2. Harry T. Moore Homesite
Built c. 1935Location: Parrish Road and Old Dixie Highway, Mims
Harry T. Moore was born in 1905 in Houston, Florida. After grammar school, Moore attended high school at Florida Baptist Institute, where he graduated in 1924. Although he had no college degree at that time, he was able to secure a teaching position. He would, in 1951, receive his Bachelor of Science degree from Bethune-Cookman College.
In addition to teaching, Moore spent 17 years traveling throughout Florida, trying to unite his race and encouraging them to help themselves. He organized the Brevard County branch of the NAACP in 1934. He served as president of the Florida State Conference of NAACP branches until 1946, when he was selected to be Executive Secretary of the Florida State Conference.
The one-acre parcel in Mims had been deeded to Harry and Harriet Moore in 1932 by Harriet's parents, Annie and David Sims. According to tax records, the homesite was valued at $10,000 in 1934. In 1935, the record showed a homestead and a value of $100,000.
At 10:20 p.m. on Christmas night, 1951, a bomb exploded beneath the Moore's six-room cottage bedroom. Their bedroom was located at the front of the house, in the northeast corner. The blast left a hole 3 feet wide and 10 inches deep, destroyed the front porch and blew out the screen door. It left Harry Moore dying and Harriet, his wife, critically wounded.
The house no longer stands on the one-acre lot, approximately 1,125 feet north of Parrish Road and 600 feet west of Old Dixie Highway. But the importance of the deadly event that occurred there makes the Harry T. Moore homesite a landmark of not only local importance but a site that should be recognized nationwide.
