History of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

The first United States stockade named Fort Lauderdale was built in 1838, and subsequently was a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War.

After the war ended, service members returned to the area, spurring an enormous population explosion which dwarfed the 1920s boom.

[5] Subsequently, Florida returned to Spanish control under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which ended the American Revolutionary War.

In the early 18th century, Creek Indians had moved down from Alabama and joined the Oconee, themselves recent immigrants from Georgia; together, they formed the core of the Seminole tribe.

[6] By 1830, the de facto leader among the approximately 70 people living at the "New River Settlement" (present day Fort Lauderdale) was William Cooley.

As Justice of Peace, Cooley jailed the settlers, but they were released after a hearing at the Monroe County Court in Key West; the justification was insufficient evidence.

In 1896, the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) extended its line south from West Palm Beach to Miami, with a station in Fort Lauderdale.

[10] In February 1925, a state-commissioned census recorded 5,625 people in Fort Lauderdale,[15] and a real-estate boom was in progress in South Florida.

While the land rush was focused on the Miami area, communities throughout the region, including Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Boca Raton were swept up in the speculative buying frenzy.

Fort Lauderdale suffered extensive damage from the hurricane, which killed 50 people and destroyed an estimated 3500 structures in the city.

The 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane only slightly damaged Fort Lauderdale, but the enormous death toll contributed to the perception that Florida was not the paradise that had been promoted by developers.

[20] While the collapse of the land boom and the depression had reversed the sharp growth of 1925, the population of the city began to grow at a moderate pace.

In December 1939, a British cruiser chased the German freighter Arauca into Port Everglades, where she remained until the US seized her in 1941, when Germany declared war on the US.

By the end of the war, the station had trained thousands of Navy pilots, including future congressman, UN Ambassador, Director of Central Intelligence, and President of the United States George H. W.

The strange disappearance of the flight and the coincidental explosion which destroyed Training 49, a plane involved in a search for the missing squadron, contributed to the Bermuda Triangle myth.

Every year in February, March, and April, tens of thousands of college students would come to relax at the beaches and party at the many bars along A1A.

[31]: 43 In the meantime, to some extent inspired by the release of Where the Boys Are at the beginning of 1961, frustrated African-American residents, led by Eula Johnson, President of the Broward NAACP chapter, and Dr.

The city of Fort Lauderdale sued them and the NAACP, seeking an injunction to force them to stop "beach wade-in disruptions".

[33] A 1967 report estimated that the city was approximately 85% developed,[30] and the 1970 population figure was 139,590[34] After 1970, as Fort Lauderdale became essentially built out, growth in the area shifted to suburbs to the west.

Overnight parking was banned near the beach and an open-container law prohibiting the consumption of alcohol in public places was enacted.

The following spring, the city denied MTV a permit to set up their stage on the beach, and approximately 2,500 people were arrested as the new laws were strictly enforced.

[41] Beginning in 1986, with the passage of a bond issue, the city of Fort Lauderdale began an aggressive effort to connect the city's arts and entertainment district, the historic downtown area, and the Las Olas shopping and beach district, and to shake its long-standing reputation as a cultural wasteland and college-student party town.

The centerpiece of the cultural renaissance was the Riverwalk project, which runs along the New River from the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to the Stranahan House, with work in progress to extend the walk to Las Olas Boulevard.

A number of upscale high-rise residential towers along the river have encouraged the development of high-end shopping and entertainment throughout the downtown area.