John Dolen

A quiet look at how one community worked to bring dignity and care where they had long been missing. The early years of Fort Lauderdale reflect a time when daily…

Two of the region’s biggest dreams never took root here, yet they make two of the most fascinating chapters in our history. The story of our region is filled with…

How do you deliver it in a 68-mile South Florida stretch with no roads or bridges? If you’re from these parts, it’s likely that on occasion you’ve taken a dreamy…

Freebooters, rebel boats and the war for Cuba. A filibuster today brings to mind U.S. senators stalling legislation. But the filibusters of yesteryear referred to a different sort of disruptor,…

How one author’s vision spun tons of lore from our docks I’m sure many of our readers has seen at least one of the two thrillers called Cape Fear. It’s…

From TV and film, you’d think mob activity was limited to places like Chicago or New York. How about 1940s Broward County? Lee Wentworth, former tax assessor for Broward County,…

From Ray Charles to Reverend Abernathy, the history of Elks Rest runs deep. The historic Elks Lodge has been in the news lately after a years-long legal dispute over the…

There’s a whole lot of history behind a familiar venue. In 1955, Fort Lauderdale’s third annual boat show was a benefit for underprivileged children. Local dealers provided cabin cruisers and…

Oil magnate and railroad builder Henry Flagler couldn’t imagine a town at what would become Fort Lauderdale, but he reckoned it would make good farming land. We look at the…

Decades after Fort Lauderdale was incorporated, here’s how a parade of smaller towns surrounded us. Our most infamous adjoining hamlet featured just 14 mobile homes, an orange grove, some junkyards…