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On December 2, 2023, from 5-8pm, the City of Cocoa will be hosting a Centennial Celebration at the Harry T. Moore Center in the Diamond Square Community. 

The Harry T. Moore Center was constructed in 1923 and served as Cocoa’s Rosenwald School and named Cocoa Junior High School, a school for African-American children in the Cocoa community. It is currently the oldest still-standing Rosenwald School in the State of Florida and the only one in Brevard County. The school was built specifically to serve the African-American children in the Cocoa community and served as the only school for black children at the time. In 1947, 10th through 12th grades were added and the building was renamed Monroe High School. 

The school was built in the heart of the African-American neighborhood in Cocoa and quickly became a focal point, hosting numerous community meetings and events. For much of the community, this building has come to represent the significant accomplishments of Cocoa’s African-American community in the long struggle for educational equality.

When the building stopped being used as a public school in 1954, it was renamed after early civil rights activist, Harry T. Moore who taught at the school in 1925 for two years before becoming a principal in Titusville.  

The building lay vacant until the 1980s and was renovated and used as a daycare facility and community center. Then in 2014, the City of Cocoa acquired the property and in 2017 dedicated a portion of the building to become the Leon and Jewel Collins Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum houses significant artifacts and photographs from the surrounding community. 

Join us as we celebrate the significant history of this building to the Cocoa community with a Centennial Celebration featuring historical reenactments, tours of the building, food, entertainment, dedications, and more.