Florida shows signs of growth and development in the 1940s

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

Tags: History of Fort Lauderdale, Florida population in 1940s, Broward County population in the 1940s, Broward Ciunty history, Fort Lauderdale history

Dividing Florida into two, selling northern part to Georgia for ...?

Florida map 1906 - more roads
& development
in
north 
(Dept Agriculture).
  

By Jane Feehan

As the United States was about to end World War II in June 1945, Florida was embroiled in a war of sorts between its north and south. When population growth shifted to South Florida, debate arose over senatorial reapportionment. North Florida had 23 senators at the time for every 37,000 people. South Florida had 15 for every 100,000. A quagmire developed when northern legislators repeatedly voted down or blocked bills for reapportionment.

In an effort to break the deadlock the “Two Bit Club,” a group of lawyers, doctors and other professionals from Palm Beach County, telegrammed their representatives “to introduce a memorial memorializing the Congress of the United States to provide by proper action for a dividing of the State of Florida into two states.”

Also hoping to move things along, the Belle Glade Herald offered Georgia Governor Ellis Arnall a large part of Florida:

Extend your South boundary to the Gulf of Mexico due south on the western side in a generally south-southwest direction from the present southeast corner of your State – the State of Florida to accept in token payment from Georgia two 300-pound hogs and one good hound dog.

Gov. Arnall replied: “Georgia will be delighted to have all or any part of Florida. We like the people of Florida. We like the State. Many of your citizens are Georgians anyway.”

Tongue-in-cheek proposals aside, concessions were made over the years. But shifting populations continually drive redistricting. Since the debate of the 1940s however, only Key West has proposed secession – secession from the United States as the Conch Republic in 1982.

Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources

Palm Beach Post, June 3, 1945

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, June 5, 1945

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, June 6, 1945

Tags: Florida history, Florida secession, Florida reapportionment debate, Two Bit Club, 
film researcher

A carload of plaster and a bit of screen: Dark days for South Florida builders during WWII

Fort Lauderdale 1948
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

One carload of plaster, and screening for five houses was available in Florida to build houses in 1945 when the U.S. was still at war with Japan. Supplies were few throughout the nation but the problem was acute in South Florida, which was fast becoming a tourist destination in need of hotels. It was also growing in year-round population looking for permanent homes.

At a chamber of commerce meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Aug. 1, 1945, the North Florida director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), M.M. Parrish, told an anxious crowd of 200 prospective home builders that it was going to be tough to get a “priority” (a word of war time ration culture) for permits to build until the war was over.  It was impossible to guarantee enough materials.

He warned the builders that one should not buy a lot or hire an architect until assured of obtaining one of the 100 priorities available.

Families of permanent citizenship status with several children would be given priority if they used masonry construction and planned to live in the homes themselves.  Parrish dictated other rules for builders: 

• They could not spend less than $3,500 on construction;
• Houses could not be sold for more than $7,500, even if $15,000 was spent on construction;
• FHA would have final say over types of materials, rental, sale and even the layout of a home;
• FHA would maintain control until the end of the war.

The FHA was formed in the 1930s during the Great Depression with the purpose of providing lenders sufficient insurance. During World War II they kept strict control over home building. Today, the FHA assists those who cannot afford a down payment on a home.

By August of 1945, the City of Fort Lauderdale collected the highest taxes of its history: $656,000. U.S. unemployment rate was 1.9 percent. Japan surrendered August 14, 1945.

By 1948, construction picked up; more supplies were available. Estimated Fort Lauderdale building costs on permits in July topped $1,5 million. Permits increased that year in communities throughout South Florida,

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Sources:

Miami News, Aug. 2 1945

Fort Lauderdale News, July 31, 1948

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale during World War II, Florida during WWII, Fort Lauderdale during the 1940s, historical researcher