Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is a well-known tourist destination whose very name evokes the image of a postcard. What is today one of Florida's largest cities was not always prized for its beautiful beaches and tropical climate. In the early 20th century, it was hailed as the "Gateway to the Everglades" and a "vegetable shipping capital." By the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale found itself at the very center of the phenomenal Florida land boom. Development and tourism became driving forces for the new economy-and there has been no looking back.

Tour historic Fort Lauderdale, Florida through 276 color postcard images that depict the growth of the "Venice of America" and "Gateway to the Everglades." Be transported to earlier days before urban sprawl and renewal. From the 1900s through the 1960s, images of Seminoles, farming, tourism, the beach, buildings, and the New River will appeal to everyone interested in Florida history, architecture, and water activities.

The perfume of the orange blossoms . . . the beauty of every scene, combine to make me wonder whether I am not in Paradise, wrote one visitor to Winter Park, Florida, in 1918. Just five miles north of Orlando, Winter Parks oak-lined brick streets and its quiet lakes have been attracting visitors since the late 19th century, when U.S. president Chester A. Arthur declared, This is the prettiest spot I have seen in Florida. The New Englandlike city in the heart of the subtropics was once home to the Seminole Hotel, the largest resort south of Jacksonville. In 1885, prestigious Rollins College was founded here, the first institution of higher learning in Florida.

Learn along with Mitchell, as he explores Fort Lauderdale's unique history through his Pop Pop's collection of old postcards! This heartwarming story is prepared for intermediate readers (grades 3-5) and is chocked full of colorful, historic images with an educational narrative. The author is a long-term resident of Fort Lauderdale and a retired public school educator. Enjoy!

Postcards became popular at the turn of the 20th Century for sending greetings to relatives and friends, and from its beginning St. Petersburg, Florida has been a favorite tourist destination famed for its perpetual sunshine pulling people to the community as an ideal place to live. With this fascinating new book St. Pete native, Christine P. Crews, presents an informative narrative that showcases more than one hundred vintage postcard images and messages from St. Pete as these vintage postcards survive as telling reminders of an important era in Florida's heritage.

In less than one hundred years, Fort Lauderdale grew from a wilderness stagecoach stop and trading post to become one of America's favorite tourist destinations and the seat of government for Florida's second-most-populous county. Historic Photos of Fort Lauderdale captures the story of that remarkable growth, through striking black and white photographs carefully selected from the finest collections. In these pages are seldom-seen images of a dramatic past: the Seminoles, early residents of the tropical wilderness; the arrival of railroads and the growth of tourism; farmers and their crops; and the creation of canals and roads and airfields. From the days of wooden stores and empty beaches to the era of high-rises and Spring Break crowds, through hurricanes, wars, and times of boom-and-bust, Historic Photos of Fort Lauderdale tells the story of the "Venice of America," presented in a unique collection of never-to-be-gotten images.

In 1915, the South Florida communities of Fort Lauderdale, Dania, Pompano, Hallandale, Deerfield, and Davie joined together to form a county. They named it Broward, in honor of the governor whose Everglades drainage program had brought them such prosperity. Today, Broward is Floridas second largest county, with 1.6 million people. Photographer Aaron Eugene Hyde came to Fort Lauderdale in 1933, at the age of 16, to begin a 40-year career, serving as one of the countys few professional photographers and the photographer for the Broward edition of the Miami Herald. Gene recorded fascinating people, places, and times pivotal in the countys development. His photos evoke nostalgia for the not-that-distant past, a way of life Broward County residents will never see again.