History of the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Seminole War

The history of Fort Lauderdale begin about 400 years ago when the first primeval natives and afterwards the Tequesta Indians. The area becomes populated foe more than a thousand years ago. The area has passed by the hands of many colonist such as Spain, England, US, and the Confederated States of America however the place still underdeveloped until the 20^th century. Many people attracted Fort Lauderdale for more than 2500 years ago and those people are the “Glades Culture” who was famous as the prehistoric people of the south and also the “Tequesta” who was the early historic people. Those people attracted Fort Lauderdale because of the abundance of natural resources that are available along the River of Fort Lauderdale. During the late of eighteenth century the last aboriginal people left the area and the population of Fort Lauderdale become little and only the few white colonist remained. In 19^th century the Seminole Indians came and were brought together by a handful of white planters along the river.    

The first United States concentration camp was built under the named Fort Lauderdale during 1838 where it was the location of second Seminole war. In addition to, the name of the city was derived from the Second Seminole War munitions built on the river banks on that year. Also there was a Major named William Lauderdale who led a detachment of Tennessee Volunteers to seize the agricultural lands of Seminole and to fight the elusive Indian Warriors. There were three Fort Lauderdales constructed and those are at the fort of New River, at the west of Tarpon Bend was the second, the largest on the beach at the site of present’s Bahia Mar. Although the war ended in 1842 the area remained unpopulated until 1890s.      

New River Settlement

 Fort Lauderdale place was recognized as the “New River Settlement” early in 20^th century. During 1896 the Florida Coastal Railway was completed south via Fort Lauderdale which give a transportation from different parts of the nation to south Florida. The Dade County authorized a rock road to be built between Lantana and Lemon city during 1892 also the overnight ferry crossing on New River was made. Frank Stranahan arrived from Ohio to assume control of the facilities and later on he founded a blooming trading post with the local Seminoles. Stranahan’s store was recognized as a landmark of south Florida in 1895. In 1911 the city was integrated and the village sizes increased and by 1915 the city was designated the county seat of newly-formed Broward county out of parts of Dade and Palm Beach counties.  

In 1920, Fort Lauderdale begin to boom and it was the city’s first major growth. The city began to change from agricultural community to resort town. From then on the population of the city was increased and the residents of the city was developed however hurricane and economic depression struck the city. Today, Fort Lauderdale is a major yachting center, one of the nation's biggest tourist destinations, and the center of a metropolitan division of 1.8 million people. Fort Lauderdale has become the regional governmental and commercial center for a major metropolitan area and is world famous as a tourist destination.