Download our mobile app for iOS to get alerts for local breaking news and weather. Stirrup came to America at age 15 in search of a new life. Unable to read or write, he learned carpentry. According to his granddaughter, he worked the pineapple fields during the day and at times was given land in exchange for his work. “He began building homes on that land,” said Carol Byrd, Stirrup’s granddaughter. “Because he thought the Bahamians coming over to work should be able to bring their families.” Stirrup built more than a hundred homes, offering affordable housing for African Americans and Bahamians immigrating to South Florida in the early 1900s.