Miami-Dade

Formed January 18, 1836 (19^th county)

Miami-Dade County (2,701,762), Miami (442,260)                

The skyscraper Classical Revival and Neo-Classical style courthouse was built in 1928.  It is located at Flagler Street and 1^st Avenue.  Interstate Highway 95 is two blocks west of the site.  A County Administration building was added in 1985.  Antony Ten Eyck Brown and August Geiger are the courthouse designers.  Another Courts Building, Justice Center and a Children’s Courthouse augment.  There are also branches in Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Hialeah, Miami Beach, and North Miami.  There was a 1904 courthouse also in Miami.  Indian Key (1836), Miami (1844), Juno (1888), and Miami (1899) have all been the county seat.  Major Francis L. Dade a combatant in the second Seminole War is the county namesake.  He is also the namesake for Pasco County’s seat.  Miami is Native American for “very large’ or for “sweet water.”  Miami-Dade County was the birthplace of 1 Florida Governor, D. Robert Graham.  The county was created on January 18, 1836 as the 19^th county and included part of Monroe County and all of Palm Beach and Broward counties.

Miami-Dade County government consists of a manager, sheriff, and appraiser (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Eighty-four Circuit Court Judges and Forty-seven County Court Judges, clerk, and county attorney serve Miami-Dade County (judicial.) The county is in the southeast corner of the state on the Atlantic Ocean.  The center of the county is 26.2 miles Southwest of Miami nearer Goulds.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Broward County and the Atlantic Ocean and Monroe and Collier counties. 

The area of the county is 1946 square miles.  It is 3 out of 67 counties in the state.  It ranks 1 out of 67 in population in the state.  It has a density of 1388.4 persons per square mile making it 6 out of 67 in the state.  Miami-Dade County has 56.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 75 enters from the north, Broward County, and terminates.  Interstate Highway 95 also comes from Broward County and terminates.  United States Highway 1 parallels Interstate Highway 95 in from Broward County but it exits into Monroe County.  United States Highway 27 enters from the north, Broward County, and terminates.  United States Highway 41 comes from Collier County to the west and terminates.  United States Highway 441 also enters from Broward County and terminates.  The county is shaped like a plow.  In 1997 Dade County changed its name to Miami-Dade County as the two share resources.  Miami is in the northeast corner of the county.  Miami is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 16.4% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced MIE-AM-EE.  This county is in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area.

West Miami