Fort Lauderdale's pioneer and the Stranahan House

          

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

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 less than 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

Fort Dallas then, today Miami

Fort Dallas, circa 1890
Florida State Archives

 

By Jane Feehan

First built as a plantation on the mouth of the Miami River in 1844, Fort Dallas served as an outpost during the Seminole Wars of 1849-1855. It was named after Commodore Alexander James Dallas (1791-1844), then in command of U.S Naval forces sent to chase down pirates in the West Indies.

The area attracted settlers, traders, and ornithologists long before Ohioan Julia Tuttle decided to call it home in 1892. She built a house near Fort Dallas as Henry M. Flagler extended his railroad south from St. Augustine to Palm Beach.

One-time partner of Standard Oil’s John D. Rockefeller, Flagler was enticed, as the tale goes, by Tuttle and her bouquet of orange blossoms to bring the railway to Fort Dallas after a bitter freeze in 1894 decimated orange trees from Palm Beach north.

Fort Dallas 1870s
State Archives of Florida 

A deal was made and the Florida East Coast Railway (so named in 1898) reached the Fort Dallas platform in 1896. The city of Miami, whose name could have been Flagler had he not suggested its original American Indian name, was incorporated three months later.

Flagler then built the Royal Palm Hotel on Biscayne Bay, Miami’s center piece, in less than two years. The city captured America’s attention when 7,000 U.S. soldiers were deployed there in 1898 after the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana, the fuse setting off the Spanish American War.

Some of Fort Dallas remains in Lummas Park making it one of the oldest structures in the area.

Copyright © 2020, 2021. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

Standiford, Les. Last Train to Paradise. New York: Crown Publishers (2002).

Douglas, Marjory Stoneman. The Everglades, River of Grass. Miami: Banyan Books (1978)

www.wikipedia.org

Tags: Florida history, Miami history, 

How Florida got its name: something to do with a holiday

Most with an acquaintance of the Spanish language know "Florida" translates into English as flowers. But the state was not named for flowers.

In 1513, a few days after Easter Sunday, the Spanish "conquistador" Juan Ponce de Leon  (1474-1521) and his contingent landed in an area assumed to be near present day Cape Canaveral, an area not known for flowers.

Spanish historian Antonio de Herrera Tordesillas (1559-1625) wrote: "And thinking that this land was an island they named it 'La Florida' because they discovered it in the time of the flowery festival." 

That festival is/was known as Pascua Florida or "flowery Easter." And so, Florida was named for when it was discovered, not for flowers that may or may not have been part of that 16th-century vista.

Copyright © All rights reserved. 


Sources:
The Everglades, River of Grass, by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (Banyan Books, 1978)
Also: The Catholic Encyclopedia online at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07296a.htm

Palm Beach not first choice for town name

Palm Beach
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

If not for the decisiveness of voters – all 35 of them - Palm Beach might have been part of West Palm Beach instead of celebrating its centennial in 2011.

West Palm Beach incorporated first as a town in 1894, then as a city in 1903. West Palm officials were moving to annex the island of Palm Beach in 1911 when voters gathered at the Palm Beach Hotel and decided to incorporate their own government. The town of Palm Beach celebrates April 16 as its birthday.

About that name …

The name Palm Beach was settled on in 1887 when the first choice, Palm City, was rejected by the U.S. Postal Service; the name was taken by another town.

Voters tapped Capt. E.N. Dimick as their first mayor. He was well known to locals and visitors. He built and operated the town's first hotel in 1885, the Cocoanut Grove House. Henry M. Flagler stayed at the hotel while building the nearby Royal Poinciana, the world's largest wooden hotel structure, and extending his railway into West Palm Beach in 1894.

Copyright © 2021. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Palm Beach 1890s
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

Sources:

O’Sullivan, Maureen and  Shpritz, Dianna. Palm Beach: Then and Now. West Palm Beach: Lickle Publishing, 2004.

http://www.pbchistoryonline.org

Tags: Palm Beach Centennial, Florida history, Palm Beach County, Palm Beach history, Florida in the early 1900s

Fort Lauderdale's Beachgoer Stats 1940s

 

Fort Lauderdale Beach 1944
Florida State Archive/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

During the 1940s it was easier to capture and publicize the number of Fort Lauderdale beach goers than it might be today. 

A report published by the Fort Lauderdale Daily News (June 5, 1945) from Porter Reynolds, supervisor of Parks and Recreation for the city, indicated the following for the month of May, 1945:

26,723 persons used the beach with a daily average of 863

9,177 swimmers, including military personnel, used the Las Olas Casino Pool

6,131 people used the lockers at the Casino pool

408 people used the municipal tennis courts

2,168 used the city’s shuffleboard courts




Tags: Fort Lauderdale Beach, Fort Lauderdale history

German U-Boat close enough to see Miami Beach sunbathers 1943

 

Tanker Republic hit by German sub
off Jupiter 1942 Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

First deployed during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, German U-Boats* played their most significant role in economic warfare, sinking merchant vessels throughout the North Sea, Atlantic, and Caribbean during the World Wars. Many patrolled waters off South Florida during World War II.

In a 1987 gathering of former U-Boaters in Key Largo, attendee Heinz Rehse recounted his 1943 trip to South Florida. U-Boat 511 travelled across the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale and headed south to Miami. The Germans were close enough to see tourists on the beach and in the ocean through a periscope, Rehse, who later became a U.S. citizen, said the crew got off the sub and swam in waters near a lighthouse in the Keys. They were never spotted. From their South Florida stop they set sail for the Caribbean where they sank eight merchant ships.

“War nerves” were credited for some of the silly stories that emerged in Miami after sub incidents. When one U-Boat was captured, rumors spread about authorities finding milk cartons from a Dade County dairy aboard. Also part of the lore was the tale of ticket stubs from a Flagler Street movie house discovered in U-Boat officers’ quarters.

German officers and their minions could have used some amusement. About 39,000 sailors served on the 1,200 U-Boats launched before and during World War II. Only 7,000 survived.

*For more on U-Boats off South Florida, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-american-shooting-season-of-wwii.html

Copyright © 2021. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan
____________________________
Sources:
Miami News, Feb. 17, 1955
Miami News, Feb 2, 1987
A definitive source on U-Boats – Sharkhunters, Inc. preserves U-Boat history: http://www.sharkhunters.com/


Tags: U-Boats off Miami, U-Boats off South Florida, U-Boats in American waters during World War II, U-Boats and WWII, German U Boats, film researcher, Miami history

Cuba Missile Crisis - JFK response and Florida

 

JFK (right) delivering ultimatum to USSR  10/22/62
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The extent of U.S. military buildup in response to the Cuba Missile Crisis (Oct. 16-28, 1962) wasn’t revealed to the world until President John F. Kennedy paid a personal call to the forward area set up in Florida and still in place a month later.

Kennedy visited Homestead Air Force Base Nov. 26 where a war room had been established to coordinate military operations. There, the Tactical Air Command (TAC) made available to the press an account of its response.

Nike-Hercules supersonic ground-to-air missiles were placed in South Dade farmlands. They could hurl atomic warheads 100 miles to counter Russian IL-28 bombers, called “Beagles.” Beagles had a range of 1,100-1,200 miles but only if deployed on a suicide mission. Otherwise, they couldn’t shoot more than a range of 500 miles.

One thousand fast-flying jet fighters and other planes were deployed to Homestead, Boca Chica Naval Air Station in Key West and other areas in the Southeast. TAC revealed that its planes flew combat air patrols as cover for daily reconnaissance missions over Cuban waters. The F-104s and
F-8Us, which could fly 1,000 mph, were ready to deploy if the missions encountered trouble.

Hundreds of Navy planes aboard eight carriers assisted in the blockade or “quarantine” of Castro’s island stronghold. Kennedy flew into Key West and drove past the ships to pay his respects after his stop at the Homestead base.

Seven thousand troops were deployed and still arriving in Florida during early November. They were quartered in ball parks, race tracks, and motels from Fort Lauderdale to Key West. Though the blockade officially ended Nov. 20, 1962, American weapons were not deactivated until September, 1963.

To mark the 50-year anniversary of the crisis, a neutralized 41-foot Nike Hercules missile was placed at the Nike Missile Base in Everglades National Park in 2012. The missile was delivered on the back of a flatbed truck that traveled down I-95 to George T. Baker Aviation School in Miami. There, students refurbished the Cuba Missile Crisis relic for display.

The Nike Hercules missile site was listed on the United States Department of the Interior Register of Historic Places on July 27, 2004 as a Historic District.

Nike Hercules Missile - photo from
Redstone Arsenal Historical Info.

Copyright © 2013 , 2021 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Miami News, Nov. 11, 1962

Miami News, Nov. 26, 1962

Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 21, 2012

Tags: Cuba Missile Crisis, military buildup in Florida during missile crisis, 50 year anniversary of Cuba Missile Crisis, Nike Hercules missiles in Florida, IL-28 Beagles, film industry researcher