This is a historical sign that is placed where the first Pompano Colored School once stood. The…read morefirst colored school was a two room wooden school house on what is now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. It was destroyed by the 1926 Hurricane. Blanche General Ely who was to become the school's first principal supported a new and better school to replace the old one. In 1928 a two story, 6 classroom concrete and stucco building was constructed for grades one through six. In addition to the classrooms the building also had an assembly hall, library, and principals office. The school was completed with funds from the African-American community, Broward County, and the Rosemead Fund. Later on the school was expanded to the 11th grade. In 1954 the school was renamed Coleman Elementary School after Reverend James Emmanuel Coleman, the pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church.when desegregation took place the school closed in 1970 and in 1972 the school was demolished. The site where the school once sat is now Coleman Park and there is a historical marker commemorating the school. The marker that took more than two years to get was unveiled on September 6, 2018 in a city ceremony. Some of the schools former students attended. The site is now a designated Florida Heritage Site through the Historical Marker Program.

The Florida Historical Marker Program is one of the Division of Historical Resources' most popular…read moreand valued public history programs. It raises awareness of Florida's cultural history while enhancing the enjoyment of historic sites for residents and tourists. The blue historic markers tell the stories of the people and places that were important to Florida's history and they can be found in front of churches, schools, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, and historically important buildings like the one that used to be here, the first high school in Ft. Lauderdale. I was driving through downtown Ft. Lauderdale when this blue marker caught my eye. As an employee of the Broward County School Board it was cool to see the exact spot where it all began. On a 13 acre site bounded by Broward Boulevard, South Federal Highway, SE 3rd Avenue, and SE 2nd Street, there once stood the first school in Ft. Lauderdale. Ivy Stranahan, Ft. Lauderdale's first teacher and her husband Frank donated the land for the school. Ivy was very civic minded and she was involved in African-American, women's and Native American's rights, as well as the first chapter of the Audubon Society and the Red Cross. Ivy used her background as a school teacher to educate the Seminole's when they paddled up the New River to the couple's trading post. Their home is now the Stranahan Museum. Built at a cost of $86,000, the school was dedicated on September 16, 1915. It was a Mediterranean Revival structure designed by Miami architect August Geiger. This was the first school in newly incorporated Broward County. That same year the first class of 5 boys graduated. By 1916 all nine teachers employed had college degrees. Originally it was called Central School because of the large area it served. Students came from Pompano Beach, Davie and at the time unnamed rural areas that became municipalities in Broward County. The school student body's nickname was the Flying L's from the Flying L logo on the student track uniforms that were provided for free starting in 1922. At first the school had students in all twelve grades. As the population of Fort Lauderdale grew it became just a high school in 1924. Expansions were made over the next two years but it was badly damaged in the Great Hurricane of 1926. A gymnasium was added in 1930 and a library and cafeteria in 1940. In 1934, during the Great Depression, there were only 16 members of the graduating class. They didn't even have the funds to publish a yearbook. During the years of WWII, males who completed one semester and enlisted were given their diplomas. Sandy Nininger, the first soldier of World War II awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously was a graduate of Fort Lauderdale High School. While the school was open 8,633 students in forty-eight classes graduated. A new high school building opened in the fall of 1962 at 1600 NE 4th Avenue and the high school that sat here was demolished in August 1970. Today this historic site is now One Financial Plaza. Marker F-951 was erected in 2017 by the Ft. Lauderdale High Class of 1962 and the Florida Department of State.

I recently learned about Ft. Lauderdale pioneer Annie Beck after visiting the park named for her in…read morethe Victoria Park section of Ft. Lauderdale. Those who knew her called her Anibeck. Annie was married to Alfred Beck, Ft. Lauderdale's first pharmacist who brought her to the city in 1916. Mrs. Beck went on to found All Saints' Episcopal Church, the city's first garden club, the 1919 Study Club, and the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society in 1962, the year Alfred passed away. She was named Fort Lauderdale Citizen of the Year in 1975. Annie Beck passed away at the age of 98 in 1985. In addition to a park, the garden club's small library at its Garden Center in Birch State Park is also named for her. Annie Beck's 1916 Craftsman bungalow was saved from demolition in 1977 when it was moved from its original location in downtown Ft Lauderdale on Las Olas Blvd. to 310 SE 11th Ave to make room for a bank parking lot. Annie and Alfred named their house the atom and she lived in the house until the end of her life when she moved to an assisted living center in Wilton Manors. In 2008 the house was moved once again to Middle River Terrace Park where it languished, a victim of vandalism. In 2014, the 13th Street Alliance restored the house back to how it looked in 1920 with a 1.5 million dollar grant from the Broward County Redevelopment Agency. The house is made of Dade County Pine like many old buildings in the area because it is impervious to termites. You are not able to get it anymore making it extremely valuable.. Members from the garden club Annie founded 100 years earlier removed invasive plants around the house and replaced them with native plants like native coffee and American beautyberry. The House is now owned by the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation and for a time it housed the Ft. Lauderdale Junior Woman's Club. The house is now occupied by a police officer who lives there with his family in order to foster good police relations with the community and to provide them with a sense of security. It seems like a wonderful opportunity for him to live in such a historic home and I am sure Annie Beck would be happy to know her beloved home is still being enjoyed today by a young family who wants to give back to Ft. Lauderdale the way she always did. . Although not open to visitors you can take a 3-D tour of this historic gem online.

This is a historic bridge located in Tarpon Bend, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Ft. Lauderdale…read morethat it is bounded by the New River, South Andrews Avenue and Davie Boulevard. The neighborhood also contains its namesake river, the Tarpon River, a naturally flowing river that meanders through the Tarpon River, Downtown, and Rio Vista neighborhoods. Many ancient artifacts from the Tequesta people have been found in the neighborhood and it was the site of the second Fort Lauderdale during the Seminole Wars. There is a display about the Tequesta artifacts in nearby Lewis Landing Park. Today the neighborhood is prized for its charming historic homes, beautiful parks, and its proximity to the City of Ft. Lauderdale. The bridge was built in 1928 and rebuilt in 1968. It won an Ocean Environmental Design award in 1984. In 1997 City Commissioners renamed the Tarpon River bridge after the late Broward Sheriff Ron Cochran. Cochran was Fort Lauderdale's police chief before becoming sheriff. Today the bridge continues to carry vehicles, bikers, and pedestrians over the Tarpon River. Its bright blue color and paintings of tarpon on the bridge make it an instantly recognizable landmark of Tarpon Bend. It is an easy walk across the charming bridge where you can get a view of the Tarpon River and Lewis Landing Park is just a short stroll away.

I love to explore the history of south Florida. There are so many grand houses and buildings from…read morethe 1920's during Florida's land boom years before hurricanes and the Great Depression robbed many of their fortunes. One such 1920s beauty is the 1924 Curci House built by Frank and Rosina Curci, a pioneer family who came to the area in 1907 with their three small children. The house is located in the city of Hallandale which has four heritage and one historic site. The family struggled when they arrived at SW 5th Avenue and West Dixie Highway but they put in work and became prosperous from farming tomatoes and fruit and later on they opened a construction business. The Curci's eventually had eleven children and Mr. Curci spoke five languages and was an accomplished musician. "Villa Providence" was the couples dream home which they built on their eleven acre property. It was constructed from concrete filled terra cotta block walls with termite impervious Dade pine floors. They added Cuban tile details can be found throughout the house and there is glass from Italy imbedded in the outside stucco finish. The house was so well built that it was able to withstand the Great Hurricane of 1926 when it served as a refuge for many in the community. The family remained in their home until the 1950's. The home is listed on the Hallandale website as being open on the first Saturday of every month between 11am and 4pm but they have shut it down to tours since the pandemic and never bothered to reopen although it appears that it can be rented for private events. There is a huge fence surrounding the property so for now you can only view the home from the street. It is such a disappointment to see it closed. Nearby Hollywood reopened their historic Hammerstein House and Hallandale should consider doing the same.

I walked by this building under re-construction and was curious about it. So did some research…read more Here's the background. Pompano Beach's rich cultural heritage dates back to 1908, and is the second oldest city in Broward County. Over the decades, there have been countless historic buildings demolished and replaced with new construction. While new development is essential for a community's success, the history of a community contributes greatly to its personality. Historic preservation provides a link to the roots of the community and its people. Overall, historic preservation adds to the quality of life, making for a more livable community. The McNab House and garage preservation initiative is an important part of saving Pompano Beach's history. The effort to save the McNab House and garage from demolition was driven by the Pompano Beach Historical Society with strong support from the McNab Family and numerous stakeholders in Pompano Beach. The vision for the entire park is to create a state-of-the-art botanical garden with Floridian, tropical landscaping, plants, and water features throughout the site; an open-air event lawn; a separate event facility/building for indoor and/or covered weddings and private events; a commercial kitchen annex building to serve the historic home-turned-restaurant. The redeveloped McNab Botanical Gardens will accommodate not only casual and fine dining, but also art exhibits, educational seminars, small music concerts, and much more. A children's garden and a potential book or gift shop may also be part of the project. While the concept calls for private operators for the restaurant, café, and potential wine bar in the basement, the Garden itself will remain open to the public during business hours and be operated by a professional park operator in cooperation with the Master Operator. On April 16th, 2019, the CRA Board voted to preserve the existing McNab House built in 1926 and gave staff direction to relocate the house to McNab Park (2250 E. Atlantic Blvd.) within the East CRA boundary. The house was moved on March 1st, 2020. The McNab House will be refurbished to provide space for a restaurant. Can't wait until it opens :)

In Cooley Landing in Sailboat Bend you will a boat ramp and a picnic pavilion but there is also a…read moremarker standing witness to an important piece of Ft. Lauderdale history that took place here. This monument marks the site where the William Cooley Plantation one stood. Arriving in 1824, William Cooley was one of the first pioneers of the New River Settlement now known as Ft. Lauderdale. He became wealthy with an arrowroot plantation and he traded with Seminole and Creek nations nearby. In 1835, white settlers killed a Creek chief named Alibama and were acquitted. The Creek blamed Cooley for this injustice and when he was away for business in Key West the Creek entered the plantation on January 6, 1836 and killed Cooley's wife, infant son, son, daughter, and the children's tutor. The house was set on fire. The Cooley massacre sparked the Second Seminole War. The army established the first Fort Lauderdale in 1838. The eventual outcome was the Indian Removal Act where the native people were forced out of Florida to the west on the Trail of Tears. It is believed that the massacre was committed by the creek but the settlers in the area could not distinguish between the Creek and the Seminoles. Led by chief Abiaka, the remaining 200 Seminoles fled to Pine Island Ridge where they were able to outlast the army. Cooley left Ft. Lauderdale but lived in Florida until his death. There is another marker dedicated in 1934 in Cooley Hammock Park near Las Olas Boulevard that says it was the site of the Cooley Plantation. It has now been established that this information is not correct but the neighborhood did not want the marker removed. The correct location is Cooley Landing and this marker was installed in 1993 by the City of Ft. Lauderdale. .

The Link Trainer Building #8 marker is part of the Florida Historical Marker Program, one of the…read moreDivision of Historical Resources' most popular and valued public history programs. It raises awareness of Florida's cultural history while enhancing the enjoyment of historic sites for residents and tourists. The historic markers tell the stories of the people and places that were important to Florida's history and they can be found in front of schools, roads, archaeological sites, battlefields, cemeteries, churches, colleges, historic districts, and historic buildings like this one. Historic marker F-878 was installed in 2015 by the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association and the Florida Department of State. The Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station Museum is housed in Link Trainer Building #8 built in 1942. It was one of 200 buildings built at the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale on Merle Fogg Field to teach aviators how to fly torpedo bombers for combat during WWII. In 1943 when he was nineteen, pilot Ensign George H.W. Bush who later served as president of the United States, trained here. Link Trainer #8 was moved on May 20, 1998 from it's former location to where it sits now on perimeter road. In 1979 Allan McElhiney, a WWII sailor founded the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale Historical Association. McElhiney along with other naval history enthusiasts were able to have the link building added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. They worked to save the building from demolition and in 1999 Broward County commissioner Lori Parish was able to get a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Transportation Department which allowed the building to be saved and refurbished as a museum. If you have not visited this museum I highly recommend it. it contains a treasure trove of military history including the story of Flight 19. On December 5, 1945, during a routine training mission the flight of five Avengers disappeared into what became known as the Bermuda Triangle. Link Trainer Building #8 is the only building left from the Naval Air Station Fort Lauderdale and this is the only military museum in Broward County.