E.W.F. STIRRUP HOUSE

Side One: Bahamian immigrants played an integral role in the development of Coconut Grove. African-Bahamian immigrant Ebenezer Woodbury Franklin Stirrup was born in 1873, and emigrated from the Bahamas in 1888. Stirrup worked as a carpenter’s apprentice first in Key West, then moved his family to Coconut Grove to work on James Deering’s pineapple farm. Through his entrepreneurial talent, Stirrup became one of the largest landowners in the area and built this two-story Frame Vernacular house for himself in 1897. Believing homeownership led people to be better citizens, he built more than 100 homes for African Americans in the region, and provided other blacks with opportunities to rent and later purchase their first homes. In addition to real estate, Stirrup owned a grocery store, bicycle repair shop, tailor shop, meat market, and dry goods store. The Bahamas had the same coral rock and climate, so Stirrup and others knew how to use this soil to plant tropical trees, vegetables, and fruits. Furthermore, they knew how to use the local limestone to make lime mortar used in stone foundations for houses. Side Two: The Stirrup House is one of a few wood-frame residences from the late nineteenth century remaining in Miami-Dade County. The house’s narrow proportions, the size and shape of its doors and windows, and its L-shaped plan are characteristics frequently associated with the era’s residential architecture. The house contains materials of outstanding quality that are native and unique to South Florida, including Dade County slash pine. Though the building has been altered over the years, it retains much of its overall integrity, and is a remarkable example of architecture associated with the Bahamian experience in South Florida. Along with the rehabilitated Mariah Brown House nearby to the west, the E.W.F. Stirrup House serves as a reminder of the achievement of these early pioneers.