COCOANUT GROVE PARK

In 1910, Miami’s first registered architect, Walter C. DeGarmo, partnered with Franklin C. Bush and John C. Gramling to form the Cocoanut Grove Development Company. In 1911, the company platted the subdivision in the southern part of the town of Coconut Grove. Set amid a dense tropical hardwood hammock, Cocoanut Grove Park was located directly west of the bay front winter estates of industrialists William J. Matheson, John Bindley, and Arthur Curtiss James. According to promotional material, the development offered “the life of a country gentlemen, away from the hurly burly of the city.” Among its noted features was a plaza at the center. The company deeded three acres, along the aptly named Plaza Street, to Coconut Grove for a park “dedicated to the perpetual use of the public.” They envisioned a tropical garden and gathering spot for residents. Over the years, notable artists, writers, and politicians, such as U.S. Representative Ruth Bryan Owen, have lived in the neighborhood. Several of Cocoanut Grove Park’s original bungalows remain alongside homes designed by prominent architects, including Richard Kiehnel and Clinton McKenzie. Cocoanut Grove Park is one of the area’s oldest planned residential communities.