How a Black couple from the 1930s had a hand in Habitat for Humanity’s 900th home

It started with $800 and a dream.

The year was 1936, Florida was under the rule of Jim Crow and Black people were barred from most schools, restaurants, theaters and pools.

But Chester and Corrine Gooden — sweethearts from Ocala — had come into some money and were wanting land of their own.

They bought 10 acres of citrus grove on the outskirts of Largo, then a new city in Pinellas County, and built a home, a business and, eventually, a community. The neighborhood, called Ridgecrest, bloomed.

This week, the Goodens’ legacy will serve a new generation as three families get keys to brand-new homes on the site of those original 10 acres.

The homes, built through Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco, mark a major milestone for the organization as it designates its 900th house in that region.

For the grandchildren of Chester and Corrine, it’s a chance to look back on their family’s storied history.

And for the three families moving in — all born and raised in Pinellas — it’s the final stop on a long and treacherous quest for security in a county where the cost of living has soared.

A place to call home

Miriam Dodson-Evans has moved too many times to count. She can’t remember the last time she had a bedroom to herself.

An early education teacher and home aide, Evans never made a lot of money. When she went into a diabetic coma in 2015, and a slew of other health problems followed, it became even harder to survive. She had to stop working, and Evans, her daughter and her grandson moved in with her mom in 2017.

Sometimes they share beds. Other nights, she sleeps on the couch.

“It’s not what I wanted for my family,” Evans said. “I wanted to give my daughter and my grandson a place that was theirs.”

In 2022, Evans called Habitat for Humanity.

To qualify for Habitat’s homeownership program, families have to earn 30% to 80% of the area’s median income. In Pinellas, that’s about $47,000 for an individual and $70,000 for a family. Habitat homeowners are often people like teachers, city employees, home health aides and trade workers — those who typically make too much for government assistance but too little to qualify for a traditional loan.

Once accepted, applicants must complete 36 classes on topics like home maintenance, insurance and budgeting. They put in more than 300 hours of work for the organization, often helping with other Habitat homes.

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At the end, families get to own a home with a 0% interest fixed-rate mortgage. Typical payments ring in between $850 and $1,200 a month for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house — about half the cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment in Pinellas right now — all while building generational wealth.

“This is my chance,” Evans thought.

When she got the go-ahead in April 2023, Evans drove to Ridgecrest to view the lot where construction on her home would soon begin.

As she pulled up, she felt a sense of familiarity.

She’d been here before.

The Corner

Shortly after the Goodens moved to Largo in the 1930s, they sold parcels of the land on the cheap to other Black families eager for homes of their own.

Their business became the heartbeat of a growing neighborhood — a grocery store on the end of the street, called The Corner, which housed a barbershop, cafe and ice cream parlor.

For decades, The Corner was a watering hole for the Ridgecrest community. It was a place to get your first job, to hang out and chat and smoke after work, to lean on neighbors when you needed it. Corrine Gooden was known to let families open tabs, taking what food they needed and paying her back when they could.

It was behind the store’s register that Elizabeth Helm-Frazier, then Elizabeth Helm, learned to count as a child in the 1960s.

The eldest granddaughter of the Goodens, Helm loved working with her grandmother, the bookkeeper and quick-witted businessperson who kept the train on its tracks. She treasured hours alongside her grandfather, a calm presence who brought balance and reason on difficult days.

When Helm turned 20, she left Largo to join the Army, and as her grandparents grew older, The Corner eventually closed.

Corrine and Chester Gooden lived in Ridgecrest, on that land, until their deaths — Corrine in 1992 and Chester in 2001.

In 2003, the road out front the store, then Baskin Crossing, was renamed Gooden Crossing in their honor.

Helm had always dreamed of returning and building three houses for herself and her siblings on the 10 acres where her grandparents had lived. But life had other plans.

In 2019, she got a call from Mike Sutton, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas and West Pasco. The organization had already completed around 100 homes in the greater Ridgecrest area. Her family’s 10 acres could make room for three more.

At first, Helm said no. It was hard to part with her history.

But as she and her siblings considered the mission of their grandparents, she was swayed.

“My grandparents believed in community,” Helm said. “It’s an honor to know that three families will get to build generational wealth and be proud to call Ridgecrest their home. "

Keeping the legacy alive

When Evans arrived at her soon-to-be home for the first time last year, memories of The Corner rushed in.

She hadn’t lived in Ridgecrest, but as a little girl, she sang in the church choir and would travel to perform at different Baptist churches in the area. One, St. Mary’s Missionary Baptist Church, sat behind the store.

“I just thought, ‘Wow,’” Evans said. “I remembered The Corner, because everyone used to hang out there from the time they got off work to the time they went to bed.”

She remembered Chester Gooden, too.

What she didn’t remember was the land’s legacy.

“And when I started reading about its history, I was just amazed,” Evans said. “It means a lot to me. That Black people had a hand in this. In wealth. It’s like I’m part of the family now, and this history.”

Evans said she has memories of “Corner Days,” occasional events that, like a block party, brought everyone in the neighborhood together.

Now she’s planning to revive the tradition once a month.

Recently, Evans said she’s gotten to know the other young Black families moving in.

Xavier Jones, 35, who will live next door to Evans, is a single dad of three and a pest control spray technician for Pinellas County, priced out of housing.

Ashley and Micah Poole, middle school sweethearts in their 30s with four young kids, can relate. With rising housing costs, it’s been difficult to get by on their combined salaries as a birth doula and third grade teacher. Owning a home, they said, will bring peace of mind and give their children a place to inherit down the line. The land’s history, they said, makes the move all the more sweet.