At Mullins Park, beside the swimming pool, stands a small white wooden building that would be easy to overlook.

It isn't especially grand. There are no towering columns or imposing entrances. At just 20 by 30 feet, it is smaller than many of the homes surrounding the park.

Yet this building has been a real estate office, a city administration building, a police station and a clubhouse.

It also spent time at the city dump.

Today, it's the Museum of Coral Springs History, but getting there was hardly a straightforward journey.

A sales office for a city that barely existed

The story begins in 1964, when Coral Ridge Properties built a one-room wooden office near the intersection of U.S. 441 and Wiles Road.

Coral Springs was still in its earliest stages.

Inside the office, prospective buyers could examine maps and subdivision plans showing what the new community was expected to become.

There was one particularly revealing detail.

According to the building's official Florida historical marker, none of the subdivisions displayed in those plans had actually been built yet.

Imagine walking into that little office and being asked to picture neighborhoods, streets and homes that existed primarily on paper.

For the people planning Coral Springs, the building was a place to introduce a future city.

For the people considering a move here, it was a place to imagine a different life.

And before long, the office itself would become part of the city it was helping to sell.

When the city needed a City Hall

By 1966, Coral Ridge Properties had outgrown the small office and built a larger administration facility on Sample Road.

The company offered the original building to Coral Springs, provided the city would move it.

It was relocated to Woodside Drive and became the city's first administration building.

Two years later, in 1968, it took on another responsibility as Coral Springs' first police station.

Consider how different that was from the government and public safety facilities residents know today.

The same single-room structure that once displayed real estate maps was now helping accommodate the needs of a developing municipality.

The building wasn't designed to last through generations of changing civic responsibilities.

But in those early years, usefulness mattered more than permanence.

When the police department moved to larger quarters in 1972, the little building became a clubhouse for the Jaycees.

By then, it had already lived several lives.

Its most unexpected chapter was still ahead.

From City Hall to the city dump

In 1976, the building was considered obsolete.

It was moved to the city dump, where the fire department used it for smoke-training exercises.

For a structure that had once helped introduce Coral Springs to its earliest residents, that was quite a change in circumstances.

Then came an accident.

The building caught fire during its time as a training facility.

It might have disappeared without much notice. After all, it had already been judged no longer useful for its previous purposes.

But some residents saw it differently.

They recognized that the little building had been present for several important firsts in Coral Springs history.

A group of concerned citizens formed the Landmark Restoration Committee with the goal of rescuing it and turning it into a museum.

What had become disposable as a working building was suddenly valuable as a piece of the city's past.

The building that traveled in a parade

In 1977, the structure was moved again.

This time, instead of being sent to another temporary location, it traveled on a flatbed truck to Mullins Park.

And it didn't make the journey alone.

A parade accompanied the move.

It's a striking image: a modest wooden building that had been sitting at the city dump making its way through Coral Springs as something worth celebrating.

After restoration, it opened on March 4, 1978, as the Mini Museum.

The building that once displayed plans for a future city now had a new purpose: helping residents understand how that city came to be.

A museum that is part of its own collection

Today, the Museum of Coral Springs History preserves photographs, artifacts and displays from the community's early years.

The city has also introduced interactive technology to help visitors explore local history within the museum's limited space.

There are stories to discover inside.

But one of the most interesting artifacts is the building itself.

Most museums occupy buildings constructed specifically to house collections, or buildings preserved because of their architectural importance.

This one is different.

Its significance comes from the ordinary jobs it performed as Coral Springs was taking shape.

It helped sell the idea of a community. It housed early government operations. It served the police department. It became a meeting place for a civic organization.

Then it survived a period when those earlier contributions were no longer enough to protect it.

That history gives the building a quality that photographs and timelines alone cannot provide.

You can stand beside something that was actually there.

What Coral Springs chose to keep

Cities change constantly. Buildings are replaced, roads are widened, neighborhoods mature and familiar landmarks disappear.

Coral Springs has experienced more than six decades of that change.

Much of the physical landscape from its earliest years is gone or has been substantially altered.

The little white house offers a rare point of continuity.

Its survival wasn't inevitable. It required residents to recognize that an obsolete building could still have value.

That decision has lasted far longer than any of the building's original uses.

And perhaps that's what makes it worth noticing today.

At Mullins Park, the Museum of Coral Springs History is not simply a place where the city's past is displayed.

It is a small piece of that past that residents decided to carry into the future.

Planning a visit? The museum is located at 10250 NW 29th Street in Mullins Park, next to Mullins Pool. The city offers free guided tours on selected dates. Check the official museum tour schedule before visiting.

Do you remember the Little White House from its earlier days, or is there another place in Coral Springs whose history surprised you?

Tell us about it in the comments below.

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This story is part of The Bright Side, which is an ongoing series from Coral Springs Insider that highlights positive developments and community moments around Coral Springs.

Editor’s note: This piece was selected and adapted for Coral Springs Insider to provide local context and perspective on an issue relevant to our community.