A Civil War hero and once resident of Fort Lauderdale, Edgar A Bras and his Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor, U.S. Army
Public domain

 

By Jane Feehan

Civil War veteran Edgar A. Bras (1841-1923) made his way to Fort Lauderdale in the 1900s. Approaching their final years, Bras and his wife moved in with their daughter Ethel and her husband, Herbert Otto.

Bras was a carpenter and farmer for most of his life. The Iowa native and his family moved to Kansas, then Nebraska and to Oklahoma. Fort Lauderdale was his final chapter, a quiet one but not far removed from the way he lived his life as a young man.  

No doubt, there were probably a few Civil War vets in Broward County during the 1900s. Bras was not only a vet of that conflict but also recipient of the Medal of Honor for his act of valor during the Battle of Spanish Fort in Mobile, Alabama. The action is listed as “Capture of Flag” On April 8, 1865.  

His military career was nothing if not one of dogged determination. It began when Bras, then 20, signed up with the 8^th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, U.S Army in Sept. 1861, about five months after the conflict erupted. He was promoted a few months later to Fifth Corporal.

Bras fought in the Battle of Shiloh, Tennessee (April 6-7, 1862) where he was shot in the upper thigh; the bullet remained there for the rest of his life. He was wounded again during the Battle of Corinth, Mississippi (April 29-May 30, 1862) where a bullet hit him in the head, lodging behind his left eye. He recovered (bullet removed?) and was promoted to Fourth Corporal in September 1862. When his term of service ended, he immediately signed up again, Jan. 11, 1864, with the same regiment and was again promoted, this time to First Sargeant. There were more battles to fight.

Mobile, Alabama was a port critical to Confederate supply lines and a favorite of Southern blockade runners. General R.S. Canby led Union forces into the Battle of Spanish Fort with an eye on capturing Mobile. Edgar Bras bravely charged through a Confederate camp at the fort and was able to capture the Confederate flag from a color bearer on April 8^th, 1865. For this action, he was commended and received the Medal of Honor. Mobile was not captured but Spanish Fort was rendered useless by Union forces.

The war ended April 9, 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox. President Andrew Johnson declared it officially over Aug. 20, 1866. The Medal of Honor was first available to Marines and those in the Navy in 1861; it was extended to the Army in 1862.

It appears that sense of duty never left Edgar Bras. While in Fort Lauderdale, approaching 80, he served as deacon and superintendent of Sunday school at First Baptist Church. He died in 1923 at 81, a few years after his wife. The final resting place for both is at Evergreen Cemetery. 

 Among the countless others to honor on Memorial Day are Edgar A. Bras and Alexander R. (Sandy) Nininger, both Medal of Honor recipients who lived in Fort Lauderdale. According to the National Medal of Honor Museum, “of the 40 million Americans who have served in the Armed Forces since the Civil War, only 3,519 have earned the Medal of Honor”

Medal of Honor, U.S. Army
Public domain

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

mohmuseum.org/the-medal/

ancestry.familysearch.org

iowasuvcw.org/monuments-in-the-state-of-alabama

IowaHistory.org

www.cmohs.org/

victoriacrossonline.co.uk/edgar-a-bras-moh/

Tags: Edgar A. Bras, Medal of Honor recipients – Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale history, Evergreen Cemetery, Sandy Nininger

Marlin Beach Hotel ... once leader in Fort Lauderdale beach entertainment

 

Fort Lauderdale 

Marlin Beach Hotel
17 S. Atlantic Blvd.Fort Lauderdale, FL

By Jane Feehan

Three West Point graduates (Class of 1946) from Pittsburgh agreed that Fort Lauderdale held solid prospects for a new hotel. They bought a beach site in 1951.

The Pittsburgh group—Roland Catarinella, Harold Gray and W.C. Powers—moved forward with their hotel idea, formed the Penndale Corporation and filed a fictitious name to do business as the Marlin Beach Hotel in 1952. The hotel was to include an underpass or tunnel to the beach, the first in Fort Lauderdale. The reason: heavy traffic (even then) along Atlantic Boulevard making it difficult to cross to the beach. They also announced plans for 51-rooms, an unusual lower-level lobby with ultra-violet lighting illuminating aquatic scenes and a cocktail lounge with glass walls providing an underwater view of the pool.

The Marlin Beach Hotel opened to an enthusiastic crowd Jan. 20,1953 with cocktails and a buffet. The lounge, unnamed at opening, was the biggest draw with its underwater pool view. The name for the nightspot was determined by a contest announced by manager L. Bert Stephens. The winner tapped a month later, was picked from nearly 5,800 entries. Fort Lauderdale resident Edward Elmer struck success with “Two Fathoms Down.” He received a $500 credit for drinks and food … a big sum those days when dinners often ran for less than $2 or $3. Deemed “bar sensation of the year” in 1953, the lounge provided music, comedy and underwater acts. In 1961, the popular nightspot was renamed the Jules Verne Room and continued to offer quality nightclub acts and dancing.

As with most Fort Lauderdale beach hotels, owners changed several times over the  decades.  Under new owners in the 1970s the then-named Marlin Beach Resort with over 90 rooms, was marketed to gay visitors. By the early ‘80s it became a “mecca for gay vacationers” drawing clientele from around the world.

According to news accounts, the hotel slipped into a downward spiral when a new owner set out to attract the college crowd in 1986 and failed; those efforts coincided with Fort Lauderdale’s plan to shed its spring break image. Marlin Beach Hotel fell into disrepair—and bankruptcy. Doors closed in April 1992 but not before 2000-3,500 gathered over two or three nights that month to party and reminisce about 20 years of popular tea dances, weddings and other gay community gatherings at the "grand old lady."

In 1995, a group purchased the closed Marlin Hotel and its 3.2 acres for $3.1 million (a low price tag in the 2020s) and developed Beach Place, the site of a Marriott Hotel and several casual restaurants, relegating the beach area’s singular nightlife of lounge acts to Fort Lauderdale’s past.

 
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

  Sources:

 Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 20, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 29, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 26, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 17, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 21, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 9, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, June 27, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 30, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 13, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, June 7, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 11, 1960

Fort Lauderdale News, March 19, 1961

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 10, 1961

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 19, 1992

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 13, 1995

Tags: Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale history, underwater acts, Jules Verne Room, Two Fathoms Down

Sailboat Bend, Fort Lauderdale's only neighborhood deemed a historic district

 

 By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s Sailboat Bend, once known as the “West Side,” was designated a historic district in 1992. It is the first neighborhood in the city so deemed.

The historic area sits within an area bounded by the F.E.C. Railway tracks on its east, Broward Boulevard on its north, and by the New River on the south and west. It’s accessible just a block or two beyond the Broward Center for the Performing Arts at 201 SW Fifth Avenue or via Sunrise Boulevard near the historic 11th Avenue Bridge. A sign indicates its boundary.

Sailboats give rise to thoughts about travel and adventure or simplicity and leisurely living. Those notions were probably held in varying degrees by sailing enthusiasts (“many young married couples”) who found their way to Fort Lauderdale during the early 1940s and moored their boats along the most extreme bend in the New River. It was during those years that the area was first referred to as Sailboat Bend. The city Commission confirmed it as a subdivision in 1945.

Sailboat Bend’s history reaches back centuries before its subdivision days.

It is thought Tequesta Indians lived there centuries ago—long before the Seminoles arrived in South Florida during the late 1700s. Artifacts of Indian inhabitants reportedly have been found there.

Some say the area was the site of the first fort built during the Second Seminole War (1835-42) by Major William Lauderdale, for whom the city is named. It is also written that the neighborhood is where the Cooley (or Colee) family was massacred in 1835—not at the now-named Colee Hammock Park at 1500 Brickell Drive (south fork of the New River). Their massacre may have been cause for Lauderdale's deployment to the New River area.

During the 20th century, the project to drain the Everglades, promoted by Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (1905-1909), began in Sailboat Bend with the staging of dredging equipment for construction of two canals. Fort Lauderdale is often referred to as “Gateway to the Everglades,” thus a reasonable point of entry for the drainage project.

Not all the area known as Sailboat Bend falls within the historic district.

Society pages in the newspapers during the 1940s referred to parties on some of the boats and the comings and goings of notables who docked at the bend during the winter. This non-historic area currently lies in the center of the toniest part of downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Proximity to downtown and the beauty of the river was not lost on those who sought profits selling lots along the bend in 1945. A group of owner-realtors, including resident Wen Mulligan, advertised "28 lots along the bend at Southwest 5th Avenue and Southwest 5th Street for $42,000 for sale ... easy terms." Given the crazy high prices of the 1920s in Fort Lauderdale, that price rings cheap if it was for all the lots.

In 1963 a prescient if not lucky developer wanted 600 feet to be vacated at the bend to make way for six high-rise buildings with 1,500 apartments. The proposal was nixed then, but today the same area, just outside the historic neighborhood, is the site of several spectacular buildings with hundreds of rental and condo units.

The historic Sailboat Bend is worth a drive through and a stop at its waterfront park. It presents a mix of old bungalows with a few (very few) grand homes along the river. Manicured lawns are not a feature of this neighborhood. Some of the streets may remind one of older sections of New Orleans with overgrown shrubs, vines and indigenous trees. A house of French Provincial design was described when purchased about 35 years ago, so impressions of similarity to New Orleans stand reasonable.

Sailboat Bend residents have objected, to no avail, to the number of social agencies built on the nearby Broward Boulevard perimeter of their neighborhood: a Salvation Army homeless shelter, an alcohol rehab facility, the Broward School Board and other agencies. A drive through Sailboat Bend streets seems worlds away.

About 2,200-2,800 residents reside in historic Sailboat Bend. The ordinance designating its historic status is reviewed every 10 years.

It’s not only worth a look, Sailboat Bend also deserves preservation of the city's largest collection of historic homes. 

Below: Aerial view- New River 1929

Florida State Archives/Hoit

*********

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

City of Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Sept. 30, 1942

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Oct. 19, 1942

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Aug. 19, 1943

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 14, 1945

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Oct. 17, 1945

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Nov. 1, 1945

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 4, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 25, 1963

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 16, 1987

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 8, 1988

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 29, 1989

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 25, 1990

Tags: Historic Neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods

Bahama Hotel, Fort Lauderdale beach hotel with an entertainment legacy

 

Bahama Hotel circa 1959
State Archives of Florida

Bahama Hotel
401 N. Atlantic Blvd. (now Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd)
Fort Lauderdale


By Jane Feehan

Among the hotels opened in Fort Lauderdale during the 1950s was the Bahama Hotel built in 1956. Guests were welcomed June 1 that year; it was one of several along the beach that proved to be popular among locals and tourists for entertainment and dining.

Kenneth G. Bacheller built and owned the three-story $800,000 project. The hotel’s motif was influenced by the Bahamas and featured 52 guest rooms all facing south. John B. O’Neill was the hotel architect. Its Chart Room sported a nautical theme with captain’s chairs, ship lanterns and charts of the seven seas. The pool, a scalloped design, sat in an outdoor area offering an informal breakfast and lunch bar.

Bacheller, a developer, builder, and banker, also built the nearby West Indies Hotel and Apartments. He may have had other projects in mind when he sold the Bahama Hotel in November 1957, less than two years after it opened. Realtors L.C. Judd and Lloyd E. Dutcher facilitated the sale (for a reported estimate of $1 million) to the newly formed Bahama Hotel, Inc., a group from Cleveland headed by two friends who were West Point graduates.

Ownership changed hands over the years, but its entertainment, including comedian Woody Woodbury, continued to draw for decades. Woodbury—100 years young as of this post and living in the area—first appeared at the Chart Room September 28, 1956. It proved to be a long, years long, engagement. 

His career includes subequent stints at sesveral Fort Lauderdale hotels and in Las Vegas. Woodbury also appeared on television and in several movies. His comedy albums remain available at Woodbury.com. He helped elevate the profile of the Bahama Hotel and that of Fort Lauderdale as a tourist destination with sophisticated shows during the late 1950s and throughout the 60s.  

The Bahama Hotel remained top of the list of places to stay on Fort Lauderdale’s beach for decades. But the city changed in the late 1980s; it shed its image as a spring break mecca for college students. 

By the 1990s and early 2000s, beach front property became a magnet for condo developers and hotel chains. As with today’s market, properties were grabbed up by investors and resold at higher prices over many months. Nevertheless, the Bahama Hotel continued to operate through uncertainty—even opening (perhaps leasing) the popular Deck Restaurant with its acclaimed jazz music in 2002—while potential developers submitted plans and applied for permits … and waited for city decisions.

Good times ended for the Bahama Hotel in 2004. The W Hotel, a Marriott brand, now sits astride the old sites of several properties, including the Bahama, from Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard (A1A) toward Birch Road off Riomar Street.

W Hotel from Riomar Street

The Bahama Hotel left fond memories of Woody Woodbury, the Chart Room, Deck Restaurant and something else: a time when Fort Lauderdale beach hotels served as entertainment destinations for local residents. A night on the town usually included a stop at one of the beach hotels for dinner, music or Woody Woodbury comedy.

 Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 11, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, June 17, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 23, 1956

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 2, 1957

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, May 5, 2001

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Feb. 24, 2002

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 30, 2005

Tags: Bahama Hotel, Woody Woodbury, Deck Restaurant, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale Hotels, Fort Lauderdale Hotel History

SOFLA transportation - Tri-Rail applause, troubles and a Brightline debut

 

Tri-Rail commuter train at MiamiCentral Station
Photo:Phillip Pessar/Miami 02/07/24
See license info below*

 

By Jane Feehan

As of this post, Tri-Rail has operated for 35 years in South Florida. In 1989 it was the first commuter train created in the United States in 20 years. Though the new highspeed, long-distance Brightline train commands recent transportation headlines, Tri-Rail history and current status are worth a look and a comparison.

 As SOFLA population grew in the 1980s, so did traffic on I-95. Proposed lane expansion and reconstruction projects were expected to present huge snarls during typical morning and evening commutes in the next few years. In anticipation of the work, ideas for a tri-county train service transitioned to solid plans by 1986.

Rapid completion of a new railroad was critical. A $400 million interstate reconstruction project was slated to begin in Broward County in January 1989. Tri-Rail was promoted as an alternative to the anticipated I-95 traffic mess; commuting times were expected to increase by at least one third. Rail officials said they could provide their alternative service by 1988.

There were hurdles to jump in the three years before rail service was expected to begin. Many SOFLA residents resisted building Tri-Rail when it was proposed. 

Some cited an increase in taxes as a problem; others thought the service would not appeal to many and it would fail.  Funding was an issue – who was going to pay—federal, state or county? Other than start-up costs to fund, operations were expected to run nearly $11 million a year. (Costs, of course, have changed since then; so have financial responsibilities among government entities.) Also, what tracks would be used—Amtrack, CSX and at what cost? (Tri-Rail asked Amtrack to provide crews to run some of their trains; Amtrack passed on that idea.)

Stops were yet to be determined and station construction completed. It was a lot of work for a few years. Early Tri-Rail project estimated costs hovered at about $60 million but some news accounts settled on $75 million as a final figure. Work progressed but inaugural service was pushed ahead a few months to Jan. 9, 1989.

A soft opening for VIPs was held January 6. Two hundred officials climbed aboard Tri-Rail cars for the first ride from Boca Raton to Miami. Dixie Land music played while Chablis and cream puffs were served. Riders reported delays but assured reporters it would be a great alternative to I-95.

The real “fun” and perhaps more realistic reviews came with the actual service commencing Jan. 9. Traffic on I-95 was backed up for more than a mile north of Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. For some reason, state officials decided to hold a ceremony to launch the I-95 reconstruction project … on the median. 

Drivers shouted obscenities at DOT officials as traffic crawled by. Tri-Rail riders saw the backup (track ran parallel to the interstate), laughed and applauded— even though they had experienced a number of connection issues and delays due to speed restrictions. South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Gary Stein, who rode the train Jan. 10, wrote a column titled Tri-Rail Trip Rates Step Above Walking.

Disappointment was two sided. Tri-Rail officials had hoped for 7,000 riders opening day; only 1,500-1,600 showed up for a ride to work. By September 1989 rail and government officials were discussing a budget of $307.5 million to be used over five years to promote ridership of the “troubled Tri-County Railroad.”  

Mid-day service was added but in December that year, the Sun-Sentinel reported that “ridership has never met even modest expectations.” So it went. Service expanded yet ridership remained a struggle.

Today, publicly funded Tri-Rail is managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority (SFRTA), which was established in 2003.

Better times ahead?

Tri-Rail service was extended from West Palm Beach to downtown Miami in January 2024, a big plus for the railroad. Its terminus sits in Brightline’s MiamiCentral [sic] complex at Northwest 1st Avenue. Express service for that route begins July 1.

Today’s Tri-Rail fact sheet reports the following and paints an improved picture:

• Ridership up to 13,000, an average weekday count; that’s 3,735,897 a year
• 73.5 miles of service between Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties and 18 stations
• Fares run $1.25-$17.50.
• Fleet of 11 trains, 21 locomotives, 19 cab cars, 29 coach cars

See Tri-Rail for more information on schedules and fares (BTW, no food service).

On Brightline

Brightline service is too new to make an assessment, but here are a few points for comparison. Check company reports for ridership stats at GoBrightline.com

• Brightline is the first privately owned and operated inter-city passenger railroad built in the U.S. in 100 years
• Owned by Fortress Investment Group
• Local service began in 2018.
• High speed service began Sept. 22, 2023, from Miami to Orlando, raising ridership 250 percent for Jan. 2024, according to the Palm Beach Post.
• 52 percent of its traffic is now long distance.
• Brightline lowered ridership estimates in 2024 from 7 or 6.5 million to 5 or 5.5 million. (Source info varies). Refer to Brightline ridership reports at: GoBrightLine.com
• Brightline is the first rail service to use Elon Musk’s Starlink Internet Service.
• Brightline project ran $6 billion.

See GoBrightline for more information (some food service) See Brightline Florida March Revenue and Ridership reports. The one for March 2024  at https://emma.msrb.org/P21822196.pdf

A new wrinkle may be in the works for Brightline. Avelo Airlines announced April 25, 2024, that they will test a Miami to Orlando service for $46, a cheaper (in some cases) and faster service to Orlando. Competition is good.

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

 * Photo license: Wikimedia Public Domain  

Sources:

GoBrightline

Tri-Rail

Sun-Sentinel,  Nov. 12, 1985

Sun-Sentinel, July 19, 1986

Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 23, 1986

Palm Beach Post, Dec. 10, 1987

Sun-Sentinel, Nov. 10, 1988

Palm Beach Post, Jan. 7, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 7, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 10, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Jan. 11, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Sept. 16, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 6, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Dec. 16, 1989

Sun-Sentinel, Apr. 25, 2024

Palm Beach Post, Jan. 12, 2024

Palm Beach Post, Mar. 8, 2024

Yahoo Finance News: "Brightline-lowers-florida-ridership-projections"

Tags: Tri-Rail history, Fort Lauderdale History, SOFlA transportation history, Brightline Rail, Florida train service, highspeed rail service, Starlink, Avelo Airlines

Interesting facts about Fort Lauderdale during the 1980s

Fort Lauderdale 1983 Florida State Archives

Below is a small collection of Fort Lauderdale-specific news items of the 1980s. Some may jog a memory or two or evoke surprise about that decade—one of change for this beachside city.

Merchants along Fort Lauderdale’s “strip” off A1A near Las Olas Boulevard consider the “troubled area” 80 percent better than during the last few years of high crime. Two additional police officers were recently assigned to this popular spot across from the beach. 1980

Mayor E. Clay Shaw sponsors an ordinance to permit high-density hotels for two blocks at A1A near Las Olas to “prevent further deterioration of the beach area.” Merchants express new fear of being pushed out. 1980

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers draw 18,223 for a soccer game aired on ABC-TV June 8, 1980. They played the Tampa Rowdies.

Controversial ophthalmologist Dr. Frederick Blanton loses appeal and is sentenced to five years in federal prison for dispensing Quaaludes to patients. He first gained attention during the 1970s for prescribing marijuana for patients with glaucoma. He was also accused of assault of a police officer after allegedly pointing a gun at a cop. Before sentencing he says he prefers a one-way ticket to Russia rather than go to jail. 1983

Fire destroys one of Fort Lauderdale’s oldest buildings, the Ship Apartments at 303 N. New River Drive West. Built in 1905 by Fort Lauderdale pioneer Philemon Bryan for his son, Reed Bryan in 1905, the 75-year-old building, next to the New River Inn, is vacant when the fire occurs. 1980

A six-month federal investigation reveals mob ties to Heaven nightclub at 3937 North Federal Highway. Activities involving New Jersey mobster Anthony Acceturro of the Lucchese crime family are cited in a report submitted in 1983

Beach residents rally to complain about Spring Break patrons of Penrod's relieving themselves behind the popular nightspot. 1983

Sunday Brunch at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel advertised for $6.95. 1983

The first person is arrested under a controversial anti-vagrancy law making it illegal to rummage through other people’s garbage. The violator was arrested for allegedly rummaging at an apartment building at SE 4th Avenue and 23rd Street. 1984

The inaugural Greater Fort Lauderdale Film Festival is approved by the city and held in late 1986. Realtor Patty Lombard serves as first president of the festival.

New York businessman Donald Trump’s $29 million, 282-foot yacht Trump Princess will berth at the Best Western Motel off the 17th Street Causeway until March that year (1988).

Fort Lauderdale Water Taxi begins service between Commercial Boulevard and Port Everglades October of 1988. Bekoff Yachting Service launches its Canal Cabs the same month. Rides on both are $2.50-$5.00

Population of Fort Lauderdale in 1989 - about 148,500

Fort Lauderdale restaurants open for late-night eats after night clubbing in 1989 (does not include chain restaurants):

Bahia Cabana

Bootleggers

Boat House Bar and Grill

North Ridge Raw Bar and Restaurant

At’s a Pizza

Peter Pan Diner and

Joseph’s Restaurant and Lounge

Bahia Cabana circa 1996 Florida State Archives

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News:

Jan. 6, 1980

Oct 23, 1980

Jan. 9, 1980

March 30, 1983

April 3, 1983

April 17, 1983

June 4, 1983

Oct. 11, 1984

South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

May 29, 1986

Oct. 8, 1988

Dec. 30,1988

Dec. 30, 1989

Biggest US Cities

Tags: Fort Lauderdale during the 1980s, Fort Lauderdale History. history of Fort Lauderdale, Trump, Water Taxi, Penrod's, population of Fort Lauderdale

A South Florida parrot primer

 

Captive parrots - Parrot Jungle
State Archives of Florida

By Jane Feehan 

Flocks of parrots noisily flying at dawn and dusk around Broward County are a familiar sight today. Many older residents who grew up here say they rarely, if ever, saw these colorful birds during the 1950s and 1960s. The mythology of the introduction of these non-native exotic noise makers runs deep.

Newspapers present various theories about where they came from and report several early sightings. One account points to the unintentional release of parrots from an opened crate at Port Everglades in 1967. 

Others tell a tale about a bar owner releasing pet birds near Wilton Manors a few decades ago who was responsible for their introduction to that town. 

Florida railway developer and one-time oil tycoon Henry Flagler was known to have an affinity for parrots, keeping many on his Palm Beach property (Whitehall) uncaged but fed. They remained there for years after his death in 1913; that may explain a reported parrot roost at the Breakers Hotel during the past 20 years and flock sightings in Lake Worth. 

Fort Lauderdale News reported the first sighting of a flock in Broward in 1975. During the 1940s “a rare bird farm” operated in the Miami area. Flocks were spotted in south Miami-Dade County during the 1990s.

Newspaper and personal accounts aside, scientific research tells a probable story about South Florida parrot origins. One scholarly paper notes most of these exotic birds escaped from pet owners and pet stores or were deliberately released by owners and smugglers (Distribution, Populations, and Documentation of Parrots in Broward County, by Bill Pranty and Susan Epps, Vol. 30, Issue 4, Article 1, Jan. 2000). Most releases, however, have been unintentional.

About 20 species were spotted in Broward County in 1990. In 2000, Pranty and Epps reported 31 species, 20 of which were unknown before then. They suggest parrots have probably been released here since at least the 1950s. Worldwide 350-410 species exist with most originating in Central and South America (some from Pacific Islands). The Carolina parakeet was the only species native to Florida, but they were killed off by poachers by the early 20^th century.

Florida's extinct Carolina
 parakeet
State Archives of Florida

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported on flocks in Dania that seemed to appear and disappear suddenly in the early 1990s. A story suggested people captured many to sell as pets (wild birds make lousy pets of course). 

In 1995, utility workers in Deerfield Beach were seen sweeping parrot nests from tall light fixtures. Most of these birds nest in dead palm trees but some have been spotted setting up residence in vacated osprey nests.

Pranty and Epps* observed parrot populations in Dania, Wilton Manors, Fort Lauderdale’s Hugh Birch State Park, Coral Ridge, Harbor Beach, Las Olas Isles, Poinsettia Heights, Rio Vista, Victoria Park, and Oakland Park. Among species they observed were Quaker or monk parakeets (some also live successfully in Chicago!), Orange-winged parrots, Red-headed parrots, Yellow-headed parrots, and Black-hooded parakeets. The two scientists reported a large jump in all parrot populations from the early 1990s to 2000 even though poachers regularly decimate local populations.

With the human population growth of Fort Lauderdale and Broward County comes additional parrot species and even more flocks. Lucky for these garrulous birds, most of us love hearing, if not always sighting, them.

 

* Susan Allene Epps has also written a book, Parrots of South Florida (2007) available on Amazon.

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Distribution, Populations, and Documentation of Parrots in Broward County, by Bill Pranty and Susan Epps, Vol. 30, Issue 4, Article 1, Jan. 2000

Fort Lauderdale News, May 24, 1970

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 12, 1975

Fort Lauderdale News June 29, 1985

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Aug. 30, 1995

South Florida Sun Sentinel, Jan. 29, 1990

Tags: Parrots in Fort Lauderdale, parrots in Wilton Manors, Broward County parrots, Fort Lauderdale history

One of the first registered architects in Florida - August Geiger - his Fort Lauderdale and Miami projects

1917 advertisement from Directory of City of Miami Beach

By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s first high school, Fort Lauderdale Central, was built in 1915. Its architect was August Geiger (1887-1968), already well known in Miami and Miami Beach for his work.

From Connecticut, Geiger settled in Miami in 1905 and opened an office in 1911. He was off and running soon after, becoming one of the first (10th) registered architects in Florida.

Miami and Miami Beach grew significantly during the early 19th century with its burgeoning tourist industry, land boom and accompanying skyline of notable buildings.

Geiger’s work includes the Lincoln Hotel and Apartments (1917) on Miami Beach, demolished long ago. His firm also designed Miami’s first “sky scraper,” the 12-story Ralston Hotel (1917), and, in the same year, the Miami City Hospital (now Jackson Memorial). 

Additionally, he designed the Miami Beach Municipal Golf Course House, the Community Theater of Miami Beach, the Dade County Courthouse, and Villa Serena, home of William Jennings Bryan, noted orator and politician. He commissioned Geiger to design his home in 1913 in Coconut Grove.

Wm Jennings Bryan home, 1920
State Archives of Florida

Geiger, known for his Mediterranean Revival style, also drew the plans for the Lincoln Road oceanfront home of Miami Beach developer Carl Fisher. In 1915, demand for the architect's style prompted Geiger to open an office in Palm Beach.  Many of his surviving buildings in South Florida have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geiger designed Fort Lauderdale Central High School (demolished in 1970) and the Fort Lauderdale Women’s Club in 1915 with his signature Mediterranean Revival imprint.  His firm drew up plans for many schools in Dade County and a few others in what became Broward County in 1915, including the Davie School. Geiger was tapped as architect of record for the Dade County School Board.  Among his later works was the $1.5 million Coral Gables High School in 1950.

Though Geiger was the design force behind Fort Lauderdale’s high school and its women’s club, the city claims Frances Abreu as its own architect. Both men brought a vision to Miami and Fort Lauderdale that defined early 19^th- century South Florida. 

Lincoln Hotel, 1922
States Archives of Florida/Fishbaugh 1922

Copyright © 2012, 2023 . All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

For more on Frances Abreu, see index for architects

For more Fort Lauderdale High School history, see index.

For more on William Jennings Bryan, see index.


Sources:
Kleinberg, Howard. Woggles and Cheese Houses. Miami Beach: The Greater Miami & Beaches Hotel Association (2005)
Miami News, Mar. 16, 1917
Wikipedia

Tags: early South Florida architects, Fort Lauderdale history, Miami history

The Idlewyld story - Hortt converts swamp to top-tier real estate

 

By Jane Feehan

The history of Fort Lauderdale’s Idlewyld neighborhood reflects the story of Fort Lauderdale’s M.A. Hortt. A former streetcar conductor and gold prospector from Utah, “Al” Hortt came to Fort Lauderdale in 1910. Possibilities for wealth generation were far greater here than in the desert.

The city saw its first land boom in 1910, when, according to Hortt, it claimed only 121 residents. As he wrote in his biography, Gold Coast Pioneer, he arrived when Fort Lauderdale was just a “wide spot” in the road. Not for long. News spread “up north” about Fort Lauderdale’s real estate. The early boom proved to be an early bust but Hortt’s roster of subsequent land deals (and travel escapades), could spin heads. The focus here, however, is Idlewyld.

Hortt and business partner Bob Dye bought a piece of swampy land in 1921 that spanned from the Las Olas bridge (opened 1917) to the “intersection of New River Sound” and beyond. They envisioned a subdivision on part of it but needed a developer with money. Hortt was familiar with Miami developer Carl Fisher’s success in converting Miami Beach's water-logged land into desirable real estate; he wanted to apply the same method in Fort Lauderdale.   

According to Hortt, he took a beach walk near Las Olas where he met visitor Tom Stillwell. Stillwell was looking for a real estate opportunity and the garrulous broker had just the deal: if Stillwell could put up $50,000, they could create a company with $100,000 of land and cash assets; Stillwell would get a 50 percent share. 

To convince the visitor about development possibilities, Hortt took him to Miami Beach to view Fisher’s projects. Stillwell was sold on the development idea for Fort Lauderdale and brought in three partners from Indiana. The New River Development Company was formed in 1921 and dredging of the Intracoastal and New River Sound began. Dredging would provide the soil to build up the swampy tract.

The name Idlewyld was chosen and its land platted. Streets, sidewalks, water mains and electric lines were installed after dredging.

To buoy its appeal, coconut palms were planted along its streets. However, for months only a few lots sold. They lowered prices and gave lots to the investors for building homes. The Indiana partners pooled resources and built one house. The company also offered to give away 10 lots for house construction. By year’s end, only four houses were built; the town experienced a real estate slowdown. 

Intracoastal view,
with Las Olas Bridge at left

As is often said today, the best time to advertise is during an economic slump. Savvy Hortt suggested he would handle advertising if a deal could be made with the partners. He wanted a 25 percent commission on sales of all lots. Prices would depend on location and would run $2,500 to $5,000. The New River Development Company approved and the first advertisement went to the Miami Herald.

One article in the Miami Herald reported that a promotion of the subdivision would include free transportation from Miami, dinners and a river trip. An ad in the same paper beckoned visitors to buy a lot in “Fort Lauderdale’s sub-division deluxe with people you’ll be glad to have for neighbors: men of wealth and social standing and a-1 character.”

The advertising campaign proved to be a success.  Hortt claimed in his book that he and Dye sold every lot “in less than one week,” and each for the price originally agreed upon. Success led to plans for a $250,000 hotel in Idlewyld. Promised to be “bigger and better than any yet planned” the hotel was expected to sit on six lots and open in one year.

The Idlewyld neighborhood gained attention. Hortt built his home there. In 1925, while on one of his many trips, he was offered $60,000 for that house. Upon his return he upped the price to $75,000 (a steep price then) and sold it to businesswoman Helen Brooks Smith. The sale made local headlines.

Less than a year later, the aftermath of the 1926 hurricane brought the South Florida real estate boom to a halt.  It’s interesting to note that during the storm, the U.S. Coast Guard’s houseboat station, Moccasin, was lifted from its mooring and thrown across the waterway near Idlewyld. The Coast Guard took up temporary quarters in the “deluxe” subdivision in two houses donated by W.C. Kyle until they could re-establish their base.

Hortt remained solvent and developed several neighborhoods such as Beverly Heights. He was recognized for guiding Fort Lauderdale’s recovery from the storm. He served as mayor and commissioner of Fort Lauderdale and then bought large tracts of land in Pompano Beach, where he died (750 Ocean Blvd.) in 1958 at 77.

And Idlewyld? It remains one of the city’s most beautiful neighborhoods with many of the original houses replaced with multi-lot sized homes selling for millions (as of this post, 17 on the market). The Riviera Isles/Idlewyld area is home to 508 residents. 

Hortt’s legacy includes not only his sales record of early city communities but his recognition of waterside locations in boosting real estate values. Many who came to Fort Lauderdale in the early 1900s thought real estate fortunes were to be found in agricultural land to the west. Hortt knew better.

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Hortt, M.A., Gold Coast Pioneer. New York: Exposition Press, 1955.

Miami Herald, Jan. 20, 1924

Miami Herald, Feb. 20, 1924

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 25, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, April 17, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 13, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 16, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, June 20, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News, March 1, 1952

Fort Lauderdale News, April 15, 1958

Tags: Idlewyld neighborhood, M.A. Hortt, Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale communities, history of Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s, Jane Feehan

Edgar Gould, his island off Las Olas and a new page in Fort Lauderdale history

Plans drawn for development - 1940
Courtesy of Debbie Gould Tucker

By Jane Feehan

Edgar Davis Gould’s purchase of a swampy, mangrove-covered island off Las Olas Boulevard in March 1940 was reported as the largest single transaction in that area since the boom days of the 1920s. Created in 1925 with soil dredged from New River, the property had been held by Mr. and Ms. W.L. Mensendieck since 1935. The sales price was not revealed in news accounts.

Work began within 10 days after the contract was signed with installation of a water main by the city of Fort Lauderdale and immediate landscaping with royal palms. Gould planned 50 lots. He worked with other property owners and the city to widen and beautify the bridge to the area off 23^rd Avenue (an area now known as Seven Isles but at one time Lauderdale Isles). Fort Lauderdale News claimed, “development of Gould Island writes a new page in history of Fort Lauderdale’s growth.”

Gould also may have written a new page in sales history.

In May of 1941, the Fort Lauderdale News reported he had sold eight more lots than any agent selling off Las Olas. Gould had set a record: he sold 10 lots in 10 days. He made big waves after arriving in 1940, just months before the “island” purchase and launch of its development. Lots generally went for $4,000. Larger, waterfront lots sold for $17,500 in 1944. The island was completely developed by 1945.* A recent (2023) search of real estate listings there featured a house for sale for more than $31 million.

Some said Gould’s immediate sales success was a credit to his planning skills. Others would say his law degree from Harvard University in 1900 set his course. Though he practiced law in Boston, his birthplace, he changed careers after five years. He stepped into advertising in New York City and then served as manager and director of the Regal Shoe Company.

Granddaughter Debbie Gould Tucker, today a St. Augustine resident along with husband Bill Tucker, says the family isn’t quite sure why he left New Rochelle, New York but it may have been because his son (Debbie’s father) and namesake Edgar D. Gould II or “Bill” as he was called, was serving in the U.S. Navy in Fort Lauderdale where he also made his home.

The senior Gould’s move to Fort Lauderdale was a good one at the right time. His sales record, the newspaper reported, “establishes him as number one representative of the spirit, tempo and enterprise which has kept Fort Lauderdale in the van [guard] of the nation’s fastest-growing cities for the last decade.”

Gould Castle and widened bridge circa 1940
Courtesy of Debbie Gould Tucker

He built one of the first homes on Gould Island in 1941 on Del Mar Drive. The architect was Carlos B. Schoeppl and the builder was Richardson Construction, Debbie’s uncle. He landscaped the home with a circular tower (thus its name, Gould’s Castle) with a Victory V and with two royal palms on either side as “sentinels” (see photo). It was dressed up with planted “Legion of Honor marigolds,” a fitting acknowledgment of World War II efforts.  

Advertisements for the island highlighted 97.5-foot frontage on lots that were already graded to street level in a community just two or three minutes to the beach and three or four minutes “to town.” One ad closed with encouragement to “call your broker or Mr. Gould at his home at 1621.”

Gould’s real estate endeavors included the purchase of Donaldson Apartments from the Donaldson estate in 1943 for $45,000.  It was the largest real estate transaction of the week prior to Dec. 11. 

The building featured 10 large apartments and a penthouse (it remains today as a renamed boutique hotel behind the Sheraton at 300 N. Birch Rd.). This is what Debbie Gould Tucker remembers fondly of grandfather’s Fort Lauderdale legacy.

“We spent summer days there, just off the beach, with a clear view of the Intracoastal,” Debbie recollects. “During the winter, visitors—family friends—came from New Rochelle for three months. My grandmother Lalia, Edgar’s wife, lived there with her sister after he died.”

Gould died Jan. 28, 1945, at age 70 just a few years after moving to Fort Lauderdale. He left a big legacy in a short time including his son, Bill, who went into local yacht sales, granddaughter Debbie, and her three siblings, Patty, Billy and Eddie, all born in Fort Lauderdale. They are also related to the Slayton family (auto sales). Bill Gould’s children grew up near the Las Olas Isles, but Debbie often drove—well, nearly flew—over today's seven bridges connecting the streets of Gould Island for fun (as a few of us did as highschoolers).  Her husband, Bill Tucker, is related to Verne Tucker who contributed a column in the Fort Lauderdale News, Sun Strokes, a chuckle maker.

A chat with most anyone born in Fort Lauderdale during the 1940s or 50s tends to weave a map of family connections with contributions to our history. 

This, the way we used to be …

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

 -----

*Today, Seven Isles is home to about 1,100 residents in 315 households on nine streets:

Aqua Vista Boulevard

Barcelona Drive

Castilla Isle

Del Mar Place

De Sota Drive

De Sota Terrace

Pelican Isle

Sea Island Drive

Seven Isles Drive

 

 

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, March 1, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, March 18, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, May 7, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 6, 1940

Fort Lauderdale News, March 9, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, April 27, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, May 25, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Sept. 14, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 4, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 2, 1941

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 25, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 11, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Feb. 2, 1944

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 29, 1945

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, Seven Isles, Fort Lauderdale communities, Edgar D. Gould, Debbie Gould Tucker

Lumber schooners delivered what railroads could not to Fort Lauderdale

 

Abandoned lumber schooners, Miami 1926
State Archives of Florida

By Jane Feehan

 “A new era in water transportation for Fort Lauderdale” was heralded in 1925 with the arrival of schooners delivering lumber. The Florida East Coast Railway could not meet the delivery demands of the city’s construction boom; ships expanded its logistics.

To supplement rail efforts, schooners were pulled out of storage or quickly constructed as “lighters” to move lumber, other building materials, plumbing supplies or furniture from Charleston, Savannah, Jacksonville and other east coast ports. They traveled by ocean or inland waterway. Ships brought what the railroad could not.  It wasn’t necessarily the easiest solution.

In November 1925, the 73-foot Spanish schooner Padro Garcia hit electric wires strung across New River, causing city outages until Southern Utility Company came to the rescue. About 4,500 volts lit up and damaged the ship’s anchor chain and other metal parts. The crew of eight along with a tabby cat and brindle bulldog were rescued. So were 80 tons of expensive 100-year-old Spanish tiles.

Storms wrecked a few ocean-going schooners off the Florida coast (crews were all saved). When they arrived at the harbor of Fort Lauderdale, some ships encountered problems navigating the sand bar blocking Lake Mabel, which was not cleared and opened as a port until 1928 (later Port Everglades). Other schooners coming down the waterway needed power boat or tugboat assistance moving through Tarpon Bend on the way to city docks.

Ships also carried cargo to the Las Olas Sound in the Idlewyld area. In December 1925, the largest schooner to arrive in Fort Lauderdale, the 215-foot Richmond with its nine-foot draft, was temporarily grounded in 7.5 feet of water while trying to reach the sound. It carried 320,000 feet of lumber, but the crew had to offload 130,000 feet to raft ashore; it was bound for Broward Lumber Company who picked up the valuable wood near the Las Olas Bridge. (Opened in 1924, the company advertised its motto: “We invented service in Fort Lauderdale.”)

The three-masted Richmond, sailing from Savannah, stopped in Fort Lauderdale on August 25, 1926, just weeks before the devastating September hurricane. The ship had been temporarily sidelined by a storm near Jacksonville and carried 300 tons of Long Island gravel. The cargo was used for repair from another hurricane and construction of the city’s waterworks, including its sewers. Little did they know that Fort Lauderdale would soon need other recovery supplies.

Mills and Mills, the company that owned the Richmond, established offices at the Sunset Building on Andrews Avenue. They hoped the schooner would be making a Fort Lauderdale stop every three weeks. They anticipated that Fort Lauderdale would be developed into “one of the finest seaports in Florida.”

Mills and Mills was right about Fort Lauderdale’s status as a seaport. Nature and economics proved them wrong about the viability of lumber schooners. After the Great Hurricane of 1926, South Florida boom days turned into an economic retreat. 

Many schooners were abandoned, especially in Miami (see photo above) where there was far more dockage at Bayfront. But the reason to abandon wasn’t necessarily the devastating hurricane; seldom was there a return cargo. Most abandoned schooners were destined for lumber salvage.

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

  Sources:

Miami Tribune, Nov. 30, 1924

Fort Lauderdale News, June 18, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 13, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 3, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 4, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, March 6, 1926

Fort Lauderdale News Aug. 26, 1926

Miami Herald, March 24, 1926

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale, transportation history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s