Roper Building in Downtown Miami

The story of the downtown chapel of the First Presbyterian Church and the building that replaced it in 1949. The church leased the parcel to the Roper Corporation on May 19, 1946.

Cover: Roper Building on October 19, 1950

A caption found in the Miami Daily News on October 18, 1949, announced that the First Presbyterian Church in downtown would be razed that week. It suggested that citizens can get one last look at the historic church before it is replaced by “an ultra-modern streamlined office building with store fronts.”

One sentimental old woman stood across the street from the church edifice weeping on the eve of the building’s demolition. A reporter asked her if she were okay, and the woman replied that she was married in the chapel many years earlier. She couldn’t bear the thought that downtown Miami would no longer be the home of the church she attended most of her adult life. However, by the Fall of 1949 the congregation had already made the decision to relocate to Miami’s Brickell neighborhood.

Rather than sell the land that was donated by Henry Flagler in 1898, First Presbyterian chose to lease the two parcels of property which provided the land for the church and rectory from the time of its first service in 1900. The fate of the downtown chapel was officially decided when representatives for the church signed a lease agreement with the Roper Corporation in the Spring of 1946.

Church Leases Downtown Property

Figure 1: Article in Miami Herald on May 19, 1946

When the congregation made the decision to rent their downtown property, they had to account for two distinct parcels of land which could be leased separately. The northern parcel was located on the corner of Flagler Street and SE Third Avenue, and the southern parcel was on the corner of SE First Street and SE Third Avenue. Both parcels were contiguous spanning the avenue.

The church reached their first agreement with the Roper Corporation on May 19, 1946, for a 99-year lease at annual rental rate of $46,600 which totaled roughly $4.6 million over the course of the contract. The property spanned a frontage of 170 feet on Flagler Street, and a depth of 100 feet along SE Third Avenue. The chapel resided on this parcel of land.

At the time this contract negotiated, some members of the congregation advocated for a new church to be built on the southern parcel of land, rather than leaving downtown Miami. They reasoned that it would be easier for hotel guests to attend service if the church remained downtown. However, the church chose to use proceeds from the down payment on the lease to purchase property in the Brickell neighborhood, which is where they ultimately relocated.

The southern parcel was leased to the Joshua Corporation on March 4, 1947, for a 99-year term at an annual rate of $27,500 which totaled roughly $2.7 million over the course of the contract. The southern parcel extends 120 feet on SE Third Avenue and 170 feet along SE First Street, which became the property for the Plaza Building at 245 SE First Street.

Between the two leases, First Presbyterian enjoyed an annual income of $74,100 from these leases, which made the congregation, as a writer for the Miami Daily News wrote, “among the richest churches, from the standpoint of income, in the United States.”

Demolition of Downtown Church in 1949

Figure 2: First Presbyterian Church on October 18, 1949 right before demolition

It was April of 1898 when Henry Flagler asked the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church to meet him on the corner of Royal Palm Way and Twelfth Street, which is today’s SE Third Avenue and Flagler Street in downtown Miami. When Reverend W.W. Faris arrived at the corner, he saw stakes laid out in the outline of a chapel and a nearby pastor’s home. Flagler announced that the corner would be the new location of the church and that he would finance the construction of the buildings.

By February of 1900, the church and rectory were finished, and Flagler was there to personally hand over the keys to the pastor himself. The chapel was dedicated and held its first service on February 25, 1900, which was described in a story published in the Miami Metropolis on March 2, 1900. The article speculated that the total cost of constructing the church and rectory, which was completely paid for by Flagler, was roughly $40,000.

Nearly fifty years later, the same newspaper, which was renamed to the Miami Daily News in 1920, ran a story announcing that the last service in the downtown chapel would take place on September 11, 1949. The church was scheduled for demolition a month after the last service.

Following the final service, Dr. W.K.C. Thomson, the pastor in 1949, made it a point to move as much of the interior of the downtown church to the “little chapel” at 609 Brickell Avenue, which was constructed to be a replica of the church which Flagler donated in 1900. There is also a larger chapel at the Brickell location, which is why the replica was referred to as the little chapel in articles describing the move of artifacts from the downtown to the Brickell location. First Presbyterian honored its original benefactor by naming the replica edifice the “Flagler Chapel”.

Some of the items that were transplanted from downtown church to the Flagler chapel included the oak alter with its carved phoenix, a bird symbolic of immortality, the stained-glass windows and their wide oak paneling, the pews, and the organ. The back balcony was the first item to be moved to the Brickell location.

Demolition of the downtown chapel began on Tuesday, October 18, and was completed by Friday, October 21, 1949. Shortly after the rubble from the demolition was cleared, the general superintendent of the Roper Building project began preparing the property for the foundation of the new commercial structure.