Native Americans settled in the Miami region, including Dade and Broward Counties, for about 10,000 years. When the first European explorers arrived in the 16th century, the inhabitants were the Tequesta Indians who were hunters and gatherers. In the late 1800s, the area saw permanent development and economic prosperity with the arrival of the railroad and electricity. The "high prairie" land, now called Hialeah, got the attention of Glenn Curtiss, a pioneer aviator, and James H. Bright, a Missouri cattleman. In the 1920s, Hialeah was home to several movie studios. During this cavalier era, Hialeah sported jai-alai and greyhound racing; it was the place to see and be seen for nightclubbing. The city incorporated in 1925. In the same year, 220-acre Hialeah Park opened as one of the most grand of thoroughbred horse racing parks with its majestic Mediterranean style architecture. Celebrities and politicians came to bet on the magnificent horses including Winston Churchill, the Kennedy Family, Harry Truman and J.P. Morgan. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the park is also an Audubon Bird Sanctuary, its famous pink flamingos a trademark. It was completely rebuilt in 1931 by Joseph E. Widener. In 1937 Amelia Earhart left from Hialeah on her doomed flight around the world.
In 1925 Hialeah had a population of 1,500; today it is the fifth largest city in the State of Florida. The community is predominantly Hispanic due in part to the large migration of immigrants from Cuba in the 1960s as well as from Latin American and other Caribbean islands. The city is one of the largest employers in Dade County.
