Pompano pioneer William H. Blount on the community when he first arrived:

When I arrived in 1907 at about ten o'clock, the conductor blocked my exit. He insisted that I go to Miami because there was nothing in Pompano and nowhere to stay. The conductor claimed that Pompano was a wild place, but the lure of a job that paid twenty dollars a month plus board was too strong. My brothers J. Devotie and George who had preceded me the month before met me at the depot with horse and wagon.

Pompano had no paved streets when I arrived. The highway which is now called Dixie Highway was a white rock thoroughfare not more than nine feet wide. There were no cars, therefore no wider streets were needed.

Although the lighthouse had just been built, there were no houses along the beach.

Our farm holdings were pretty much scattered as we had to take the best land where we could find it. Tomatoes were the big crop in those early days. At first the tomatoes had to be shipped green but within two years of my arrival, we were able to ship the tomatoes in refrigerated cars.

Excerpted from Pompano Beach Diamond Jubilee Commemorative Book (1983), pp. 29 - 30.