Although set in Fort Lauderdale and for the most part filmed there, the 1962 movie Safe at Home also had some scenes shot in Pompano Beach.
The film featured baseball stars Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris (coming off their record-breaking home run feats during the 1961 season) and actor William Frawley. Safe at Home has been listed by some critics among the worst sports movies of all time.
In 1985, the Florida State Seal was revised to more accurately reflect the state’s heritage. One of the changes was to portray the Indian in the Seal as a Seminole, rather than the Plains Indian that had been pictured there since 1868.
Although Elvis Presley’s 1967 movie, Clambake, was set in Miami, all of the filming with the actors was completed in California (leading to shots of “Miami” with mountains in the background).
Some exterior shots were filmed in Florida — mostly in Miami but also in Lighthouse Point.
From 1907 when the Hillsboro Lighthouse began operations until 1943, only three individuals served as Lighthouse Keepers: Alfred A. Berghell (1907 - 1911), Thomas Knight (1911 - 1936) and Benjamin F. Stone (1936 - 1943).
Since then, there have been 21 Keepers at the lighthouse.
In 1930, a heavy stone breakwater, 260 feet long, was installed from the base of the Hillsboro Lighthouse to the ocean. This project was undertaken to stabilize the point of land on the north side of the inlet, which had sustained significant erosion in recent hurricanes (1926 and 1928) as well as other storms.
Although it was established in 1954, Pompano Beach’s First Presbyterian Church did not formally join that denomination until 1956. Initially it described itself as a “community church.”
Markham Elementary School, located in Pompano Beach at 1501 NW 15th Avenue is named for C. Robert Markham (1908 - 1966), who served as Broward County Property Appraiser from 1964 to 1966, when he died in office from a heart attack.
His son, William Markham (1940 - 2004) also was elected to be Broward County Property Appraiser, serving for 36 years until he too died in office from a heart attack.
In honor of Mothers’ Day, the Sample-McDougald House will offer free admission to all Moms who visit the historic house with one or more of their children. The house will be open for tours on Saturday, May 11th, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, and light refreshments will be served.
The historic Sample-McDougald House is located at 450 NE 10th Street, Pompano Beach, and is the only property in Pompano Beach listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For information, call 954 691-5686.
In all probability, the first person who sought to develop and sell land in what is today Broward County was Arthur Williams. In 1887 he purchased 100 acres of land in what is today Fort Lauderdale, on the south side of the New River. He called the development Palm City and advertised 50 by 100-foot lots at $10.00 each.
Apparently, only a little over a couple dozen lots were sold, and many of them were lost for non-payment of taxes. Within a few years Williams was attempting to sell property in his Palm City as acreage.
Williams was about a decade before his time — it was not until the FEC Railway reached the area in 1896 that selling South Florida real estate became (potentially) profitable.
TALLAHASSEE — The State cabinet Wednesday made its annual gift of 100 automobile license plates of Florida Seminole Indians.
“We went down there about ten years ago for a pow-wow with the Seminoles,” Commissioner of Agriculture Nathan Mayo recalled. “They said they didn’t want us to do anything for them except leave them alone and give them a hundred auto tags. So we’ve been doing it ever since.”
The tags will be sent to Kenneth A. Marmon, Seminole agency superintendent, for distribution among the Indians. The cabinet secretary said the cost to the State will be about seven dollars — just enough to cover the cost of making the tags.
The Palm Beach Post, December 28, 1944