Several waves of immigration established Coconut Grove, the first in 1825, when the Cape Florida lighthouse went into operation, kept by John Dubose.

[9] Many Black Bahamian immigrants were hired to construct the historical landmarks in and around Coconut Grove.

[10] They were believed to be the only people capable of withstanding the extreme heat and humidity, as well as the large mosquito population.

[11] Dr. Horace P. Porter is credited for coming up with the name when, in 1873, he rented a home from Edmond D. Beasley's widow, who homesteaded 160 acres of bay-front property.

[16] Coconut Grove's first Black settlement, in the 1880s, was established by Bahamian laborers who worked at the Peacock Inn.

[17] The Barnacle Historic State Park is the oldest house in Miami-Dade County still standing in its original location.

[20] In the 1960s, bay-shore Coconut Grove served as the center of South Florida's youth countercultural movement, notably hosting several love-ins[21] and concerts (including a now-infamous Doors concert at Dinner Key Auditorium)[22] during the latter part of the decade.

[24] A surge of commercial development in Coconut Grove was driven by the construction of three major residential complexes during the late 1970s and early 1980s: Yacht Harbour Condominiums in 1975; Grove Isle, a condominium, club, and hotel complex, in 1979; and L'Hermitage in 1980.

[30][31] Others include the King Mango Strut, which began as a parody of the Orange Bowl Parade, and which continues each year on the last Sunday in December.

The Village Center, the three blocks radiating from and focusing on the intersection of Main, McFarland, and Grand Avenues, home to the majority of the retail and restaurant business in the Grove, is also home to three gyms, a multiplex movie house in CocoWalk, several parking garages, a state historic site, an elementary school, a City of Miami fire station, several large condos and residential rental towers, the Coconut Grove Post Office, and two sizable parks.

Major corporations including Arquitectonica, Spanish Broadcasting System, and Watsco are located in the Grove.

The eastern border of Coconut Grove is Biscayne Bay, which lends itself to the local boating and sailing communities.