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| Scenic New River Fort Lauderdale 1948 Florida State Archives |
In June 1945, the final official Florida State Census revealed the following about Florida and a few of its counties:
Florida population in 1945 was at 2,247,039, an increase of 349,624 over the 1940 census and 640,196 more than the Census of 1930. (In 1830 there were 34,730 residents in the state.)
Broward population in 1945 reached 50,442 compared to 39,794 in 1940.
The five largest counties, ranked from the top: Dade, Duval, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk. Palm Beach County was 119 people short of being ranked ahead of Polk.
South Florida counties gained three House of Representative seats at the expense of North Florida. Those were: Brevard, Lee and Sarasota. Northern counties that lost representation and became one-seat counties were: Madison, Putnam and Suwannee.
The biggest population increases in Florida were in counties where there were military installations and new war industries. Broward's golden decade of growth was five or six years away.
Source:
Fort Lauderdale Daily News, June 11, 1945
U,S. Census
