Why don’t Hialeah’s street numbers match the streets of Miami? Curious305 on the case

Editor’s Note: This article was inspired by a question an Instagram user submitted through Curious305, our community-powered reporting series that solicits questions from readers about Miami-Dade, Broward, the Florida Keys and the rest of the Sunshine State. Submit your question here or scroll down to fill out our form.

Hey, Curious305: What’s the deal with Hialeah’s street numbers? How does it work?

It’s not your imagination: Hialeah street numbers are different from Miami-Dade County’s. You’re on 103rd Street, and all of a sudden you’re on 49th Street.

What gives?

It goes back to the city’s beginning.

“The founders of Hialeah, James Bright and Glenn Curtiss, began numbering the city streets from zero, from where Hialeah begins, where the sign of the Seminole chief Jack Tigertail was located, pointing towards the entrance of the city,” Seth Bramson, city historian and author of the book The Curtiss-Bright Cities: Hialeah, Miami Springs & Opa-locka, told el Nuevo Herald.

Before that, the city of Miami was growing, annexing unincorporated areas to the north and west of the original boundaries in 1913. This forced the city to change the way it named streets.

That’s when the Miami quadrant system was born.

In Miami, all avenues ran from north to south, beginning just west of the Biscayne Bay shoreline at Avenue A or Biscayne Drive, now known as Biscayne Boulevard, west to Avenue L, now Seventh Avenue.

The Miami system is based on a “point zero,” with Flagler Street dividing the street grid between north and south, and Miami Avenue separating the grid between east and west. In 1920, Miami City Councilman Josiah Chaille introduced the grid-system plan, similar to the one in Washington, D.C.

READ MORE: How do you know if you’re in Miami or another part of the county?

Dade County was established in 1836 and initially included Broward, Palm Beach and the Florida Keys. Palm Beach County was formed in 1909, and in 1915, the counties contributed nearly equal portions of land to create what is now Broward. Since 1915 there have been no significant changes in the boundaries of these territories.

At that time, Hialeah did not exist as a city, just plots of land that were acquired by its founders since the beginning of the 20th century. In the 1920s, the area started to change from agricultural to industrial.

Why are the street numbers different?

So why does 79th Street in Miami turn into 25st Street in Hialeah?

It comes down to distance.

There weren’t major streets or highways connecting Hialeah and Miami at the beginning. And Hialeah was founded 29 years after Miami.

“Hialeah was completely different from Miami,” Bramson said.

Hialeah took its course from Coral Gables founder George Merrick, who also created a completely different street system, one featuring Spanish words and names.

The most notable case of the numbering disparity between Hialeah and most of Miami-Dade? Hialeah’s commercial heart and best known thoroughfare, West 49th Street, is known as Northwest 103rd Street in Miami-Dade. And Hialeah Park, the famous horse racetrack, is at the end of 79th Street — or is that 25st Street?

Bramson, the South Florida historian, explained that “there was not a street that was so far to the north in what is now the county. At that time, there was no original connection with Miami. Although there were already roads, they were not paved roads.”

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Other differences in street numbers

Hialeah is not the only city where the street numbering doesn’t match the numbering in Miami, Bramson said.

“There are many examples, including Miami Springs and Opa-locka, cities that have their own numbering systems and street names, but they are not the only ones. We can also look at Coral Gables, which although closer to Miami than Hialeah, it had a limited connection with Miami,” Bramson explained.

So maybe Hialeah is not that different after all?

The street numbers also don’t match in Miami Beach, Homestead and many other places in the county.

“It’s the way the naming system works in most Florida cities,” Bramson said.

Broward also has a divergent street numbering system based on Fort Lauderdale’s grid, but many cities in the county have their own system.

“The numbering system was initially made by the founders of the municipalities,” Bramson said.

This story was originally published June 20, 2022 at 1:04 PM.