Developer Glen Curtiss built 105 buildings with an array of domes, minarets and outside staircases between 1925-28 during Florida's land boom, which came to an end after the 1926 hurricane destroyed much of the city. Before he quit, Curtiss had built a self-contained city with a hotel, zoo park, golf course, archery club and swimming pool, airport and train station in the place the Tequesta Indians called Opatishawockalocka. Much of the property Curtis built was later deeded to the county. Twenty buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Plans are underway to renovate the old train station and make it a transporation museum.
The city later became home to a U.S. Naval air station where World War II pilots were trained. As a result, the city has one of the country's largest communities of off-base military housing in the country. The city has about 17,000 residents, and is one of the poorest cities in Miami-Dade County. A few restaurants have recently opened and the state plans to build an office complex, which many hope will revitalize downtown. Bus tours of the city's rich architecture are being considered.