STOP # 1 History of the Sailboat Bend Historic -West Las Olas/SW 7th Avenue (700 W. Las Olas Boulevard)
The Sailboat Bend Historic District (SBHD) is the largest surviving district to reflect the evolving history of the City of Fort Lauderdale. From its earliest development characterized by a pioneering group who, through their contributions to social and economic trends, provided a foundation for subsequent settlement; to a community who through their tenacity and ambition further added to the community' s prosperity. In 1993 during a Sailboat Bend Historic Homes Tour a resident remarked: “Sailboat Bend has been an ordinary neighborhood, a polyglot where working people in the early 1900s could buy a piece of land and build an unassuming home themselves, or at most with the help of a master builder/carpenter.” Though almost 20 years have passed since his statement about Sailboat Bend, the neighborhoods maintain the smaller houses and architectural traditions of the region.Sailboat Bend is a uniquely situated neighborhood that is bordered on two sides by the New River. The SBHD is comprised of multiple subdivision plats, including Bryan Place, Bryan Subdivision, River Highlands, and Waverly Place, the largest original plat. These plats were the earliest in the formation of the City of Fort Lauderdale, even prior to the formation of the City itself. Evident in the existing street patterns are those that were originally platted and many use their original street names such as Palm Avenue, Himmarshee Street, and Middle Street.The SHBD not only evidences a growth in the success and desirability of the neighborhoods but also the evolution in building types. The smaller scale of the homes indicates they were built for working class families. From the more common vernacular designs of the 1920s and 1930s, to the change in building types and availability after World War II through to the Modern Age when designs for neighborhoods considered the now ubiquitous automobile and rapidly increasing availability of new technologies.
STOP # 2 Marina at Cooley’s Landing – 450 Cooley Avenue
In 1821, the United States obtained Florida from Spain and in 1825 the first known government survey of what is now Broward County was completed by Colonel James Gadsen. As part of this survey, two settlers were identified as occupying land in the vicinity of the New River - William Cooley and David Williams.William Cooley, originally from Maryland, was a farmer who primarily ran an arrowroot (aka coontie) starch mill and whose property was located on the north bank of the New River near the present-day 7th Avenue/4th Avenue Bridge. Cooley’s home “was of cypress logs, sealed and floored, and he had cleared and planted 20 acres in sugar cane, arrowroot, corn, potatoes and pumpkins, had many chickens, 80 hogs and five sheep.” Cooley also had several other endeavors including a ship salvager, a wilderness guide, and a justice of the peace.Cooley maintained friendly relations and trade with the Seminole Indians. In the early 19th century, Creek Indians from Alabama joined the Seminoles. In 1835, white settlers killed Creek chief Alibama and burned his hut. As Justice of the Peace, Cooley jailed the settlers, but they were released due to insufficient evidence. The Creek blamed Cooley for withholding evidence. Six days later, Cooley led an expedition to free the stranded ship Gil Blas, requiring all the settlement's able men. On January 4, 1836, the Indians attacked the settlement, killing Cooley's family and two black slaves disappearing.
Early Residents of Sailboat Bend
Both Bryan subdivisions attracted a number of well-known settlers to the area including Commodore Auylan Harcourt (A.H.) Brook and his sister Lady Clare Alice Fursman who arrived in 1921. Brook, originally from Sheffield, England, had a background with the Manchester Guardian and studied art under prominent English art critic John Ruskin. Moving to New York City, he became an executive at Cusack Advertising Agency and designed the first moving illuminated electric sign in 1916. He later founded his own firm, Brook of Brooklyn, Inc., and earned the title of Commodore for his service as chief of the Jamaica Bay Yacht Club in Long Island. An advertising man and a creator of large billboards and neon signs, Brook was ideally suited to enhance the city's image. Lady Fursman left England in 1899, served as a nurse in the Boer War, and lived in Asia before returning to England as a widow. Seeking new adventures, she moved to New York City to reunite with her brother. In 1919, after World War I, Brook drove with Lady Clare to Miami. Passing through Fort Lauderdale, they were charmed by a leaping fish near the New River. After exploring Miami and Florida's west coast, they returned to Fort Lauderdale, drawn by the earlier encounter with the jumping fish.
Early Settlements: William Lauderdale Park – SW 4th Street / Tequesta Park – 1016 Waverly Road
Rivermont is the largest and most intact black earth midden along the New River, representing 2000 years of Tequesta occupation from the Glades I to Glades III periods (500 BC – 1763 AD). European settlers began displacing the Tequesta, ending this era. Recent archaeological surveys at Rivermont uncovered archaic faunal remains, tools, pottery, and zoomorphic decorations, providing insights into the Tequesta's diet, exchange networks, trade routes, and cosmology. The site's well-preserved evidence offers crucial information on prehistoric ecology at the junction of coastal uplands and the Everglades.The Tequesta, native to southeast Florida, were skilled navigators and whale hunters, as noted in 1575 by Juan Lopez de Velasco. After the 1763 exodus, the Seminoles became the dominant group in southeastern Florida during the British Period and into the 19th century. During the First Seminole War (1817-1818), they migrated south, establishing large communities, including a settlement at Snake Warrior’s Island in Miramar, later integrating fugitive African American slaves. (Broward County Shipwreck and Marine Archaeological Inventory: Phase 1. 2007 Historic Preservation Small Matching Grant No. S0746)
A Pioneer Settlement - Swing Bridge – SW 11th Avenue/New River
The Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge was established in 1875. The first keeper of the House of Refuge was Washington "Wash" Jenkins (September 11, 1876, to January 2, 1883).The only one neighbor of Jenkins, Charles Pierce later wrote a book describing pioneer life in southeast Florida. This is how he describes the life of the Jenkins: "How he and his family managed to content themselves in this most isolated and out of the way place is hard to imagine." In 1891 the first post office was established in Fort Lauderdale at the House of Refuge, naming Captain William C. Valentine its first postmaster. Valentine was a confederate veteran who was a Civil Engineer and had experience in land surveying. In 1887 while in Hypoluxo (the Seminole word for Lake Worth), Valentine had written to the Commissioner of State Lands in Tallahassee inquiring about lands along the New River.
The Railroad Arrives - West Side Fire Station – 1022 W. Las Olas Blvd
With the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway in 1896, accommodation for overnight guests included the magnificent Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach and the luxurious Royal Palm Hotel in Miami. Both were created by Henry Flagler, the industrialist and founder of Standard Oil who became a real estate developer and founded the Florida East Coast Railway.During this time, Mary Brickell, who had accumulated land along the New River and the Miami River in Dade County, gave Flagler hundreds of acres for resale to future townspeople and provided the right-of-way in the center of the town for the new rail line.Flagler envisioned the present-day Broward County region as the agricultural center of Southeast Florida, and the arrival of his railroad transformed Fort Lauderdale from an isolated river crossing and beachfront outpost into a flourishing center for truck farming.
Development Boom - West Side School – 301 SW 13th Avenue
The creation of all three of these plats in the Sailboat Bend Historic District – Waverly Place, Bryan Subdivision, and Bryan Place – coincided with the incorporation of the City of Fort Lauderdale in 1911. Prior to its incorporation, the City of Fort Lauderdale was a part of Dade County (now Miami-Dade County). Shortly after the City’s incorporation, Broward County was formed in 1915 and made Fort Lauderdale the county seat. From this early period of development, only six properties remain from the 1910s and fifty-four properties remain from the 1920s. Properties from the 1920s reflect on an era known nationally as “the Boom,” when Americans, now free of the destructive efforts of WWI, enjoyed new consumerism, flappers, jazz, and prosperity.Today, Fort Lauderdale is renowned for its stunning beaches and tropical climate, but this wasn’t always the case. In the early 20th century, it earned the titles "Gateway to the Everglades" and "vegetable shipping capital." By the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale had become the epicenter of the remarkable Florida land boom. Development and tourism have since driven the economy forward, and the city has never looked back.
Architectural Styles of Sailboat Bend - Sailboat Bend Preserve/Townsend Park – 1400 Argyle Drive
Most commonly, early residences within the Sailboat Bend Historic District consist of small wood frame or masonry houses as well as several multi-family apartment buildings. They represent the Frame Vernacular and Masonry Vernacular Styles. Vernacular refers to the common wood frame construction techniques employed by lay or self-taught builders and utilized easily available building materials. Smaller homes continued to be built before World War I and the western section of the district began to be developed. The house located at 1501 SW 1st Street is an example of the type of one-story masonry vernacular house commonly built during this time and into the 1950s. Many of them represent a vernacular style, i.e. the use of familiar building forms and techniques and the use of locally sourced materials.
