Richmond Heights is a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County () is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous coun ...

, United States. It is part of the

Miami metropolitan area The Miami metropolitan area is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the lar ...

South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...

. The population was 8,944 at the 2020 census.

History

At the beginning of World War II, the United States Navy purchased of land in southwestern Dade (now called Miami-Dade) County for the purpose of constructing an airship base. The land was owned by the Richmond Timber Company, a major supplier of Dade County Pine (a denser, harder, sub-species of ''Pinus palustris'', or longleaf pine). The base was named Naval Air Station Richmond, after the lumber company, and was home to the 25 ships of ZP-21 (Patrol, Airship Squadron 21 and Airship Wing 2). NAS Richmond was the second largest airship base in the United States, NAS Lakehurst in New Jersey being the largest. NAS Richmond was destroyed by a hurricane and fire in September 1945. After the end of World War II, Captain Frank C. Martin, a

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

erican pilot, purchased farmland adjacent to the base in rural southwest Dade County. With this purchase he created Richmond Heights, as a new community for returning

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

veterans. Of the original he purchased in 1949, the federal government had used to build the headquarters of Naval Air Station Richmond, a

blimp A non-rigid airship, commonly called a blimp (Help:IPA/English, /blɪmp/), is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid airship, semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on th ...

base constructed in the early months of World War II Richmond, and was eventually home to 25 K-series blimps, three hangars, and 3,000 men. The hangars were 16 stories tall, built of

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

brought in by train. The blimps protected ship convoys in the Florida Straits, and Richmond was the headquarters for the fight against

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

s operating in the Caribbean.

Geography

Richmond Heights is located southwest of

downtown Miami Downtown Miami is the urban city center of Miami, Florida, United States. The city's greater downtown region consists of the Central Business District, Brickell, the Historic District, Government Center, the Arts & Entertainment District, and ...

at (25.633415, -80.372362). It is bordered to the north and east by Kendall, to the south by Palmetto Estates, and to the west by Three Lakes. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.93%, are water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,944 people, 2,635 households, and 2,133 families residing in the CDP. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 8,541 people, 2,566 households, and 2,058 families residing in the CDP.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 8,479 people, 2,653 households, and 2,101 families living in the CDP. The population density was . There were 2,771 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 12.45%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

(3.4% were

Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

), 82.83%

, 0.22% Native American, 0.83% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 2.00% from other races, and 1.65% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 12.47% of the population. As of 2000, there were 2,653 households, out of which 32.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 30.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.8% were non-families. 17.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.16 and the average family size was 3.55. In 2000, the CDP, the population was spread out, with 29.0% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 26.3% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.9 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the CDP was $38,191, and the median income for a family was $44,095. Males had a median income of $31,286 versus $27,882 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the CDP was $15,824. About 14.0% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 23.0% of those under age 18 and 14.8% of those age 65 or over. As of 2000, speakers of English as a

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

accounted for 87.29% of residents, while Spanish as a mother tongue made up 12.70% of the population.

Attractions

Annually, people travel back to Miami-Dade County to celebrate the Historic Weekend hosted by the Historic Society. The Richmond Heights 49ers was funded in part by a grant from the Florida Humanities Council, National Endowment of the Arts, Miami-Dade County Cultural Arts Department, and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Miami-Dade County, Florida Census-designated places in Florida