Maurice A. Ferré Park (formerly Museum Park) is a public,
urban park
An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...
in
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. The park opened in 1976 on the site of several slips served by the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , which styled itself "The Route of Courteous Service," was an American railroad which existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, t ...
. It was originally named "Bicentennial Park" to celebrate the
bicentennial of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
in that same year. Today, the park is maintained by the Bayfront Park Management Trust. The park is bordered on the north by
I-395 Interstate 395 may refer to:
*Interstate 395 (Connecticut–Massachusetts), a spur from I-95 to Auburn, Massachusetts
*Interstate 395 (Delaware), a proposed portion of I-95 in Delaware, when it was under construction
*Interstate 395 (Florida), a spu ...
,
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. M ...
, and the former ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'' headquarters, on the south by the
American Airlines Arena
FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture f ...
and
Bayside Marketplace
Bayside Marketplace is a two-story open air shopping center located in the downtown Miami, Florida. The banks of Biscayne Bay wrap around the property with the City of Miami marina at its side. It is recognized by the Greater Miami Convention & V ...
, on the west by
Biscayne Boulevard
U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River (Florida/Georgia), St. Marys River into Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia north of Boulogne, Florida, Boulogne and south of ...
and on the east by
Biscayne Bay
Biscayne Bay () is a lagoon with characteristics of an estuary located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida. The northern end of the lagoon is surrounded by the densely developed heart of the Miami metropolitan area while the southern end is la ...
.
The park
The park is served by the
Metrorail
METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...
at
Government Center Station and directly by the
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. M ...
's
Museum Park Station
Museum Park is a Metromover station located on the southeast corner of Biscayne Boulevard and I-395 in Miami, Florida. Originally opened as Bicentennial Park in 1994 and closed in 1996, the station reopened with the completion of the Pérez Art M ...
,
Eleventh Street Station and
Park West Station.
Museum Park is host to many large-scale events as the park can hold around 45,000 people. Some of these events include
Ultra Music Festival
Ultra Music Festival (UMF) is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that takes place during March in Miami, Florida, United States. The festival was founded in 1999 by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes.
It was first held on Miami Beach, bu ...
, a large, three-day music event, numerous rock concerts such as
Warped Tour
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touring ...
, various conventions, concerts, as well as boat tours around Biscayne Bay. In March 2009, Museum Park was set to host the
Langerado
Langerado Music Festival was an annual music festival, taking place in early spring in South Florida, first organized in 2003 by Ethan Schwartz. In 2008, the festival was held at the Seminole Big Cypress Indian Reservation in the Everglades. Th ...
Music Festival, a large three-day festival that was held at the
Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation
The Big Cypress Indian Reservation is one of the six reservations of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. It is located in southeastern Hendry County and northwestern Broward County, in southern Florida, United States. Its location is on the Atlantic ...
every Spring since 2003, but was canceled due to poor ticket sales.
Seven blocks south, is Museum Park's partner park, the
Bayfront Park
Bayfront Park is a public, urban park in Downtown Miami, Florida on Biscayne Bay. The Chairman to the trust is Ary Shaeban. Located in the park is a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus sculpted by Count Vittorio di Colbertaldo of Verona, one ...
.
Museum Park underwent a renovation for the
Pérez Art Museum Miami
The Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Museum Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Center for t ...
and construction of the new
Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science
The Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science (formerly known as the Miami Science Museum or Miami Science Museum and Space Transit Planetarium) is a science museum, planetarium, and aquarium located in Miami, Florida, United States. The museum ...
. The $10 million revamp included a new baywalk and a promenade from Biscayne Boulevard to Biscayne Bay that provides pedestrian access to the museums. as it is currently underutilized for large parts of the year. Pérez Art Museum Miami opened in December 2013 and the Frost Museum of Science opened its doors in May 2017.
The
Miami Science Barge
The Miami Science Barge (also known as the Science Barge) was a floating marine laboratory and education platform docked in Museum Park, Miami, FL since 2016. The Barge, designed to help support a more sustainable city, had three main areas of fo ...
is a floating marine laboratory and education platform docked in the park. It was opened in 2016 and focuses on three areas, sustainability, alternative agriculture and marine ecology and conservation.
History
From the early 1900s to the mid-1960s, the park had been the location of the
Port of Miami
The Port of Miami, styled as "PortMiami" but formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay at the mouth of the Miami River in Miami, Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the ...
, until the port was eventually moved to neighboring
Dodge Island
Dodge Island is an artificial island near downtown Miami, Florida, United States. The Port of Miami is located on Dodge Island and has berths for both cruise and cargo ships.
The original and much smaller Dodge Island was created during the dred ...
in the mid-1960s. Once the port moved out to Dodge Island, the land was cleaned up of industrial residue from decades of port trade, and the park was designed, finally opening up in 1976, as Downtown's second large park after
Bayfront Park
Bayfront Park is a public, urban park in Downtown Miami, Florida on Biscayne Bay. The Chairman to the trust is Ary Shaeban. Located in the park is a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus sculpted by Count Vittorio di Colbertaldo of Verona, one ...
.
In May 1994, the Omni Loop of the
Metromover
Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. M ...
opened, which brought a Metromover station to the park. In 1996, the station was closed due to lack of use. In 2013, the station was renovated and reopened as
Museum Park Station
Museum Park is a Metromover station located on the southeast corner of Biscayne Boulevard and I-395 in Miami, Florida. Originally opened as Bicentennial Park in 1994 and closed in 1996, the station reopened with the completion of the Pérez Art M ...
to provide direct access to the art and science museums.
In early 2019, the park was renamed Maurice A. Ferre Park in dedication to former Miami Mayor
Maurice Ferré
Maurice Antonio Ferré (June 23, 1935 – September 19, 2019) was an American politician who served six terms as the Mayor of Miami. Ferré was the first Puerto Rican-born United States mayor and the first Latino Mayor of Miami. He was an unsu ...
.
Auto racing
Racing events were held on a temporary circuit at Bicentennial Park from 1983-1995 involving
IMSA
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...
,
Trans-Am Series
The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA).
Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includ ...
, and
CART
A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by one or a pair of draught animals. A handcart is pulled or pushed by one or more people.
It is different from the flatbed tr ...
, and again for
FIA Formula E
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...
in 2015.
Lap Records
The official race lap records at Bicentennial Park (Miami) are listed as:
Gallery
Downtown Miami from north 20080408.jpg, Western corner of Museum Park in 2008, as seen from The Grand Doubletree
The DoubleTree by Hilton Grand Hotel Biscayne Bay, also referred as The Grand or The Grand DoubleTree, is a high-rise on the north side of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States. It lies within the Arts & Entertainment District. It was completed i ...
References
External links
Bicentennial ParkPatricia and Phillip Frost Museum of SciencePérez Art Museum Miami
{{Authority control
Urban public parks
Geography of Miami
IMSA GT Championship circuits
Champ Car circuits
Motorsport venues in Florida
Defunct motorsport venues in the United States
Parks in Miami
Museum districts