Field Trip #5- Fort Lauderdale History Center

On the first day of the semester, I had looked at the course syllabus and noted the field trips that were required for this course. I knew there was a lot of work to be completed ahead of me in order to achieve my course goals but the one field trip that stood out was Field Trip #5, visiting an urban area and local history museum. Growing up in a large city, NYC, and now living in Fort Lauderdale, my history till today was limited of how the natural environment interfaces with our human environment in the present and in the past. As I live outside of SW Florida, I got my field trip pre-approved by Professor Davis and I was both excited and eager to learn more about this history of Fort Lauderdale. On June 12, 2010 I visited the Fort Lauderdale History center and I was simply amazed!

The Fort Lauderdale History center is located in downtown Fort Lauderdale, right off of Broward Blvd and Andrews Ave. I really enjoyed my trip as despite having been to Fort Lauderdale numerous amounts of times, I had never been in the area of the history center nor knew much about Fort Lauderdale other than the beach and the cheesecake factory. Inside the history center, it was so quaint and charming but it was packed with history of this area. The tour guide was so nice and knowledgeable it really made for a great tour and experience. Upon entering the history center, I entered the New River Inn which was built in 1905 and was the first building in Broward County to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is also the oldest tourist hotel in Broward County (Broward County is the county which comprises of Fort Lauderdale). I later learned that it was built of hollow concrete blocks made with sand barged from the beach and this later set the standard for construction in south Florida. The hotel operated until 1924 and had 24 guest rooms (see pictures below). The museum had a lot of cool artifacts and replicas for being so small. The artifacts covered from prehistoric animals, to the different local tribes of Indians and the days of when people arrived to Fort Lauderdale not catch some rays but for many other reasons.

Upon entering the museum, I was greeted by the “innkeeper” whose name I unfortunately forgot. She began providing me with many different facts and interesting things about the history of Fort Lauderdale. Some of the things she had mentioned that Fort Lauderdale is known as the “Venice of America” for its extensive system of waterways, including the New River, Intracoastal Waterway and a large number of canals. Also, for over 5,000 years people had been drawn to Fort Lauderdale. She also mentioned that the city of Fort Lauderdale is named for a Second Seminole War fortification built on the banks of the New River in 1838. Also, in the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale began changing from an agricultural community to a resort town. She told me that at the time the population doubled and then tripled in the early years of the decade and as a result many of the City’s finest residential developments date from this era. The deadly hurricane of 1926 really destroyed Fort Lauderdale and as a result many residents left and never returned and South Florida had gone into an economic depression three years ahead of the rest of the nation.
I really enjoyed everything and my expectations coming in were high but the museum, location surpassed what I was expecting. Honestly, there was nothing I had disliked about the museum except for the meter parking outside the museum. There were many things that had an impact on me as I did not grow up in this area and after moving here, I have only lived for 2-3 years if not including my three years of college that I have attended thus far and I really got a great understanding of Fort Lauderdale and beyond. At the Fort Lauderdale History Center, there was the “Replica Schoolhouse” which was built in 1899 and was Broward County’s first schoolhouse and it had just one teacher and nine students. The teacher was 18 year old, Ivy Julia Cromartie! In regards to redesigning the urban area and encouraging more community involvement, I personally think the city of Fort Lauderdale has done a terrific job with preserving the old habitat and providing a wide array of parks and nature centers for our current generation to enjoy. I think they can do a better job in making it a little bit more citizen-friendly and creating ways that would encourage more community engagement.

I would like to thank Professor Sarah Davis for this wonderful opportunity I will never forget and I urge you to visit the Fort Lauderdale History center if you are ever in town. For just $5-10 (depending on age), you will digest a vast amount of information that you can share with your loved ones and really have a true understanding of the place you call “home” today. Thank you and god bless!
Note: All pictures included in this entry have been taken by me. (Opposed to the first 3 field trips, my brother was unavailable to take pictures of me and thus I took pictures myself).