Monday, May 12, 2014

Fighting polio with a ban on visitors from Fort Lauderdale, DDT spray and ...


Unidentified Florida twins with polio 1960
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory
By Jane Feehan

With world news abuzz about the COVID19 pandemic and polio cases appearing recently in Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan,  it might be interesting to revisit the polio epidemic in the 1940s and 1950s in Fort Lauderdale. Below are bits and pieces that appeared in newspapers of those decades.

In 1946, North Carolina banned visitors from Fort Lauderdale for a few weeks out of fear hundreds of children visiting summer camps from the city would bring the polio virus with them. It had been a normal year for polio cases in North Carolina with about 19 cases reported. The ban had an economic impact on rail travel.

Sanitation workers sprayed DDT in alleys and garbage cans behind restaurants in Fort Lauderdale. Garbage trucks were followed by trucks with the deadly spray. Workers complained of sores and other skin problems after they were exposed daily to DDT. The Fort Lauderdale Caterers Association announced plans to underwrite spraying of the entire city.

Polio cases with fatalities declined in 1949 in Fort Lauderdale, and rose in 1952 with a total of 77 cases. But the city, as Florida, was hit hard in 1953 and 1954. About 57,000 and 36,000 cases were reported respectively nation-wide, making those years among the worst of polio epidemics in the U.S. since it first appeared in 1894 in this country.

An outbreak occurred in northwest Fort Lauderdale in 1954 with 65 cases. About 2,000 mothers and children lined up at the public health building to receive gamma globulin immunizations. More than 200 were turned away when they ran out of supplies. Fort Lauderdale reported a total of 95 cases that year. The Salk vaccine was made available later in 1954 and was successful in qwelling the epidemic in Florida and across of the nation.

D-Day vet, Robert Q. “Whitey" Garrigus, Jr., who survived the Normandy invasion in 1944 as part of the 507th parachute regiment and subsequently spent one year in a German prison camp, fell victim to bulbar polio in Fort Lauderdale. The former Miami High football star died July 5, 1954 at Variety Children’s hospital after being stricken by the disease at his home at 1500 NW 11 Place.

After Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine was developed and used successfully at schools during the 1954 epidemic, cases dropped dramatically in Fort Lauderdale and across the nation.

The last U.S. case occurring naturally, i.e., not via the vaccine, was in 1979. A case was reported in Fort Lauderdale in 1996 that may have resulted from the vaccine.

Rotary Club International has embraced the mission of wiping out polio around the globe. According to its website, the last case of wild poliovirus in the Americas occurred in 1991, and by 1994, the Western Hemisphere became polio-free. Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.


Sources:
Miami News, June 16, 1946
Miami News, Jan. 11, 1949
Miami News, Oct. 13, 1952
St. Petersburg Times, July 2, 1954
Miami News, July 6, 1954
Miami News, July 18, 1954
Palm Beach Post, May 14, 1955
Ocala Star Banner May 15, 1955
Palm Beach Post, May 9, 1970
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 3, 1996

Tags: polio, Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Bookies, wiretappers and organized crime in Fort Lauderdale 1922




By Jane Feehan

Boom times beckoned many to Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, including organized criminal types.

In 1922, a well-dressed group of men rented the Oliver home downtown with more than sand and surf in their plans.The visitors, who drove fancy cars, displayed expensive golf bags and threw big tips around, didn’t extend social invitations to locals to their rented quarters, raising suspicions. But would-be gamblers had little need for invitations. They beat a path to the rented Oliver home, hoping to leave with winnings from off-track betting. The well-heeled gang promised sure wins; they had wiretapped telephones at horse tracks.   

Their elaborate scheme didn’t really include wiretapping; it was a ruse that eventually sent the unsuspecting to New Orleans by train with a gang member to pick up big winnings at their “headquarters.” The gang member would disappear en-route, leaving the gambler with nothing but a train ride.  Victims, engaged in illegal gambling, didn’t bother reporting their misfortune to the police.

Nevertheless, word got around about bookies and wiretapping and a government raid on February 19, 1922, netted 13.  Bail was posted and the men (all had given fictitious names), were set free. That was the end of the first organized crime foray into Fort Lauderdale.

The following month, Gov. Carey Hardee appointed Paul C. Bryan as Broward’s new sheriff.  Bryan delivered a warning to criminals: those who came to Broward County would come to grief. “No wiretappers shall operate here.”

Hello Miami.
Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.




____________
Sources:
1. Weidling, Philip J. , Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).
2. Fort Lauderdale Herald, Feb. 20, Feb. 22, 1922
3. Miami News, March 3, 1922.

Tags: Florida in the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s,  organized crime in South Florida, Fort Lauderdale history, Sheriff Paul Ryan, film research, Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Those 1960s Fort Lauderdale Night Spots



Live entertainment reigned in Fort Lauderdale restaurants and clubs of the 1960s. Below is a list of hot spots, some with the entertainers they regularly showcased. A few, such as Woody Woodbury, who celebrated his 99th birthday in 2023, were more familiar to people than the venues they appeared at.  Andy Bartha’s Dixieland Band was a big draw at several places in Fort Lauderdale and Pompano. There were other clubs and restaurants, but these places were landmarks.


Bahama Hotel – Woody Woodbury – See more about Woody at: www.woodywoodbury.com

Bahia Cabana - off A1A (torn down) near Bahia Mar

Beach Club Hotel - A1A and Oakland Park Boulevard

Captain Al Starts Showboat Belle at A1A and 36th Street

Cat's Meow - off 17th Street Causeway

Cellar Bar on Federal Highway

Charcoal Pit – Federal and Sunrise Boulevard – Living Room Lounge

Chateau Madrid – Kennan Building – Federal and Oakland Park

Colonial Lounge – Federal Highway – any drink 48 cents

Dante’s Restaurant – Federal Highway

Fazio’s House of Prime Ribs – Federal Highway

Forum Restaurant – A1A and Las Olas – also featured lounge music at night

Gaslight Inn – State road 7 near Broward Boulevard

Heilman’s  - at one time featured duo Roger Fenton and Faye Cantrell who played drums wearing long white gloves.

Jolly Roger Hotel featured the Punchinellos.

Lamplighter – McNab Road in Pompano – Piano by Mr. Pinky

Le Dome of the Four Seasons – off Las Olas, west side of Intracoastal. Four Seasons condo still there

Mai Kai Restaurant – Polynesian revue. Still operating.

Marlin Beach Hotel on A1A showcased “Flip” Phillips

Muriels's Exotic Jade House, north of Lauderdale by the Sea

Mark 2100 - 1900 N. A1A with its Patio Bar nearly on the sand at the beach

Mousetrap – 2960 N. Federal Highway featured Pat Brown, Ed Hunt, Peggy Martin

Pier Top Lounge at Pier 66 – opened in 1965

Round Table Restaurant at Oakland Park and Federal – lounge with live music and jukeboxes with accompanying movies/videos – ahead of its time.

Rum House at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel

Sea Shore Resort – A1A north of Sunrise featured Danny Bridge and the        Tunesmen at the Tapis Lounge

Statler Hilton Hotel on the Galt Mile

Tale O’ the Tiger – N. Federal Highway – featured Jay Wray

Tea House of the Tokyo Moon – Seabreeze Boulevard – live music

TJ's Lounge on Commercial Boulevard - jazz

Yankee Clipper featured a Polynesian Revue. Today, home of world acclaimed mermaid show at the Wreck Bar (swimming pool with portal windows to the bar)



Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale entertainment history

Friday, April 4, 2014

Dooley's coffin nails - building ships for WWII in Broward County

Fort Lauderdale beach today




By Jane Feehan

Thousands of military trained in South Florida in preparation for World War II, but training was only one aspect of Broward County’s contribution to the war effort. On Labor Day, Sept. 7, 1942 Dooley’s Basin and Dry Dock (later Broward Marine) launched three war craft, the largest mass launching of such vessels in Florida at the time. 

A 110-foot sub chaser (P-710) and two 104-foot rescue craft (P-150) slid into the New River in Dania. The sub chaser was to be outfitted with guns and armaments and the rescue boats with hospital facilities before deployment.

The boats were christened with bottles of wine by an employee and the wives of two other employees—one of whom had four sons serving in the war. In accord with the federal War Production Board's wishes, there was no other observance of Labor Day. It was back to work for the company’s 300 plus employees.

The company’s president, Paul Dooley, said the vessels were another nail in the coffin of the enemy; he hoped there would be many more. By war’s end another sub chaser and 95 other rescue boats were produced by Dooley’s shipyard. The nation built 124,000 ships of all types during World War II. (America’s ramped-up production of military weapons and aircraft during World War II was remarkable. According to historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the U.S. produced 800 military airplanes in 1939. By 1942, it was producing 4,000 a month; at the end of 1943, the monthly count was up to 8,000.)

Dooley’s Basin and Dry Dock was recognized by the American Legion for its hiring of vets after the war. However, business did not fare well for long. Military contracts came to an end and Dooley’s government contract for pre-fabricated houses fell through in 1945. More than half its employees were laid off. The company was purchased in 1948 by Frank Denison and was then known as Broward Marine, once the county’s largest employer. Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:
Miami News, Sept. 7, 1942
Miami News, Feb. 13, 1945
Miami News, Sept. 19,1945
Ambrose, Stephen E. D-Day June 6, 1945. New York: Simon & Schuster (1994)


Tags: Broward County history, Broward County in World War II, Broward County shipbuilding in WWII, Broward County in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Mackey Airlines, its colorful founder ... and Fort Lauderdale


Mackey 1972 destinations -
 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory









By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s Mackey Airlines played a leading role in the South Florida aviation scene from 1946 when it was established as Mackey Air Transport, a charter airline, to 1967 when it merged with Eastern Airlines.  

Founder Joseph Creighton Mackey started up four airlines, including Mackey International operating 1969-1981. His life and career resembles a film script.

Convair CV-240 -
one type flown by Mackey Air
Mackey (1909-1982) was known as a circus barnstormer or aerial stuntman before he served in the USAF during World War II, reaching rank of colonel. Before the U.S. entered the fighting, Mackey was recruited as a ferry pilot for the Canadian war effort. In 1941 he was pilot and sole survivor of an air crash in Newfoundland. Three died on their way to England Feb. 21, including 49-year-old Dr. Sir Frederick Grant Banting who co-discovered insulin as a treatment for diabetes.

In 1943, Colonel Mackey served as commander of the First Foreign Transport Group that flew for the Fireball Express, touted then as the world’s longest, fastest air freight line. Mackey and crew operated four-engine giant C-54 transport planes from Miami to India. The  Fireball Express crew told Miami News reporters that they made the 28,000-mile round trip in “as quickly as six days, 10 hours and 15 minutes.” One year after the freight line started, it logged nearly 7,000,000 miles with only two fatalities.

After the war, Mackey returned to Fort Lauderdale where he had lived on Sunset Drive since 1937. He launched Mackey Air Transport in 1946 (it transitioned to Mackey Airlines in 1953) with routes from Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach to the Caribbean and Cuba.  His Fort Lauderdale-based air carrier became one of only three in the U.S., including Pan Am, to earn a government certification as an International Airline.

After Eastern Airlines bought Mackey routes in 1967 for $19 million, the colonel started up Mackey International Airlines (1969). Its Fort Lauderdale headquarters was bombed in 1977 by a Cuban exile group who objected to Mackey’s vice president meeting with the Cuban government to re-establish air routes. As a result, the airline withdrew from negotiations. Mackey International Airlines closed its doors in 1981.

Joseph Mackey was inducted into the Aviation Hall of Fame six months before he died at his Flamingo Road home near Davie in 1982. Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

For a post about Fort Lauderdale's first aviatorMerle Fogg,  see:


Sources:
Miami News, Feb. 15, 1982
Miami News, Nov. 12, 1944
Miami News, Feb. 25, 1941
       


Tags: Fort Lauderdale aviators, Fort Lauderdale history, Florida airlines, Joseph Creighton Mackey, Mackey Airlines, film researcher


Monday, March 17, 2014

Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum: a salute to the missing of Flight 19 and ...

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 6, 1945; newspaper displayed at Naval Air Station
 Thirteen more airmen were lost in a search for
the missing squadron










Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum
4000 West Perimeter Rd., Fort Lauderdale, 33315
Open Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 am to 3:30 pm - CALL FIRST
Staffed by volunteers - call first


By Jane Feehan

There’s a slice of World War II military history sitting near Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport that draws visitors from around the world. They pay homage to those who trained here, including President George H. W. Bush, and to the 27 men of the Lost Squadron or mysterious Flight 19 and its rescue plane.

The Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Museum houses the Link Trainer Building #8, which was added to the National Register of Historical Places May 20, 1998. Navy vet Allan McElhiney, who served on the US Asheville in Port Everglades during World War II, founded the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association in 1979. The group saved the landmark building, so called after the Link Trainer, a flight simulator widely used in WWII. 

Broward County Property Appraiser at the time, Lori Parrish, took interest in the NAS and was instrumental in finding a Department of Transportation grant to move Building #8, the remaining building of the WWII campus, in 1999, to its present location off Perimeter Road. The move saved the structure from demolition, paving the way for creation of the museum.

The building was one of more than 200 constructed at the site to serve as a training center, part of
Work order for building #8
the Navy Air Operational Training Command, specializing in TBM/TBF Avenger aircraft. U.S. Navy and marine personnel as well as some of the British Royal Navy graduated from the facility. Nearly 1,700 pilots and thousands of air crewmen passed through this NAS, one of 257 across the nation at that time.

Broward County turned over the old Merle Fogg Airport to the military shortly after Pearl Harbor (1941). The training facility was built in early 1942 for about $6 million. It was expected to be used for five years. The NAS was decommissioned in 1946 and turned back over to the county in 1947.
 
Nineteen year-old Ensign George H.W. Bush trained at the NAS in 1943. His instructor was Thomas “Tex” Ellison, uncle of Jim Naugle, Fort Lauderdale’s mayor 1991-2009. A recreation of Bush’s room is featured in the museum.

The museum also serves as memorial to the men who went missing on the mysterious Flight 19. On Dec. 5, 1945, at 2 p.m., five TBM Avengers carrying 14 crew set out on a routine training mission over the Atlantic near Bimini. Ninety minutes later, flight leader Lt. Charles C. Taylor made the first of several radio transmissions to the NAS reporting that he and the other four planes were lost. When nothing more was heard from the flight several hours later, a PBM Mariner flying boat with 13 on board was sent to look for Flight 19. It too, was lost. A five-day search in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico failed to yield any clues to the disappearance of the 27 men, igniting the Bermuda Triangle controversy. The navy closed its investigation into Flight 19 citing loss of fuel in bad weather. Since then, the incident remains a tantalizing mystery.

Replicas of the missing planes are on exhibit as well as more than one hundred handmade 
Replicas of the Lost Squadron plus its missing
rescue plane

models of different aircraft. Also displayed:  a Link Trainer, uniforms of the period, documents, books, photographs, personal memorabilia, and paintings by late artist Bob Jenny. Outside the museum sits two torpedoes, a 3-inch gun from a WWI ship and Hedgehog.

A Link Trainer (flight simulator)
In 1992, before the museum was established, President George H.W. Bush visited Building #15 (since destroyed) where he lived as an ensign and signed several Bob Jenny paintings, one a 27-foot mural now at the Link Trainer Building #8.

WWII vets and a few relatives of the lost crewmen of Flight 19 visit the NASFL Museum as well as donate diaries, artifacts and other memorabilia to be placed on display or archived. Visitors also include those who appreciate the role played by the NASFL during WWII and in Broward County’s history.  Many who trained at NASFL returned after the war to make Fort Lauderdale their home, contributing to the explosive growth of the city in the 1950s.

The NASFL played an important part not only in the city’s history but also in the readiness of the nation during WWII. The navy was hesitant in giving the training station up in 1947 and in fact, ordered it re-activated the same year. The order was soon rescinded. The navy said they had been reluctant to turn the NASFL back over to Broward County “because of the uncertainty of future military requirements together with the important position the Fort Lauderdale station occupies in the navy’s mobilization and readiness plans.”

Today, the NASFL Museum retains an “important position” in recognition of the area’s contribution to the war effort and serves as a salute to those who gave their lives in that conflict. 

Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.


Sources:
Miami News, April 20, 1943
Miami News, April 30, 1947
Miami News, Dec. 8, 1948
Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Dec. 19, 1985


Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale during WWII, Flight 19, Link Trainer, Fort Lauderdale history, About Fort Lauderdale

Monday, March 10, 2014

Broward County reaches milestone in 1966



Broward County reached a milestone in 1966. By the end of March that year, 500,000 people claimed the county as permanent residence. The headcount rose at an estimated rate of 90 people a day: 20 being born, 12 dying and roughly 80-85 moving to the area each day.   That rate began in 1964 and continued through 1966.

The 1966 population number doesn’t seem impressive when compared to that of 2021 which points to an estimated 1.9 million in Broward. In contrast, the 1950 population was counted at 83,933 persons; in 1960 the U.S. Census recorded 333,946. The rate slowed during the next decade; in 1970 the U.S. Census tallied 620,000 residents.

Broward County, established in 1915, is comprised of 30 municipalities within 1,196.9 square miles, including about 787 square miles (65 percent) of conservation area. (Little wonder that land values continue to soar.) The county’s boundaries, which extend 50 miles west and stretch 25 miles north to south, include 23 miles of sandy white beaches and 126 miles of navigable canals.Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:
Fort Lauderdale News, March 16, 1966
U.S. Census
Broward.org


Tags: Broward County history, Broward population, Fort Lauderdale historian, Miami historian