Time Machine 

The Merrick Residence

JP Faber

January 2019

The original Merrick residence was built in 1899 by Rev. Solomon Merrick as a home base for the family’s 3,000-acre grapefruit plantation. It was a modest frame house that, by 1918, had been upgraded to a home encased in coral rock that was quarried from what is now the Venetian Pool. During the Great Depression, it became a boarding house called Merrick Manor. The city acquired the home and restored it in 1976. Restored again this year to its former glory, it is once again open to visitors. 

Merrick House in 1948
Merrick House in 2019
IN 1948  
  • Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated at the age of 78
  • Gasoline costs 16 cents a gallon
  • Israel is declared an independent state
  • The first Polaroid camera goes on sale
  • NASCAR holds its first race at Daytona Beach