On September 30, 1822, Joseph Marion (Jose Mariano) Hernandez was elected to represent the Florida territory in the U.S. Congress. Born in Spanish St. Augustine in 1793, Hernandez also served in the Florida Legislature and in the military during Second Seminole War. He led the expedition that captured Osceola. He died in 1865 in Cuba, where he is buried.

Pompano Beach's Bethel AME Church, located at 405 3rd Avenue, traces its beginning back to the earliest days of Pompano's history. Originally it was known as Psalters Temple AME Church. The original church was destroyed in the 1928 hurricane and when rebuilt on its current site it was renamed.

The original land for the Pompano cemetery was ten acres donated by the Model Land Company, the development arm of the Florida East Coast Railway.

Pompano's first mayor, John Mizell, was a Civil War veteran having served as a Captain in Company F of the 7th Florida Volunteers. His unit was part of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, fighting at such battles as Chickamauga and Atlanta.

Florida Volunteer Infantry regiments were constantly being consolidated with other Florida regiments. In April, 1864, the 7th Florida Infantry regiment was consolidated into the 1st Florida and the resulting unit was known as the First Florida Consolidated Infantry. The consolidations were due to the loss of a large number of their men to both combat and sickness, and to make an effective fighting force the regiments had to be combined.

Currently Pompano Beach operates under the city manager form of government -- the City Commission is the governing body, with an appointed city manager given authority over administration.

Prior to 1947, Pompano had a City Council and strong mayor form of government. In this system the elected mayor is responsible for directing the municipality's administration.

All Floridians love grapefruit, or should. Thus a little history on the fruit in the Sunshine State:

Grapefruit didn't originate in Asia, as was the case with all other citrus strains, but apparently in Polynesia, where Captain Cook, the famed early English explorer, found them and brought them to the West Indies. However, shaddocks, which are closely related and by many pomologists [expert on growing fruits] are considered the original for the grapefruit, seem to have reached Spain in the 12th Century, long before Cook or Ponce de Leon. In any case, they were introduced to Florida in 1806 by the chief surgeon in Napoleon's navy, Count Odet Philippe, who had taken it on the lam from his native France. He started the state's first grapefruit grove near Tampa Bay in 1823, but the fruit did not win commercial acceptance until the 1880s and were long considered the rich man's dish. In early canning processes, there was more success with grapefruit than with oranges, and their popularity has grown to the point where current grapefruit crops are nearly one-fifth those of oranges, despite the competition of frozen concentrated orange juice.

(excerpted from Florida Citrus Showcase: History of Citrus)

Last night members and friends of the Historical Society gathered at the Dick & Miriam Hood Center to kick off the 2005-06 season of monthly programs with a covered dish supper.

About 50 people enjoyed some great cooking and heard about the Historical Society plans for the upcoming season as well as issues related to the preservation of our past, including monthly programs, Pompano Beach's Centennial celebration, the Green Market's third season, revitalization of Pompano's historic downtown, the annual antique show and the Sample-McDougald House restoration. Guests also viewed a new photographic exhibit on historic homes in Pompano Beach.

The following individuals from Pompano Beach are listed by the Department of Defense as having been killed in action during the Vietnam War:

Peter Henry ALBRIGHT (SP4 Army) 6/26/1945 - 8/25/1966
Oliver BELL, Jr. (PFC USMC) 10/21/1947 - 10/14/1967
Stephen BLANN (LCPL USMC) 11/13/1945 - 2/16/1969
Thomas John BURTON (PFC Army) 11/16/1947 - 11/20/1968
Ronald Gates CAMPBELL (SP5 Army) 8/22/1948 - 1/20/1968
Brad Donald CHRISS (SP4 Army) 5/21/1948 - 3/19/1969
Clyde Terry CODY (SSGT USMC) 7/21/1942 - 2/1/1968
William HARP (SGT Army) 9/21/1948 - 9/4/1970
Artie Eugene JOHNSON (PFC Army) 9/11/1949 - 2/18/1970
James Franklin LAMN (CPL Army) 4/23/1947 - 2/28/1967
Ivory Lee MCKINNEY (CPL Army) 4/22/1949 - 5/5/1970
Glen Frederick MERRIHEW (SP4 Army) 3/3/1940 - 2/11/1962
Richard Herbert NALEY (SGT Army) 6/9/1946 - 5/2/1968
Thomas Frank PHILLIPS (CPL Army) 2/16/1946 - 2/24/1967
David Frederick RHODES (CPL Army) 12/6/1947 - 12/9/1968
Richard Lee ROUSSEAU (PVT Army) 5/19/1947 - 7/23/1968
Phillip Thomas STAHL (SP5 Army) 7/22/1941 - 3/9/1966
Frank Herbert THOMAS, Jr. (PFC USMC) 1/18/1947 - 3/30/1967
John Robert VANDERZICHT (LCPL USMC) 11/4/1946 - 9/9/1967
Michael Dwayne WALKER (SP4 Army) 8/11/1946 - 5/10/1967

The official records indicate the location in which the recuitment took place and not their legal residence, so it is possible that some of the soldiers and Marines listed above may not have resided within the Pompano Beach city limits.

(source: Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website)

When Broward County was formed in 1915, county commissioners were elected by districts, which virtually guaranteed that one of the commissioners would be from Pompano.

In response to rapid population growth, in 1973 the district system was scrapped and commissioners were elected countywide.

Below is a list of Pompano residents who served on the Broward County Commision, with the year they were first elected (or appointed), through 1973:

I. I. Hardy (1915)

George L. Blount (1916)

R. A. Hardin (1919)

John W. Walton (1921)

H. L. Lyons (1931)

Sylvester C. Fox (1935)

H. Vivian Saxon (1954)

Pompano Beach has sent at least two other residents to the county commission: J. W. "Bill" Stevens and Kristin Jacobs.

On this date in 1928, a devastating hurricane hit West Palm Beach and the Lake Okeechobee area. The category 4 storm pushed a wall of water across the lake, obliterating the farming towns of Belle Glade, South Bay and Clewiston.

The official death count was placed at 1,836, but was surely much more. The overwhelming majority of those who died were residents of the lake towns.

Pompano Beach sustained heavy property damage, but no known fatalities.

As a result of this hurricane (and, to a lesser extent the 1926 hurricane), the federal government soon thereafter began the construction of a dike around Lake Okeechobee to prevent flooding.

The stores are now called Macy's, but many long-time residents still refer to them as Burdines. For over 100 years, Burdines Department Stores were a fixture in South Florida. The business got its start in Miami as a result of the Spanish-American War:

William Burdine was operating a department store in Bartow, a small community in central-west Florida, when the Spanish-America War erupted. Upon learning that Miami would be hosting troops, William Burdine sent John Burdine, his oldest son and an assistant in the firm, over military roads built earlier in the century to Miami. Burdine brought with him with a wagon load of clothing and other apparel for men. He quickly sold out his inventory, prompting his father to decide on the Magic City as the new home of William Burdine and Son. In October 1898, the Burdine family moved to Miami, at which time the store began to operate in its new home on South Miami Avenue near Flagler Street.

(excerpt from "Miami and the Spanish-American War", by Paul S. George. South Florida History Magazine, volume 26, no. 2 (Spring 1998))

The Pompano Beach Centennial Celebration Committee will meet on Wednesday, September 28th, 6:30 PM, at the Dick & Miriam Hood Center (217 NE 4th Avenue, Pompano Beach).

All who are interested in planning and implementing activities for Pompano Beach's 100th birthday in 2008 are invited to attend.

Broward County will celebrate its 90th birthday on October 1. In honor of the landmark celebration, the Broward County Historical Commission will host a special brown bag lunch program:

Thursday, September 15, at noon
Historical Commission Museum
151 S.W. Second Street, downtown Fort Lauderdale

The Brown Bag Historic Lunch Program will feature a PowerPoint presentation with photos and descriptions of Broward County's early inhabitants, combined with important places and major events that shaped the development of Broward.

Broward County became Florida’s 51st county on October 1, 1915. The county, which is 24 miles north to south and 48 miles east to west, was created from portions of Dade and Palm Beach counties.

When the county was created, it had a population of approximately 4,700 people. They celebrated the day Broward became a county with festivities in the new county seat, Fort Lauderdale, including picnic lunches, a parade, concert and speeches from newly elected County Commissioners. They envisioned Broward County as Apotentially the richest county in Florida.”

Long-time Broward residents are encouraged to attend and participate in the brown bag lunch program by sharing their stories of their early years here. To share your memories or to obtain more information, call Broward County historian Helen Landers at 954-765-4670.

The program is free. Coffee, cold drinks and sweets will be provided.

Last week we had a post on the old Pompano Drive-In Theater. Following that I was taking to a long-time resident who mentioned that the drive-in (which was located about where the Ford dealership on North Federal Highway is today) backed up to undeveloped pine woods. The drive-in had no fencing, so it was quite easy for kids to cut through the woods and watch the movies for free.

And, of course, there was always "hiding friends in your trunk" method.

The Walton Hotel, constructed in 1925 on the southeast corner of NE First Street and First Avenue, was designed by Fort Lauderale architect John Peterman.

Peterman was one of the leading architects in Broward County during the 1920s, working primarily in the Mediteranean Revival style. Among the other buildings he designed was the Broward County Courthouse, which opened in 1928.

Both the Walton Hotel and the County Courthouse designed by Peterman were eventually demolished.

The hustle and bustle of the Pompano State Farmers Market is captured in this 1940s illustration by Kent Hagerman. (click on image for larger view)



Illustration courtesy of the Florida Photographic Collection.

The 1930 U.S. census reported that Pompano had 2,614 residents and 239 farms. Another way of looking at the figures . . . there was one farm in Pompano for every eleven people.

When the First Presbyterian Church of Pompano Beach (aka the Pink Church) was being organized in the early 1950s, its Sunday morning services were held at the Pompano Drive-In Theatre, 950 North Federal Highway.

On September 1, 1939, the Second World War began when German troops invaded Poland. Two days later Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.