Off Shore Muse

Hialeah Park

Hialeah, Florida

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Hialeah, most likely referring to the city in Florida, translates to "pretty prairie" or "beautiful meadow" in English. This is based on its Seminole-Creek origin combining "haiyakpo" (prairie) and "hili" (pretty).

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Hialeah Park .. known for their pink flamingos ..

The Hialeah Park Race Track is an historic rack track. Its site covers 40 square blocks and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988 the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior, Donald P. Hodel.

Among the races the track has hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses.

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Hialeah Park

Circa 1930

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The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in South Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright as part of their development of the town of Hialeah. Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by a 1926 (category 4) hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman, Joseph E. Widener.

Hailed as one of the most beautiful race tracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened, again, January 14, 1932. It was became the place for the rich and famous to winter. Not only did the greatest horses come to Hialeah, but such personalities such a Truman, Churchill, Kennedy and Nixon wheeled through the turnstiles and remarked on Hialeah's incredible beauty.

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With Kentucky horseman, Colonel Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flowers and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with the famous pink flamingos. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American flamingo by the Audubon Society.

On January 16, 1936 Hialeah Park became the first thoroughbred horse racing venue to install a photo-finish camera, revolutionizing the accuracy of race results in the sport.

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Winston Churchill at Hialeah Park

Circa 1946

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Other celebrities through the years were Jacqueline Kennedy, Joseph and Rose Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor. The famous aviator, Amelia Earhart said her final good-byes to the continental United States from Hialeah as she left on her ill-fated flight around the world in 1937.