Hialeah, Florida

Hialeah (/ˌhaɪəˈliːə/ HY-ə-LEE-ə; Latin American Spanish: [xaʝaˈli.a]) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.

It is the second largest city by population in Miami-Dade County in the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782 people at the 2018 census.

In 2023, 89.5% of residents reported speaking Spanish at home,[7] and the language is an important part of daily life in the city.

This "high prairie" caught the eye of pioneer aviator Glenn Curtiss and Missouri cattleman James H. Bright in 1921.

[9][11] The park's grandeur has attracted millions, included among them are names known around the world such as the Kennedy family, Harry Truman, General Omar Bradley, Winston Churchill, and J.P. Morgan.

The Hialeah Park Race Track also holds the dual distinction of being an Audubon Bird Sanctuary due to its famous pink flamingos and being listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The famous aviator Amelia Earhart in 1937 said her final good-byes to the continental U.S. from Hialeah as she left on her ill-fated flight around the world in 1937.

Several waves of Cuban exiles, starting after the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and continuing through to the Freedom Flights from 1965 to 1973, the Mariel boatlift in 1980, and the Balseros or boat people of the late 1990s, created what at least one expert has considered the most economically successful immigrant enclave in U.S. history as Hialeah is the only American industrial city that continues to grow.

[29] These shops have successfully competed against national name brand retailers, outfitters, and franchises.

Supermarkets operate on the city's main streets including those which cater to Latin American and Hispanic clientele.

Telemundo, the second largest Spanish-language TV network in the United States, was headquartered at 2340 West 8th Avenue in Hialeah until 2018.

[33][34] In March 2009, it was announced that a $40–$90 million restoration project was set to begin within the year on the Hialeah Park Race Track.

The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing.

It offers a variety of amenities, programs and activities including mountain biking, soccer, Tom Sawyer's Play Island and Bill Graham Farm Village.

It also houses the new Miami Watersports Complex, which offers cable and boat wakeboarding, waterskiing, wake surfing, kneeboarding and paddleboarding.

[42] A 2005 study by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) ranked Hialeah, Florida as the fourth most conservative city in the United States.

[44] In the 2016 United States presidential election in Florida each of the two major candidates received about half of the vote.

For the 2020 United States presidential election in Florida about two thirds of residents of Hialeah voted for Trump.

[75] In 2017, the branch set out to renovate the entire library and they added new furniture, the art murals, polished terrazzo floors, and new sculptures.

At the time, Glenn Curtiss and James Bright could not have imagined the important link in the transportation chain provided by Hialeah's location.

Sitting in the heart of northwest Dade, Hialeah has access to several major thoroughfares, linked by: In November 2023, the Hialeah City Council voted to rename Palm Avenue as President Donald J. Trump Avenue, causing major controversy.

Downtown Hialeah in 1921
Group of tour buses sponsored by real estate developers in Hialeah in 1921
"Hialeah Park, Fla., the world's greatest race course, Miami Jockey Club"
Hialeah-Miami Lakes High
José Martí MAST 6-12 Academy
A projection from 1922 that reads "A projection of the town of Hialeah at the Curtiss-Bright Ranch: Gateway to the Everglades, the first town west of Miami, Florida"
The intersection of Palm Avenue (now President Donald J. Trump Avenue) and County Road (now Okeechobee Road / U.S. 27 ) in 1921
Tri-Rail and Metrorail Transfer Station
Maria Canals-Barrera
Harry Wayne Casey
Gio González
Maria Molina