen today in local parks and in Everglades National Park at the Long Pine Key picnic area.) These pine rocklands were crushed by equipment and converted to farmland during the 1900s. Tomatoes, squash, and other truck crops were grown in the area during the winter months and packed at the Florida City State Farmers' Market near Krome Avenue and Palm Drive, driving the local economy throughout the 1900s.

East of the natural ridge was a broad area of marshlands surrounding the area. Old timers of Florida City called these coastal glades the "East Glade". This was an extension of Everglades that extended from areas west and south of Florida City to its east. East of the East Glade, marshlands gave way to mangrove swamp prior to reaching Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...

. Soils in the East Glade primarily consisted of a limey soil called Biscayne Marl.

Development schemes in the East Glade led to the construction of canals in the early 1900s. This led to a lowering of water tables. Although development the East Glade was not extensive prior to the 1980s, agricultural development did occur. Potatoes were the primary crop grown in the East Glade prior to the construction of extensive housing developments within the areas annexed by the City of Homestead
Homestead, Florida
Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

 in the late 1970s. Potatoes were mostly harvested from February to March.

Florida City was historically dissected by a slough. Sloughs were commonly found crossing the limestone ridge at a roughly perpendicular angle from Miami to Florida City. Florida City's slough (officially called "Long Slough" or "Long Glade Slough") entered the city near Redland Road and Lucy Street, and extended across the city to the southeast to a location near today's NW 3rd Street and NW 3rd Avenue. East of that point, the slough entered the East Glade.

Long Slough was a slow flowing body of water that originated in the Everglades just south of the Homestead General Airport. As canals were constructed in the 1900s, and especially the 1960s, the slough was drained and became a low valley in the limestone ridge. Roadways (such as Redland Road near West Homestead Elementary School, NW 6th Avenue north of Davis Parkway, and NW 3rd Avenue about fifty feet north of NW 3rd Street) had culverts constructed under them to allow water to pass through the slough. NW 4th Street east of NW 5th Avenue dead ended near the approximate location where a fictional NW 4th Avenue would intersect that street. During the late 1980s the street was constructed to reach NW 3rd Avenue since water in the slough had been drained away. Eventually fill was added to the slough and it was destroyed.

Extensive filling operations were conducted in Long Slough near NW 3rd Avenue in the late 1970s. Fill was obtained as waste rock from a nearby rock cutting operation (utilizing Key Largo Limestone, a local coral rock) and was allowed to be dumped in the location by the landowners. Today, this portion of Long Slough serves as a housing development.

An additional natural feature existed along Davis Parkway, extending into the Florida City Camper Park. This feature was a live oak/tropical hammock. The understory of the hammock was cleared for the camper park, but much of the hammock remained undisturbed to the south of Davis Parkway and NW 1st Road prior to the late 1970s.

Florida City today serves as the southern terminus of the Florida Turnpike. Motels and eateries are located along US 1 prior to taking the highway south into the Florida Keys. Along with serving as the mainland entrance to the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...

, Florida City also serves as the gateway to the main section of Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is a national park in the U.S. state of Florida that protects the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades. It is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest...

.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 7,843 people, 2,247 households, and 1,727 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 940.4/km2 (2,436.2/mi2). There were 2,541 housing units at an average density of 304.7/km2 (789.3/mi2). The racial makeup of the city was 29.05% White (7% were Non-Hispanic White,) 56.67% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.66% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 7.06% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 6.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 32.12% of the population.

There were 2,247 households out of which 46.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.6% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 34.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.1% were non-families. 18.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.48 and the average family size was 3.95.

In the city the population was spread out with 39.7% under the age of 18, 11.0% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 15.8% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $14,923, and the median income for a family was $18,777. Males had a median income of $23,622 versus $20,060 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $8,270. 43.3% of the population and 41.7% of families were below the poverty line. 57.1% of those under the age of 18 and 25.6% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

As of the year 2000, English was spoken as a first language
First language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...

 by 65.63% of the population, and Spanish by 28.33%, while French Creole was spoken by 6.03% of the population.

As of 2000, Florida City had the sixty-sixth highest percentage of Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n residents in the US, with 5.06% of the populace, while it had the twenty-seventh highest percentage of Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

an residents in the US, at 6.7% of all the population (tied with North Lauderdale
North Lauderdale, Florida
North Lauderdale is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 41,023. It is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census.-History:North Lauderdale was...

 and Wilton Manors
Wilton Manors, Florida
Wilton Manors is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,632. Wilton Manors is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census. Although the city is...

.)

Government and infrastructure

The Florida Department of Corrections
Florida Department of Corrections
The Florida Department of Corrections, established in 1821, operates state prisons in Florida. It has its headquarters in Tallahassee.The Florida Department of Corrections operates the third largest state prison system in the United States...

 operates the Dade Correctional Institution and the Homestead Correctional Institution in an unincorporated area
Unincorporated area
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 near Florida City. The Dade CI was originally the Dade Correctional Institution Annex, and the Homestead CI was originally the Dade Correctional Institution; the two received their current names on July 1, 2003.

The United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 operates the Florida City Post Office.

Education

Florida City is a part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Miami-Dade County Public Schools is a public school district serving Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1885, it is the largest school district in Florida and the Southeastern United States, and the fourth largest in the United States, with a student enrollment of 380,006 as of July 5, 2010...

 system.

Florida City is zoned to:
  • Florida City Elementary School (Florida City)
  • Campbell Drive Middle School (Homestead
    Homestead, Florida
    Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and a major agricultural area....

    )
  • Homestead High School
    Homestead High School (Homestead, Florida)
    Homestead High School is a secondary school located at 2351 SE 12 Avenue in Homestead, Florida. It is part of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools district. The principal is Ms. Cory R. Rodriguez....

     (Homestead)


In addition Rise Academy-South Dade Charter School
Rise Academy-South Dade Charter School
Rise Academy-South Dade Charter School opened in August 2008 and currently serves over 200 students in Kindergarten through Seventh Grades.Rise Academy-South Dade Charter School is located on two campuses...

is in the area.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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