'We've always been here': Coral Gables' Black legacy – The Miami Times

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Updated: April 22, 2025 @ 7:16 pm
As Coral Gables celebrates its centennial April 29, a historic marker recently placed at the edge of the MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate subdivision tells a lesser-known chapter of the City Beautiful — a story of Black Bahamian settlers, community builders and a resilient legacy that ha…
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On March 2025, the City of Coral Gables, along with longtime community members, unveiled the historic marker of the MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate subdivision.
The City of Coral Gables’ Lola B. Walker Pioneers Park is located on Grand Avenue and Lincoln Drive.
During segregation, the neighborhoods were home to many African American residents who migrated from the Bahamas and the southern United States.
Bahamians and African Americans played a role in history, helping build what are known today as The Biltmore Hotel, The Peacock Inn, The Deering Estate and Henry Flagler’s FEC railroad project.
William A. Cooper was a postal worker and a lifelong community advocate, as well as cofounder of the Lola B. Walker Homeowners’ Association, who fought for the historic designation of the MacFarlane Homestead district.
Leigh Cooper-Willis stands at her great-grandparents’ home at 201 Washington Drive, where her family’s legacy began.
William A. Cooper and his wife, Leona Cooper, seen in one of the pictures at the Lola B. Walker Homeowners Association Community Center.
Outside the community center, a plaque honors the founders and the pioneer families who helped build the community and the city.
Leigh Cooper-Willis points to her family’s name on a plaque outside the HOA community center.
Leigh Cooper-Willis expressed her gratitude to the city for placing a marker that honors her family’s diligent work in the neighborhood.
Carl Leon Prime, a third-generation MacFarlane Homestead resident, speaks at the marker’s unveiling ceremony.

Miami Times Staff Writer
On March 2025, the City of Coral Gables, along with longtime community members, unveiled the historic marker of the MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate subdivision.
As Coral Gables celebrates its centennial April 29, a historic marker recently placed at the edge of the MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate subdivision tells a lesser-known chapter of the City Beautiful — a story of Black Bahamian settlers, community builders and a resilient legacy that has endured for more than a century.
“We’ve always been here,” said Mosezell Aguilar, a long-time resident of MacFarlane Homestead.
Aguilar’s parents relocated from Georgia to Coconut Grove before the city was incorporated in the early 1900s. Her father worked on the Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway, while her mother ran restaurants and a fish market on Grand Avenue. They built a life through hard work and service to the community, like many other families and descendants of settlers who still advocate for the historic locale today.
During segregation, the neighborhoods were home to many African American residents who migrated from the Bahamas and the southern United States.
Nestled to the south of U.S. Route 1, the MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate subdivisions stand as a testament to the enduring influence of Bahamian laborers and their descendants. These neighborhoods, home to many of Coral Gables’ early Black residents during segregation, remain some of the few physically intact communities from the city’s formative years.
During the early 1900s, settlers came from the West Indies and the Bahamas through Key West and other parts of the Southeastern United States, searching for new beginnings. They played a role in history, helping build what are known today as The Biltmore Hotel, The Peacock Inn, The Deering Estate and Henry Flagler’s FEC railroad project, and bringing real estate developer George E. Merrick’s vision for the Gables to life. With their vast knowledge in agricultural practices and familiarity with coral rock, the laborers were able to make long-lasting structures.
The City of Coral Gables’ Lola B. Walker Pioneers Park is located on Grand Avenue and Lincoln Drive.
In 1925, Merrick and other members of the Coral Gables Securities Corporation purchased an approximately 20-acre piece of land from schoolteacher Flora MacFarlane and developed it as a subdivision of Coral Gables, known as the MacFarlane Homestead Division. The area was designated a U.S. Historic District in 1994 due to the efforts of the Lola B. Walker Homeowners’ Association.
In March 2025, a historic marker was unveiled on the corner of U.S. 1 and Grand Avenue to celebrate the recognition.
Bahamians and African Americans played a role in history, helping build what are known today as The Biltmore Hotel, The Peacock Inn, The Deering Estate and Henry Flagler’s FEC railroad project.
Leigh Cooper-Willis, a fourth-generation Bahamian descendant, said she is glad that the city is recognizing all parts of the community.
“Sometimes when people look at Coral Gables, they only think of Miracle Mile, the Biltmore. They don’t recognize us,” Cooper-Willis said. “We are the ones who helped build the city, physically build the city.”
Cooper-Willis traces her family’s story in Coral Gables to the 1920s. Her great-grandparents, Louise Bethel Cooper and Benjamin Leon Cooper, emigrated from the Bahamas to work for Merrick, settling in what would become the Golden Gate area.
“They settled in this community on that property right there, 201 Washington Drive, and that’s where the life and legacy of my family began,” said Cooper-Willis.
William A. Cooper was a postal worker and a lifelong community advocate, as well as cofounder of the Lola B. Walker Homeowners’ Association, who fought for the historic designation of the MacFarlane Homestead district.
Her grandfather, William A. Cooper, was a postal worker and a lifelong community advocate, as well as cofounder of the Lola B. Walker Homeowners’ Association. With his wife, Leona Ferguson Cooper, his sister, Leona Cooper-Baker, and Carl Prime, the other HOA cofounder, he helped preserve landmarks like the Little Red Schoolhouse at George Washington Carver Elementary School and fought for the historic designation of the MacFarlane Homestead district.
Carl Leon Prime, a third-generation MacFarlane Homestead resident, speaks at the marker’s unveiling ceremony.
“I grew up under their legacy. I got to learn a lot of the history of the neighborhood, attend a lot of meetings with them at the city commission, just trying to preserve the history,” Cooper-Willis said. “Going to those meetings at the city commission, the crime-watch meetings, the homeowners meetings, just participating at an early age helped me want to participate now so that I could continue on their legacy, what they worked so hard for.”
In honor of the Coopers service to the community, the green space at the corner of Grand Avenue and Washington Drive is named William & Leona Cooper Park.
Similarly, Carl Leon Prime, a third-generation MacFarlane resident, remembers being told how his grandfather and great-aunts made a home in the neighborhood after migrating from South Carolina. They all lived on the same block.
“Our family roots go deep,” he said. “My grandfather was a street sweeper for the city of Coral Gables and worked in the railroad.”
William A. Cooper and his wife, Leona Cooper, seen in one of the pictures at the Lola B. Walker Homeowners Association Community Center.
Leon Prime now serves as president of the Lola B. Walker Homeowners Association, cofounded by his father and later ran by his mother. He says his involvement with preserving the neighborhood’s legacy started young, long before he understood the full weight of it.
“My father started taking me to community meetings when I was in third grade,” he recalled. “I may not have understood, but I understood that it was important to do this part of the civic duty.”
Those meetings built the foundation for decades of advocacy. According to Leon Prime, records show that neighborhood leaders were organizing and advocating in the city as far back as 1949.
Outside the community center, a plaque honors the founders and the pioneer families who helped build the community and the city.
For instance, many of the same families who helped lay the bricks of Coral Gables’ Mediterranean-style architecture have also fought to maintain another design unique to the MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate subdivisions — wood frame homes in the island bungalow and Key West styles, which were never allowed elsewhere in the city. Leon Prime remembers the house his grandfather built in 1936 as the “Ancestral Home,” which is still standing today.
While only two Bahamian Vernacular houses remain in Golden Gate, there are many more in MacFarlane Homestead.
Also worth advocating for, says Leon Prime, is the legacy that his family worked for.
“This is very important. This is the only Black neighborhood, from what I understand right now, South of Atlanta, that’s on the National Register of Historic Places — I need to advocate for that,” he said.
Leigh Cooper-Willis points to her family’s name on a plaque outside the HOA community center.
Leon Prime pointed to overdevelopment in a neighboring community, Coconut Grove, which has faced changes over the years. He says it’s something he’d like to avoid in his own neighborhood.
“Coral Gables has held strong to its zoning and building code. You can build your home and everything else, but it’s not gonna be out of scale or out of style with what’s already here, especially in a historic district. If the rest of the area is zoned otherwise, it still must be in scale,” he explained.
Leigh Cooper-Willis stands at her great-grandparents’ home at 201 Washington Drive, where her family’s legacy began.
Cooper-Willis noted that MacFarlane Homestead’s historic designation has helped maintain its character, despite pressures from new construction.
“We have this new big building looking down on us, the Life Time Building, which we love, but it didn’t fit with the neighborhood at first,” she explained.
She said she appreciates the additions of grocery stores and gyms that offer convenience without sacrificing the neighborhood’s charm.
Leigh Cooper-Willis expressed her gratitude to the city for placing a marker that honors her family’s diligent work in the neighborhood.
“My hope is that we can remain the same… We don’t want big developers coming into this small, tight-knit community and bulldozing what’s out here. It’s beautiful. It’s charming.”
As Coral Gables celebrates its 100th year, the voices of MacFarlane Homestead and Golden Gate continue to echo through the city’s history — voices of builders, advocates and families whose roots run deep. Cooper-Willis, Aguilar and Leon Prime represent just a fraction of the settler descendants who have called these neighborhoods home for generations. And without their legacies, like those honored on the plaque outside the L.B.W. Homeowners Community Center at 218 Florida Ave., the story of Coral Gables is incomplete.
Leigh Cooper-Willis is William A. Cooper’s granddaughter. She still lives in Golden Gate.
Carl Prime was the cofounder of the L.B.W Homeowners Association and father of Carl Leon Prime, who is currently the president of the association.
Bahamian-style houses are found around the two neighborhoods, with more in MacFarlane Homestead than in Golden Gate.
Some of the Bahamian Vernacular houses along Grand Avenue and the corner of Booker Street./
Descendants of the pioneer families stand with Coral Gables Mayor Vince. C Lago. /
Inside the community center, the walls are adorned with pictures of the pioneers who helped build the city.
Leigh Cooper-Willis
Leigh Cooper-Willis is William A. Cooper’s granddaughter. She still lives in Golden Gate.
Carl Prime was the cofounder of the L.B.W Homeowners Association and father of Carl Leon Prime, who is currently the president of the association.
Bahamian-style houses are found around the two neighborhoods, with more in MacFarlane Homestead than in Golden Gate.
Some of the Bahamian Vernacular houses along Grand Avenue and the corner of Booker Street./
Descendants of the pioneer families stand with Coral Gables Mayor Vince. C Lago. /
Inside the community center, the walls are adorned with pictures of the pioneers who helped build the city.
Leigh Cooper-Willis
aorjueladasilva@miamitimesonline.com
Miami Times Staff Writer
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