The Woman Who Saw the Future
Fort Lauderdale was not yet a town, and what would become Miami barely existed, but Mary Brickell saw the potential for her own vast landholdings and the rest of the…
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John Dolen
75 posts
John Dolen writes for several Fort Lauderdale area publications. Previously, he was an editor and supervisor for 27 years at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.
New York vs. New River, Champs Elysses vs. Sanitary Mule
Fort Lauderdale wasn’t always a big city; in earlier times, we offered simpler delights. If there were a competition for “Latest-Blooming Metropolis in the World,” Fort Lauderdale would certainly be…
Bombers, Bush and the Bermuda Triangle
The place that is now our international airport was put to a different use in World War II. In the 1920s, Fort Lauderdale swelled from a population of 2,300 to…
The Good Ol’ Boys’ Hacienda
Red Crise’s Hacienda Village sounds like something out of a Hiaasen novel. It wasn’t. Slow Down. Pull Over. You’re in Hacienda Village. A deliciously fitting headline told the story for…
Ancient Snowbirds
The Tequestas, Southeast Florida’s first residents, were great fishermen who built a complex society – and got out of town every summer. It’s march, that time when all the snowbirds…
Major Lauderdale’s Fort
William Lauderdale beat the British, battled the Red-Stick Creeks and, in his final act, brought a battalion from the Smokies into the Southeast Florida swamps. William Lauderdale gave our city…
Up the Creek With a Bottle
Today it’s part of a family-friendly state park, but Whiskey Creek earned its name through a colorful history. In the 1920s, distilleries in England couldn’t believe their luck. Prohibition was…
Guns, Muck & Yellow Fever
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward was a gunrunner, sheriff, governor, and a man who held views both progressive and vile. We look at the county’s colorful namesake. In the 1880s, he ran…
Swamped With Offers
Buy property in the Everglades? In the early 20th century, many Northerners thought that sounded great. One of my first memories of Florida was formed decades ago on a road…
Shirttail Charlie, Myth & Man
Lurid details surround the legend of Shirttail Charlie, but the true story is a quieter, sadder tale. A letter written by Fort Lauderdale citizen August Burghard, dated Dec. 12, 1938,…