George Merrick, son of the south wind : visionary creator of coral gables / Arva Moore Parks.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parks, Arva Moore, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Merrick, George E., 1886-1942.

Merrick, George E.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (327 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Gainesville, Florida : University Press of Florida, 2015.

Summary:

The story of developers selling off the Sunshine State is as old as the first railroad tracks laid across the peninsula. But seldom do we hear about the men who actually built a better Florida. In George Merrick, Son of the South Wind , South Florida historian Arva Moore Parks recounts George Merrick's quest to distinguish himself from the legions of developers who sought only profit. Helping to create the land boom of the 1920s, Merrick transformed his family's citrus grove just outside of Miami into one of the finest planned communities: the "master suburb" of Coral Gables. With a team of architects and city planners, he built homes for the growing middle class in the Mediterranean Style using local stone, and he invested in public infrastructure by designing and building parks and pools, trolley lines and waterways. He pledged land for a library and the university that would become the University of Miami. Hailed in national publications as a visionary, Merrick was green before green, a New Urbanist before the movement even had a name. As Coral Gables and Merrick prospered, he reinvested in education, affordable housing, and other progressive causes. But the Great Depression ravaged Miami, and Merrick's idealism cost him his fortune. He died with an estate worth less than $400. With unprecedented access to the Merrick family and mining a treasure trove of Merrick's personal letters, documents, speeches, and manuscripts, Parks presents the remarkable story of George Merrick and the development of one of the nation's most iconic planned cities.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

List of Figures

Preface

Introduction

1. The Merricks of Maryland

2. The Fink Family

3. Solomon and Allie

4. "When the Groves Begin to Bear"

5. Finding Self

6. Eunice

7. The Dress Rehearsal

8. From Dream to Reality

9. With Broad Vision and High Ideals

10. Expanding the Vision

11. 1925: Building a City

12. New Questions

13. Sustaining an Ideal

14. The Long Road Back

15. An Enduring Legacy

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (EBC, viewed February 9, 2018).

ISBN:

0-8130-5951-8