Kendall, Florida, exists as a unique entity in the urban fabric of Miami-Dade County. It is neither a formally incorporated city nor a town, but rather an unincorporated area and a census-designated place (CDP) with a robust population that has swelled to over 80,000 residents as of the 2020 census. The lack of a municipal government means that its identity and development have been forged not by a city hall but through a complex interplay of geography, commercial hubs, and the powerful advocacy of its residents. The community’s main artery, Kendall Drive, and its primary commercial center, Dadeland Mall, have become defining features that orient both residents and visitors. This unique legal and political status has empowered local organizations, most notably the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations, to become influential forces in shaping the community’s destiny.

The Genesis of a Community: From Wilderness to Naming

The history of Kendall is a layered narrative, beginning with the land’s earliest inhabitants long before the arrival of Anglo-European speculators.

The area was not an empty wilderness awaiting development; it was a living landscape, shaped and inhabited by the Seminole people. Historical records confirm that two Seminole camps existed in the Kendall area, with a larger village situated on high ground at the present-day intersection of SW 107th Avenue and SW 80th Street. Seminoles continued to live in these camps as late as the 1940s, maintaining a presence on the land for decades after the first European land deals were struck. The Seminoles, known as the “Unconquered People” for their successful evasion of U.S. Army capture in the 19th century, were a resilient population. This continuous indigenous presence provides essential context, challenging the simplistic notion of Kendall’s history as beginning with its formal naming by outsiders and instead framing its development as a successive layer upon an already occupied and culturally rich landscape.   

The official, documented history of Kendall, however, begins with a distinctly British connection. In 1883, a vast tract of land in Dade County was purchased by the Florida Land and Mortgage Company (FL&M Co.). The transaction, executed under the provisions of the Swamp Land Act of 1850, saw the state of Florida sell four million acres to the company for one million dollars, or a price of just 25 cents per acre. This massive land deal was the brainchild of two influential British figures.

The first of these individuals was Sir Edward James Reed, a man of remarkable professional breadth. A retired Chief Constructor of warships for the Royal Navy and a member of the British Parliament, Reed was a major financier and the prime mover behind two Florida railroad companies in the early 1880s. His strategy was clear: purchase immense amounts of land, form a company to hold it, and then sell it off in smaller parcels for a profit. The FL&M Co., which he formed, was based in Bartow, Florida, and acted as the primary vehicle for this land speculation.

The second figure, and the man for whom the community is named, was Henry John Broughton Kendall. Born in Lima, Peru, in 1841 to the British Consul, he became a London-based foreign merchant and banker. By 1883, he had risen to the rank of Director of the Union Bank of London and held a director title at four other major British firms over the next two decades. In 1884, he was appointed one of four trustees to manage the FL&M Co.’s properties in Dade County. Despite the fact that his family home remained in Hatfield, a suburb of London, during his time in America, the land became so thoroughly identified with his name that it eventually bore it. This occurred through his ever-present name on deeds, personal visits to inspect the property, and his connections with local realtors and bankers. His personal and professional life, including his role in securing loans for the construction of a tunnel under the Hudson River, highlights the vast, global-scale financial networks that were instrumental in the founding of this seemingly small Florida community.

For decades, the land remained largely undeveloped. The FL&M Co. did not open the land to homesteading, a practice that encourages rapid settlement by granting land to those who would live on and cultivate it. 

This decision meant that development was slow, as the area was intended for speculative profit rather than active community building. Its isolation and propensity for flooding only compounded this stagnation. The region’s fate, however, was fundamentally altered by an external force: the railroad empire of Henry Morrison Flagler. Although Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway did not directly enter Kendall, its arrival in Miami in 1896 ended the “decades of isolation” that had hampered regional development. The new city of Miami, established and built by Flagler, became the powerful economic engine that would eventually pull Kendall out of its slumber. The history of Kendall’s genesis, therefore, reveals a powerful truth about its early identity: it was a place defined not by what it was, but by what it was intended to be—a speculative investment whose value was contingent on the success of broader regional economic forces.

A New Era of Growth and Transformation

The first major tremor of modern development in the Kendall area was felt during the statewide real estate boom of the Roaring 1920s. This period of rampant land speculation was fueled by national economic prosperity and the popular image of Florida as a tropical paradise. While not at the epicenter of the boom like Miami Beach or Coral Gables, the region felt its effects. For instance, in the nearby community of Larkins (now South Miami), land values soared, with one 10-acre tract selling for an all-time high of 100,000 dollars. The boom, however, was built on a fragile foundation of easy credit and poor building standards. It came to a sudden and violent end with the Great Hurricane of 1926, which destroyed thousands of homes and damaged many more in Dade County. This catastrophe, followed by the Great Depression, brought the local economy to a standstill. In Kendall, some residents left, but many stayed, allowing the community to weather the storm and continue its slow, quiet growth into the mid-20th century.

The most transformative period for Kendall began in the 1950s. The post-World War II era saw a massive influx of military personnel who had trained in South Florida and returned to settle, seeking high-quality, affordable housing. This demand catalyzed a wave of rapid urbanization across what was formerly agricultural and pine rockland interspersed with groves. As a result, the community experienced explosive population growth and development.

This period of expansion was so profound that it caused a fundamental and enduring shift in the community’s identity. Prior to the 1950s, the term “Kendall” described a limited region centered around U.S. Route 1. As development accelerated, the name became more expansive, first encompassing the areas near what is now Pinecrest and the eastern half of the current Kendall CDP. By the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the direction of growth was decisively westward, and the name “Kendall” followed suit, eventually coming to refer most commonly to the area now formally known as West Kendall. The history of Kendall is therefore not a static one of a fixed place, but a dynamic story of a geographic name that has consistently migrated with the tide of suburbanization, encapsulating an entire era of westward expansion.   

This growth was physically embodied by the rise of a new commercial landmark: Dadeland Mall. When it opened in 1962 as an open-air center, it was initially dismissed by some as “The Road to Nowhere”. However, the mall’s success was a testament to the surging population, the new Palmetto Expressway, and the expansion of Kendall Drive itself. By the end of the 1960s, the mall was enclosed and expanded, and by the 1990s, its rapid growth saw it become the busiest shopping mall in the continental United States. The history of Dadeland Mall is inextricably linked to the history of Kendall; it is a physical monument to the forces of suburbanization and a direct consequence of the rapid, post-war demographic explosion.

A close examination of Kendall’s history reveals a powerful and tragic pattern. The community’s two most significant periods of rapid, unplanned growth—the 1920s land boom and the post-WWII suburban explosion—were both followed by catastrophic hurricanes that exposed the inherent flaws in the development models. The 1926 hurricane revealed that many homes had been “thrown up” for quick profit with little regard for structural integrity. Decades later, the 1992 Hurricane Andrew would brutally reiterate this lesson, exposing “glaring weaknesses” in building codes and construction practices. The infamous Country Walk development, where 95% of the homes were “completely destroyed,” became a symbol of the dangers of poorly regulated growth and inadequate inspections. This pattern of historical repetition—where lessons from one disaster are not fully learned before the next building boom begins—is a profound aspect of Kendall’s past and was only finally broken by the devastating scale of Andrew, which forced a fundamental and permanent overhaul of building codes in South Florida.

The Modern Community: People, Commerce, and Catastrophe

The second half of the 20th century witnessed a profound demographic transformation that fundamentally redefined Kendall’s character. The area experienced significant population growth, climbing from 35,497 residents in 1970 to 87,271 by 1990, a remarkable 146% increase. This growth was driven by a massive influx of Hispanic and Latino residents, a trend that accelerated in the final decades of the century and into the 21st. Census data illustrates this dramatic shift: from 2010 to 2020, the Hispanic or Latino population grew from 63.74% to 71.11% of the total population. This demographic change is a microcosm of a larger phenomenon in Miami-Dade County, which has become known as the “Gateway to Latin America” due to its majority-Hispanic population and strong ties to the region.

This demographic change was not a random occurrence but was rooted in a series of specific historical events. The first wave of Cuban exiles, many of them educated professionals and businessmen, arrived in Miami in the wake of the 1959 Cuban Revolution. With federal government support, they established a vibrant economic and cultural “enclave” that provided a strong foundation for future migrants. This successful integration of a large immigrant population created an attractive destination for subsequent waves of migrants from across Latin America. For instance, the Colombian immigrant population, driven by political instability at home, dispersed throughout the Miami metropolitan area, with many settling in middle-class communities like Kendall. The rapid and successful assimilation of these groups, particularly the early Cubans who quickly translated economic success into political influence, created a self-sustaining cycle of migration and settlement that profoundly shaped the community’s modern identity and continues to define it today.

As the population grew and the community matured, local residents began to demand a greater say in their own destiny. This agency was embodied by the Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations (KFHA), a non-profit organization founded in 1976. The KFHA became a powerful voice, leading fights against unwanted projects, such as a prison at Kendall Drive and Krome Avenue, and successfully lobbying for essential infrastructure, including new schools, fire stations, and roads. Their most significant achievement, however, was their influence over private commercial development. The KFHA successfully opposed the original plans for an auto park rezoning and instead negotiated a mixed-use retail development for the land that would become Kendall Village Center.

 This success, which earned the developer the title of “Negotiator of the Year,” marked a pivotal moment, signaling a shift in power from external developers to organized, empowered local residents.   

The ultimate test of Kendall’s resilience and the defining moment of its modern history arrived on August 24, 1992, with Hurricane Andrew. This Category 5 storm, one of only four to make landfall in the U.S. as a Category 5 since 1900, struck South Miami-Dade County with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph. The storm caused an estimated 26 billion dollars in damage, with a significant portion of the destruction concentrated in Kendall and the surrounding South Dade area. Many homes and businesses were destroyed, exposing widespread deficiencies in construction. Personal accounts describe the catastrophic loss of structures, including the Dadeland Mobile Home Park. The devastation was so widespread that the area resembled a landscape of “matchsticks” and “rubble”. The storm served as a brutal and necessary wake-up call, leading South Florida counties to implement “very strict” and long-overdue building codes. In the years that followed, the community was slowly and painstakingly rebuilt, a testament to the strength and determination of its residents and a lesson in the necessity of resilient urban planning.

Kendall in the 21st Century: Current Trends and Future Trajectories

Today, Kendall is a mature, dynamic, and diverse community. Recent census data shows a population of 80,241, with a high concentration of Hispanic or Latino residents, as well as significant White, Black, and Asian populations. The community’s median household income of 83,664 dollars positions it as a solidly middle-class suburb. The data on residential mobility indicates a high rate of recent movers, which shows that Kendall remains a sought-after destination for new residents and is not a stagnant community.   

The future of Kendall is inextricably linked to its ability to manage population growth and urban congestion. The history of transportation in the area began with the railroad, which ended its isolation. This was followed by the opening of the Metrorail in 1984, which provided service from Dadeland South to downtown Miami and spurred the growth of the Dadeland area as a hub. Today, the Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Program is a major initiative aimed at creating a rapid transit network to support future growth and reduce congestion. The program includes a planned Kendall Corridor along SR 94/Kendall Drive, which is currently in a state of evaluation.   

The careful, data-driven approach to this project—with studies of bus rapid transit (BRT) and other modes—stands in stark contrast to the haphazard, external-driven infrastructure projects of the past. The fact that the project is on hold while a demonstration project is evaluated reflects a more cautious, deliberate, and publicly-vetted approach to urban planning, a direct consequence of the lessons learned from decades of unbridled development and resident activism.   

This new, resident-influenced planning philosophy is also evident in modern development. The Kendall Village Center, for example, is a prime example of a shift away from the car-centric suburban sprawl of the mid-20th century to a more pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use model. The center, which includes retail, entertainment, and residential townhomes, was the result of a direct negotiation with the KFHA. This type of development represents a new chapter for Kendall, one where the community’s growth is guided by a more sustainable and collaborative vision.

Historical Places and Accessible Landmarks

The history of Kendall is not confined to written records; it is etched into the physical landscape. Visitors and residents can engage with this past by exploring several key locations that serve as tangible links to the community’s evolution.

• Gold Coast Railroad Museum: Located at 12450 SW 152nd Street, the Gold Coast Railroad Museum was founded in 1956 on the site of the former Naval Air Station Richmond. Its collection includes authentic train cars, such as the “Ferdinand Magellan,” a private car used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a locomotive that was instrumental in a rescue operation following the 1935 Florida Keys Labor Day storm. The museum is not only a repository of railroad history but also a physical connection to the era when military operations and the railroad industry were transforming South Florida’s landscape.   
• Dadeland Mall: Located at 7535 North Kendall Drive, Dadeland is a living historical artifact. Opened in 1962, its evolution from an open-air shopping center to a massive regional mall mirrors Kendall’s own suburban transformation. The mall’s iconic “D” tower remains a local landmark, and walking its enclosed concourses is a journey through the commercial heart of the community. Dadeland is a monument to the community’s post-war identity as a thriving, retail-oriented suburb.   
• The Deering Estate: While technically located in the neighboring Village of Palmetto Bay, the Deering Estate at 16701 SW 72nd Avenue is directly tied to the history of the broader South Dade area. The estate, which was purchased by Charles Deering in 1916, includes the historic Richmond Cottage, the last remaining vestige of the former town of Cutler. The estate provides a glimpse into the opulent lifestyle of early pioneers and the natural landscapes that existed before widespread development.   
• Historical Seminole Village Locations: Although no physical structures remain, the historical significance of the original Seminole village sites can be contemplated by visiting the modern locations where they once stood. One village was located just west of what is now Baptist Hospital, and a larger one was situated on high ground at the present-day intersection of SW 107th Avenue and SW 80th Street. These sites offer a powerful reminder of the land’s ancient past and the indigenous communities who shaped it long before its modern existence.