Jo & Gerry Van Blarcom "Shore to Please!"

Developmental History of Fort Lauderdale

The areas surveyed during the course of this project contain many popular residential subdivisions that were created in Fort Lauderdale during the 1920s and 1930s.  They include Rio Vista, Colee Hammock, Idlewyld, Beverly Heights, Lauder Del Mar, and Las Olas by the Sea.  Each of these subdivisions is a visually distinct area.  They have varying street plans and are set off from neighboring developments by natural or manmade boundaries.  For the most part, these subdivisions are located southeast of the original platted section of Fort Lauderdale.  With the exception of Rio Vista, they are tied together by East Las Olas Boulevard, which runs east to west from the Atlantic oceanfront to downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Although each of the subdivisions has a separate history, they share a common period of development.  With the exception of Las Olas by the Sea, which was first platted in 1914, all of the subdivisions were recorded during the 1920s.  They all witnessed an intense period of development during the great Florida Land Boom years of the mid-1920s and continued to grow, though at a more moderate pace, during the 1930s.  The developmental history of these subdivisions is linked to the larger story of Fort Lauderdale's development as a whole.  Accordingly, a brief discussion of the city's evolution is necessary to provide a context for reviewing the historical development of the survey area.¹

The development of the area in and around Fort Lauderdale was insured after Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward in 1904 instituted a program of internal improvements for Florida.  Among the priorities of Broward's plan was the drainage of the Everglades to claim valuable land in the southern portion of the state.  Fort Lauderdale was among the areas that became a focal point for the drainage program.  By 1910 the Fort Lauderdale settlement had 143 residents.  The Town of Ft.  Lauderdale was incorporated in 1911, and subsequently began a period of rapid development.²

America's entrance into World War I ended Fort Lauderdale's first period of development.  For two years during the conflict, building in the town was brought to a standstill while its citizens turned their attention to the war effort.  At the close of the conflict in 1918 Fort Lauderdale had approximately 2,000 residents. it was the seat of Broward County, formed in 1915 out of parts of Dade and Palm Beach counties.  The economy was tied to vegetable and citrus farming.  There were three dry goods stores, ten grocery stores, one hardware and furniture store, one five and ten cent store, an undertaking parlor, two second hand stores, four garages, an ice and electric plant, two novelty works and planing mills, a city water works, a fire department, a school, two newspapers, four doctors, five lawyers, three dentists, three barber shops, two blacksmith shops, two pool rooms, two banks, and eight churches.  There was a boulevard to the beach, where the city had created a public park and D.C. Alexander had begun development of a new subdivision, which he called Las Olas by the Sea.³

David Clifford Alexander was born in Butler, Pennsylvania on March 25, 1883.  A Year later his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio where Alexander grew up and attended high school.  He went on to attend Western Reserve University in Ohio, and later graduated from Stanford in California where he established himself as an all-around athlete.  After graduation, Alexander spent some time working at a bank in Kansas before moving to Fort Lauderdale in 1909.⁴

While in California, Alexander noted the economic possibilities of developing oceanfront property.  With this in mind, he formed the D.C. Alexander and Company real estate firm and purchased a thirty-two acre tract of land between the New River and the Atlantic Ocean from Thomas E. Watson in August 1913.  The purchase of the property by Alexander removed a major barrier to the development of the beach, since most of the property there was owned by wealthy sportsmen who regarded the area as their private hunting ground.  Watson, a native of Thompson, Georgia, had built a hunting lodge on the property that would later serve as the first hotel on the beach.  Alexander planned to develop the property as a recreational area for residents and tourists.  Immediate plans called for the construction of a causeway from the mainland to the beach and the building of a dance and amusement pavilion.  These were to be finished by that November at the south end of the property on the bay.  During this time a survey of the area was made and the official plat of the area, which Alexander named Las Olas by the Sea, was finished by the New River Engineering Firm in January, 1914 (Figure 2).⁵

Figure 2

These pictures from post cards were sent to me by Charles L. Hansen, Capt. who worked as a bellman at this hotel in 1942.  The original swing bridge is just visible at the top

If this peaks your curiosity just click on the picture for more information about the Amphitrite.

The causeway's completion coincided with the United State's entry into the First World War.  Further development of the beachfront was delayed until the end of that conflict.  It would not be until the great Florida Land Boom years of the mid 1920s that appreciable numbers of buildings would be constructed in Las Olas by the Sea.⁸

Although Fort Lauderdale had developed fairly rapidly during the 1910s, nothing it had experienced previously could be compared to the explosion that occurred as a result of the great Florida Land Boom of the 1920s.  The end of the war brought a new surge of activity as an era of prosperity and improved means of transportation sent many Americans south seeking a warmer climate, relaxation, and recreation.  Real estate and tourism played an increasing role in Fort Lauderdale's economy.  Fort Lauderdale's escalating tourism and real estate development were not isolated occurrences, but part of a statewide phenomenon known as the great "Florida Land Boom.' Although its effects were felt throughout Florida, the Boom reached its highest intensity on the southeastern "Gold Coast" between Palm Beach and Miami.  Exciting, frantic, and extravagant in nature, the Boom inspired many changes in southeast Florida and an even greater number of unfulfilled dreams.  It also created much wealth.  Local residents made fortunes in real estate speculation virtually overnight.  Prosperous Northerners arrived in droves as visitors and as winter residents.⁹

Land sales during this era of unprecedented prosperity revolved around subdivisions that were annexed to the original town.  Rio Vista and Colee Hammock were two of the largest early 1920s developments.  The Rio Vista subdivision is situated east of the Federal highway in the bend caused by the confluence of the Tarpon River and the New River.  The first plat of the area (Figure 3) was recorded in October 1920 by Mary Brickell, a native of Miami and owner of a substantial amount of land in and around Fort Lauderdale.  The 115 acres of wooded land was planned as a "high class" subdivision.  Several prominent area citizens, including E.N. Sperry and Senator Louis N. Hilsendagan, both of whom had streets named for them on the original plat, had begun improving lots before the plat was recorded.¹⁰

Mary Brickell died in late 1920 before any substantial improvements were been made in the subdivision.  Some four hundred acres of Brickell's land along the New River, including the Rio Vista area, were purchased by developer C.J. Hector in March 1921.  Hector planned to follow through with Brickell's subdivision of the Rio Vista area, but made significant changes in the original plat.  The plat that Hector filed in February 1922 showed a completely altered street pattern.  He added three additional east/west avenues and eliminating four of the original north/south streets, thereby creating rectangular blocks with more frontage on streets that ran east/west (Figure 4).  This adjustment introduced a much more attractive street plan, as well as producing easier access to the subdivision.  The major streets within the subdivision were to be seventy feet wide with an additional twenty feet reserved on either side for sidewalks.¹¹

Figure 3

Figure 4

Immediately upon completion of the plat, Hector began earnest efforts to promote the revamped subdivision.  An advertisement for lots appeared in nearly every issue of the local papers during the course of the following year.  The ads concentrated on appealing to the good sense of the prospective buyer.  A typical example stated that residents of in the subdivision did not have to travel "miles in the woods.  They do not have to go through any unsightly or cheaply developed section to get there or look out upon a trash heap when they are on their property.  They don't have to pay for a lot of special improvements after they pay for their property.  All improvements put in and paid for by developer.  There is everything to be proud of in Rio Vista."¹²

Rio Vista began developing at an opportune time, as Fort Lauderdale was about to enter its Boom period.  By February of 1923 the Fort Lauderdale Herald proclaimed that Rio Vista was already beginning to show signs of booming.  Some 5,000 feet of sidewalk had been laid along Rio Vista Boulevard and along some of the lesser avenues extensive landscaping had been done and street lighting installed.  Many expensive Spanish style residences were in the planning stage.  Seeking financing for additional improvements and other projects, Hector reorganized his real estate firm by selling much of his interest in the subdivision and other property he had acquired from Mary Brickell to a group made up of Atlanta, Miami, and local businessmen.  The group, still headed by Hector and now called Rio Vista Estates, Incorporated, was intent on continuing improvements in the subdivision, while at the same time developing the Rio Vista Isles.¹³

There was a great deal of Boom time construction within the subdivision.  As its developers envisioned, it became one of the most exclusive residential neighborhoods in Fort Lauderdale in the 1920s.  A Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, which shows outlines or 'footprints" of buildings, done for the area in 1928 shows a substantial increase in the numbers and concentration of buildings over that of a previous map made in 1924.  The collapse of the speculative land bubble, however, seriously affected development in the subdivision as an update of the 1928 Sanborn map proves.  Done in 1937, the Sanborn map shows that only a very few structures were constructed during the nine-year period.¹⁵

Colee Hammock's development was very similar to that of Rio Vista. Colee Hammock, named for the Cooley family, who were massacred by Indians in the Fort Lauderdale area in 1836, is located on the north bank of the New River and bounded by the Saspiro Canal and Rio Navarro on the east, East Broward Boulevard to the north, and the Edgewater subdivision on the west.  It was originally platted by Mary Brickell in March 1916.  Brickell intended it to be an exclusive, restricted residential subdivision.  The C.C. Ausherman and Company real estate firm, who managed the property for Brickell, began an immediate advertising campaign in the local newspapers.  Ads boasted of the subdivision's wooded lots, its close proximity to the beach and new $50,000 schoolhouse, and Broward Boulevard (now Las Olas Boulevard), which was sure to become the "Fifth Avenue" of Fort Lauderdale.  Access to the New River was to be enhanced by a proposed canal, the Himarshee, which was to follow the line of a natural slew that ran through the subdivision to the river.¹⁶

Despite this advertising campaign, there was no rush at this point to obtain lots in Colee Hammock.  The adds soon disappeared from the newspapers and the property was taken off the market as Fort Lauderdale turned its attention to the war in Europe.  The end of the conflict brought renewed interest in the development of the area.  Brickell recorded the plat for the subdivision (Figure 5) in March 1920 and began to advertise once again.  After Brickell's death, the real estate firm of M.A. Hortt and R.E. Dye purchased all of the unsold lots in Colee Hammock in September of 1921.  Hortt and Dye, who were at the same time developing the Idlewyld subdivision, now had holdings totaling some 450 lots on eighty acres of land.¹⁷

During the following year there was a great deal of developmental activity within the subdivision.  Two large tracts were resubdivided and made into separate subdivisions.  In October of 1922, local real estate operator W.B. Snyder purchased twenty-two lots along Las Olas and the east canal that became known as Snyder's subdivision.  Also in October, Hortt and Dye formed the Beverly Heights Corporation for the purpose of resubdividing a large tract in Colee Hammock.  Named Beverly Heights, this subdivision was planned around the new Himarshee Canal, which bisected the tract (Figure 6).¹⁸

Like Rio Vista, Colee Hammock witnessed its most intense period of historical development during the boom years of the mid 1920s.  Still, many lots were left empty when the speculative bubble burst.  It is, however, evident from the 1937 update of the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps that Colee Hammock experienced a much greater amount of development during the years of the Great Depression then did Rio Vista.¹⁹

Some developments, like the New River Development Company's Idlewyld south of Las Olas Boulevard, were created entirely out of the subtropical wilderness by dredging and filling the mangrove swamps between Fort Lauderdale and the Intracoastal Waterway (Figure 7).  Platted in 1921, Idlewyld became the first of a series of successful reclamation subdivisions. Hortt and Dye began work on the project in the summer of 1920.  The brought in a large suction dredge.  The $100,000 project was intended to create 400 acres of usable land and was estimated at the time, to be the most ambitious private undertaking ever in south Florida.²⁰

By 1922, Charles G. Rodes with his Venice development, and William F. Morang, with his Rio Vista Isles and Lauderdale subdivisions, carried dredging techniques one step further.  Operating in swampy areas that did not contain sufficient fill with which to dredge full scale subdivisions, they introduced a technique known as "finger-islanding." Finger islands were narrow strips of fill alternating with channels of water.  Wide enough to contain a street with a row of lots on each side, they offered a degree of privacy and the advantage of waterfront property.  Using this method, Rodes and Morang transformed some of Fort Lauderdale's marshland into expensive developments.²¹

Figure 6

Figure 7

The Land Boom reached its zenith in 1925.  That year, Fort Lauderdale's population soared to an estimated 16,000 people, eight times the number of residents enumerated in the federal census at the beginning of the decade.  New developments featuring both exclusive and moderately priced homes continued to arise from the marshes and pine barrens.  Alfred G. Kuhn's Victoria Park was situated in the northeastern portion of the city, while south of the New River, Woods, Hoskins, and Young built Croissant Park, named for their flamboyant sales agent, Frank G. Croissant.  Through annexation, the physical proportions of Fort Lauderdale by 1926 had reached an all-time peak of forty-three square miles.²²

This annexed area included the new Lauder Del Mar subdivision, the first addition to the beach area since D.C. Alexander's Las Olas by the Sea.  Platted by the Broward Estates Corporation headed by J.W. Tidball and C.N. McClure in February 1925, the subdivision was typical of Boom time developments throughout Florida (Figure 8). it featured streets named for Spanish cities, reflecting the contemporary popularity of Mediterranean influenced architecture.  Few Mediterranean style buildings were actually constructed in Lauder Del Mar, however, as the speculative land bubble began to deflate the following year.²³

Although construction reached its apogee in 1926, the Boom was already encountering difficulties. Over speculation in real estate had created a financial house of cards.  Land changed hands so fast that many purchasers found their properties heavily mortgaged and themselves with little cash.  In the fall of 1925, the F.E.C. Railway, overloaded by the vast amount of building materials being shipped to south Florida, declared a freight embargo.  The embargo weakened the foundations of the Boom, although it did not stop construction since determined local builders brought lumber blocks, and other materials into the city by ship, up the New River.²⁴

The already weakened boom was brought to a grinding halt by the disastrous hurricane of September 18, 1926.  The hurricane, the most powerful to hit Fort Lauderdale since large scale settlement had begun, caught the city almost entirely unaware.  Although warnings were issued as the hurricane approached, they were generally ignored since most residents had never experienced a storm of such magnitude.  When the hurricane was over, much of Fort Lauderdale was damaged.  Fifteen people were dead, and approximately 1,500 were injured.²⁵

The 1926 hurricane plunged south Florida into depression well in advance of the rest of the nation.  Numerous Fort Lauderdale residents who had arrived during the Boom packed their belongings and returned north.  Many real estate speculators, their fortunes on paper, found themselves penniless as the Boom collapsed beneath them.  Although the debris left by the hurricane was quickly removed, remainders of the deflated Boom were evident throughout the City. W.F. Morang's Fifteenth Street drawbridge, intended to connect Rio Vista Isles with the beach, stood abandoned in the middle of the Intracoastal Waterway.  Its causeways never built, it was known as the "Bridge to Nowhere." Downtown, on Las Olas Boulevard, stood the steel skeleton of William Marshall's Wil-Mar Hotel, its construction also interrupted by the economic "bust."²⁶

Figure 8

Although the Boom was over, all development did not stop.  The city's population had declined to just under 9,000, still more than twice the figure of 1924.  Transportation lines into the city continued to improve.  A second railroad line was added, work on U.S. 1, or the Federal Aid Highway, was progressing steadily, and construction on a deep water harbor, Port Everglades, was begun.²⁷

Despite the eventual success of these improvements, economic difficulties characterized the late 1920s in Fort Lauderdale, and several banks, businesses, and prominent citizens fell by the wayside.  The 1929 stock market crash and the beginning of the national Great Depression threatened a continuation of hard times, but as the 1930s progressed Fort Lauderdale started on the road to recovery.  The former boomtown resort gained a national reputation as a seaside resort.  Mirroring the return of tourism, the hotel and apartment business was on the upswing.  The targets for the most impressive of these new buildings were the Las Olas by the Sea and Lauder Del Mar subdivisions on the beach.  The Art Deco Lauderdale Beach Hotel, located at 101 S. Atlantic Boulevard in Las Olas by the Sea was among the finest of the beach hotels.  Designed by Roy M. France in the popular Art Deco style, the Lauderdale Beach Hotel was built by the construction firm of Grim & Toll in 1937.  Other extant examples of hotel and apartment buildings constructed during this period in the Las Olas by the Sea subdivision include the Anchorage Apartments (1936), Atlantic Court Apartments (1938), and the Poinsettia Beach Hotel (1940).²⁸

The Lauder Del Mar subdivision also experienced a significant amount of 1930s hotel and apartment development.  The Trade Winds Annex at 3012 Castillo Street is typical of the type of apartment and hotel buildings that were being constructed on the beach.  The Trade Winds Annex building was constructed in 1938 by its original owner E.S. Larned.  It was built by A. Willing according to a design drawn by architect Cedric Start.  Another example is Casa Granada located at 3003 Granada Street.  Casa Granada, originally named the Conter's Apartments, was constructed in 1940 for its first owner, L.F. Conter.  The building was designed by the prominent Fort Lauderdale architect William T. Vaughan, whose other work in the area includes buildings located at 3009, 3015, and 3025 Seville Street. Vaughan's plans were executed by the Richardson Construction Company, The building, which cost $25,000, featured space for five apartments and five hotel rooms.  Its name was permanently changed to the Casa Granada in 1943.²⁹

The beach became a major athletic center in 1935, when the first annual Collegiate Aquatic Forum was held at the municipal casino pool as it was called, located in Las Olas by the Sea.  The 'Swim Forum," offered college swimmers from northern climates the opportunity for training and swim meets during the winter and also made Fort Lauderdale a popular vacation spot for college students.³⁰

The years of World War Two brought further changes to Fort Lauderdale.  When the United States entered the war in December 1941, the City faced the danger of an unprotected shoreline.  Fort Lauderdale's vulnerability was emphasized early in 1942, as.  German U-Boats began attacking Allied shipping within view of the shore.³¹

Fort Lauderdale did not remain unprotected for long.  The Coast Guard base at the beach was active, and horseback patrols were organized to observe the coastline.  With its miles of coastline and year round warm weather, Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding area lent itself readily top military training, and servicemen soon began arriving in droves.  Their arrival had a tremendous impact on the city.  The slowdown of tourism as a result of gasoline rationing was more than compensated by the influx of uniformed "visitors." Many local citizens found employment at the military facilities.  In addition, some war related industries began production in Fort Lauderdale manufacturing boats, shells, and radio and electronic equipment.³²

Perhaps the most important impact the war had on Fort Lauderdale was not felt until the post-war era, when many of the servicemen who had been stationed in the area returned to take up permanent residence.  Many convinced friends and family to relocate as well, and soon a new boom was on, one with more substantial foundations than the frenzied speculation of the 1920s.  Between 1940 and 1950, Fort Lauderdale's population more than doubled, rising from 17,996 to 36,328.  Most of these new residents came in the years immediately following World War II.³³

The post-war population increase naturally led to pressure for further development. In addition to the new subdivisions that have caused Fort Lauderdale to sprawl into a major urban center, undeveloped lots in established neighborhoods became popular home construction sites.  All of the subdivisions surveyed during the course of this project have been impacted by this practice.  The area along East Las Olas Boulevard in Colee Hammock has suffered the most from the intense pressure for modern construction.  The residential areas of Colee Hammock and Rio Vista have lost a significant number of historic buildings to demolition for new construction.  If these trends continue much of the historic fabric that holds these neighborhoods together will be destroyed.