 |
| Fort Lauderdale circa 1940 Florida State Archives/Florida Memories |
The Fort Lauderdale Daily News (November 24, 1941, a few weeks before Pearl Harbor) printed an ad with the following facts about the city:
Apartments - 210 buildings, 1,100 units
Banks - 3
Churches - 20 representing 16 denominations
Climate - 76.0 degrees yearly mean temperature
Hotels - 34 buildings, 2014 rooms
Office Buildings - 14
Population - Permanent, 17,996; Winter, 45,000
Public Parks - 8
Schools - Public, 6 elementary; 2 junior and senior high schools; 2 private day; 3 parochial; 1 boarding, 1 Black school (public); 2 business colleges; 2 art schools.
In the same issue a story about about local waterways provided the following information:
Two hundred miles of waterways within the city limits, 57 bridges, and 30 big-game charter fishing guide boats tied up in New River. Last winter 600 yachts were tied uBep in snug anchorage in New River, which runs through both business and residential sections of the city.
Before that decade ended, newcomers were confronted with a housing shortage in Fort Lauderdale and throughout South Florida. The word was out about what a great place this was to live. And today? With nearly 200,000 residents, choked roads, sky-high real estate prices and towering condos, the city has lost its charm but serves as refuge for those leaving less desirable places "up North."
Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in 1941, Fort Lauderdale before WWII, Fort Lauderdale at WWII, Florida history, Fort Lauderdale in the 40s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s,
