When an 1870 survey crew visited early Ft. Lauderdale, they discovered only two settler families living at New River. The intrepid Isaiah Hall was the topic of our previous story. But what was the backstory of the second family, that of “Pig Brown”? Ah, that’s another fun tale! Patriarch John Joseph Brown was about 48 years old when […]
More Ft. Lauderdale Pioneers
By 1870, Ft. Lauderdale was empty — well, the original Lewis farm, Richard Fitzpatrick’s burned-out plantation, and the trio of military forts that had given Ft. Lauderdale its name – all were gone. It was still a troubled time; the bloody Civil War was thankfully five years in the rear-view mirror, but much bitterness still remained. […]
Pioneers of Ft. Lauderdale
Think back, to a time before Ft. Lauderdale was the world’s cruise ship capital and the epitome of spring-break cool. Back before freeways. Before air conditioning. Back even before 1838, when the town’s first “tourist” — Maj. William Lauderdale – threw up a hastily-built fort beside the Rio Nuevo, hanging around for only […]
Henry Flagler Didn’t Give Up
Fresh from his embarrassing failure in the Saginaw salt business, Henry Flagler moved his young family to Cleveland in the summer of 1866. (Missed his earlier drama? Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 of Flagler’s tale!) Cleveland meant a fresh start. And for the ever-optimistic Flagler, it must have felt like a welcome one. He’d managed to secure a […]
Flagler’s Story – Part 2
Flagler Goes from Rags to Riches When we left Henry Flagler in Part 1 of this story, he was living in Ohio and the Civil War had recently broken out. But it would be family tragedy, rather than any casualty of war, that devastated the Flagler household in 1861. As you’ll remember, Flagler […]
The Early Life of Henry Flagler
The Early Life of Henry Flagler It was January 22, 1912, when Henry Flagler steamed into Key West aboard his private rail car – a hero. His Florida East Coast Railway had just completed the some-said-impossible task of connecting that southernmost key with Florida’s mainland by rail. Flagler had just […]
Legacy of a 1926 Disaster
How Miami’s 1926 Great Hurricane Changed Florida . . . . In 1926, a vicious monster of a storm – a Category 4 – walloped the small-but-growing city of Miami. For years afterward, those who survived called it the “Great Hurricane.” My dad was one of them . . . and never forgot the shattering […]