Coral Gables, Miami Dade County. This city, home of the University of Miami, took its name from the house built in 1906 by Reverend Solomon Merrick, who in 1898 purchased 160 acre  homestead in Dade County. Under the guidance of his son, George, this land became the nucleus in the 1920s subdivision and city known as Coral Gables. Reverend Merrick named his home Coral Gables.

In 1908 Solomon Merrick and son George came to Miami. Merrick purchased land in the back country & planted grapefruit trees.  They named their house Coral Gables and the grapefruit plantation became known as the Coral Gables Plantation.

When George Merrick dreamed of Coral Gables, he saw a "City Beautiful" of Mediterranean - style houses,  with lush landscape and even a university.  The University of Miami opened its doors two weeks after the 1926 Hurricane. The Biltmore Hotel opened in 1926; it remained open during the Depression. After World War II started, the government took over the hotel and made it an Army Air Force Hospital. In 1986 the beautifully restored Biltmore Hotel reopened.