History of Fort Lauderdale, Florida facts for kids
The history of Fort Lauderdale, Florida began over 4,000 years ago. The first people to live here were Native Americans, including the Tequesta tribe. Over time, different countries like Spain, England, and the United States controlled the area. However, it stayed mostly undeveloped until the 1900s.
The first settlement faced a sad event during the Second Seminole War. This caused people to leave, and development stopped for more than 50 years. In 1838, the first United States fort, named Fort Lauderdale, was built. It was a site of fighting during the war. The fort was left empty in 1842 after the war ended. The area then remained mostly unpopulated until the 1890s.
Before the 1900s, the Fort Lauderdale area was called the "New River Settlement." A few pioneer families lived here from the late 1840s. But real growth began when the Florida East Coast Railroad built tracks through the area in the mid-1890s. Fort Lauderdale became a city in 1911. In 1915, it was chosen as the main city for the new Broward County.
Major growth started in the 1920s during a time called the Florida land boom of the 1920s. However, the 1926 Miami Hurricane and the Great Depression in the 1930s caused big economic problems. When World War II began, Fort Lauderdale became an important US Navy base. It had a Naval Air Station to train pilots and other military schools. After the war, many service members returned, causing a huge population increase. Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center and a big tourist spot. It is also the center of a large metropolitan area.
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Early History: Before the 1820s
Evidence from old sites shows that the first people arrived in the Broward County area about 4,000 years ago. When Europeans first explored this region, the Tequesta tribe of Native Americans lived here.
Spanish explorers came in the 1500s. This was very difficult for native tribes like the Tequesta. Europeans accidentally brought diseases, such as smallpox, that the native people had no protection against. These diseases, along with conflicts with other tribes, caused the Tequesta population to shrink. By 1763, only a few Tequesta were left in Florida. Most of them moved to Cuba when Spain gave Florida to the British in 1763. This was part of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War.
Later, Florida returned to Spanish control in 1783 after the American Revolutionary War. In the early 1700s, Creek Indians moved south from Alabama. They joined with the Oconee people, who had recently moved from Georgia. Together, they formed the main part of the Seminole tribe. As English and later American settlements grew, they pushed the Seminoles further south. Around 1788, when Seminoles started arriving in what is now Broward County, two families, the Lewis and Robbins families, came from the Bahamas and built homes along the New River.
Fort Lauderdale's Beginnings: 1820-1892
In 1821, Florida became part of the United States. This happened under the Adams-Onís Treaty between Spain and the U.S. By 1830, about 70 people lived in the "New River Settlement," which is now Fort Lauderdale. William Cooley was a leader among them. He was appointed Justice of the Peace for the area.
In 1835, white settlers killed a Seminole chief. Cooley put the settlers in jail, but they were later released. The Seminoles blamed Cooley for this. Growing tensions between the Seminoles and white settlers led to the Seminoles moving closer to Lake Okeechobee. On December 28, 1835, the Second Seminole War began with an event called the Dade Massacre.
On January 3, 1836, Cooley and most of the settlement's men left to help a ship that had crashed. The next day, 15 to 20 Seminoles attacked Cooley's house. They killed his family and burned the house. This event caused all the white settlers to leave the area. During the Second Seminole War, Major William Lauderdale led his Tennessee Volunteers here. In 1838, Lauderdale built a fort on the New River. This was near where modern Fort Lauderdale is today. Lauderdale left after a month, but the fort kept his name. The Seminoles destroyed the fort a few months later. Two more forts were built after that, each closer to the ocean.
After the Second Seminole War ended in 1842, the fort was abandoned. The area remained mostly empty. The remaining Seminoles moved to Pine Island. Only a few settlers lived in what would become Broward County. During the US Civil War, the only known white settlers were Isaiah Hall and his family. They had moved to the New River in 1863.
There was no easy way to travel in or out of the area by land. So, no major settlements happened until the 1890s. In 1892, the first road was built through the county. It connected Lemon City, near Miami, to Lantana, in Palm Beach County. A ferry was set up to cross the New River.
Growth and Development: 1893-1925
In 1893, a young man named Frank Stranahan arrived from Ohio. He came to operate the ferry across the New River. He built a house that became the area's first trading post, post office, bank, and hotel. He later built more houses on the same spot. The last one, built in 1901, is now a museum. It is the oldest building still standing in Broward County.
In 1896, the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) extended its line south from West Palm Beach to Miami. It included a station in Fort Lauderdale. The first train stopped in Fort Lauderdale on February 22, 1896. More development happened when the first car bridge was built across the New River in 1904. In 1911, Ivy Stranahan started the Fort Lauderdale Woman's Club.
Fort Lauderdale officially became a city later in 1911. In 1915, it became the county seat for the new Broward County. This county also included towns like Dania, Deerfield, Hallandale, and Pompano. The first census after the city's incorporation, in 1920, showed a population of 2,065 people. In 1920, construction began on the city's first canals. These canals cleared mangroves and created the first "finger islands" that Fort Lauderdale is known for.
In February 1925, a state count showed 5,625 people in Fort Lauderdale. A real estate boom was happening in South Florida. While Miami was the main focus, other communities like Fort Lauderdale and Pompano Beach also saw a lot of land buying. A city count in December 1925 showed the population had jumped to 15,315. This was a 300% increase in less than a year!
However, by the end of 1925, the area's transportation system could not handle all the new people and supplies. The FEC railroad had to stop shipping many goods in August 1925. This was because there were too many materials for the trains to carry.
Challenges and Recovery: 1926-1945
The Florida land boom ended in 1926. At that time, supplies could only come into the area by the FEC's single train track or through the Port of Miami. Port Everglades was not yet finished. On January 10, 1926, a ship sank in the Port of Miami channel. This blocked the port until February 29. Real estate companies that relied on constant growth began to fail. The financial problems spread to bigger developers.
The 1926 Miami Hurricane was the final blow. It had the strongest winds ever recorded in Florida. Fort Lauderdale was badly damaged. The hurricane killed 50 people and destroyed about 3,500 buildings in the city. In February 1928, Port Everglades finally opened.
The city had just started to recover from the 1926 hurricane when another strong hurricane hit. This one struck north of the city in Palm Beach County. The 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane caused only minor damage to Fort Lauderdale. However, the many deaths from this storm made people think Florida was not the perfect place developers had advertised. When the Great Depression began in 1929, it did not affect Fort Lauderdale much. The city was already in an economic downturn from the real estate crash three years earlier.
Even with the end of the land boom and the depression, the city's population began to grow slowly. In 1930, there were 8,666 people. By 1940, that number had risen to 17,996.
The United States did not enter World War II until 1941. But Fort Lauderdale felt the war's effects earlier than most of the country. In December 1939, a British ship chased a German freighter into Port Everglades. The German ship stayed there until the U.S. took it in 1941.
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S. joining the war had quick effects on the city. Blackouts were put in place. German submarines sank several Allied ships, some even visible from the shore. The first Medal of Honor winner in World War II was a graduate of Fort Lauderdale High School. Second Lieutenant Alexander R. Nininger Jr. received the medal after he died for his brave actions in the Philippines in 1942.
By mid-1942, the U.S. Navy had turned Merle Fogg Field into Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale. They also built two smaller landing fields. By the end of the war, the station had trained thousands of Navy pilots. One of them was George H. W. Bush, who later became President of the United States. Other military facilities in the city included schools for radar and gun aiming, and a base at Port Everglades.
On December 5, 1945, five planes from Flight 19 left NAS Fort Lauderdale for a training mission. They were never seen again. It is thought that the lead pilot got lost and flew the planes too far from land. This caused the planes to run out of fuel and crash. No wreckage has ever been found. This strange disappearance, along with another plane explosion during the search, helped create the Bermuda Triangle myth.
Post-War Changes: 1945-1961
In 1946, the Navy closed its airfields in the area. NAS Fort Lauderdale became Broward County International Airport, which is now Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. West Prospect Field became Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
One year later, the 1947 Fort Lauderdale Hurricane hit just north of the city. It was a very large Category 4 hurricane. It caused a lot of damage due to flooding. Earlier storms that year had already made the ground wet. The huge amount of rain from this slow-moving storm left the city under several inches of water for weeks.
In the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale became a very popular place for college students during spring break. This tradition was made famous in the 1960 movie Where the Boys Are. Every year in February, March, and April, tens of thousands of college students came to relax on the beaches and party at the many bars along A1A.
Desegregation of Fort Lauderdale's Beaches
Starting in 1946, Black residents, including groups like the Negro Professional and Business Man's League, asked for a public beach for Black people in Broward County. They were not allowed on any public beaches in the county. They were allowed on private beaches north of Fort Lauderdale until 1953. Nothing was done about a "colored beach" until 1954. The county bought land for a beach, now called Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park. But it could only be reached by boat, and for years, it had no tables or restrooms. A bridge and road were built 11 years later, in 1965.
Meanwhile, inspired by the movie Where the Boys Are in 1961, African-American residents decided to take action. Led by Eula Johnson, president of the Broward NAACP chapter, and Dr. Von D. Mizell, they held a series of "wade-ins" on Fort Lauderdale beaches. These happened between July 4 and August 8, 1961. The city of Fort Lauderdale sued them, trying to stop the "beach wade-in disruptions." Johnson was offered money and special treatment if she would stop, but she refused. In 1962, a judge ruled against the city. Since then, Fort Lauderdale's beaches have been open to everyone.
Modern Fort Lauderdale: 1962-Present
The 1960 Census counted 83,648 people in the city. This was about 230% more than in 1950. A report in 1967 estimated that the city was about 85% developed. By 1970, the population was 139,590.
After 1970, Fort Lauderdale was mostly built up. So, growth in the area shifted to suburbs to the west. Cities like Coral Springs, Miramar, and Pembroke Pines grew very quickly. Fort Lauderdale's population stayed about the same. It even shrank by almost 4,000 people between 1980 and 1990. A small increase brought the population back up to 152,397 in the 2000 census. Since 2000, Fort Lauderdale has gained more residents by adding seven neighborhoods from Broward County.
Spring Break Changes
After a very wild spring break season in 1985, the city decided to make changes. About 350,000 college tourists caused problems for several weeks that spring. The city passed new laws to reduce the chaos. The mayor, Robert Dressler, even appeared on TV to tell college students they were no longer welcome in Fort Lauderdale.
Overnight parking was banned near the beach. A law was passed that made it illegal to drink alcohol in public places. The next spring, the city did not allow MTV to set up their stage on the beach. About 2,500 people were arrested as the new laws were strictly enforced. In 1985, 350,000 college students spent about $110 million during the nine-week spring break season. By 2004, 700,000 visitors, mostly families or European tourists, spent $800 million during the same period. By 2006, the number of college students visiting for spring break was estimated at about 10,000.
Riverwalk Project
Starting in 1986, the city of Fort Lauderdale began a big project. They wanted to connect the city's arts and entertainment area, the historic downtown, and the Las Olas shopping and beach district. They also wanted to change the city's image from just a party town.
The main part of this cultural rebirth was the Riverwalk project. It runs along the New River from the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to the Stranahan House. Work is ongoing to extend the walk to Las Olas Boulevard. The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, which moved to its current spot in 1986, and the Museum of Discovery and Science, which opened in 1992, are key parts of the Riverwalk project. Many fancy high-rise buildings have been built along the river. This has encouraged the growth of high-end shops and entertainment throughout the downtown area.
