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| Opened in 1919 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory |
By Jane Feehan
Fort Lauderdale experienced rapid growth after World War I and needed a hotel. When approached about it, George E. Henry, from Massachusetts, decided to help the fledgling town. He owned suitable property on Andrews Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard. In moving forward with the project, Henry had an architect draw up plans and then put out bids for construction.
When the total price reached $140,000, $40,000 more than Henry agreed to pay, he suggested citizens raise cash for the overage. A citizens committee raised $23,000, but was still thousands short. City Council President Frank Stranahan stepped in and deeded Stranahan Park for $1 to someone who could sell it to Fort Lauderdale (as council president, Stranahan couldn’t sell land to the city). Fort Lauderdale paid $6,000 for the park and that money was turned over to the hotel building fund.
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| Lobby Circa 1930 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory |
Still short of the $140,000, Henry went ahead and built the four floor, 100-room Hotel Broward in Fort Lauderdale, the county’s first tourist hotel. It opened for the season in 1919 and counted among its first visitors actress Lillian Gish, filmmaker D. W. Griffith and his troupe of actors in Fort Lauderdale to make the movie, Idol Dancer.
Political will and community spirit merged to bring about the first hotel catering to tourists; it was far from the beach, though a causeway via Las Olas to the beach opened in 1917. A 1919 advertisement for Hotel Broward displays a menu and a $1.50 cover charge for their New Year’s Eve festivities. More highlights from that ad (capitalization of letters theirs):
- Located on the Dixie Highway mid-way between Palm Beach and Miami
- More for Your Money than Any Hotel in the South
- A Place of Elegance yet reasonable
- New Golf Course where Special rates are made to Tourists
- The Last Word in Fishing and Ocean Bathing
- John W. Needham, Leasee and Manager
The hotel deteriorated over the decades; much of it was rented out in later years as office space. A wrecking ball razed the "grand old lady of downtown Fort Lauderdale" in 1974.
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Sources:
Miami News, Dec. 30, 1919
Fort Lauderdale Herald, Dec. 30, 1919
Fort Lauderdale News, May , 1974
Weidling, Philip J., and Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).
Tags: History of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County history, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale hotels, Fort Lauderdale historic hotels
