From an FAA website: "October 1943..This building was constructed by the U. S. Army Air Corps to serve the Miami Army Air Field, located immediately south of the 36th Street Airport. Because of wartime shortages, the entire structure was build of wood. This facility was occupied by the CAA staff on October 3, 1943, and utilized multiple telephone/radio frequencies. Between 1943 and 1948, the tower was damaged several times by hurricanes. This photo, taken in the spring of 1946, shows a completely refurbished tower after severe damage caused by the hurricane of September 1945."

The Miami Army Air Field was combined with the purchased Pan American Field to the north after World War II. Relocation of the Seaboard Air Line railway tracks allowed aircraft to taxi from one field to another.