Kendall used to look like that? See the early days of the mall and some favorite places
Miami Herald Archives
·1 min read
When it opened on Oct. 1, 1962, on Kendall Drive off U.S. 1, Dadeland was dubbed ‘Deadland’ because North Kendall Drive was called called the road to nowhere.
Built as an open-air strip center, Dadeland started with 62 merchants, including Burdines as its only anchor.
But Southwest Miami-Dade’s explosive population growth — with the construction of thousands of affordable units of tract housing, the opening of the Palmetto Expressway, the expansion of Kendall Drive into a four-lane highway and the appearance of Baptist Hospital — radically transformed ”horse country” into a flourishing community.
Dadeland became a thriving retail center. By the end of the 1960s, a rapidly expanding Dadeland was enclosed and converted to a mall.
And by the 1970s and ‘80s, Kendall had become Miami-Dade’s fastest growing community, with this trend accelerating into the 1980s.
Let’s take a look at Kendall’s early years through the photo archives of the Miami Herald:
DADELAND MALL
The landmark Dadeland Mall sign in 1980.
Dadeland Mall entrance in 1985.
Dadeland shopping center in October 1962.
In 1980, the horse at Dadeland Mall.
Dadeland Mall in 1981.
East end of Dadeland Mall in 1980.
Dadeland Mall lobby fountain in 1987.
In 1991, the closed Jordan Marsh department store at Dadeland Mall.
STREET SCENES
Kendall Mall as seen from Kendall Drive in 1989.
A driver enters a Kendall intersection in 1970.
Passengers line up to catch the KAT, new mini-buses in 1987 that connected riders with Metrorail.
TOWN & COUNTRY
In 1986, the Kendall Town & Country mall on Kendall Drive and 117th Avenue.
The interior rotunda of Kendall Town & Country.
The construction of Kendall Town & Country shopping complex.
Kendall Town & Country’s pavilion on the lake.
HOME DEVELOPMENTS
Kendale Country Club in 1970.
In 1962, the site of Dadeland Gardens Apartment development, 32 acres along the north side of Snapper Creek in Kendall.
COMMUNITY LANDMARKS
Construction progress on Baptist Hospital in 1960.
The Bank of Kendall in 1971.
Loehmann’s Plaza in Kendall in 1991.
In 1976, Plaza West Shopping Center under construction on Kendall Drive and Southwest 127th Avenue
A Kendall Youth Home shop class working on a donated ’56 Lincoln. in 1967.
