Miami Was Built in Just 130 Years | 3D City Timelapse (1896–NOW

In 1896 Miami was a railroad stop with a few hundred people at the mouth of the Miami River. Watch Flagler's railway arrive, Miami Beach rise out of the mangroves, new islands get dredged out of Biscayne Bay, the 1920s land boom end in the Great Hurricane of 1926, Art Deco hotels line Ocean Drive, Cuban exiles reshape the city after 1959, and Brickell fill with glass towers, all in 3D. Building years come from Miami-Dade County's building footprints and property records. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 Miami today, rewound 0:13 1896 – The railroad arrives 0:17 1896 – The City of Miami is founded 0:22 1897 – The Royal Palm Hotel 0:31 1913 – Collins Bridge to the beach 0:35 1915 – Miami Beach is born 0:46 1920 – The County Causeway 0:57 1922 – Islands are built in the bay 1:10 1925 – The land boom and the Freedom Tower 1:22 1926 – The Venetian Causeway 1:33 1926 – The Great Miami Hurricane 1:46 1928 – Dade County Courthouse 1:58 1930s – Art Deco Miami Beach 2:31 1954 – The Fontainebleau 2:42 1959 – The Cuban Revolution 2:53 1962 – The Freedom Tower welcomes refugees 3:04 1964 – PortMiami 3:37 1980 – The Mariel boatlift 3:50 1984 – Southeast Financial Center 4:02 1987 – Miami Tower 4:36 2003 – Four Seasons Hotel 4:48 2004 – The condo boom 5:12 2018 – Panorama Tower 5:38 Miami at night Which city should we build next? Tell us in the comments 👇 📊 DATA SOURCES Buildings: Miami-Dade County (Building Footprint UBID Folio, Property Appraiser), © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) – openstreetmap.org/copyright, 3D-GloBFP (Che et al. 2024, CC BY 4.0) Terrain: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA Population: US Census Bureau (City of Miami). Heights: Miami-Dade County, CTBUH Skyscraper Center. The outlines and years of the filled islands, the Miami Beach fill and buildings that no longer exist are approximate. Towers still under construction in 2026 are not shown. Music and sound effects are original, generated for this video. #Miami #Timelapse #3DAnimation #CityEvolution #MiamiBeach #Florida #History ```