Homestead. 1 City (2020 pop. 80,737), Dade co., SE Fla.; inc. 1913. A large Miami suburb with a growing Hispanic population, Homestead is a trade center for the redland district, known for its many varieties of citrus and other fruits and vegetables. Nearby Homestead Air Force Base was converted to a reserve base in 1994, with development slated for some of the land. The city is the gateway to Everglades National Park (see National Parks and Monuments, tablenational parks and monuments, table) and the Florida Keys. Local attractions include several tropical gardens, a pioneer museum, a stock car racetrack, and a castlelike building furnished with coral items. A state subtropical experiment station is there, and a nuclear power plant is nearby. In 1992 a disastrous hurricane swept through S Florida, leveling much of the area, including the commercial center of Homestead. 2 Borough (2020 pop. 3,121), Allegheny co., SW Pa., on the Monongahela River just S of Pittsburgh; inc. 1880. Once a foremost U.S. steel producer, Homestead declined rapidly in the 1980s when steel companies relocated overseas. In 1892 the Homestead strike, one of the most bitterly fought industrial disputes in U.S. labor history, occurred there; the site has been redeveloped as the Waterfront, a mixed-use retail-residential complex.
See study by W. Serrin (1992).
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