Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ

This guide to Coral Gables Congregational Church traces how George Merrick, the man building an entire city out of Florida scrubland, lost his father Solomon, a Congregational minister, and answered his grief by raising a coral-rock Mediterranean Revival sanctuary in his memory, dedicated in April 1925, the same year Coral Gables became a city. Before there was a city hall, commencements for the brand-new University of Miami were held under this roof, and city government met here too. Then, in September 1926, a monstrous hurricane bore down on South Florida.