Fort Lauderdale

By Susan Gillis and Daniel T. Hobby

Like many Sun Belt cities, Fort Lauderdale has experienced phenomenal growth over the past several decades. Once a wilderness home for the Seminole Indians and a few hardy pioneers, the small community grew up around Frank Stranahan s successful trading post, a convenient stop for hunters, fishermen, and sightseers preparing to head into the Everglades. But much more was in store for this rugged outback camp. Surveying Fort Lauderdale s fascinating history chronologically, this pictorial retrospective begins with the 1890s, a time when this part of the country was still part of America s frontier, isolated and wild. With the coming of the railroad and the twentieth century, an agricultural economy developed, and, soon, the Florida land boom would bring thousands of new settlers to the area. Fort Lauderdale s glistening beaches and comfortable climate earned the city an
early reputation as a tourist town and, eventually, as a Spring Break mecca.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Oct 12, 1999
• ISBN: 9781439617175

Susan Gillis

Susan Gillis has lived on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada, and now lives most of the year in Montreal, where she teaches English. Her books include Volta (Signature Editions, 2002), which won the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry, and Swimming Among the Ruins (Signature Editions, 2000), and a chapbook, Twenty Views of the Lachine Rapids (Gaspereau Press, 2012). Whisk, with Yoko’s Dogs, is forthcoming in 2013 from Pedlar Press. The Rapids is Susan’s third collection (Brick Books, 2012).

Book preview

(5-19491.)

INTRODUCTION

Like many Sun Belt cities, Fort Lauderdale has experienced phenomenal growth over the past several decades. The rapid influx of new residents and the resulting commercial and residential developments have tended to obscure the past. Historical buildings are demolished and local history is forgotten, if it was ever learned. It may appear that a common heritage is difficult to sustain.

We believe, however, that this condition is only a temporary reaction to rapid change; that most people want to know what came before them and how they fit into the community’s historical context. This book seeks to provide a visual connection to our past. Drawing upon the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society’s extensive photographic collections, we have selected a variety of images that highlight local history from the 1890s through the 1960s. We decided to organize the images chronologically, with each chapter covering a single decade. Admittedly, this is somewhat arbitrary; human endeavors do not always conform to ten-year cycles. Still, within the broad sweep of our history patterns can be seen.

The 1890s were years in which this area was part of the frontier, isolated from the rest of the nation until the railroad arrived in 1896. The first decade of the 20th century saw the development of an agricultural economy, with the promise of new farmlands created from draining the Everglades. The 1910s was a period of community building as Fort Lauderdale was incorporated (as was Broward County) and began to grow beyond a settlement. In the 1920s, the influx of people and capital transformed Fort Lauderdale from an agricultural to a tourist town, while the economic collapse at the end of the decade and the Great Depression made the 1930s a period of retrenchment. War dominated the first part of the 1940s, and post-war adjustments the second. The 1950s saw Fort Lauderdale become an icon of American popular culture as Spring Break took hold, and in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale began a period of reassessment that would eventually bring about its renewal. We will leave it for future works to cover the last three decades of this century.

A few technical notes are in order. Fort Lauderdale changed its street names and numbering system in 1927. We have used the current street names and addresses throughout the book. The exception is Brickell Avenue, which was the town’s first main street. It has had several name changes and is officially Southwest First Avenue, now the site of Las Olas Riverfront. Photograph captions are followed by the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society catalog number (useful if you wish to inquire about a particular image), and in some cases information on the actual photographer (if known) or photographic collection.

Finally, the most difficult part of preparing this book was deciding what not to include. Unfortunately there were many individuals, sites, and events important to Fort Lauderdale’s history that we just didn’t have room for. We’ll get them next time around.

Before the end of segregation, the Victory Theater, located on Northwest Fifth Avenue, served Fort Lauderdale’s African-American community. One of the unintended consequences of rigid racial separation had been a healthy, if not thriving, African-American business district. This photograph was taken in the mid-1950s. (Hl1918.3, Gene Hyde Collection.)

One

THE 1890S

Many would argue that the modern city of Fort Lauderdale began at this small trading post on the New River, seen here in 1896. At a time when the local population was scattered and numbered in the dozens, Frank Stranahan’s establishment was the focal point for the small community. (5-42.)

M.A. Williams surveyed the New River area in 1870. He encountered few residents but did note the locations of the Seminole War-era military forts that would give the future city its name—Fort Lauderdale. (5-12951.)

This view of the New River, taken around 1884, is believed to be the earliest photographic record of the Fort Lauderdale area. Although there had been attempts to establish agricultural and commercial ventures, none had been successful and the region remained virtually unpopulated. (5-19316, photograph courtesy of Historical Museum of Southern Florida.)

In an effort to rescue shipwreck victims, in 1876 the federal government built five Houses of Refuge along the