October 2011
18 posts
First Christian Church
The First Christian Church of Pompano, located at 1860 NE 39th Street, was organized on April 15, 1956. The congregation first met at the Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce building while its permanent home was being built on the current site. The new church building was formally occupied on June 28, 1957.
On This Date
On October 28, 1959, the Broward County Board of Public Instruction approved the financial arrangements for the establishment of Broward County Junior College (later renamed Broward Community College and now Broward College).
Ecumenical Music
The Women’s Missionary Society of the Pompano Baptist Church was entertained recently by the Pompano Methodist Woman’s Society of Christian Service at a musical tea. Organ music, piano music and vocal solos featured the entertainment.
“Broward Briefs” Miami Daily News, April 29, 1945
The Builder
Jack Marqusee, who developed Lyons Park in Pompano Beach, also built residential developments at Bay Harbor Island in Dade County, Melrose Park in Fort Lauderdale, the City of Margate, Sandalfoot Cove west of Boca Raton and Winfield Park in Boca Raton.
More Housing Needed
Well into the 1950s, a number of Pompano Beach’s black residents were living in severely substandard housing. Some still did not have indoor plumbing or electricity.
Some new housing developments, such as Sanders Park and Collier City, provided modern single-family housing in African-American neighborhoods, but these were out of the price range of many blacks.
In 1959, the Pinewood...
Revising the Plan
In 1952 the Florida Legislature passed a bill creating the North Broward Hospital District, dividing the county into two healthcare districts.
As originally conceived, there was to be three hospital districts in Broward County — north, central and south. The north district was to cover the area from Oakland Park Boulevard to the Hillsboro canal, but considering that there was no public...
State Champs
Pompano Beach High School won the 1963 state Class AA high school basketball championship with a 51 - 40 victory over Tampa’s Plant High School. The Golden Tornadoes were led by Pete McKinnon, who scored 25 points, and Stan Cowherd, who scored five goals in the third quarter to give Pompano what became an insurmountable lead..
Our October Program
Plan to attend the Historical Society’s program tomorrow, October 19th, with our special guest speaker, Rodney Dillon.
Rodney is a partner in Past Perfect Florida History, Inc., which specializes in rare and contemporary books on Florida’s state and local history, Florida fiction and authors, geography and travel, art and architecture, nature, gardening, sports, entertainment and cookbooks, as...
Collier's Pepper Patch
Before Coconut Creek Plaza, located on the northwest corner of the Lyons Road and Coconut Creek Parkway intersection, was built in the 1980s that land was farmed by Pompano Beach farmer Glen Collier. Collier’s 40 acres were known for producing the best-tasting peppers in the area.
The Spanish Style
Late in the [19th] century a “Spanish style” … became popular in Florida, but it owed less to continuity with the local past than to new influences from Spain, Mexico, and California. Henry Flagler, a petroleum tycoon and Florida’s most visionary developer, started the Spanish trend in Florida architecture in the late 1880s by building resort hotels in St. Augustine in...
The Fur Trade
From the earliest European settlements in Florida though the beginning of the 19th century, one of the most important local economic activities was the trade in animal skins. In St. Augustine a local trade in deerskins began as early as 1580.
Generally, the settlers relied on trade with local Indians to acquire the animal pelts rather than engaging in hunting and skinning on their own.
...
More Beans
In December, 1931, Federal Truck Crop Estimator J. C. Townsend, Jr., reported that in the Pompano area there was about 3,000 acres planted in green beans and another 3,000 acres of peppers. He noted that it was likely that Pompano farmers would plant as much as another 1,500 acres of beans because of freezes farther north in Florida which had reduced the bean crop significantly.
Putting on Weight
The 1949 Pompano High School football team’s heaviest player weighed in at 170 pounds. By comparison, the 2011 Pompano Beach High School team had several players who topped the scales at 250 pounds.
Dancing Up a Drizzle
Weathermen said it was a coincidence, but most of the 1,500 spectators who had gathered in the Shoppers Haven parking lot on May 1, 1971 probably thought otherwise. They had come to that location to see Chief George Watchetaker, an Indian from Oklahoma, perform a rain dance.
The area had been suffering from an extended dry period and a local radio station had brought Chief Watchetaker to Pompano...
New Models in Cresthaven
It may not exactly be the half-way point, but David and Albert Yorra have established a good size community between Palm Beach and Miami.
“Cresthaven” is located on U.S. Highway 1, with over 1,800 homes already up and occupied.
It is just outside the city limits - which means only county taxes - and extends from the Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course to Sample Road.
The Yorra...
We're Number One!
In 1941, the Pompano State Farmers Market shipped almost two million packages (hampers, crates, etc.) of produce with an aggregate value of $4,892,793. This made the Pompano market first in the United States in the value of its shipments.
Second in the nation was Benton Harbor, Michigan, which shipped $3,700,000 worth of summer vegetables. In Florida, the Plant City (Hillsborough County) market...
Garden Isles - 9 New Designs
Pompano Beach - Garden Builders Inc which entered the South Florida market in 1956, is showing nine designs in their Garden Isles development.
A model home row is located on S.E. 11th Avenue, south of Atlantic Boulevard and the new 11th Avenue bridge.
Exteriors and interiors have been given touches of Hawaiian, Caribbean and Oriental decor. Prices range from $15,490 to $26,490.
Minimum size...
You Must Remember This
The Pompano Beach Historical Society’s 2nd annual Casino Night benefit will take place on November 18th at Galuppi’s Restaurant. This year’s theme is “A Night in Casablanca,” so dig out your white tuxedo, round up the usual suspects, and get your tickets to our own version of Rick’s Cafe Americain.
Click on link to he left for more information.
