Although now known as Lake Santa Barbara, the body of water in southeast Pompano Beach was earlier named Lettuce Lake for the aquatic vegetation that grew at its surface.

Among locals in the early years the lake was also called Hardy's Lake, after Isaac Hardy, a pioneer who settled along the lakeshore in 1899.

In the 1920s:

Recreation was given a much needed boost with the opening of the new Pompano Theater, the only movie house between Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach. Constructed by the Kester Brothers at a cost of $85,000.00 the two story Spanish style theater was designed by Fort Lauderdale architect C. Hobart Sherwood and featured two stores and office space as well as a large pipe organ and enough seats for 650 lovers of the silver screen.

The Pompano Theater was heavily damaged in the 1928 hurricane.

(excerpt from Pompano Beach - Tales of a City, pp. 16-17)

The City of Pompano Beach did not establish a recreation department until 1953.

For a number of years it was housed in the city's first fire station on NE 4th Avenue.

The City of Pompano Beach will be celebrating its 100th anniversary of incorporation in 2008.

One might contend, however, that the current city dates from only 1947. In that year the municipalities of Pompano and the new town of Pompano Beach merged to form Pompano Beach. But although there was a name change and an expansion of the boundaries, little else changed. The residents of Pompano Beach didn't consider 1947 year the beginning of their city, because in 1958 they celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Within Broward County there are a number of cities that have conflicting founding dates. The Town of Davie was originally founded in 1925, but the town charter lapsed and it was not until 1961 that it was reincorporated. Likewise, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea was originally incorporated in 1924, but was dissolved and then reincorporated in 1947.

The City of Oakland Park was incorporated in 1929, but prior to that date the area was incorporated within the municipality of Florinada, which was abolished to make way for Oakland Park.

Name changes are not uncommon, either. Broward cities that have changed their names include Deerfield Beach (Deerfield until 1939), Hollywood (Hollywood-by-the-Sea), Sunrise (Sunrise Golf Village), Pembroke Park (Pembroke), Dania Beach (Dania) and Hallandale Beach (Hallandale).

Pompano Beach Planning Department employee Judy Harris is retiring.

She has served as the staff liaison to the Pompano Beach Historic Preservation Advisory Board and has been an invaluable resource to that group. Her knowledge of the inner workings of municipal government, as well as her commitment to seeing that the job was done right, helped keep the HPAB moving forward.

Judy will be moving to property she owns in Cross Creek, Florida, where she plans to volunteer at the Marjorie Kennan Rawlings Historic State Park.

Good luck, Judy. We'll miss you.

The Hillsboro Inlet (as well as the town of Hillsboro Beach) was named by surveyor William DeBrahm in the 1770s.

The French and Indian War awakened the British government to the need for better maps of its North American empire, and with the advent of peace, a program was established for mapping the entire Eastern seaboard. To accomplish this, the colonies were divided north and south at the Potomac River and a surveyor general appointed for each district--William DeBrahm for the Southern District. . . . As instructed, DeBrahm concentrated his efforts on the Florida peninsula south of St. Augustine. His were the first scientific surveys of the peninsula, which heretofore appeared on most maps of the area as a collection of narrow islands, and he produced the first printed map of the Gulf Stream.

"Hillsborough Outlet" was the name given the inlet by DeBrahms; it is not clear how the spelling changed. The Hillsboro in question was Lord Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1768 to 1772, and a fierce opponent of allowing any concessions to the American colonists. He was also described by a contemporary as "a pompous composition of ignorance and want of judgment."

For those families that moved to Pompano in the early years (even through the 1920s and later), it was more common than not for the husbands and older boys to "scout" out the area first.

Many times the men would leave the rest of the family and come to Pompano to work a season or two before bringing their wife and small children down and establishing permanent residency.

Coming as he does when the northland is covered in snow, Santa Claus has long been used by Florida to promote tourism. In this Florida Department of Commerce photograph from 1956, St. Nick hoists a glass of what we suppose is orange juice to celebrate his arrival to the warm weather "down south."

(Photo courtesy of the Florida Photographic Collection)

Which are the oldest cities in South Florida (Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties)? Here is a list, using the date each municipality was incorporated:

• Key West (1828)
• West Palm Beach (1894)
• Miami (1896)
• Dania Beach (1904)
• Pompano Beach (1908)
• Palm Beach (1911)
• Fort Lauderdale (1911)
• Delray Beach (1911)
• Greenacres (1911)
• Homestead (1913)
• Miami Beach (1915)

There were, of course, many early unincorporated settlements in South Florida. It may be that an early municipality was incorporated and later dissolved or annexed by another city, but I have not found any records that document such an occurrence, as yet.

The Pompano Beach Northwest Branch Library, located on the corner of Esther Rolle Blvd. and NW 16th Street, was established in 1977 in a doublewide trailer. The permanent library facility was completed in 1983.

We received this view of the Silver Thatch on the beach from an anonymous donor -- the image was not dated, but is probably from the late 1930s or 1940s. During the Second World War, the Inn housed Coast Guardsmen who patrolled the beach.

When Pompano was incorporated in 1908, it was part of Dade County.

Dade County was created in 1836, and over time its northern boundary shifted, until Broward County came into existence in 1915.

It appears that what is today northern Broward County was once part of a county whose name is lost to history. Mosquito County was created in 1824 and according to a map of the period ran from the southern edge of St. Johns County all the way south to the Middle River Inlet.

In 1840, Mosquito County was the largest county in the state. Five years later, when Florida became a state, Mosquito County was renamed Orange County and subsequently reduced to its current boundaries by the creation of new counties.

On December 9, 1960, the New River Tunnel opened in Fort Lauderdale. It was the first, and is still the only, public road vehicular tunnel in Florida.

Opening Ceremonies at the Pompano Beach State Farmers Market, November 19, 1039.

In the "old days" virtually all Pompano residents had fruit trees in their yards.

Many of the old citrus trees are gone, having fallen victim to the citrus canker eradication program. There are still plenty of mango trees around (in spite of Hurricane Wilma's best efforts) and avocado trees are not that uncommon.

Still, there use to be a much wider variety of fruits growing in people's yards: guavas, surinam cherries, mulberries, sapodillas and sugar apples, to name just a few. You rarely see any of them today.

In 1926, the Pompano Electric Light and Ice Company expanded its ice-making facilities and was capable of producing thirty-five tons of ice. The company also began home delivery of ice that year.

After the bridge across the Intracoastal waterway was constructed in 1916, and up until the 1930s, fishermen often launched their small boats at the end of Ocean Drive (today's Atlantic Boulevard).

The Pompano Beach Historical Society will hold its annual holiday open house on Wednesday, December 14th, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Dick & Miriam Hood Center, 217 NE 4th Avenue, Pompano Beach.

Refreshments will be served and there will be guided tours of the Kester Cottages museum.

The event is free and open to the public.

Yesterday we asked, what is the oldest restaurant in Pompano Beach?

There were several suggestions, but we'll discard those restaurants with name and location changes.

It was thought that the oldest might be the Flaming Pit on North Federal Highway, which goes back to the late 1950s, at least.

On further reflection, the winner is probably the Farmers Market Restaurant located on the grounds of the Pompano Beach State Farmers Market off West Atlantic Boulevard.