Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is a

public high school State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools ( Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary schools that educate all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in ...

located at 2450 SW 1st Street in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

, and operated by

Miami-Dade County Public Schools Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) is a public school district serving Miami-Dade County in the U.S. state of Florida. Founded in 1885, it is the largest school district in Florida and the Southeastern United States, and, , the fourth la ...

. Founded in 1903, it is one of the oldest high school in

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

. The school building is famous for its

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

and is a historic landmark. Miami Senior High School has a rich

alumni Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

base, with many graduates of the high school going on to varied, prominent careers. The high school originally served the earliest settling families of Miami in the first half of the 20th century. By the late 1960s, with an increase in Miami's population, its student body grew at a fast pace.

History

Miami Senior High School was established in 1903 and was the first

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. Originally, high school classes took place in Miami's first schoolhouse, a two-story frame structure that was built in 1898 on what is now NE 1st Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets. This building, considered temporary, was a one-story frame

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

addition built directly behind the existing schoolhouse. It opened its doors on September 18, 1905, with 29 girls and 20 boys in attendance. In 1909, the school board decided to build a new schoolhouse to again house all grammar and high school students together. In 1911, a new three-story concrete schoolhouse opened its doors. The original one-story high school building was moved to SW 12th Street and 1st Avenue, repainted, and opened as the Southside Elementary School. After a new Southside Elementary School was constructed in 1914, the original high school building fell into decades of neglect, operating as a boarding house for 90 years. It was "discovered" in 1983 by a local historian and, in January 2003, was moved to its current location in Southside Park, where it has since been renovated and opened as a community center. Miami Senior High School's current building is its fourth home. The school board selected a fifteen-acre campus in the middle of what was then a pine forest. Groundbreaking occurred early in 1926, but due to the

Great Miami Hurricane The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 was a large and intense tropical cyclone that devastated the Greater Miami area and caused catastrophic damage in the Bahamas and the U.S. Gulf Coast in September of the year 1926, accruing a US$100 mil ...

of 1926, the school's opening was delayed. Finally finished in 1928, the building was designed in a Spanish Mediterranean style with

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or s ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

details by Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott, one of the great early Miami architects. He gave the school an impressive entrance off Flagler Street "of three arched portals befitting a Gothic cathedral," according to the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

' Miami architecture guide. The building is listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. 1968 was a significant year for Miami Senior High School. Structural changes were made to accommodate a newly installed air conditioning system that closed off the building's high ceilings. The original windows on the building were sealed with bricks before the completion of the work, and students suffered in hot classrooms for a large portion of the year. This was also the year of the major Florida statewide teachers' strike, which caused students classes to be in chaos due to having many newly hired substitute teachers, while their regular teachers walked picket lines for weeks.

Demographics

Located in the

Little Havana Little Havana ( es, Pequeña Habana) is a neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. Home to many Cuban exiles, as well as many immigrants from Central and South America, Little Havana is named after Havana, the capital and largest city i ...

neighborhood, the school was founded in 1903. Since the late 1960s, the high school has traditionally had a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or ...

majority. Today, a growing number of students are of

Central American Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Cen ...

descent, reflecting demographic changes in Little Havana since the 1990s. As of 2013, Miami Senior High School is 94% Hispanic (primarily

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a pers ...

, Honduran, Guatemalan, and

Salvadorean Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvado ...

), 3% White (non-Hispanic), and 3% Black. By the 1950s, a large Jewish minority had developed at Miami Senior High School, and Jews made up the majority of the students in some advanced-level classes. During that decade some Jewish students were in the attendance zone for

Coral Gables Senior High School Coral Gables Senior High School is a secondary school located at 450 Bird Road in Coral Gables, Florida. Coral Gables SHS opened its doors in 1950; its architectural design reflects a Spanish influence, with open courtyards adorned with water f ...

but were instead sent to Miami High; this was especially the case with girls, as many high status girls' clubs at Coral Gables High did not admit Jews. A patio called "Little Jerusalem" or "LJ" (initially "Little Israel" in the 1950s) was where Jewish students socialized. In 1984, the student newspaper declared

Spanglish Spanglish (a portmanteau of the words "Spanish" and "English") is any language variety (such as a contact dialect, hybrid language, pidgin, or creole language) that results from conversationally combining Spanish and English. The term is m ...

the official language of Miami Senior High School. Then, like today, most students at the school spoke fluent

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and English. 69% of the school's students graduate, and it has an overall dropout rate of 4%.

Historic architectural restoration

Beginning in 2010, Miami Senior High School underwent a four-year historic restoration, renovation, and remodeling project at a cost of approximately $55 million. Project architect Thorn Grafton of Zyscovich Architects, who is the grandson of Miami Beach pioneering architect Russell Pancoast, was one of the people who undertook the renovation project. Completed in April 2014, the project did away with the dropped ceilings that had accommodated an old air conditioning system, and restored the original high ceilings and decorative cast-stone vent screens in the halls. It also reopened the original second story arcade, removed an office expansion that had blocked part of the courtyard, and restored the original 14-foot arched windows and steel-trussed cathedral ceiling in the old library (now a media center).

Notable alumni

* Rudy Árias - former

major league baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

and coach. *

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom '' I Love Lucy'', in which he c ...

- bandleader, actor, TV producer, star of '' I Love Lucy'' *

Atari Bigby Atari David Bigby (born September 19, 1981) is a former American football safety. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at the University of Central Florida. Bigby has also been a mem ...

- NFL,

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

Steve Blake Steven Hanson Blake (born February 26, 1980) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. After winning the 2002 NCAA Championship with Maryland, Blake was selected by the Washington Wizards with the 38th overall pick in the 2 ...

- Former NBA player, Did not graduate * Eddie Brown - NFL player * Jeff Coopwood - Emmy-nominated actor, broadcaster and singer * John Dasburg - CEO of Burger King *

Jim Dooley James William Dooley (February 8, 1930 – January 8, 2008) was an American football player and coach who is best remembered for his tenures as a player and coach with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). College career Bor ...

- NFL head coach and player, Chicago Bears * Allen Edwards - college basketball player and coach * Doug Edwards - NBA player,

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

* Robert L. Floyd - former Mayor of Miami, State Representative, Judge, and Miami Sheriff * Luis Garcia - MLB player,

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

Christopher George Christopher John George ( Greek: Χριστόφορος Γεωργίου; February 25, 1931 – November 28, 1983) was an American television and film actor who starred in the 1960s television series '' The Rat Patrol''. He was nominated for a G ...

(1929–1983) - film and television actor, star of ''

The Rat Patrol ''The Rat Patrol'' is an American action and adventure television series that aired on ABC between 1966 and 1968. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one British — who are part of a long-range desert ...

'' and U.S. Marine * Edmond J. Gong - first Asian American elected to Florida House and Senate * Bob Graham -

Governor of Florida A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and U.S. Senator * Philip L. Graham - publisher of ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'' * Anthony Grant - head basketball coach,

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

* Carol Hanson - Florida State Representative (1982-1994) and Mayor of Boca Raton (1995-2001) *

Udonis Haslem Udonis Johneal Haslem ( born June 9, 1980) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Florida Gators, where he was a key member of four N ...

- NBA player,

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

; 3-time NBA champion * Steve Hertz - MLB player and Israel Baseball League manager * Lindy Infante - NFL head coach,

and Indianapolis Colts * Jamaal Jackson - NFL center *

Andre Johnson Andre Lamont Johnson (born July 11, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played most of his 14-year career with the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Miami, and was drafted by ...

- NFL wide receiver, Houston Texans and

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their hom ...

* Lonnie Johnson – NFL player *

Donald Justice Donald Rodney Justice (August 12, 1925 – August 6, 2004) was an American teacher of writing and poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1980. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr wrote, "In most ways, Justice was no different from a ...

- Pulitzer Prize-winning poet *

Veronica Lake Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd ...

- actress, star of such 1940s films as ''

Sullivan's Travels ''Sullivan's Travels'' is a 1941 American comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges. A satire on the film industry, it follows a famous Hollywood comedy director (Joel McCrea) who, longing to make a socially relevant drama, sets out to ...

'' and ''

This Gun for Hire ''This Gun for Hire'' is a 1942 American film noir crime film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Veronica Lake, Robert Preston (actor), Robert Preston, Laird Cregar, and Alan Ladd. It is based on the 1936 novel ''A Gun for Sale'' by Graham Gr ...

'' * Mike Levy - founder and former CEO of SportsLine.com, now CBSSports.com * Marquand Manuel - NFL player, defensive coordinator of Atlanta Falcons * Frank Martin - head basketball coach, UMass * Delrish Moss - Miami law enforcement veteran appointed as Police Chief of Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis known for racial unrest *

Gardnar Mulloy Gardnar Putnam "Gar" Mulloy (November 22, 1913 – November 14, 2016) was a U.S. No. 1 tennis player primarily known for playing in doubles matches with partner Billy Talbert. He was born in Washington, D.C. and turned 100 in November 2013. Du ...

- tennis player, 4-time U.S. Open doubles champion * Alfred Browning Parker - architect * Roscoe Parrish - NFL wide receiver, San Diego Chargers * Juan Pena, MLB player,

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

* Ed Roberts - designed first commercially successful personal computer in 1975 * Mandy Romero- MLB player (

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

, Colorado Rockies) *

Al Rosen Albert Leonard Rosen (February 29, 1924 – March 13, 2015), nicknamed "Flip" and "The Hebrew Hammer", was an American baseball third baseman and right-handed slugger for the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball for ten seasons in the 194 ...

(1924-2015) - MLB player, 4-time All-Star,

1948 World Series The 1948 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1948 season. The 45th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National League (NL) champion Boston Br ...

champion, 1953 MVP * Mike Schemer (1917–1983) - MLB player * Robert L. Shevin - Former Florida Attorney General, Member of the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives; 3rd District Court of Appeals Judge *

David A. Siegel David Alan Siegel (born May 3, 1935) is an American businessman who founded Westgate Resorts Ltd, a Florida-based timeshare resort firm where he serves as president and chief executive officer. He has ten biological children and two adopted c ...

- businessman *

George Smathers George Armistead Smathers (November 14, 1913 – January 20, 2007) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate from 1951 until 1969 and in the United States House from 1947 to 1951, as ...

- U.S. Senator *

Bob Stinson Robert Neil Stinson (December 17, 1959 – February 18, 1995) was an American musician best known as a founding member and lead guitarist of the American rock band The Replacements. Biography Early life Bob Stinson was born on December 17 ...

- MLB player for six teams *

Mario Valdez Mario Ayelar Valdez (born November 19, 1974) is a Mexican former professional baseball first baseman. He played during three Major League Baseball (MLB) seasons for the Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics. He also played one season in Nippon ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player (

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

, Oakland Athletics) * Brent Wright - professional basketball player in Europe * Ileana Garcia - Member of the Florida Senate

In pop culture

Movies including ''

The Substitute ''The Substitute'' is a 1996 American crime action thriller film directed by Robert Mandel and starring Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Marc Anthony, William Forsythe, Raymond Cruz and Luis Guzmán. It was filmed at Miami Sr. High school. Plo ...

'' and '' Porky's'' were filmed at MHS, as well as the

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

s for Gloria Estefan and NSYNC's "

Music of My Heart "Music of My Heart" is a song by Cuban American recording artist Gloria Estefan and American boy band NSYNC. The teen pop song was written by Diane Warren and produced by David Foster, for the Wes Craven-directed movie ''Music of the Heart'' (199 ...

" and

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

's "

God's Plan God's Plan may refer to: Theological concepts * God's plan, or the Will of God * Salvation, the saving of a soul from sin and its consequences ** Plan of salvation, a Christian concept describing God's plan to save humanity ** Plan of salvation ( ...

". File:George smathers.jpg,

, U.S. senator, 1920s File:Veronica Lake still.jpg,

, actress and model, 1930s File:Bob Graham, official Senate photo portrait, color.jpg, Bob Graham,

Florida governor The governor of Florida is the head of government of the state of Florida and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Florida ...

and U.S. senator, Class of 1955 File:Ed Roberts 2002 by Spencer Smith.jpg, Ed Roberts, "father of the PC", computer engineer, 1950s File:Steve Blake Lakers1.jpg,

, NBA basketball player, Class of 1998 File:Al Rosen 1953.jpg,

4x All Star and MVP baseball player File:Christopher George The Rat Patrol.jpg,

, actor, 1940s File:JEFF COOPWOOD.jpg, Jeff Coopwood, Emmy-nominated actor, broadcaster and singer, 1970s File:Andre Johnson 2010.jpg,

, NFL football player, Class of 1999 File:UdonisHaslem.jpg, Udonis Haselm, NBA Basketball Player, Class of 1996

References

External links

Miami Senior High School website
* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1903 Miami-Dade County Public Schools high schools High schools in Miami National Register of Historic Places in Miami Mediterranean Revival architecture in Florida Kiehnel and Elliott buildings 1903 establishments in Florida