South Florida's first automobiles: who drove what and when?

First car in Miami 
C.H. Billings, 1899
a Locomobile
 State  of Florida Archives

By Jane Feehan

Automobiles soared in popularity across the United States and into the Florida frontier by the late 1800s. I’ll leave the provenance of the automobile up to other historians as it seems to remain in dispute*. Below is a brief overview of the status of motorized vehicles during the first years of  20th-century South Florida. 

First, the national backdrop.

According to History.com, 30 American manufacturers produced 2,500 motorized vehicles by 1899. More than 480 companies entered the production fray a decade later. Henry Ford, though not the first car maker, produced the cheapest one, his Model T selling for $285 in October 1908 (preceded by his Model N for $500**). 

Cars were referred to as “horseless carriages” in the 1890s. By 1900, the word “automobile” entered our lexicon. Automobile enthusiasts had already formed clubs and held races during the late 1800s and first decade of the 20^th century.

Determining who owned the first automobile in Dade, Broward or Palm Beach counties is problematic. Owning first and registering first don’t match up and some records went missing. Some owned vehicles before registration was required.  A registration ordinance, proposed in Miami in 1904 and passed in January 1905, details many of the same obligations as the requirements codified by the state of Florida in 1905.

The umbrella requirement was that every auto had to be registered with the Florida Secretary of State (the overseeing entity transferred to the State Comptroller office in years following).

Some provisions will evoke a chuckle:

The vehicle registration number had to be displayed on a tag “in Arabic numerals of at least 3 inches by 2 inches.”

Every vehicle operating on the road must have a bell, horn or whistle and two lamps.

Motorists must signal when approaching horses or other draft animals and must stop immediately if signaled to do so by one driving or riding these animals.

Vehicles must abide by a reasonable speed and/or the state determined speed limit.

Boards of county commissioners are empowered to set times for speed tests or races on public roadways.

No vehicle can cross a street or turn a corner at more than 5 miles per hour (Miami ordinance).

Vehicle operators must be 16 years old (Miami ordinance).

                                                                      The first registration records were handwritten.

Florida Memory/Discover/historical records:
 https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/346940

So, who owned the first motorized vehicle in Miami?  News accounts indicate it was Mr. C.H. Billings, a construction "engineer," in 1899. He drove a steam-powered “locomobile (at top of this post)."The Miami Evening Record in 1904 described it as "fast" -- relevant to walking no doubt.

1906 Model E Glide - Author unknown (Not Bryan's car) 
Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal Oct.1, 1905

The first car registered with the state (and probably first owned) of Broward County belonged to Fort Lauderdale pioneer Reed A. Bryan in 1906.  He drove a Glide (produced 1902-1925), a four-cylinder, 45-horsepower automobile. It was later given to the city’s fire department for their use. There were far fewer cars in Broward County; paved roads were rare. Only two were available in Fort Lauderdale: Brickell and Andrews avenues. Both offered only single lanes.

George W. Potter, surveyor and illustrator from Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County beat Henry M. Flagler to the state registration records. Potter registered his 4-horsepower Waltham Orient Buckboard in November 1905. Flagler followed the next month with registration of his open-air, quiet, steam-powered touring car manufactured by White Motor Company.

An automobile section appeared in the Miami Herald in 1912 with “items of interest to automobilists everywhere.” After all, “the greatest future lies ahead in the auto industry.” Prescient, indeed.

 *See the fascinating timeline linked below from the Library of Congress about when the automobile was invented.

https://www.loc.gov/everyday-mysteries/motor-vehicles-aeronautics-astronautics/item/who-invented-the-automobile

** See Ford Company history at:

https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/50201/#:~:text=Most%20runabouts%20featured%20one%2D%20or,the%20bestselling%20car%20in%20America

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Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

https://www.boyntonhistory.org

Broward Legacy – Hughes, Kenneth Survey of old cars. Vol. 21, No. 3-4, 1998 https://journals.flvc.org/browardlegacy/issue/view/3742

Miami Evening Record, Jan. 22, 1904

Miami News, Oct. 26, 1904

Miami Herald, Oct. 4, 1911

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 31, 2015

Tags: Automobile history, early automobiles in South Florida, early automobiles in Miami, early automobiles in Palm Beach County, Fort Lauderdale history, Miami History, Palm Beach history

Bahia Mar: "more business, publicity to Fort Lauderdale than any other man-made attraction"

 

Bahia Mar circa 1960s,
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Bahia Mar
801 Seabreeze Boulevard
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316

By Jane Feehan

The following about Bahia Mar does not serve as an historical account of the business transactions that have shaped it over the years, though some will be mentioned. In 1949, the Miami News claimed Bahia Mar was the only land in Broward County that had not been privately owned; that may explain its complicated history.

Some would say its history began in the 1870s.

The United States government built a string of five Houses of Refuge in 1876 in Florida from Cape Florida to the Indian River to provide shelter for the shipwrecked. One refuge, New River House No. 4 was moved in 1891 from its first site near Hugh Birch State Park (Bonnet House) to the beach across from today’s Bahia Mar where the third Fort Lauderdale was built.

The United States Coast Guard operated from the site, a gathering place for social activities into the early 1900s. It served as Coast Guard Station No. 6 during World War I. From the inland waterway—today’s Bahia Mar—the base played an active role in World War II defense activities in South Florida. 

After the war in 1946, the federal government declared the site as surplus, placing it in the public domain.

Bahia Mar 1951
Florida State Archives/
Florida Memory

The city of Fort Lauderdale purchased the property for $600,000 but did not have enough funds for its development.

Private investors, led by Ohioan and developer William E. Schantz* raised funds to build a yacht basin that opened in December 1949. It offered 450 boat slips, shopping, a restaurant with cocktail lounge (Patricia Murphy’s Candlelight Restaurant did not open there until 1959) and 650 parking spaces.

Newspapers lauded the $2.5 million project. Some claimed the marina, with “three miles of docks," brought more publicity, recognition and business "than any other man-made attraction” to Fort Lauderdale. It led to declaration by city boosters that Fort Lauderdale was the “yachting capital of the world.” One news account reported Bahia Mar was the first yacht basin in the nation to be listed on Coast Guard navigation charts.

Not long after opening, the developers declared bankruptcy and the site reverted to the city. The city leased it back to the private sector in 1959 (yes, it’s complicated). Since 1959, Bahia Mar has served as home to the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show featuring some of the most spectacular luxury yachts seen anywhere. 

About 100,000 pay to see the display in late October, early November each year. Today the yacht basin holds 250 boat slips (some land now operated by the adjacent International Swimming Hall of Fame houses 40 slips), the Double Tree Hotel, yacht brokers, shopping and restaurants and other amenities.

Bahia Mar now faces a major transition. Value of the 38.65-acre Bahia Mar property is estimated (in 2022) at $256 million as Fort Lauderdale oceanfront land has fallen piece by piece to developers. The city signed an initial 50-year lease in 2022 with Jimmy and Kenny Tate of Rahn Bahia Mar Hotel. It could be extended another 50 years (status of this arrangement unclear).Their $1 billion plan for Bahia Mar includes, at this point, replacing the current 296-room hotel with a new one and building condos and commercial space. Developers plan to share revenue with the city derived from operations (hotel, marina, condos).

Plans were approved by the city  commission in 2023 for a hotel and three condo towers as controversy swirls around the project's scope.

Resident support is mixed. Some fear the project’s impact on beach traffic and its impact on the boat show; others welcome the needed revamp. Stay tuned …

  Copyright © 2022. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Bahia Mar 1968
Florida State Archives/ Florida Memory

Sources:

Weidling, Philip and Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966. 

Gillis, Susan. Fort Lauderdale: The Venice of America. Charleston: Acadia Publishing, 2004.

Fort Lauderdale News, March 7, 1949

Miami News, Sept 1, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 3, 1949

Fort Lauderdale News, April 10, 1955

New York Daily News, Jan. 27, 1957

New York Daily News, June 15, 1958

Sun-Sentinel, March 30, 2022

Real Deal, April 6, 2022

https://www.marinalife.com/marina?slug=bahia-mar-resort-and-yachting-center

https://bahiamaryachtingcenter.com/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=yext

For more on William E. Schantz* use search box

Copyright © 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Tags: Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, yachting capital of the world. Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, Fort Lauderdale history

Fort Lauderdale's pioneer and the Stranahan House

          

335 SE 6th Ave
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33301
954-524-4736
http://stranahanhouse.org/

By Jane Feehan 

Fort Lauderdale pioneer Frank Stranahan first operated a small ferry (1893) that crossed the New River near the site of the 1836 Cooley Massacre. He must have seen potential in this rough Florida frontier, because he bought 10 acres a mile away where he operated the Stranahan New River Camp and Trading Post. 

His sign claimed its location as Fort Lauderdale. The settlement became the hub of commercial and social activity in the 1890s. Stranahan and his wife Ivy (Cromartie) moved into the new structure in 1901 (shown below) after their marriage in 1900.

The Stranahan House, sometimes referred to as the Pioneer House, still stands today - nearly swallowed up by the modern downtown Fort Lauderdale skyline.  It's open for tours but the best view of the house is by boat along the New River. That the house sits on prime real estate is underscored by the proximity of nearby million dollar plus condos and mansions.

Stranahan House 1901 
Florida State Archives

A clip here from an 1898 issue of  the Tropical Sun is about Stranahan; his Fort Lauderdale activities earned an occasional mention in the publication. 

Fort Lauderdale celebrated its first 100 years in 2011.

 Sources:

 Gillis, Susan. Fort Lauderdale: The Venice of America. Charleston: Arcadia (2004).

 Weidling, Philip J. , Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).

Palm Beach Breeze, 1898

Sun-Sentinel, May 1, 2024

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Frank Stranahan

Three forts of Fort Lauderdale, the third remembered

Site of third Fort Lauderdale -
South Beach, across from Bahia Mar

By Jane Feehan

Maj. William Lauderdale of Tennessee was sent to Florida to fight the Seminoles in 1837. Little did he dream a bustling city attracting visitors from around the world would spring up on the site of a fort bearing his name.

The Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated a plaque in October, 2005 honoring the major's service and his place in Fort Lauderdale's history in a ceremony attended by then Mayor Jim Naugle and local history enthusiasts. The dedication was held at the site of the third fort built in the area during the Seminole Wars of the 1830s, located on the beach east of the current Bahia Mar yacht basin.

Marge McClain, former regent for the Himmarshee chapter of the DAR discovered the original plaque, installed in 1929 by one of the founding chapter members, went missing a few years ago. One of the objectives of the DAR, whose members can prove a lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution, is to preserve local landmarks and historic structures across the country.

According to McClain there had been reports in 1952 the plaque was neglected, covered by plant growth. The plaque eventually made its way to a drawer and the marker remained in the sand on the beach, faceless.

The fort was built in 1839 under the command of Capt. William B. Davidson in honor of Lauderdale, whose Tennessee Volunteers had successfully routed the Seminoles in March 1838. Lauderdale died of fever May 10, 1838, in Baton Rouge, La., on his way home to Tennessee.

The first and second forts were constructed in 1838 along the New River, near present-day Southeast Ninth Avenue.

The DAR gave permission in 2005 to have the plaque made for the marker. It is designated the Old Fort Lauderdale Marker and is one of seven DAR historical signs in the city.

Locations of all seven are listed on the Frank Stranahan Marker at the north end of the New River Tunnel at Federal Highway and Las Olas Boulevard, the site of the first trading post in Fort Lauderdale. Other markers commemorate pioneers Ivy Stranahan and Camille Perry Bryan; the Colee Hammock massacre; Fort Lauderdale's first aviator, Merle Fogg; and Alexander R. "Sandy" Nininger, awarded posthumously the first Congressional Medal of Honor of World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Jan. 29, 1942.

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Sources:

Karnap (Feehan), Jane. “DAR places plaque on beach to honor Maj. Lauderdale.” Sun Sentinel, Oct. 16, 2005.

Tags: History of Fort Lauderdale, Third fort of Fort Lauderdale Florida history, Fort Lauderdale history, Maj. William Lauderdale, historic sites Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale, Lt. Powell, riverine warfare ... and a Vietnam connection

 

Fort Lauderdale waterway 1900
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Fort Lauderdale’s namesake, Major William Lauderdale built a fort in the area in 1838 during the Seminole Wars (1817-1858); the city could have been named after U.S. Navy Lieutenant Levin M. Powell who established a fortified tent base along the New River two years before, in 1836.

Instead of having a city named after him, Powell is known today as the pioneer of riverine warfare. The Navy lieutenant was ordered to seek out Indian encampments in the Everglades but he determined that his boats were unsuitable for shallow waterways and dense tropical flora. He used flat-bottom boats, as the Seminoles did, with better success. His riverine warfare model, which included small-boat assault tactics, has been used by the military since then, including during the Vietnam War.

Powell led several battles in Florida, including the bloody Battle of Loxahatchee (now Palm beach County) in 1838. He also opened, with orders from Commodore Alexander James Dallas, Fort Dallas in 1836, near where the City of Miami was established. Powell served as its commandant 1836-1838. In 1838 he was deployed to the New River to support Maj. Lauderdale’s mission. 

Fort Lauderdale could have been named Fort Powell ...

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history

Copyright 2020

______
Sources:
1.McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988.
2. Vandervort, Bruce. Indian Wars of Mexico, Canada and the United States 1812-1900. New York: Rutledge, p. 134.
3. Miami News, May 16, 1965


Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Levin Powell, riverine warfare, first military base in Fort Lauderdale, history of Fort Lauderdale

Go WEST they said. No, EAST ... early Fort Lauderdale

1916 
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Known today for its beautiful beaches and tropical scenery, Fort Lauderdale was once considered gateway to the Everglades. There, it was hoped, farmers could prosper growing fruits and vegetables in its rich dark, mucky soil.

During the late 1800s, settlers established themselves a few miles west of the ocean on the banks of the New River,  an eight-mile-long ribbon of water flowing east from the Everglades. It was considered a good vantage point to Florida's "river of grass." By the early 1900s, aspirations for farming in the Everglades were diminished by repeated flooding from tropical storms and hurricanes ... and failure to drain it after massive private and government efforts.

The focus shifted east, and included thoughts about tourism by 1914. The Las Olas Causeway opened in January, 1917 six years after the City of Fort Lauderdale was incorporated (1911).  Fortunes were to be made on developing its beach area and waterway system. 

1916 - Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Sources:
Checkered Sunshine (Burghard and Weidling, University of Florida Press,1966)
Fort Lauderdale, The Venice of America (Gillis, Arcadia Publishing, 2004)
Fort Lauderdale Historical Society

Tags: early Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale history

Las Olas Inn, long gone and mostly forgotten Fort Lauderdale

Las Olas Inn - postcard
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

    

By Jane Feehan

During the late 1800s, pioneer Frank Stranahan’s activities centered on his trading post along the New River in what became Fort Lauderdale. But others came who discovered the beach and were to have an equally important place in the city’s history and development.

In 1893 Chicagoan and counsel to Standard Oil Hugh T. Birch decided to pass on an invitation from Henry Flagler to visit Palm Beach and decided to head south; he set sail on a boat lent to him by Flagler. With only a vague notion of where he was headed, Birch sought refuge from a storm in what was referred to at the time as New River Sound, today the site of Bahia Mar. He liked what he saw and soon bought up beachside property for a reported 75 cents an acre.

Birch introduced fellow Chicagoan J. McGregor Adams to the beach area by 1896. Adams, a brass manufacturer, also became a heavy beach investor. One news story reports a beach cottage was built at Las Olas and the ocean by Adams; other reports say both Birch and Adams had the two-room structure built but they later split, dividing holdings. The house was constructed by pioneer Ed King who mounted the building upon molded concrete blocks he made in the sand. Whatever the genesis of ownership, the structure launched another legacy.

Las Olas Inn
State Archives of  Florida

Adams played host there, it was reported, to an interesting lineup of guests that included author Theodore Dreiser and Senator Robert Follette. In 1904, less than 10 years later, Adams died. His estate sold the beach house and property in 1906 or 1911 (depending on account) to Thomas E. Watson, one-time Georgia senator and interestingly, author of a noted history of France.

1955 demolition, Courtesy of 
State Archives of  Florida,
Florida Memory

What ensued was a chain of owners of the picturesque inn and property; its story spanned several decades

Watson sold the property and rambling structure a few years later to D.C. Alexander (a park in his name lies a block south of Las Olas). He then sold it to G.E. Henry for a reported $30,000—after the Las Olas bridge was built in 1917. Henry, who built the Broward Hotel, was annoyed by the sound of surf. He rented the building, known by then as the Las Olas Inn, to Captain and Mrs. J.B. Vreeland who converted the structure to hotel use. 

Henry reclaimed the inn in 1920 for Broward Hotel staff housing, but sold the package to George Simon around 1923. Simon didn’t hang on to the property and hotel for long. In new hands, the Las Olas Inn went into foreclosure in 1926 after the historic hurricane. Ownership reverted that year to Simon. It proved to be a fortuitous stroke of luck; Simon’s son, George Jr., ran a successful hotel there for 22 years.

In 1925, a tent colony, popular vacation housing in South Florida at the time, was set up at the Las Olas Inn. Tents—25 of them—were advertised as “ventilated and luxurious” offering showers, bathtubs and with the same service that was available in the main wooden structure. In 1939 the inn, with several cottages by then, advertised rooms in the main building having an ocean view facing east and a view of the “New River Sound on the West.” Dining was available on the veranda.  

The Las Olas Inn and its three acres went through several owners and iterations until 1955, when it was demolished to make way for the Las Olas Plaza. Many will remember the popular Forum restaurant in the plaza. In 1967, a 243-room Holiday Inn was built on the site, later home to the Button Lounge.

The property is now the city's Las Olas Oceanside Park, or LOOP, a site for beachgoers and community events.

Note: In March 2018, the Sun-Sentinel reported land owners Lior Avidor and Aiton “AJ” Yaari, could be looking into selling nearby property for a huge redevelopment project. They’ve amassed a string of properties on the beach-facing block just north of Las Olas Boulevard that includes the historic Elbo Room.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-beach-tower-lasolas-20180316-story.html

Las Olas Inn, first beach hotel in Fort Lauderdale
Florida State Archives

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 15, 1925

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 30, 1928

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 1, 1930

Fort Lauderdale News, March 29, 1930,

Fort Lauderdale News, May 20, 1931

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 29, 1939

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov 16, 1943

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 16, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 16, 1953

Fort Lauderdale News, Oct. 26, 1954

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 31, 1955

Fort Lauderdale News, March 4, 1967

Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 7, 1982

Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 8, 1991

Sun-Sentinel, March 8, 2018

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale in the 1800s, Fort Lauderdale in the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale hotel history, Fort Lauderdale Beach history, Jane Feehan, history of Fort Lauderdale

Fort Lauderdale: Once hustling little village with

Fort Lauderdale  New River circa 1910
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Not much more than an overnight stop for the mail coach that traveled between Lemon City* and West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale in the 1890s was home to businessman Frank Stranahan and a few Seminoles. Many of us in Fort Lauderdale who have been here awhile know something about our early history, but below are a few numbers to add to the tale.

Stranahan’s trading post or mail stop (now a museum), sat on the banks of the New River, estimated at the time to average 26 feet in depth; ferry service was provided for its crossing. Eight rooms, eight by six feet were available for visitors at the post. Houses in the area at that time, according to news accounts, were constructed with thick red paper nailed to framing. Primitive times, however, would yield to land buying and farming, development and deal making--especially after Henry M. Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway carried its first passengers into Fort Lauderdale Feb. 22, 1896.

Farmers were soon drawn to the area by the rich, dark soil of the nearby Everglades. By 1905, it was reported they were growing profitable tomato crops in the east Everglades. 

“The territory around Fort Lauderdale has the world beaten when it comes to growing fine tomatoes,” wrote one reporter for the Miami Metropolis. Farmers also grew potatoes, cabbage and beans. An acre could yield up to $300 in vegetables. About 100,000 crates of vegetables were shipped out of Fort Lauderdale in 1909.

By 1910, a year of land speculation here, the “hustling little village” (as it was described) of Fort Lauderdale had grown with:

• About 1,500 residents (some accounts say 750). By 1911, 5,000 called the village home, thanks to a soon-to-go-bust speculative land boom;
• Two bridges spanning the New River;
• Two concrete buildings at the trading post with about 30 rooms—the New River Hotel and the Keystone. In all, three hotels in the village;
• Two boatyards;
• 50 buildings, mostly residences under construction, estimated by a reporter to range in cost from $300 to $10,000 (an unrealistically high estimate?);
• A public school nearing completion;
• Methodist church about complete for $4,000; a Baptist church constructed for $3,500;
• A three-story Masonic temple for $8,000;
• Fort Lauderdale State Bank built for $2,500 (without fixtures);
• Three general stores.

More than 20,000 farmers, a reporter wrote, settled in the area; about 200,000 acres were sold with shaky (and shady) speculative plans to sell in 10-acre allotments. Fort Lauderdale Fruit Lands Company purchased 2,000 acres a mile north of New River and two of three canals constructed to drain the Everglades emptied into that river. The drainage project to extend farming and prevent crop flooding eventually failed. Farm prospects diminished—along with the land boom—but Fort Lauderdale was incorporated as a town (not enough qualified voters for a city) March 27, 1911.  The town limit was set at one and one-half miles square.

Today, this “hustling little village” sits on more than 36 square miles, is home to about 177,000 and is among the top ten largest cities in the state.

Fort Lauderdale, 2018

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*Lemon City never incorporated and held loose borders extending from NW 54 Street to approximately NW 79 Street in Miami, today’s “Little Haiti.”

Sources:

Miami Metropolis, June 1, 1905

Miami Metropolis, Sept. 3, 1910

Miami Daily Metropolis, March 28, 1911

City of Fort Lauderdale

Weidling, Philip J., Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press (1966).

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Fort Lauderdale farming, Everglades farming, Florida East Coast Railroad history

SOFLA Travelogue 1880s: Of fishing, sailing, an earthquake and more …

Wonderland, by
George Potter of Lake Worth

 By Jane Feehan


In the late 1870s, Ohio physician James A. Henshall (1836-1925) urged a few “chronic” patients from Kentucky who lived on fried food to improve their health by joining him on a trip to South Florida. A “plain diet, pure air and bright sunshine” would go far in curing their ills.

Henshall had been to Palatka and St. Augustine but never south of those towns. He could not find anything to read about South Florida so decided to write of his travels during the winters of 1879-1880 and 1880-1881. What resulted was probably the first travelogue for the area, Camping and Cruising in Florida. The book provides a vivid snapshot of wild and settler life in the early days of Florida development.

This post will focus on his first Southeast Florida journey.

Henshall and his party traveled aboard his boat, Blue Wing, from Titusville, at the head of the Indian River, to Biscayne Bay on that first expedition. They camped, hunted, fished and visited a few Houses of Refuge along the coast where they made friends and picked up a few travel tips.

Blue Wing, by George Potter

Some of Henshall’s highlights include remarks about:

• The two best harbors - the Hillsboro Inlet and New River (today Port Everglades), reached from the “outside” or ocean instead of the conventional interior route;
• Hunting and dining on deer, possum, ducks, squirrels and fish;
• Bass fish aplenty (“too good of a good thing”) at the south branch of St. Lucie River; bits of white cloth used successfully as bait;
• Sea cows (manatees) spotted in St. Lucie River and shares a story about Captain Estes who shipped two sea cows to Philadelphia for the Centennial Expo where they died in a fire opening day;
• Redfish near Merritt Island 20 pounds and more;
• Sharks, pompano, drum fish, green turtles, oysters, bluefish, kingfish and crabs in or just "outside" Lake Worth in the ocean;
• Lake Worth residents (25 families on east side of the lake) who say the climate there is better than that of Southern Italy. They grow pineapples, coconuts, sugarcane;
• Thousands of green turtles (20-200 pounds) caught, held in pens and shipped north each year;
• New River (winding through downtown Fort Lauderdale today) … “the straightest, deepest and finest river I have ever seen in Florida.” Thousands of fish visible in its clear, amber-colored waters, include an abundance of Crevalles (jacks) 10-30 pounds. Also largest alligator (12 feet) of the trip spotted in New River;
• The beauty and silence of the Everglades and its friendly Seminoles;
• Their experience of an earthquake Jan. 12, 1879 (probably one of a pair near Palatka) at 11:30 p.m., which threw oil out of the lamp of the Jupiter Lighthouse and shook its brick foundation (one of several recorded in Florida and was felt for 25,000 square miles);
• Jupiter Lighthouse, which provides “one of the grandest and wildest views of land and water in Florida.” (It still does);
• The Biscayne Bay area, with fewer than 30 residents, is cooler in summer than any other portion of Florida because of the trade winds. It does  not get as hot as New York City. One day it will be a “popular health resort or sanitarium.” (Today the Magic City and Miami Beach lie at the bay's edge—sanitariums indeed.)

An avid angler, Henshall is chock full of fish tales—the kind that would have today’s anglers pining for time travel.

Current Fort Lauderdale resident, famed fisherman and author Steve Kantner says fishing is not the sport it used to be because of one thing: habitat destruction. Pollution from development and over-population has affected natural environments.

It’s interesting to note that Henshall did not mention tarpon in New River. Kantner, also known as the Landcaptain, caught one weighing 135 pounds; others have landed giants of 200 pounds. (Search index for fishing or Kantner.)

"Fishing in Lake Worth or in the ocean 'outside' remains remarkable," said Kantner. "That’s because only one canal, the C-16, pours into it and the Gulfstream flows closest to that area." The Landcaptain knows of one fisherman who snagged a tuna in the Lake Worth lagoon.

Fishing there may one day be closer to what it was in Henshall's time. Plans are underway to restore the salinity and original habitat of Lake Worth.

Dr. Henshall, who has since been referred to as the “apostle of the black bass,” left medicine to write several other books on fishing, some included in the American Sportsman’s Library. His Camping and Cruising in Florida (see link below to view book) remains the centerpiece of his legacy. Copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.


Sources:
James Alexander Henshall, M.D., Cruising and Camping in Florida. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co., 1884
Kantner, Steve. Ultimate Guide to Fishing South Florida on Foot. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2014.

www.gutenberg.org

www.wikipedia.org

www.bassmaster.com

University of Florida (geology)

Tags: Florida travel, Florida fishing, Steve Kantner, Florida history

Houses of Refuge, Fort Lauderdale and New River House No. 4

Courtesy of Broward County Historical Commission

By Jane Feehan

  

A swim to land after surviving a ship wreck did not guarantee seamen safety on Florida’s east coast during its early days. Human bones discovered over the years are testimony to onshore tribulations of those who managed to escape sinking ships. Florida was a wild, desolate place with sandy barrier islands that offered fresh water only to those with shovels who knew where to dig.

Survival odds climbed a notch or two in 1876 when the U.S government built five Houses of Refuge spaced 25 miles apart from the Indian River Inlet south to Cape Florida.

Patterned on the Massachusetts Humane Society’s Houses of Refuge, each Florida refuge was run by a paid keeper on a permanent basis. The keeper, paid $400 yearly, was tasked with providing food, water and shelter to the ship wrecked and to patrol coastal waters for wreck survivors.

“New River House No. 4” went up near today’s Hugh Taylor Birch State Park (Bonnet House).  In 1891 it was moved to the Bahia Mar area, site of one of the old forts (a fort marker sits there, near the base of a bridge over A1A). The first keeper of Fort Lauderdale’s House of Refuge was Washington (Wash) Jenkins. He was replaced seven years later by Edwin Ruthven Bradley.

One of these houses still stands on Hutchinson Island in Martin County and serves as The House of Refuge Museum.

Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.
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 *Bradley went on to secure a contact for mail delivery between Jupiter and Miami. As mail contractor, he shared delivery duties with Ed Hamiliton, known to us as the Barefoot Mailman who apparently drowned in the Hillsboro Inlet in 1887.

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Sources:

Broward Legacy, Vol 1, No. 1. Life Saving Station #4 by Eugene E. Wiley, 1974.

Weidling, Philip and Burghard, August. Checkered Sunshine. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1966. 

Broward County Historical Commission

Palm Beach Historical Society

Tags: Fort Lauderdale history, Florida history, houses of refuge, history of Florida

Two cousins, a stage line, and early Fort Lauderdale

By Jane Feehan

Ohioan Guy Irwin Metcalf (1866-1918) started up the first newspaper along the southeast coast of Florida, The Indian River News, in Melbourne in 1887. The legacy of this enterprising pioneer includes much more, including a connection to the founding of Fort Lauderdale.

Metcalf moved south to Juno with his family and renamed the paper The Tropical Sun in 1891. For a time, it was the only newspaper serving Floridians from Melbourne to the Upper Keys, most of which then was Dade County.  Metcalf sold the paper to the Model Land Co., owned by Henry Flagler, in 1902.

A community builder who saw potential in South Florida, Metcalf established a real estate company that built a rock road from Lantana to Lemon City (today the Little Haiti section of Miami). 

For travel on that road, completed in 1892, Metcalf started up a stage line of mule-pulled wagons – Bay Biscayne Stage line or Palmetto stage line - to make three trips a week from Lantana to Miami. 

The route included a stopover at a tent camp he set up at New River. The wagons did not cross New River, making the stage line the first transportation from Lantana to Miami entirely over land. Passengers and supplies were ferried across to waiting wagons. He hired his cousin Frank Stranahan, a Ohioan who was living in Melbourne at the time, to run the camp and its ferry at New River.

Stranahan expanded operations to include a trading post nearby and hung a sign there with the name “Fort Lauderdale” for its U.S. Postal Service designation. As a Fort Lauderdale pioneer, Stranahan served as its political, social and economic focal point for decades. (Lauderdale was Major William Lauderdale who came to fight the Seminoles in the 1830s.)

Each cousin contributed significantly to the South Florida story. In his short life, Metcalf also served as postmaster for West Palm Beach from 1913-1915 and as superintendent of schools for Palm Beach County. 

See index or use search box for more posts on Frank Stranahan.

Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

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Sources:

1. Lake Worth Pioneers’ Association

2.http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/the-miami-connection

3. McIver, Stuart. Glimpses of South Florida History. Miami: Florida Flair Books, 1988.

Tags: Frank Stranahan, Guy Irwin Metcalf, Fort Lauderdale history, early roads of South Florida, Palm Beach County history, Florida stage line, New River, historical researcher