July 2007
18 posts
1 tag
Local Items
One of the features of small town life in the “old days” was reading about people’s comings and goings in the newspaper. For example, The Pompano News of June 22, 1928, reported the following:H. C. Powers and family have left for Wellborn [Florida] for two months. Miss Mildred Swearinger is off on a two week vacation to relatives in Jacksonville. Mrs. W. H. McNab leaves today...
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Hard Times for the FEC
A combination of the collapse of the Florida Land Boom, increased competition from the Seaboard Airline Railway, and the stock market crash of 1929 caused severe financial setbacks for the Florida East Coast Railway. The railroad was forced into receivership in September, 1931.
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Old Florida Pottery
Did you know that there were many fine pottery makers in Florida from before the Civil War to the early 60’s? Neither did I. Visit the Old Florida Pottery website to learn more. The website is promoting a book on the subject by Dr. Alfred R. Frankel, a physician living in St. Petersburg who was born and raised in Hollywood, Florida, but contains a lot of information about the various...
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Cypress Creek
In 1893, a traveler going overland from Lemon City (now part of Miami) to the Lake Worth area noted Cypress Creek before canals and drainage changed its natural course:Quite a stream, swift and deep. It rises in the Everglades and empties into Hillsboro River at Hillsboro Inlet, eight miles from New River.“Through the Country from Lemon City to Lantana by Hack,” Broward Legacy, Vol. 9;...
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On this Date at the Cape Florida Lighthouse
On July 23, 1836, one of the most dramatic incidents in Florida history occurred on Key Biscayne, at the Cape Florida lighthouse. The Second Seminole War had begun in December, 1835, and attacks on scattered white settlements in South Florida had begun soon thereafter. Many settlers left their unprotected homesteads and gathered at the Cape Florida lighthouse before being transported to safety in...
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Pompano Beach Centennial
At the July 24th Pompano Beach City Commission meeting, Mayor Lamar Fisher will read a proclamation announcing the beginning of Pompano Beach’s centennial year. At that time, Centennial Chairman Jerry Bowman will present a Centennial flag to the City and will recognize Pompano Beach resident John Berry for his winning entry in the Centennial slogan contest. Mr. Berry’s submitted the...
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The First Managers at the Market
The first manager of the Pompano Beach State Farmers Market when it opened in 1939 was Hiram Bakes. Mr. Bakes had been the superintendent of construction when the market was being built. With the outbreak of war, Mr. Bakes left the market to join the military. G. B. Hogan was hired to manage the market on a part time basis, but he resigned shortly after being hired. His assistant, John L....
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First to Serve
Karl Weaver was the first black elected to serve on Pompano Beach’s City Commission. He was a city commissioner from 1973 to 1975.
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On this Date
July 17, 1821: On behalf of the United States, General Andrew Jackson formally accepted Florida from the Spanish authorities in Pensacola. This ceremony was the culmination of American efforts to purchase Florida that had begun years before. The treaty negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Lius de Onis, the Spanish foreign minister, called for the United States to pay...
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"Old Man" Mizell
The oldest Pompano resident to vote for its incorporation in 1908 was John Mizell, who turned 68 that year. Mizell was elected to serve as the town’s first mayor.
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An Early Map of Florida
In 1591, less than 100 years after Columbus’ voyage to the New World, the map shown here was published. Although Florida looks a bit like the Indian subcontinent, the map does show a large lake in the center of he peninsula (Lake Okeechobee?)being fed by a river from the north (Kissimmee River?). At the southern tip of the peninsula, the Florida Keys and Ten Thousand Islands are shown as...
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POWs
Although Florida was a British colony during the American Revolution, it was too sparsely populated and too isolated to join the other 13 colonies in seeking independence. This did not mean Florida played no role in the war; St. Augustine was used as a site for housing prisoners of war captured by the British.
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Ed Stack
As far as I know, only one Pompano Beach resident is listed in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: Edward J. Stack.STACK, Edward John, a Representative from Florida; born in Bayonne, Hudson County, N.J., April 29, 1910; attended the public schools; B.A., Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa., 1931; J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, 1934; M.A., in public...
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Cap's Import Business
Eugene Theodore Knight (1871 - 1964) was known to the world as “Cap” and is still remembered through his namesake eatery, Cap’s Place Island Restaurant, which he opened in 1928. When he opened the restaurant, just north of the Hillsboro Inlet, the nation was in the midst of Prohibition. This was not a big problem for Cap: With … prohibition, Cap Knight found himself in the...
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Caliban Canal
Pompano Beach’s Caliban Canal, which runs west from the Intracoastal Waterway, just south of NE 16th Street, was named for a fleet of charter fishing boats owned by Franklin “Roy” Merritt and his family. In 1947 Roy and his wife Ennis purchased 10 acres along the Intracoastal in Pompano Beach and constructed a boat yard which opened in 1948 as Merritt Boat and Engine Works. ...
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The Power Company
Pompano Beach’s supplier of electricity, Florida Power & Light, was formed in 1925 through a consolidation of various small, local power companies by the American Power & Light Company. In its early years, FP&L not only generated and distributed electricity, but also had interests in such diverse operations as municipal water supplies and public transportation. Most of these...
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Independence Day
As is well-known, the Declaration of Independence was authored by Thomas Jefferson, but John Adams was first asked by Jefferson to pen the document. Adams, however, declined the offer, as his later account indicates:The subcommittee met. Jefferson proposed to me to make the draft. I said, ‘I will not,’ ‘You should do it.’ ‘Oh! no.’ ‘Why will you not?...
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99th Birthday
On July 3rd, 1908, the Town of Pompano was officially incorporated in what was then Dade County.
