Showing posts with label Fort Lauderdale history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fort Lauderdale history. Show all posts

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Interesting facts about Fort Lauderdale during the 1980s

Fort Lauderdale 1983 Florida State Archives



Below is a small collection of Fort Lauderdale-specific news items of the 1980s. Some may jog a memory or two or evoke surprise about that decade—one of change for this beachside city.

Merchants along Fort Lauderdale’s “strip” off A1A near Las Olas Boulevard consider the “troubled area” 80 percent better than during the last few years of high crime. Two additional police officers were recently assigned to this popular spot across from the beach. 1980

Mayor E. Clay Shaw sponsors an ordinance to permit high-density hotels for two blocks at A1A near Las Olas to “prevent further deterioration of the beach area.” Merchants express new fear of being pushed out. 1980

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers draw 18,223 for a soccer game aired on ABC-TV June 8, 1980. They played the Tampa Rowdies.

Controversial ophthalmologist Dr. Frederick Blanton loses appeal and is sentenced to five years in federal prison for dispensing Quaaludes to patients. He first gained attention during the 1970s for prescribing marijuana for patients with glaucoma. He was also accused of assault of a police officer after allegedly pointing a gun at a cop. Before sentencing he says he prefers a one-way ticket to Russia rather than go to jail. 1983

Fire destroys one of Fort Lauderdale’s oldest buildings, the Ship Apartments at 303 N. New River Drive West. Built in 1905 by Fort Lauderdale pioneer Philemon Bryan for his son, Reed Bryan in 1905, the 75-year-old building, next to the New River Inn, is vacant when the fire occurs. 1980

A six-month federal investigation reveals mob ties to Heaven nightclub at 3937 North Federal Highway. Activities involving New Jersey mobster Anthony Acceturro of the Lucchese crime family are cited in a report submitted in 1983

Beach residents rally to complain about Spring Break patrons of Penrod's relieving themselves behind the popular nightspot. 1983

Sunday Brunch at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel advertised for $6.95. 1983

The first person is arrested under a controversial anti-vagrancy law making it illegal to rummage through other people’s garbage. The violator was arrested for allegedly rummaging at an apartment building at SE 4th Avenue and 23rd Street. 1984

The inaugural Greater Fort Lauderdale Film Festival is approved by the city and held in late 1986. Realtor Patty Lombard serves as first president of the festival.

New York businessman Donald Trump’s $29 million, 282-foot yacht Trump Princess will berth at the Best Western Motel off the 17th Street Causeway until March that year (1988).

Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi begins service between Commercial Boulevard and Port Everglades October of 1988. Bekoff Yachting Service launches its Canal Cabs the same month. Rides on both are $2.50-$5.00

Population of Fort Lauderdale in 1989 - about 148,500

Fort Lauderdale restaurants open for late-night eats after night clubbing in 1989 (does not include chain restaurants):

Bahia Cabana

Bootleggers

Boat House Bar and Grill

North Ridge Raw Bar and Restaurant

At’s a Pizza

Peter Pan Diner and

Joseph’s Restaurant and Lounge

Bahia Cabana circa 1996 Florida State Archives
Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News:

Jan. 6, 1980

Oct 23, 1980

Jan. 9, 1980

March 30, 1983

April 3, 1983

April 17, 1983

June 4, 1983

Oct. 11, 1984

South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

May 29, 1986

Oct. 8, 1988

Dec. 30,1988

Dec. 30, 1989

https://www.biggestuscities.com/city/fort-lauderdale-florida

Tags: Fort Lauderdale during the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale History. history of Fort Lauderdale, Trump, Water Taxi, Penrod's, population of Fort Lauderdale

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

A South Florida parrot primer

 

Captive parrots - Parrot Jungle
State Archives of Florida












By Jane Feehan 

Flocks of parrots noisily flying at dawn and dusk around Broward County are a familiar sight today. Many older residents who grew up here say they rarely, if ever, saw these colorful birds during the 1950s and 1960s. The mythology of the introduction of these non-native exotic noise makers runs deep.

Newspapers present various theories about where they came from and report several early sightings. One account points to the unintentional release of parrots from an opened crate at Port Everglades in 1967. 

Others tell a tale about a bar owner releasing pet birds near Wilton Manors a few decades ago who was responsible for their introduction to that town. 

Florida railway developer and one-time oil tycoon Henry Flagler was known to have an affinity for parrots, keeping many on his Palm Beach property (Whitehall) uncaged but fed. They remained there for years after his death in 1913; that may explain a reported parrot roost at the Breakers Hotel during the past 20 years and flock sightings in Lake Worth. 

Fort Lauderdale News reported the first sighting of a flock in Broward in 1975. During the 1940s “a rare bird farm” operated in the Miami area. Flocks were spotted in south Miami-Dade County during the 1990s.

Newspaper and personal accounts aside, scientific research tells a probable story about South Florida parrot origins. One scholarly paper notes most of these exotic birds escaped from pet owners and pet stores or were deliberately released by owners and smugglers (Distribution, Populations, and Documentation of Parrots in Broward County, by Bill Pranty and Susan Epps, Vol. 30, Issue 4, Article 1, Jan. 2000). Most releases, however, have been unintentional.

About 20 species were spotted in Broward County in 1990. In 2000, Pranty and Epps reported 31 species, 20 of which were unknown before then. They suggest parrots have probably been released here since at least the 1950s. Worldwide 350-410 species exist with most originating in Central and South America (some from Pacific Islands). The Carolina parakeet was the only species native to Florida, but they were killed off by poachers by the early 20th century.

Florida's extinct Carolina
 parakeet
State Archives of Florida


The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported on flocks in Dania that seemed to appear and disappear suddenly in the early 1990s. A story suggested people captured many to sell as pets (wild birds make lousy pets of course). 

In 1995, utility workers in Deerfield Beach were seen sweeping parrot nests from tall light fixtures. Most of these birds nest in dead palm trees but some have been spotted setting up residence in vacated osprey nests.

Pranty and Epps* observed parrot populations in Dania, Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale’s Hugh Birch State Park, Coral Ridge, Harbor Beach, Las Olas Isles, Poinsettia Heights, Rio Vista, Victoria Park, and Oakland Park. Among species they observed were Quaker or monk parakeets (some also live successfully in Chicago!), Orange-winged parrots, Red-headed parrots, Yellow-headed parrots, and Black-hooded parakeets. The two scientists reported a large jump in all parrot populations from the early 1990s to 2000 even though poachers regularly decimate local populations.

With the human population growth of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County comes additional parrot species and even more flocks. Lucky for these garrulous birds, most of us love hearing, if not always sighting, them.

 

* Susan Allene Epps has also written a book, Parrots of South Florida (2007) available on Amazon.

Sources:

Distribution, Populations, and Documentation of Parrots in Broward County, by Bill Pranty and Susan Epps, Vol. 30, Issue 4, Article 1, Jan. 2000

Fort Lauderdale News, May 24, 1970

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 12, 1975

Fort Lauderdale News June 29, 1985

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Aug. 30, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Jan. 29, 1990


Tags: Parrots in Fort Lauderdale, parrots in Wilton Manors, Broward County parrots, Fort Lauderdale history

Sunday, October 29, 2023

One of the first registered architects in Florida - August Geiger - his Fort Lauderdale and Miami projects

1917 advertisement from Directory of City of Miami Beach



By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s first high school, Fort Lauderdale Central, was built in 1915. Its architect was August Geiger (1887-1968), already well known in Miami and Miami Beach for his work.

From Connecticut, Geiger settled in Miami in 1905 and opened an office in 1911. He was off and running soon after, becoming one of the first (10th) registered architects in Florida.

Miami and Miami Beach grew significantly during the early 19th century with its burgeoning tourist industry, land boom and accompanying skyline of notable buildings.

Geiger’s work includes the Lincoln Hotel and Apartments (1917) on Miami Beach, demolished long ago. His firm also designed Miami’s first “sky scraper,” the 12-story Ralston Hotel (1917), and, in the same year, the Miami City Hospital (now Jackson Memorial). 

Additionally, he designed the Miami Beach Municipal Golf Course House, the Community Theater of Miami Beach, the Dade County Courthouse, and Villa Serena, home of William Jennings Bryan, noted orator and politician. He commissioned Geiger to design his home in 1913 in Coconut Grove.
Wm Jennings Bryan home, 1920
State Archives of Florida
Geiger, known for his Mediterranean Revival style, also drew the plans for the Lincoln Road oceanfront home of Miami Beach developer Carl Fisher. In 1915, demand for the architect's style prompted Geiger to open an office in Palm Beach.  Many of his surviving buildings in South Florida have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geiger designed Fort Lauderdale Central High School (demolished in 1970) and the Fort Lauderdale Women’s Club in 1915 with his signature Mediterranean Revival imprint.  His firm drew up plans for many schools in Dade County and a few others in what became Broward County in 1915, including the Davie School. Geiger was tapped as architect of record for the Dade County School Board.  Among his later works was the $1.5 million Coral Gables High School in 1950.

Though Geiger was the design force behind Fort Lauderdale’s high school and its women’s club, the city claims Frances Abreu as its own architect. Both men brought a vision to Miami and Fort Lauderdale that defined early 19th- century South Florida. 

Lincoln Hotel, 1922
States Archives of Florida/Fishbaugh 1922





Copyright © 2012, 2023 . All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

For more on Frances Abreu, see index for architects

For more Fort Lauderdale High School history, see index.

For more on William Jennings Bryan, see index.


Sources:
Kleinberg, Howard. Woggles and Cheese Houses. Miami Beach: The Greater Miami & Beaches Hotel Association (2005)
Miami News, Mar. 16, 1917
Wikipedia

Tags: early South Florida architects, Fort Lauderdale history, Miami history


Wednesday, October 11, 2023

The Idlewyld story - Hortt converts swamp to top-tier real estate

 


By Jane Feehan

The history of Fort Lauderdale’s Idlewyld neighborhood reflects the story of Fort Lauderdale’s M.A. Hortt. A former streetcar conductor and gold prospector from Utah, “Al” Hortt came to Fort Lauderdale in 1910. Possibilities for wealth generation were far greater here than in the desert.

The city saw its first land boom in 1910, when, according to Hortt, it claimed only 121 residents. As he wrote in his biography, Gold Coast Pioneer, he arrived when Fort Lauderdale was just a “wide spot” in the road. Not for long. News spread “up north” about Fort Lauderdale’s real estate. The early boom proved to be an early bust but Hortt’s roster of subsequent land deals (and travel escapades), could spin heads. The focus here, however, is Idlewyld.

Hortt and business partner Bob Dye bought a piece of swampy land in 1921 that spanned from the Las Olas bridge (opened 1917) to the “intersection of New River Sound” and beyond. They envisioned a subdivision on part of it but needed a developer with money. Hortt was familiar with Miami developer Carl Fisher’s success in converting Miami Beach's water-logged land into desirable real estate; he wanted to apply the same method in Fort Lauderdale.   

According to Hortt, he took a beach walk near Las Olas where he met visitor Tom Stillwell. Stillwell was looking for a real estate opportunity and the garrulous broker had just the deal: if Stillwell could put up $50,000, they could create a company with $100,000 of land and cash assets; Stillwell would get a 50 percent share. 

To convince the visitor about development possibilities, Hortt took him to Miami Beach to view Fisher’s projects. Stillwell was sold on the development idea for Fort Lauderdale and brought in three partners from Indiana. The New River Development Company was formed in 1921 and dredging of the Intracoastal and New River Sound began. Dredging would provide the soil to build up the swampy tract.

The name Idlewyld was chosen and its land platted. Streets, sidewalks, water mains and electric lines were installed after dredging.

To buoy its appeal, coconut palms were planted along its streets. However, for months only a few lots sold. They lowered prices and gave lots to the investors for building homes. The Indiana partners pooled resources and built one house. The company also offered to give away 10 lots for house construction. By year’s end, only four houses were built; the town experienced a real estate slowdown. 

Intracoastal view,
with Las Olas Bridge at left

As is often said today, the best time to advertise is during an economic slump. Savvy Hortt suggested he would handle advertising if a deal could be made with the partners. He wanted a 25 percent commission on sales of all lots. Prices would depend on location and would run $2,500 to $5,000. The New River Development Company approved and the first advertisement went to the Miami Herald.

One article in the Miami Herald reported that a promotion of the subdivision would include free transportation from Miami, dinners and a river trip. An ad in the same paper beckoned visitors to buy a lot in “Fort Lauderdale’s sub-division deluxe with people you’ll be glad to have for neighbors: men of wealth and social standing and a-1 character.”

The advertising campaign proved to be a success.  Hortt claimed in his book that he and Dye sold every lot “in less than one week,” and each for the price originally agreed upon. Success led to plans for a $250,000 hotel in Idlewyld. Promised to be “bigger and better than any yet planned” the hotel was expected to sit on six lots and open in one year.

The Idlewyld neighborhood gained attention. Hortt built his home there. In 1925, while on one of his many trips, he was offered $60,000 for that house. Upon his return he upped the price to $75,000 (a steep price then) and sold it to businesswoman Helen Brooks Smith. The sale made local headlines.

Less than a year later, the aftermath of the 1926 hurricane brought the South Florida real estate boom to a halt.  It’s interesting to note that during the storm, the U.S. Coast Guard’s houseboat station, Moccasin, was lifted from its mooring and thrown across the waterway near Idlewyld. The Coast Guard took up temporary quarters in the “deluxe” subdivision in two houses donated by W.C. Kyle until they could re-establish their base.

Hortt remained solvent and developed several neighborhoods such as Beverly Heights. He was recognized for guiding Fort Lauderdale’s recovery from the storm. He served as mayor and commissioner of Fort Lauderdale and then bought large tracts of land in Pompano Beach, where he died (750 Ocean Blvd.) in 1958 at 77.

And Idlewyld? It remains one of the city’s most beautiful neighborhoods with many of the original houses replaced with multi-lot sized homes selling for millions (as of this post, 17 on the market). The Riviera Isles/Idlewyld area is home to 508 residents. 

Hortt’s legacy includes not only his sales record of early city communities but his recognition of waterside locations in boosting real estate values. Many who came to Fort Lauderdale in the early 1900s thought real estate fortunes were to be found in agricultural land to the west. Hortt knew better.

Sources:

Hortt, M.A., Gold Coast Pioneer. New York: Exposition Press, 1955.

Miami Herald, Jan. 20, 1924

Miami Herald, Feb. 20, 1924

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 25, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, April 17, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 13, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 16, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, June 20, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, March 1, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, April 15, 1958


Tags: Idlewyld neighborhood, M.A. Hortt, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale communities, history of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, Jane Feehan

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Edgar Gould, his island off Las Olas and a new page in Fort Lauderdale history

Plans drawn for development - 1940
Courtesy of Debbie Gould Tucker











By Jane Feehan

Edgar Davis Gould’s purchase of a swampy, mangrove-covered island off Las Olas Boulevard in March 1940 was reported as the largest single transaction in that area since the boom days of the 1920s. Created in 1925 with soil dredged from New River, the property had been held by Mr. and Ms. W.L. Mensendieck since 1935. The sales price was not revealed in news accounts.

Work began within 10 days after the contract was signed with installation of a water main by the city of Fort Lauderdale and immediate landscaping with royal palms. Gould planned 50 lots. He worked with other property owners and the city to widen and beautify the bridge to the area off 23rd Avenue (an area now known as Seven Isles but at one time Lauderdale Isles). Fort Lauderdale News claimed, “development of Gould Island writes a new page in history of Fort Lauderdale’s growth.”

Gould also may have written a new page in sales history.

In May of 1941, the Fort Lauderdale News reported he had sold eight more lots than any agent selling off Las Olas. Gould had set a record: he sold 10 lots in 10 days. He made big waves after arriving in 1940, just months before the “island” purchase and launch of its development. Lots generally went for $4,000. Larger, waterfront lots sold for $17,500 in 1944. The island was completely developed by 1945.* A recent (2023) search of real estate listings there featured a house for sale for more than $31 million.

Some said Gould’s immediate sales success was a credit to his planning skills. Others would say his law degree from Harvard University in 1900 set his course. Though he practiced law in Boston, his birthplace, he changed careers after five years. He stepped into advertising in New York City and then served as manager and director of the Regal Shoe Company.

Granddaughter Debbie Gould Tucker, today a St. Augustine resident along with husband Bill Tucker, says the family isn’t quite sure why he left New Rochelle, New York but it may have been because his son (Debbie’s father) and namesake Edgar D. Gould II or “Bill” as he was called, was serving in the U.S. Navy in Fort Lauderdale where he also made his home.

The senior Gould’s move to Fort Lauderdale was a good one at the right time. His sales record, the newspaper reported, “establishes him as number one representative of the spirit, tempo and enterprise which has kept Fort Lauderdale in the van [guard] of the nation’s fastest-growing cities for the last decade.”

Gould Castle and widened bridge circa 1940
Courtesy of Debbie Gould Tucker


He built one of the first homes on Gould Island in 1941 on Del Mar Drive. The architect was Carlos B. Schoeppl and the builder was Richardson Construction, Debbie’s uncle. He landscaped the home with a circular tower (thus its name, Gould’s Castle) with a Victory V and with two royal palms on either side as “sentinels” (see photo). It was dressed up with planted “Legion of Honor marigolds,” a fitting acknowledgment of World War II efforts.  

Advertisements for the island highlighted 97.5-foot frontage on lots that were already graded to street level in a community just two or three minutes to the beach and three or four minutes “to town.” One ad closed with encouragement to “call your broker or Mr. Gould at his home at 1621.”

Gould’s real estate endeavors included the purchase of Donaldson Apartments from the Donaldson estate in 1943 for $45,000.  It was the largest real estate transaction of the week prior to Dec. 11. 

The building featured 10 large apartments and a penthouse (it remains today as a renamed boutique hotel behind the Sheraton at 300 N. Birch Rd.). This is what Debbie Gould Tucker remembers fondly of grandfather’s Fort Lauderdale legacy.

“We spent summer days there, just off the beach, with a clear view of the Intracoastal,” Debbie recollects. “During the winter, visitors—family friends—came from New Rochelle for three months. My grandmother Lalia, Edgar’s wife, lived there with her sister after he died.”

Gould died Jan. 28, 1945, at age 70 just a few years after moving to Fort Lauderdale. He left a big legacy in a short time including his son, Bill, who went into local yacht sales, granddaughter Debbie, and her three siblings, Patty, Billy and Eddie, all born in Fort Lauderdale. They are also related to the Slayton family (auto sales). Bill Gould’s children grew up near the Las Olas Isles, but Debbie often drove—well, nearly flew—over today's seven bridges connecting the streets of Gould Island for fun (as a few of us did as highschoolers).  Her husband, Bill Tucker, is related to Verne Tucker who contributed a column in the Fort Lauderdale News, Sun Strokes, a chuckle maker.

A chat with most anyone born in Fort Lauderdale during the 1940s or 50s tends to weave a map of family connections with contributions to our history. 

This, the way we used to be ….

 -----

*Today, Seven Isles is home to about 1,100 residents in 315 households on nine streets:

Aqua Vista Boulevard

Barcelona Drive

Castilla Isle

Del Mar Place

De Sota Drive

De Sota Terrace

Pelican Isle

Sea Island Drive

Seven Isles Drive

 

 

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, March 1, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, March 18, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, May 7, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 6, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, March 9, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, April 27, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, May 25, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 14, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 4, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 2, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 25, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 11, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 2, 1944

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 29, 1945


Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Seven Isles, Fort Lauderdale communities, Edgar D. Gould, Debbie Gould Tucker

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Lumber schooners delivered what railroads could not to Fort Lauderdale

 

Abandoned lumber schooners in Miami 1926
State Archives of Florida 

By Jane Feehan

 “A new era in water transportation for Fort Lauderdale” was heralded in 1925 with the arrival of schooners delivering lumber. The Florida East Coast Railway could not meet the delivery demands of the city’s construction boom; ships expanded its logistics.

To supplement rail efforts, schooners were pulled out of storage or quickly constructed as “lighters” to move lumber, other building materials, plumbing supplies or furniture from Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville and other east coast ports. They traveled by ocean or inland waterway. Ships brought what the railroad could not.  It wasn’t necessarily the easiest solution.

In November 1925, the 73-foot Spanish schooner Padro Garcia hit electric wires strung across New River, causing city outages until Southern Utility Company came to the rescue. About 4,500 volts lit up and damaged the ship’s anchor chain and other metal parts. The crew of eight along with a tabby cat and brindle bulldog were rescued. So were 80 tons of expensive 100-year-old Spanish tiles.

Storms wrecked a few ocean-going schooners off the Florida coast (crews were all saved). When they arrived at the harbor of Fort Lauderdale, some ships encountered problems navigating the sand bar blocking Lake Mabel, which was not cleared and opened as a port until 1928 (later Port Everglades). Other schooners coming down the waterway needed power boat or tugboat assistance moving through Tarpon Bend on the way to city docks.

Ships also carried cargo to the Las Olas Sound in the Idlewyld area. In December 1925, the largest schooner to arrive in Fort Lauderdale, the 215-foot Richmond with its nine-foot draft, was temporarily grounded in 7.5 feet of water while trying to reach the sound. It carried 320,000 feet of lumber, but the crew had to offload 130,000 feet to raft ashore; it was bound for Broward Lumber Company who picked up the valuable wood near the Las Olas Bridge. (Opened in 1924, the company advertised its motto: “We invented service in Fort Lauderdale.”)

The three-masted Richmond, sailing from Savannah, stopped in Fort Lauderdale on August 25, 1926, just weeks before the devastating September hurricane. The ship had been temporarily sidelined by a storm near Jacksonville and carried 300 tons of Long Island gravel. The cargo was used for repair from another hurricane and construction of the city’s waterworks, including its sewers. Little did they know that Fort Lauderdale would soon need other recovery supplies.

Mills and Mills, the company that owned the Richmond, established offices at the Sunset Building on Andrews Avenue. They hoped the schooner would be making a Fort Lauderdale stop every three weeks. They anticipated that Fort Lauderdale would be developed into “one of the finest seaports in Florida.”

Mills and Mills was right about Fort Lauderdale’s status as a seaport. Nature and economics proved them wrong about the viability of lumber schooners. After the Great Hurricane of 1926, South Florida boom days turned into an economic retreat. 

Many schooners were abandoned, especially in Miami (see photo above) where there was far more dockage at Bayfront. But the reason to abandon wasn’t necessarily the devastating hurricane; seldom was there a return cargo. Most abandoned schooners were destined for lumber salvage.

  

Miami Tribune, Nov. 30, 1924

Fort Lauderdale News, June 18, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 13, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 3, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 4, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, March 6, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News Aug. 26, 1926

Miami Herald, March 24, 1926


Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, transportation history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s

Thursday, July 6, 2023

Fort Lauderdale and the seasonal sweep of the city broom





By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale was image conscious from its earliest days. Preparing for winter season visitors with clean-up squads was a common sight during the 1920s. “The entire city could feel the sweep of the city broom.”

Squads also cleaned up for school openings and baseball games. Beautification efforts included planting and removal of weeds, sand spurs and palmettos. It wasn’t always about beautification and weeds and trash. Fort Lauderdale’s Board of Health cleared vegetation to mitigate mosquito breeding.

Cleaning vacant lots and clearing the banks of waterways produced some amusing results. Stories about the removal and cutting down of thick undergrowth pull back the curtain on days before the city’s high-velocity development. In 1928 teams cleared weeds and other vegetative matter between Las Olas and south to the Casino Pool for visitors and local beachgoers. New River and Las Olas beach were considered two of “the city’s greatest assets.”

City teams also cleaned up the Rio Vista neighborhood. Thanks to the crew's work, residents reportedly could see across the river [New River] for the first time as well as its boat traffic. It was also noted that the owners of an apartment building “in a certain section of the city” adjacent to New River said the clean-up squad made “the lovely stream visible.” As a result, the owners raised rents “on the strength of the proximity to the water.”

In a West Las Olas neighborhood, a clean-up crew discovered sidewalks the “public has almost forgotten.”  A nearby vacant lot cleanup produced discarded mattresses, automobiles, city sewer piping and live dynamite that had been buried on the spot for two years.  

Stranahan Field underwent some critical clean up in 1925 that minimized excuses for errors and improved its image. Baseballs hit to the outfield were frequently lost in high grass and weeds. Cutting down the vegetation produced a “first class ball field.”  

Ross Clark, Board of Health president, said they could not clean up the entire city. “People are going to have get involved in the “cleanup cause” if we are to be absolutely pure and undefiled.”  A cleanup week was designated by the city in 1936 to foster public participation in clean up activities.

We’re still not, nor could ever be, "absolutely pure and undefiled," but people get involved today by volunteering for waterway and beach cleanups. The city has relegated lot clearing to property owners and trash pickup services.




Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, June 24, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 6, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 12, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 15, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 9, 1931

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 14, 1936


Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1930s



Friday, June 30, 2023

Serving up some Fort Lauderdale cafeteria history: From Mrs. Rogers' place to Morrison's

 

M and M Cafeterias 1968 - Miami and Sarasota
State Archives of Florida








By Jane Feehan

Cafeterias have offered a successful business model to serve hungry patrons in Fort Lauderdale since the early 1900s.

According to Louise Stone Wilzig, a city pioneer, some of the first such eateries in town were set up by housewives looking for extra income (not unlike medieval women, the first brewers of beer for profit). They would rent a room, bring pots and pans and set up tables with trays of food to sell to as many as 100 customers a day.

Wilzig arrived in Fort Lauderdale in 1919 and worked as cashier at one of the first well-established cafeterias, Mrs. C.B. Rogers’ Cafeteria at Las Olas and Andrews Avenue (some say there was an earlier one, but its name unknown). Mrs. Roger’s place was celebrated by locals for its remarkable biscuits and gravy, English scones and home cooked food.

Her success encouraged others who opened cafeterias in the decades that followed, culminating with the popular Morrison’s Cafeterias. More on Morrison’s later, but first a sampling of downtown cafeterias that paved the way.

Lauderdale Cafeteria at Osceola and opened late March 1926 after several delays. Owner E.W. Rupprecht and wife ran the restaurant. They installed an eight-foot electric sign over their location to attract customers and claimed they would be able to feed as many as 500 people an hour (where, I ask, would that many come from?). They closed for the summer that April but reappeared after the September 1926 hurricane to help relief efforts. Follow-up stories unavailable.

Colonial Kitchen opened in 1926 and served cafeteria style at Cunningham Avenue between Third and Fourth streets. Its décor included “… accurate reproductions of old Colonial Indian head prints.” The restaurant displayed an “old Priscilla-type spinning wheel from Virginia.” The Colonial Kitchen specialty was homemade pastries.

Dixie Cafeteria on North River Drive, Fort Lauderdale was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Whiteside. They opened a few years after they arrived in 1916. “[Dixie] was very popular for many years,” they told a reporter. They later opened Whiteside’s.

Whiteside’s Cafeteria opened in December 1930 at 218 S.E. First Ave and advertised “Home cooking is our specialty.” They were “prepared to take orders from five cents up to the most elaborate meals” from 7 am to 8 pm most days. Whiteside’s soon relocated to Lyons Arcade on Brickell Avenue where they served 80-100 people at a time. They were popular with downtown Christmas shoppers who stopped by for a quick meal between store visits.

Sunset Cafeteria opened at the Sweet Building at 305 South Andrews Avenue in 1930. Located at Fort Lauderdale’s first skyscraper*, it was owned by F.E. Trapp from Miami and John Wallace of Pittsburgh.  Walls were glazed with an Indian tan paint. Chairs, all made on the cafeteria site, were upholstered in pea green and tan. Its counter was decorated in orange and black tile and the floor with multi-colored tiles.

Sweet Building circa 2000,
site of the
Sunset Cafeteria


DeLoach Cafeteria opened in 1935 at 236 Las Olas Boulevard and occupied 10,000 square feet. It was touted as one of the largest in the South and included a banquet room and dance floor. An orchestra led by “Capt. Stacer” played on opening day in January 1935.

The Morrison’s Cafeteria story

After opening his first cafeteria in Mobile, Alabama in 1920, John Arthur Morrison, Sr. sold his part of the growing company and moved to Miami Florida in 1938. He and son John launched the M and M brand with several cafeterias in Miami before opening M and M Cafeteria in Fort Lauderdale in February 1949.

Its opening at 124 S.E. First Ave. made a sizeable splash in the Fort Lauderdale News. Noted for its modern amenities including air conditioning and fluorescent lighting, M and M also offered mahogany paneled partitions, tiger-striped leatherette chairs, wine-colored upholstered benches and crisp, white tablecloths. Live music played from a Hammond organ during dinner hours. The “South’s pioneer cafeteria owner” claimed he hired only locals to work at his Fort Lauderdale location and promised “absolute cleanliness.” I’m not sure when that store closed but one was located (or re-located) at the Sunrise Shopping Center (now the Galleria) by 1966. Morrison Sr. died in 1973 at age 83. The company moved onward and upward without its founder. M and M Cafeterias rolled into the Morrison brand, which soon dominated the cafeteria niche.

By 1967, Morrison’s had expanded into a large corporation that built a cafeteria at the 1600 block of North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale where it could seat 650 patrons at once. By 1968, there were four locations in Miami, one in Sarasota and one in Fort Lauderdale. Morrison’s expanded into other Florida cities and across the southern states.

By 1985 it was the largest cafeteria chain in the United States and employed 17,000. Though Morrison’s celebrated its 65th anniversary in 1985, it closed 13 units that year. Some sources reported it had 174 stores in the South and one in the Midwest. The chain closed in 1998 and was sold to its competitor, Piccadilly Cafeterias. The original Morrison’s still operates in Mobile but as a Piccadilly unit.

Some blame Morrison's closing on a lack of interest in cafeterias over the years. Others might blame its broad expansion into institutional facilities such as schools and hospitals.

I say bring the cafeterias back; it may be time to re-ignite the concept.

Your favs? Britts, Polly Davis, Boulevard, Sweden House or ...?

For more on the Sweet Building, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/04/fort-lauderdales-first-skyscraper-nine.html

Sources:

Miami Herald, Nov. 3, 1920

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 24, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 24, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, April 19, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 25, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 4, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 30, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 16, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 8, 1935

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 1, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 19, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, March 9, 1969

Sun-Sentinel, Nov. 18, 1990

https://mobilebaymag.com/ask-mcgehee-77/


Tags: Fort Lauderdale cafeterias, Fort Lauderdale history, Morrison's cafeteria, 

Friday, June 23, 2023

Build a hospital, they will come: the Holy Cross Hospital story



Holy Cross Hospital in 1996: expanded since this photo
State Archives of Florida













Holy Cross Hospital
4725 N. Federal Highway,
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
954-771-8000
https://www.holy-cross.com/


By Jane Feehan

With its population boom during the late 1940s and '50s, Fort Lauderdale faced the need to expand its medical facilities. The roster of hospitals at that time included Broward General, Las Olas Clinic, the West Broward Emergency Hospital, and Provident Hospital (for the Black community).

No hospitals were available in the city’s north, a relatively desolate area, but as early as 1951 needs were anticipated.

In March of 1952, community leaders gathered to develop a plan for a new hospital. In December that year, land was made available by Arthur T. Galt to the Diocese of St. Augustine (all Florida Catholics fell under its jurisdiction until 1952). That land, 22 acres on North Federal Highway near Floranada, was described as “high and natural rather than filled in.” It would be easily accessible to residents of north Broward County as well as those in Fort Lauderdale.

The public, about 4,000 Fort Lauderdale residents, raised half the required funds for the 200-bed, $2,217,000 hospital. Pledges came in for real estate, stocks, bonds and cash. The diocese contributed the remainder. Ground was broken on Nov. 29, 1953. Six leaders of the Holy Cross Hospital Fund drive were on hand for the ceremony: William H. Maus, James S. Hunt*, J.D. Camp, Most Rev. Joseph P. Hurley of the Archdiocese of St. Augustine, Msgr. John O’Looney, pastor of St. Anthony Church in Fort Lauderdale, and Robert H. Gore.

Gust K. Newberg Construction Co. was tapped to build the structure and architects Steward and Skinner designed the five-story, E-shape building. Both companies were from Miami. Msgr. Rowan T. Rastatter served as hospital administrator and the Sisters of St. Joseph chosen to run the facility.

Holy Cross Hospital was completed ahead of schedule and opened Dec. 8, 1955. Fifty beds were available that day with capacity to increase to 300 as community needs grew. A mass and dedication were held that morning. An hour later, Fort Lauderdale resident Charles H. Horberg was admitted as the hospital’s first patient for diagnosis and observation.

Classified ads soon appeared with real estate possibilities for a flower shop and other businesses ancillary to hospital operations. Swanky Frank’s, a drive-in restaurant already open several years, publicized its address as “at Holy Cross Hospital.” (A few years later, Burger King opened nearby and later moved to Commercial Boulevard.) That east-west artery soon became a major hub of residential and business development in Fort Lauderdale.

Today, a much larger Holy Cross Hospital houses 557 beds, provides outpatient facilities throughout Broward and Palm Beach counties, has established Holy Cross Urgent Care Centers, Holy Cross Medical Group Practices and the Holy Cross HealthPlex for hospital outpatients. It operates as Holy Cross Health with Michigan-based Trinity Health as parent company.


* James H. Hunt chaired the group after J. D. Camp became ill. For his successful efforts, Hunt was awarded the first Fort Lauderdale Daily News and WFTL-TV Citizens Medal of Honor in 1954.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 22, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, April 23, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 30, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, March 13, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, April 22, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, June 6, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 15, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 23, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 4, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 8, 1955

 https://www.holy-cross.com/

 

 Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hospitals, Holy Cross Hospital, Holy Cross Health



Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Before Galt Mile condos, an amusement park?

 

Galt Mile 2023

By Jane Feehan

An amusement park was once proposed for a strip of land  owned by Arthur T. Galt. Known today as the Galt Ocean Mile or Galt Mile, it’s home to more than 28,400 residents. 

Members of the North Beach Improvement Association were shocked by an announcement made about the project in December 1949. A bad idea said J. H. Hansen, president of the civic group. He was surprised Arthur T. Galt endorsed the plan for a boardwalk, parking lot, concessions for food and other businesses, traditional fairground rides for kids and cabanas for adults. Aluminum cabanas were to be rented for “$2000 per 100-foot frontage” along a boardwalk for three-year terms. Noted Fort Lauderdale architect Clinton Gamble was already working on plans and construction was expected to soon start. 

The association wanted to change zoning for the beachside property to allow only construction of “high-type apartment buildings and hotels.” This would protect the property values of nearby residential areas. Land values involved more than zoning. The land fell within Oakland Park boundaries and the city wanted to annex the strip. Taxes on that land would be a boon to the city while maximizing Galt’s burden. But Fort Lauderdale had also wanted to annex. Galt preferred annexation by Fort Lauderdale; it was more prestigious. Lawsuits flew into 1951-52 over annexation and the amusement park plans receded into memory.

In 1928, when real estate investments took a steep decline due to the 1926 hurricane, Arthur T. Galt bought 4,000 acres bounded by Federal Highway east to the ocean, and from Fort Lauderdale to Pompano. He sold some of it to the Coral Ridge Development Company in the 1940s, retaining ownership of that one strip he thought so beautiful.

By 1953, things changed. Pressed by estate tax issues and reluctant to have his last remaining tract of land annexed by Oakland Park, Galt sold his oceanside parcel for more than $19 million to Joseph P. Taravella and James S. Hunt of Coral Ridge Properties. Fort Lauderdale annexed the area in 1955.

Before Galt sold to Taravella and Hunt, he visited Fort Lauderdale in 1952—the first time since he purchased the 4,000 acres and its coveted beach mile. He said he was impressed by how much Fort Lauderdale had grown. 

He must have had an idea about what that mile would be worth one day. During the Depression he continued to pay taxes on his Oakland Park/Fort Lauderdale property while foregoing those on his Chicago holdings—a much better idea than the beachside amusement park.

A lawyer, developer and philanthropist, Arthur T. Galt died at age 92 in 1968.


See index for more on Galt Mile History

Sources

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 2, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, March 31, 1951

Fort Lauderdale News, June 14, 1951

Fort Lauderdale News, March 24, 1952

Chicago Tribune, Sept. 14, 1968


Tags: Galt Mile, Galt Ocean Mile, Arthur T. Galt, Fort Lauderdale history, History of Fort Lauderdale


Friday, May 26, 2023

Fort Lauderdale's Little Yankee Stadium: work now, play later and people power

 

Little Yankee Stadium,
State Archives of Florida

Little Yankee Stadium

Today,  Floyd V. Hull Stadium
2800 SW 8th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
954-828-7275

 

By Jane Feehan

Some called him “candidate for a nuthouse.” But Floyd Vance Hull, attorney and father, showed the city of Fort Lauderdale what could be done with a little elbow grease and a lot of community spirit.

In June of 1963 he presented a plan for a Little League ballpark to the city commission and its parks and advisory board. The proposed site was a “swampy” piece of “surplus” city land, not far from where the  Yankees trained. 

The catch: the park wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime; it would be paid for with donations. He asked only that the city prioritize Little League operations for 10 years in exchange for a dollar a year. Hull’s proposal raised eyebrows and stoked ridicule. Mayor Cy Young held little regard for the idea and had wanted to sell the land.

Perhaps on a dare or convinced by Hull’s enthusiasm, Fort Lauderdale approved the plan in September 1963.

Hull delivered. By January 1965 he had raised more than $200,000 in cash, materials and labor. About 1,100 contributors stepped up to the plate (and were individually credited per terms of agreement); donations continued to flow as the first phase of the project was completed that month. Over 60,000 cubic yards of fill was donated and then leveled at no charge. About 12,000 square feet of sod was laid by volunteers—mostly fathers, mothers, Little League umpires and players. A slogan was adopted, “work now, play later.” Lighting eventually installed was deemed as good as that of Yankee Stadium and the Orange Bowl.

Little Yankee Stadium transitioned from a crazy idea to reality. City and county officials were “astonished.” Hull lauded retired U.S Army Reserve Captain Alan Morton and his Fort Lauderdale engineering unit for bringing the project to fruition. His team of 131 reservists worked with trucks on the field as part of their weekend training commitment.

In mid-February 1965, the Federal Little League and its senior division held tryouts for 24 teams with slots for 400 kids, 9-15 years old. A tournament was held that summer. The Broward County School Board installed 2,000 feet of fencing in exchange for rights to play junior varsity football at the park, which soon held three baseball fields and one football field. Sponsors such as Powell Ford lined up to help pay for state tournaments.   

By March 1971, stadium facilities, valued at $750,000 held 1,000 seats, included a press box, concession and restroom building. Little League headquarters claimed the park to be the “finest facility of its kind in the nation" and the “number one Little League facility in the world.” 

The Big League World Series featuring 16-18 year olds, was held at Fort Lauderdale’s Little League Stadium for 29 years until 1998. Slammed by low attendance and difficulties securing hotel accommodations for its nine-day schedule, the series moved to another state. (The series ran its course from 1968 until after the 2016 games.)

Today Fort Lauderdale’s Floyd Hull Stadium, a city park, features baseball/softball facilities, grills, tables, swings and more for recreation.   

Floyd Hull, president of the local Federal Little League, the Little League Stadium and director of the Big League World Series retired in 1998 or 1999. He was born in Fort Lauderdale, graduated from Pompano Beach High School and the University of Florida law school. He served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) from 1951-1954 and as municipal judge in Fort Lauderdale. A husband and father of four, he died at 87 in 2015. His was a life well lived and testament to “people power.”  

Today we need more with Hull’s vision, enthusiasm and ability to rally community spirit.

 

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 10, 1965

Fort Lauderdale News, May 21, 1967

Fort Lauderdale News, March 30, 1971

Fort Lauderdale News, April 3, 1973

Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 10, 1998

Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 29, 2015


Tags: Little Yankee Stadium, Floyd Hull, Fort Lauderdale sports, Florida sports, baseball, Fort Lauderdale history, Little League, Big League World Series

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Fort Lauderdale water quality issues in the 1980s, a recent sewer saga, and a national health report on ...

 

Fort Lauderdale, Venice of America
State Archives of Florida/Hannou

By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s foundation for tourism and key to its commercial and residential development has been its water. Ocean, canal and Intracoastal waters all play a role in the city’s positive identity as “Venice of America.”

During the past few years, however, headlines about Fort Lauderdale’s flooding and sewer issues have thrown a wet blanket on the perils of over development. Downtown and adjacent neighborhood flooding and a rash of broken sewer pipes since 2019 threaten the city’s quality-of-life reputation.

Water issues are not new to this seaside city.  Clouds started gathering over the quality of Fort Lauderdale’s drinking water decades ago. In 1982 the Environmental Protection Agency (created in 1970 to protect human health and the environment) warned Fort Lauderdale that its drinking water had three times as much of a cancer-causing agent as federal guidelines allowed.

The cancer-causing agents—trihalomethanes or THMs— are formed when chlorine used to clean drinking water mixes with decaying vegetative materials such as leaves in the underground water supply. The federal government recommended no more than 100 parts per billion of THMs and Fort Lauderdale’s drinking water contained 350-440 parts per billion. The city was ordered to notify the public in water bills and in local newspapers for three months that measures were to be taken to remedy the situation by 1984.

The city spent $2 million on a new filtering system in 1982 or '83. Then politics seeped through. Mayor Virginia Young said the fed’s warning was a scare tactic. City consultants said don’t worry, it would take decades and decades of drinking water with more than 100 parts THMs to get cancer. Cancer chances were only 1 in 10 million. Environmentalist groups said take heed, it was a real problem.  The American Water Works Association threatened the EPA with a law suit to compel the agency to adopt lower standards.

The new federal standards were passed into law Nov. 29, 1983; all municipalities serving more than 10,000 residents must comply.

Water standards and compliance measures were the stuff of headlines for years. A number of Broward County cities exceeded THM standards, including Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Sea Ranch Lakes and Lazy Lake. Other Broward cities were added to the list (one had more than 550 parts); Fort Lauderdale and Sea Ranch Lakes water sources usually ranked highest. THMs standards remain controversial to this day but cities, including Fort Lauderdale. are coping with the standards to provide clean drink water.

Ammonia was added to the water treatment protocol but brings its own problems. It doesn’t sanitize as well as chlorine and causes stomach problems. Charcoal filtering has been an option for homeowners, but it isn’t as effective as chlorine. Chlorine with or without ammonia is still used but today’s process may be more sophisticated or complex to effectively deliver clean water.

I’m not a scientist, and only a bit familiar with the water treatment process (I have visited and written about a treatment plant), but food for thought: Between late 2019 and early 2021 more than 211 million gallons of raw sewage from broken pipes were released into Fort Lauderdale streets, waterways and its George English Park. Water was periodically tested and deemed safe after sanitizing measures. The city is committed to and is replacing faulty sewer pipes.

And now, a report to ponder: In March 2023, local news reported that health experts claim Broward County leads the state and nation in cases of advanced breast cancer. Nova’s AutoNation Institute of Breast Cancer Research is looking into possible causes, which include genetics, education, nutrition or environment. A two-year study is or will be underway.  

Questions research should answer:

  • How would Fort Lauderdale's THM levels and/or today's "forever" chemicals known as PFAs, compare to other cities around the state and nation? EWG ranks Florida in the top five or six states with unacceptable THM levels ("Legal does not mean safe") but NY is higher
  • What Broward cities are most involved in the tally of cases? 
  • How does the age demographic factor into increased cancer levels?

The city of Fort Lauderdale produces yearly water quality reports along with illustrations of the water purification process at: https://www.fortlauderdale.gov/government/departments-i-z/public-works/utilities-division/water-quality-report .  

Environmental Working Group or EWG, publishes tap water qualities for Fort Lauderdale at: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/systemcontaminant.php?pws=FL4060486&contamcode=2950

Or for other cities, see: https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/

Let’s hope findings are crystal clear, unclouded by politics and developers and unrelated to Fort Lauderdale’s past and recent history of high THM levels or the sewage problem.

 

Other sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 6, 1982

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 20, 1982

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 24, 1982

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 21, 1982

Sun-Sentinel, March 26, 1994

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 7, 2020

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 29, 2021

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 21, 2023

EWG

WSVN TV – March 21, 2023


Tags: Fort Lauderdale water quality, Fort Lauderdale utilities, Fort Lauderdale history