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| Fort Lauderdale 1955 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory |
In the 1950s*, gasoline was 24 cents a gallon, Thanksgiving dinner was $3 at Fort Lauderdale’s Governors Club Hotel and there were only three high schools in Broward County.
Five commissioners governed the county and its first elected representative, Dwight Rogers Sr., went to Washington. Florida’s turnpike was built, and Broward expanded west with the founding of Pembroke Pines, Plantation and six other municipalities. In 1950, Broward had only 83,000 residents while Fort Lauderdale was home to 37,000. By the end of the decade, Florida’s population grew by nearly 79 percent.
Fast forward to the 21st century and the picture is quite different.
Broward County is now the second largest in the state with a population of nearly two million in 2020 (up from 1.7 million in 2011). It’s run by nine commissioners, with districts spanning 31 municipalities and 25 unincorporated areas. The county’s school district, the sixth largest in the U.S and the only fully accredited public school district in the nation, now includes 33 high schools. Fort Lauderdale, Broward’s largest city, has a population of about 183,000 -- up from 165,521 in 2011.
*For more on Florida population of the 1950s, see:
Fast forward to the 21st century and the picture is quite different.
Broward County is now the second largest in the state with a population of nearly two million in 2020 (up from 1.7 million in 2011). It’s run by nine commissioners, with districts spanning 31 municipalities and 25 unincorporated areas. The county’s school district, the sixth largest in the U.S and the only fully accredited public school district in the nation, now includes 33 high schools. Fort Lauderdale, Broward’s largest city, has a population of about 183,000 -- up from 165,521 in 2011.
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| Fort Lauderdale Beach 1955 Florida State Archive |
*For more on Florida population of the 1950s, see:
https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2020/07/floridas-population-explosion-in-1950s.html
Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
Sources:
The Fabulous ‘50s by Jane Feehan, Sun-Sentinel (www.sun-sentinel.com), Aug. 21, 2002.
www.broward.org
www.browardschools.com
www.wikipedia.com