Mary Barr Munroe
BornJanuary 5, 1852
Glasgow, Scotland
DiedSeptember 8, 1922(1922-09-08) (aged 70)
Cocoanut Grove, Florida, USA

Mary Barr Munroe (January 5, 1852 – September 8, 1922) was a Scottish-born American clubwoman and conservationist, based in Miami, Florida. Munroe founded the Coconut Grove Audubon Society and library, and worked for the establishment of a state park that became part of the Everglades National Park.

Early life

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Mary Barr was born in Glasgow, the daughter of Robert Barr and Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr.[1] Her mother was a prolific novelist and teacher, born in Lancashire; her father was a wool merchant. She moved to the United States as a baby, and spent her girlhood in Chicago, in Texas, (where her father and brothers died from yellow fever), and in New York.[2]

Career

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Munroe moved to Florida with her husband in 1886, becoming one of the "pioneers" of the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami.[3][4] She was the first elected president of the Woman's Club of Coconut Grove, started the Dade County Federation of Women's Clubs, was active in the Florida Federation of Women's Clubs.[2][5][6][7] She founded the Coconut Grove Audubon Society and was its first president in 1915.[8] She opposed the fashion of using egret feathers in women's hats, and was known to forcibly remove them from hats of other women in her company.[2][3] She started a boys' club, Bird Defenders, to encourage children to protect Florida birds.[5] She began the book collection that became the Coconut Grove Library in 1895.[9][10][11] With Edith Gifford and May Mann Jennings, she proposed the establishment of Royal Palms State Park,[12] which was dedicated in 1916 and became part of the Everglades National Park in 1947.[13]

Munroe wrote about Florida for several national publications, and was the author of Florida Birds are Worth Their Weight in Gold, a pamphlet of the Florida Audubon Society.[5] She corresponded with John Muir.[14][15] She started an interracial sewing club,[16] and attended services at a nearby black church.[17]

Personal life

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Mary Barr married American writer Kirk Munroe (1850–1930) in 1883.[18] She died in 1922, aged 70 years, at "Scrububs",[3] her home in Coconut Grove, Florida.[19] Her grave is in Miami's Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park cemetery.[20] Her diaries are in the Kirk Munroe Papers at the Library of Congress.[21] The Mary Barr Munroe Society is a women's organization that raises funds for programs benefiting women and girls in Coconut Grove.[10] Munroe's sponge cake recipe was so prized that, a century later, it is still promoted by the Munroe Society at baking events.[22]

References

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  1. ^ Leonard, John William (1914). Woman's Who's who of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporary Women of the United States and Canada, 1914-1915. American Commonwealth Company. p. 585.
  2. ^ a b c Shroder, Lisa (1999-03-14). "'Pioneer life hardest on a woman'". South Florida Sun Sentinel. p. 90. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c Blanchard, Brian (1982-10-10). "Historian is Hot on Pioneer's Trail". The Miami Herald. p. 254. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Smith, Teresa (1987-03-22). "Women Tamed Miami, Speakers Tell Audience at UM Lecture Series". The Miami Herald. p. 49. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c Davis, Jack E. (2009). An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century. University of Georgia Press. pp. 212–214. ISBN 978-0-8203-3071-6.
  6. ^ "Miami Audubon Society for the Protection of Native Birds". The Miami Herald. 1918-01-12. p. 3. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Mrs. Kirk Munroe Arranges a Tea Complimenting Mrs. W. S. Jennings". The Miami News. 1915-08-30. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Tropical Audubon Society Heritage". Tropical Audubon Society. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  9. ^ The Coconut Grove Library: Designation Report (May 2009), Historic and Environmental Preservation Board, City of Miami.
  10. ^ a b Sanchez, Sonia (2001-07-25). "Society has raised $20,000 for new 'Y'". The Miami Herald. p. 408. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Hernandez, Evelyn (1985-06-13). "Library Celebrates 90th Anniversary". The Miami Herald. p. 47. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Kaufman, Polly Welts (2006). National Parks and the Woman's Voice: A History. UNM Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 978-0-8263-3994-2.
  13. ^ "A Dream Come True: Founded by Women" Women's Club of Coconut Grove.
  14. ^ "Letter from Mary Barr Munroe to John Muir, [ca. 1909 ?]". Calisphere. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  15. ^ "Letter from Mary Barr Munroe to John Muir, [1896?]". Calisphere. 1896. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  16. ^ "Sinkhole yields pieces of the past". The Miami Herald. 1994-04-05. p. 114. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Kleinberg, Howard (1983-02-05). "Black Church Predated City". The Miami News. p. 36. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "Coconut Grove Pioneer Kirk Munroe". Miami History Blog. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  19. ^ "Scrububs · HistoryMiami". HistoryMiami. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  20. ^ Fichtner, Margaria (1987-02-10). "Grave Concerns". The Miami Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-01-09 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Kirk Munroe papers, 1850-1940: Scope and content note". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  22. ^ "Munroe Society Hosting Bake-off". The Miami Herald. 2002-03-21. p. 69. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
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