Fort Lauderdale Florida History & Facts

Fort Lauderdale is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, 30 miles (48 km) north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 as of the 2020 Census making it the tenth largest city in Florida. Along with Miami and Port St. Lucie, Fort Lauderdale is one of the three principal cities that comprise the Miami metropolitan area, which has a population of 6,166,488.

Built in 1838 and first incorporated in 1911, Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale. Development of the city did not begin until 50 years after the forts were abandoned at the end of the conflict. Three forts named "Fort Lauderdale" were constructed including the first at the fork of the New River, the second at Tarpon Bend on the New River between the present-day Colee Hammock and Rio Vista neighborhoods, and the third near the site of the Bahia Mar Marina.

Known as the “Venice of America," Fort Lauderdale has 165-miles of inland waterways across the city. In addition to tourism, Fort Lauderdale has a diversified economy including marine, manufacturing, finance, insurance, real estate, high technology, avionics/aerospace, film, and television production. The city is a popular tourist destination with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale, encompassing all of Broward County, hosted more than 13 million overnight visitors in 2018. Each year nearly 4 million cruise passengers pass through its Port Everglades, making it the third largest cruise port in the world. With over 50,000 registered yachts and 100 marinas, Fort Lauderdale is also known as the yachting capital of the world."

The area in which the city of Fort Lauderdale would later be founded was inhabited for more than two thousand years by the Tequesta Indians. Contact with Spanish explorers in the 16th century proved disastrous for the Tequesta, as the Europeans unwittingly brought with them diseases, such as smallpox, to which the native populations possessed no resistance. For the Tequesta, disease, coupled with continuing conflict with their Calusa neighbors, contributed greatly to their decline over the next two centuries. By 1763, there were only a few Tequesta left in Florida, and most of them were evacuated to Cuba when the Spanish ceded Florida to the British in 1763, under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (1763), which ended the Seven Years' War. Although control of the area changed between Spain, United Kingdom, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, it remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century.

The Fort Lauderdale area was known as the "New River Settlement" before the 20th century. In the 1830s, there were approximately 70 settlers living along the New River. William Cooley, the local Justice of the Peace, was a farmer and wrecker, who traded with the Seminole Indians. On January 6, 1836, while Cooley was leading an attempt to salvage a wrecked ship, a band of Seminoles attacked his farm, killing his wife and children, and the children's tutor. The other farms in the settlement were not attacked, but all the white residents in the area abandoned the settlement, fleeing first to the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, and then to Key West.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 38.6 square miles (99.9 km2), 34.7 square miles (90.0 km2) of which is land and 3.8 square miles (9.9 km2) of which is water (9.87%). Fort Lauderdale is known for its extensive network of canals; there are 165 miles (266 km) of waterways within the city limits.

The city of Fort Lauderdale is adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, includes 7 miles (11 km) of beaches, and borders the following municipalities

Famous Peoples From Fort Lauderdale Florida

Catherine Hickland

(born February 11, 1956) is an American film, stage, and television actress, as well as a singer, author and cosmetics-company CEO and hypnotist. She began her career in television in 1978, appearing in guest roles on several series before being cast in a recurring role on Texas from 1980 to 1981. She also had supporting roles in the comedy film The Last Married Couple in America (1980), and the horror films Ghost Town (1988) and Witchery (1988).

In 1995, Hickland appeared as Fantine in a Broadway production of Les Misérables. From 1998 to 2008, she appeared in the U.S. soap opera One Life to Live, playing the character of Lindsay Rappaport, reprising the role again in 2009 and 2012. Hickland is also the CEO of Cat Cosmetics, her own cosmetics line that she started in 2001.

Hickland was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Arthur and Mary Hickland; her father was a dentist, and her mother a dental ceramist. She has one brother and one sister. Hickland graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School in 1974. She enrolled at Florida Atlantic University, but dropped out after two years to take a job as a flight attendant for National Airlines. After six months, she made a commercial for the airline and left for Los Angeles to study acting.

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