The Venetian Pool, the Biltmore Hotel, Coral
Gables High School, the trolleys, the University of Miami, and some of
the people who brought Coral Gables to life helped make it the great
city it is today. When Solomon Merrick moved his family from New England
to a plot of land southwest of Miami in 1898, he had no idea that his
son, George, would become the founder of one of America's most fabled
cities. When the senior Merrick died in 1911, George, who was working in
New York, returned to the Miami area, establishing a major citrus and
produce farm on his family's land. Then he entered the booming Miami
real estate market of the early 1920s, finally embarking on the building
of a city. The story of Coral Gables is also the story of George
Merrick, and the photographs in this volume evoke poignant memories of
the City Beautiful's storied past.
