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What is the Chamber?
The Chamber of Commerce is a group of people who have
chosen to serve in an administrative or advisory
capacity exerting leadership in dealing with community
challenges and opportunities for the enhancement of free
enterprise.
The Chamber of Commerce is an organization established
to further the business interests of the community and
consists of business and professional people of that
community. Together, they work as a central unit for
community development taking on projects and
accomplishing tasks that one individual could not do
alone.
Our Mission
To strengthen the economy of South Miami-Dade and
enhance the quality of life for our residents and
visitors through programs of voluntary action to
preserve and protect the American system of free
competitive enterprise; and to advance the economic,
civic educational, cultural and social well being of the
South Dade community.
Our History
Organized in the summer of
1915 with 24 charter members, the Greater Homestead /
Florida City Chamber of Commerce is proud to be the
second oldest chamber in Miami-Dade County. Then, as
now, the chamber worked as part of a team with the
cities of Homestead and Florida City to make south
Miami-Dade a better place to do business and raise a
family.
Originally named the
Homestead Chamber of Commerce, the chamber was
reorganized in 1917 and was renamed the South Dade
Chamber of Commerce. Officers and directors were elected
from Silver Palm, Modello and Redland, as well as the
two cities, giving it a more regional view.
The first chamber
promotional booklet was published in 1921, thanks to
Henry Flagler’s land holding company, the Model Land
Company. Another reorganization took place in 1923 and
the name changed to the Redland District Chamber of
Commerce. An even greater regional look came about with
the directors elected from Homestead, Florida City,
Redland, Silver Palm, Modello, Naranja, Princeton and
Goulds. The chamber named the north and south roads in
the Redland District for Dade County and won 1st prize
at the Florida State Fair for community exhibits.
The chamber built its
first building adjoining Old City Hall in early 1924 and
organized the first Redland District Fruit Festival the
same year.
The attraction of a
second railroad to Homestead, the Seaboard Coast Line,
was a major chamber success in the late 1920’s. The
chamber was responsible for convincing landowners to
donate land for the right of way. Projects of the 1930’s
were to attract a circus to winter over in Homestead,
tourist camps, Homestead’s Bayfront Park, and the
purchase of land and construction of a festival pavilion
for the fruit festival in Homestead near Municipal Park,
on NE First Avenue. The festival building also housed
the chamber’s offices.
The chamber took on a new
look in late 1949 when the composition of the elected
board of directors was changed to five members at large
and the presidents of 15 civic and veterans groups in
the area from Florida City to Perrine.
Some time before January
of 1962 the name was expanded to Homestead-Redland
District Chamber of Commerce, and then later the Redland
District part was dropped. At the request of the mayor
of Florida City, the name was changed to the Homestead /
Florida City Chamber of Commerce in 1981.
In 1994 the chamber moved
back to one of its original locations, Historic Old Town
Hall. The chamber is now housed on the second floor,
maintaining and preserving its original mission for the
benefit of the business members of the South Miami-Dade
area. |
