Skip to main content
close
font 1 font 2 font 3
Reset to standard size
Font size options
Increase or decrease the font size for this website by clicking on the 'A's.
Yellow on Black White on Black Soft Greys Black on Linen Black on White
Reset to default contrast
Contrast options
Choose a color combination to give the most comfortable contrast.
Digital Collections Blog Logo

Honoring Miami’s Military History: Introducing Our Miami-Dade Military Museum Digital Collection

3/6/25

The Miami-Dade Military Museum and Memorial is dedicated to preserving and honoring South Florida’s rich military heritage. The building, originally used by the federal government as the Richmond Naval Air Station, was home to massive blimps that patrolled the Gulf Stream and Atlantic Ocean for German U-boats during World War II.

In 2005, recognizing its historical significance, the Dade Heritage Trust listed the structure as one of Miami-Dade’s most endangered sites. At the time, the building was condemned and required extensive remediation. However, after a 2007 feasibility study confirmed its potential as a military museum, a relocation of the building was planned in 2010 – one of the largest structural moves in Florida’s history. The historical building was ultimately placed adjacent to the Gold Coast Railroad Museum and close to Zoo Miami, in Southwest Miami-Dade County.

Over the next decade, restoration efforts continued, leading to the building’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017 and its grand opening on Veterans Day, November 11, 2023, as the official Miami-Dade Military Museum and Memorial.

Exterior of the Miami-Dade Military Museum Building

Today, the Museum pays tribute to the local community’s military service, sacrifice and achievements. Key exhibits includeWorld War II in Miami, Cuba and the Cold War, From Vietnam to Desert Storm and Women in the Military.

As part of an ongoing collaboration, the Museum and the Library’s Digital Collections unit began digitizing WWII materials to support World War II at 80, a Library program series commemorating the 80th anniversary of the war’s end throughout 2025. This initiative showcases Miami’s significant contributions to the war effort, including the Army Air Corps’ transformation of Miami Beach hotels into vast training bases, the conversion of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables into a nearby hospital for wounded soldiers and the use of the 36th Street Airport in the City of Miami as a Miami Army Airfield providing airlift routes for critical search and rescue missions.

Sepia photo of a group of officers cadets training

As part of the Library’s growing Digital Collection, the Miami-Dade Military Museum Collection features photographs of soldiers in training and issues of Richmond L.T.A News (the local base newspaper). Additional publications and documentation, in many cases donated by relatives of soldiers, are also included in the collection. In the future, the Library plans to enhance the collection with items such as 3D models, photographs of uniforms and historic artifacts and declassified documents from the National Archives and Records Administration, including Antisubmarine Action by Aircraft reports.

For more information and to browse the Library’s new Miami-Dade Military Museum Collection, please click here.