Coral Gables Elementary school opened as Coral Gables Grammar School in October, 1923, with thirty-nine pupils and one teacher, Mary Feaster Jackson. J.A. O'Stein was the first principal. The school was financed and built by George Merrick, founder of Coral Gables, with the understanding that the Dade County School Board would repay him $10,000 for the land and $25,000 for the school building. Upon completion of the third phase, in 1926,the school had grown to 1,000 students.

Because Merrick believed that "beautiful things inspire higher ideals in the minds of children," he commissioned the nationally known architectural firm of Keihnel & Elliott to build a school of Spanish colonial architecture. In recognition of the school's major role in the architectural and cultural history of Coral Gables, it was made a "City of Coral Gables Landmark" in 1982, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places.Between 1936 and 1948, Coral Gables Grammar School included grades 7 and 8. In 1970, in response to a federal court order for desegregation of the Dade County Public Schools, the school was paired with George Washington Carver Elementary and became a kindergarten, 3-6 center.

Many of the parents of Coral Gables Elementary students were in the forefront of the movement making the pairing succeed. Today Coral Gables Elementary (CGE) is a model biracial, tri-ethnic school.Located in the middle of a still-growing international city, CGE reflects the ethnic and international flavor of the city of Coral Gables, near the offices of more than 100 multinational corporations.CGE continues to emphasize the best in traditional and contemporary methods of instruction. Current total enrollment is 780 including 24 pre-kindergarten students, 108 children in kindergarten, and 648 students in grades one through five.