The Historic Riviera

LINCOLN MEMORIAL PARK CEMETERY - FROM MISTY BEGINNINGS TO DESERVING RESTORATION

Lincoln Memorial Park, located at 3001 N.W. 46th Street, is one of the oldest black cemeteries in Dade County. It is the final resting place of many black pioneers and luminaries who have helped shape the cultural landscape of early Miami. Since its inception, thousands of people have been laid to rest within the 20-acre property. One of the most unique features of Lincoln Memorial Park is that it is one of perhaps three Miami cemeteries that is almost exclusively comprised of above-ground burial vaults. Lincoln Memorial Park’s origins are somewhat shrouded in mystery. Fact and myth have blended together to produce one of Miami’s most beautiful and enduring legends. The urban-myth is described as follows: Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery was located in what was then known as the Brown Subdivision (now known as Brownsville) and was founded in the early 1920’s by a white realtor named F.B. Miller. According to the legend, Kelsey Leroy Pharr,...

THE DREAM SCREEN AT THE THEATER BEAUTIFUL The History of Coral Gable’s First Movie Theater; The Dream Theater

There are few things in life that are more distressing than opening your eyes to realize that the wonderful dream you were having only a few moments ago was, well, nothing more than a dream. Thus is the story of the Coral Gables Dream Theater, the massive open-air movie theater that graced the corner of Ponce de Leon Blvd and Giralda Ave from 1926 to c.1928. In May of 1926 it was announced by J. Gordon Hussey, a developer who had built his fair share of Coral Gables homes, that plans had been finalized and construction was commencing on Miami’s newest movie theater. Hussey dubbed it “The Dream Theater” and announced that the building would be two stories high and would contain 29 shops and offices, yielding a capacity of 1,500. In keeping with the architectural themes found within Coral Gables, John and Coulton Skinner were hired as architects and fashioned the building to replicate a famous bull ring in Seville, Spain. The excitement surrounding the announcement of this theate...

The First Wife of Richard Merrick

When thinking of Richard Merrick’s wife, most people today recall only the universally beloved Mildred Heath Selles, a widow and the respected UM Reference Librarian, whom he wed in 1969, when he was 66 and to whom he was happily married for 17 years until his death in 1986. Not so. Two women bearing the name Mrs. Richard Merrick preceded her. Emerging artist Merrick had worked for elder brother George in advertising and had lived in New York from 1927 where he lived intermittently, plying his art, but by 1930, he was back in Coral Gables. It was in his hometown where he married Marion Wallace, the 22-year-old daughter of Beatrice Wallace and the late Griffith Wallace of 6704 LeJeune Road, on the evening of October 13, 1932. Marion had attended the University of Miami where she was a member of the Alpha Delta Sorority. Beatrice owned and operated Beatrice Wallace Hostess Bureau. The quiet nuptials took place at 912 Velencia Avenue, the home of Otis Spencer, Justice of the Peace, ...

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