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Before the Stranahans, the Cooleys or Maj. Lauderdale’s soldiers, Frankee Lewis made a life along the New River. Fort Lauderdale history is filled with remarkable women pioneers: women such as…
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John Dolen
43 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.
Porky’s Muse
One of cinema’s most legendarily raunchy teen comedies was inspired by a filmmaker’s formative years in 1950s Fort Lauderdale. It’s pretty remarkable that the director of A Christmas Story –…
Welcome to Andytown
Andytown was never a town and hasn’t been anything since the late ’70s. But try telling that to the internet. Search the internet for the city of Andytown and you…
In the Club
Robert Hayes Gore Sr.’s Governors Club played host to powerful people with interesting stories – including the man who owned the place. The Wilmar, Fort Lauderdale’s second grand hotel after…
A Leader and a Fighter
Often called the Mother of Fort Lauderdale, Ivy Stranahan used her position and clout to preserve natural Florida and help those who lacked power – in particular, the Seminoles. Think…
Patriarch to Excellence
From Isadore Mizell’s family tree spring some of Fort Lauderdale’s most important and accomplished people. When historians recount our early days, certain families are central to the story: the Stranahans…
Florida Outlaws
In Prohibition-era Florida and before, you didn’t want to get on the wrong side of John Ashley and Laura Upthegrove. Move over Bonnie and Clyde. Two decades before your crime…
“A Post of Annoyance”
Long before snowbirds, Florida still attracted all sorts of folks. It’s generally known that the Tequesta were the original inhabitants of South Florida. Tribal artifacts from New River settlements date…
General Interest
Today, Broward Health is one of the nation’s largest health systems. That might have been hard to imagine for the people who originally opened a humble hospital in a repurposed…
A People Divided
In early Fort Lauderdale, there was no enforced racial segregation. It was only when the town grew and tourism dollars began to flow that that moral stain of the south…