Arch Creek Park

Archaeological studies led by Dr. Robert Carr in 1975 revealed that Indigenous People once inhabited the area of Arch Creek Park. Pottery, conch shell tools, and other artifacts were discovered dating back approximately 2000 years.  These ancient residents had a lifestyle of hunting, fishing and gathering. At this site, the numerous marine remnants that have been studied suggesting the people once living here were proficient users of the creek, bay and ocean.  The most intense occupation was between 500 BC and 100 AD.  Like so many sites in Florida, a later people also occupied the area. In this case, the site was used as a seasonal or temporary home for the Tequesta from AD 1300-the 1600s and then the Seminoles from the late 1700s to early 1900s.  

During the Seminole Wars in the early part of the 1800s, General Abner Doubleday blazed a trail between Fort Lauderdale and Fort Dallas on the Miami River. This military trail crossed over the limestone bridge, traversing the freshwater creek flowing from the Everglades to Biscayne Bay. Within the site is a portion of the historically designated Military Trail, built by the US Army as part of their aggressive Seminole removal actions during the Third Seminole War, 1855-1858.  The roadway connected Fort Lauderdale in present day Broward County to Fort Dallas on the Miami River, in today’s downtown Miami, to facilitate troop movement and communications between the two forts. 

In 1895, Henry Flagler's railroad reached Arch Creek as it expanded southward, bringing a steady stream of visitors and settlers, largely from east coast states.  The first European-American families to settle the area planted tomatoes and pineapples. A railroad depot was established in 1903. Soon after, a packing plant, a sawmill, a post office and a school were erected as the town began to grow. By 1910, the area was a popular place for tourists and community gatherings. The "shell house" sold souvenirs, postcards and refreshments.  By 1912, the community included eighteen homes, a church, a general store, a blacksmith shop, and two tomato-packing houses.  By 1920, the population of Arch Creek had grown to 307. The Biscayne Canal was dug in 1924 to reduce flooding of local farmland. During the Florida land boom of the 1920s, portions of the community were subdivided and sold to northern tourists as residential lots.

The porous oolitic limestone bridge across the creek was used for thousands of years by people and animals, but as the community grew around it, this delicate bridge became vulnerable.  Luckily over the years many people fought to save the unique formation and the land around it. 

In 1957, the bridge was endangered by a plan to drain low-lying areas as part of a flood prevention program. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted to blow up the bridge, or re-route the creek. A local newspaper article announced that "the bridge must be sacrificed for better drainage of the area." Protests from members of the local Audubon Society, the Historical Association of Southern Florida and the Dade Conservation Council prevented any of this destructive action.

Things remained quiet until the 1970s, when Arch Creek became the property of the Chrysler Corporation. Their plans called for the construction of an automobile showroom and a new and used car agency. In 1972, Chrysler requested a zoning change from the City of North Miami, which would have allowed them to pave the area and build a garage on the property. Vigorous opposition came from the Tropical Audubon Society, the Miami-West Indian Archaeological Society, the Keystone Point Homeowners' Association, and members of the Arch Creek Trust. After almost a year of intense lobbying, the State of Florida agreed to purchase the land and designate it a state park. 

A group of local citizens, who later formed the Arch Creek Trust, went to Tallahassee in February 1973, to finalize that agreement. On the night they returned, the natural bridge collapsed and fell into the creek. Rumors of sabotage ran through the community.  Nothing suggestive of sabotage was discovered, and experts generally agreed later that the fall was probably due to constant vibrations from passing trains, or erosion, or just old age and decay.  The limestone bridge was laced with roots from the oak trees growing on both banks of the creek, and it is likely those roots were holding the rock together. A number of trees near both ends of the bridge had been removed prior to the collapse, thus killing the roots. Then in order to keep vehicular traffic from using the bridge, it was blocked off by boring a row of large holes through the road at both ends of the bridge and standing discarded wooden railroad ties in the holes. When the bridge collapsed it broke along the two rows of "perforations" drilled for the ties.  

In the years that followed, there were various efforts to restore the bridge, clear the property of trash and save additional land in the area.  A replica of the natural bridge was constructed in 1988 and remains in the park today.