Coral Gables' annual Founder's Day ceremony carried extra weight this year, celebrating not only city founder George Merrick but also the centennial of the late Roxcy Bolton, a feminist pioneer who died in 2017. The two share a June 3 birthday, 40 years apart.

The Historic Preservation Association of Coral Gables (HPACG) hosted the gathering at Birdie Bistro, the restaurant formerly known as Burger Bob's and Bolton's favorite eating and meeting spot. Rita Tennyson catered and hosted the event, according to Community Newspapers' coverage of the ceremony.

Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson joined a crowd that included Dorothy Thomson, the first and only woman elected mayor of Coral Gables; former mayors Don Slesnick and James Cason; Chief Hudak; and Vincent Damien, a founding board member of HPACG when the nonprofit launched in 1991.

Damien was also a close friend of Bolton's. He and Chief Hudak shared stories about their friendship with her during the ceremony.

Bonnie Bolton, Roxcy's daughter, attended and shared personal anecdotes about growing up with her mother.

Florida's pioneer feminist

Bolton, born June 3, 1926, in Mississippi, became known as Florida's pioneer feminist. She served as charter president of the Miami chapter of the National Organization for Women starting in 1966. In 1972, she founded Women in Distress, Florida's first women's rescue shelter, and persuaded President Richard Nixon to proclaim Women's Equality Day. In 1974, she established the nation's first Rape Treatment Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, later renamed the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center in 1993.

She also campaigned to include men's names for hurricanes. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) adopted the change in 1979, naming the second hurricane of that season Bob.

Bolton was inducted into the Florida Women's Hall of Fame in 1984. In Coral Gables, her political endorsement was so coveted that candidates seeking city office would visit her home to seek her approval, according to Community Newspapers. She died May 17, 2017, at age 90.

Her key to the city, presented by the Coral Gables City Commission shortly before her death, was on display at the ceremony.

The city's founder

Merrick, born June 3, 1886, planned and built Coral Gables in the 1920s as one of the nation's first major planned communities. He donated 600 acres and pledged $5 million to establish the University of Miami in 1925. King Alfonso XIII of Spain awarded him the Order of Isabella the Catholic in 1927 for his support of Spanish culture.

That medal was displayed at the ceremony alongside other artifacts from Merrick's era.

"After that I may be able to sit down and do what I have always wanted to do — write," Merrick said in a June 3, 1925, newspaper interview when asked what he planned to do after completing his city.

A shared history

Thomson and Bolton worked together at Southern Bell Telephone Company in Coral Gables in the 1950s as young women starting their careers. Thomson won election as mayor on April 10, 1985, served 16 years on the city commission, and in 2006 chaired the fundraising committee that commissioned the bronze statue of Merrick in front of City Hall.

The city commission officially designated June 3 as Founder's Day in Coral Gables through Resolution 2022-120, adopted May 10, 2022, and sponsored by Mayor Lago, then-Commissioner Anderson and Commissioner Menendez. The inaugural ceremony was held June 3, 2021.