Cover: Original federal building at 100 NE First Avenue in 1950 as the First Federal Savings & Loan
This podcast episode features the buildings that served as the federal courthouse and post office in Miami from 1915 through the present day. The first courthouse was designed by Oscar Wenderoth in the early 1910s and opened at 100 NE First Avenue in downtown Miami. This building provided for all federal agencies including the courthouse, post office, and weather bureau from its opening until the peak of the Great Depression in 1933.
When the city’s federal business outgrew the original building, a new federal courthouse and post office building was constructed beginning in 1932 on the site of Miami’s first school building known as the Miami Central Grammar School which opened on that site in the early 1900s. This edifice was designed by the architectural firm of Paist and Steward and opened two blocks north of the first building at 300 NE First Avenue in 1933. The second federal building was in use as a federal building from its opening until it was replaced in 2008 by today’s Wilkie D Ferguson Jr. building at 400 North Miami Avenue.
Tune into this week’s podcast episode to hear more about the history of federal buildings in downtown Miami. You can download this episode on your favorite podcast platform (iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify), or listen directly on the Miami-History website. Please remember to click on the subscribe button and to provide a rating and comment on any of the aforementioned platforms.
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Images:
- Cover: Original federal building at 100 NE First Avenue in 1950 as the First Federal Savings & Loan. Courtesy of Miami-Dade Public Library, Romer Collection.
- Figure 1: Interior of post office at 100 NE First Avenue in 1922. Courtesy of Casey M. Piket.