Broward Legacy 1

A p u b L i c A t i o n o f t h e b r o w A r d c o u n t y h i s t o r i c A L c o m m i s s i o n

volume 32 number 1 2012

Broward County Schools: Some Places of Instruction Book Review: Pioneer Parish: Saint Anthony, Browards First Catholic Church The Sensory Experience That is the Mai-Kai Spirit of the Times (Reflections of a Broward School Teacher)

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volume 32 number 1 2012

f e a t u r e s

a p u B l i c a t i o n o f t h e B r o w a r d c o u n t y h i s t o r i c a l c o m m i s s i o n

On the back cover:You can help preserve history page

Broward County Schools:A Look Back Page 3

Broward County Retired Educatorsby Margarite Falconer Page 26

Broward County Schools: Some Places of Instructionby Denyse Cunningham Page 5

Book Review: Pioneer Parish: Saint Anthony Browards First Catholic Church by Marla Sherman Dumas Page 37

The Spirit of the Times (Refection of a Broward School Teacher)by Maureen Dinnen Page 29

On the Cover: An Early Broward County School Bus1915 (colorized original black and white image), Mary Leonard Phelps Collection.

Schools of Pompanoby Daniel Hobby Page 21

Spot Light on historic site: The Sensory Experience that is the Mai-Kaiby Mayor Anne Sallee Page 33

A SERVICE OF THE BROWARD COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERSBertha Henry, County Administrator

BROWARD COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSIONERSBetty W. Cobb, ChairSteven Glassman, Vice ChairDr. John D. Bloom, Jr., SecretaryHazel K. ArmbristerHal AxlerJames BradleyPaul CallsenMaureen Dinnen Marla Sherman DumasWally ElfersRoberto Fernndez IIIElsie JohnsBill JulianPhyllis Loconto Alexander LewySheldon McCartneyWingate PayneRenee M. Shrout Daniel J. StalloneLee TigerWendy Wangberg

BROWARD COUNTYLIBRARIES DIVISIONRobert E. Cannon, Division DirectorDave Baber, Historic Preservation Coordinator

BROWARD COUNTYHISTORICAL COMMISSION STAFFPeggy D. Davis, Libraries ManagerDenyse Cunningham, Editor, CuratorMaria Munoz, SecretaryMatthew DeFelice, County ArchaeologistHelen Landers, County Historian

Copyright 2012, by the Broward County Historical Commission. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means, whether graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, tapeing or informational and retraval systems, without permission of the publisher.

Broward Legacy is published annually by the Broward County Historical Commission. Location and mailing address:Broward County Historical Commission301 Harmon (S.W. 13th) Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312Phone: 954-357-5553 Fax: 954-357-5522

Annual subscriptions and back issues are available.

Unless otherwise noted, photographs are from the archives of the Historical Commission.

Neither the Board of County Commissioners of Broward County, Florida, nor the Broward County Historical Commission is responsible for the statements, conclusions or observations herein contained, such matters being the sole responsibility of the authors.

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Broward County Schools:A Look Back

This exhibit, Broward County Schools: A Look Back was created by the Broward County Histori-cal Commission as part of the 2nd Annual Broward County Heritage Celebration in honor of National Historic Preservation Month. The theme of the 2012 heritage celebra-tion, Browards Education History: A Path to the Future, was presented to bring focus to this part of the Countys rich heritage.

On October 1, 1915, Broward County was officially incorporated by Florida State Statute. The coun-ty was formed from the southern part of Palm Beach County and the northern part of Dade County. Bro-

ward Countys population was then 4,763. At the time of incorporation, nine schools from Hallandale to Deerfield were handed off to the newly-elected, three-member Bro-ward County Board of Public In-struction. In 1915, there were 835 white students and 247 black stu-dents, who were educated separate-ly. By 1920, the population of Bro-ward County had grown to 5,135 residents, prompting the Board to organize the county into three dis-tricts; today there are five.

The earliest educational opportuni-ties for African-American students were provided by the Dade County Board of Public Instruction. Lat-

Gallery at West Side School, Photograph by Steve Vinik

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Primary contributors to the Broward County Schools: A Look Back Exhibit are as follows: Dave Baber, Historic Preservation CoordinatorDenyse Cunningham, CuratorHelen Landers, County HistorianZoraida Garcia, Digital Media Designer, Office of Public Communication

Portables at North Side School in Fort Lauderdale, Courtesy of Helen Landers.

West Side Grade School in Fort Lauderdale, Courtesy of Helen Landers.

er, for some African-Americans, school buildings were provided by the Rosenwald School Build-ing Program. Broward County had four Rosenwald schools.

This beautifully presented look back is captured in fourteen large panels with historic images and in-formative text. Glimpses of histo-ry are represented in this exhibit on these panels depicting: Broward County Schools: In The Beginning, Broward Schools 1915-1938, Afri-can-American Schools in Broward County, Rosenwald Schools, Gone But Not Forgotten: School Name-sakes, First Schools in New Sub-urbs: 1951-1990, and Private and Specialty Schools. Augmented by interesting and well-preserved ar-tifacts, the exhibit is something to experience.

The Broward County Schools: A Look Back Exhibit is on display in the Gallery at the Broward County Historical Commission Building located at the historic West Side Grade School, 301 Harmon (SW 13th) Avenue, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The exhibit will remain on

display there until late April. At that time, this exhibit will become a part of the traveling exhibits which will rotate through Broward Countys Regional Libraries. For more information, please call the Historical Commission office at 954-357-5553.

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Braithwaite School. Broward County Historical Commission.

Broward County Schools: Some Places of InstructionBy Denyse Cunningham

Denyse Cunningham was the curator at Bonnet House Museum and Gardens in Fort Lauderdale and has been the curator for the Broward County Historical Commission since 2002. She earned a Masters Degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. For the past 29 years she has worked for several art and history museums around the country.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN SCHOOLS

In 1903 the first school for Af-rican American students in Bro-ward County opened in the town of Deerfield with the Rev. B. F. James as the teacher.1 It was named Deerfield Colored School.The sec-ond school in Deerfield, the Braith-waite School, was built in 1929 as a three-teacher school and cost $9,000. It was torn down to make way for a senior center.2 West

Deerfield Elementary was opened sometime thereafter.

African-American schools were operated on a split term, with no classes during the winter harvest season so that children could work in the fields. This meant that black schools could not be accredited and that their graduates would have difficulty entering accredited col-leges. The NAACP took the matter to court which ruled in their favor to keep the schools open in 1946.3

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1938 Map of Broward County Schools, from a report of Florida State Department of Public Instruction. Broward County Historical Commission.

Though most of the earliest Afri-can-American public schools were housed in privately owned build-ings, teachers and administrators were provided by the Board of Public Instruction.

With a donated building from Fort Lauderdale pioneer Tom Bryan, Colored School No. 11, a one-room wooden building on North-west Third Avenue and Second Street, opened in 1906.4 Four years later, classes moved to the Knights of Pythias Lodge Hall on the cor-ner of Northwest Fourth Street and Fourth Ave. Later schools included Sunland Park Elementary, at 919 N.W. 13 Ave., and Lincoln Park El-ementary, at 600 N.W. 19 Ave. Lin-coln Park, a neighborhood facility, is located on the site of the former school.5

In Pompano, the first school for African-American students opened in the early 1920s in a two-room wooden building located in the 400 block of Hammondville Road. When it was destroyed in the 1926 hurricane, classes were held nearby in Psalters Temple A.M.E. Church. The Broward Board of Public In-struction provided a new location in 1927-28 with the Pompano Col-ored School, located at 718 N.W. Sixth St. In 1954, it was renamed Coleman Elementary School, in honor of the Rev. James Emanuel Coleman, pastor of Mount Calvary Baptist Church. With the opening of Blanche Ely High School in 1952, Pompanos black high school students no longer had to go out of town to graduate. Following the early 1940s opening of the Pom-pano Migratory Labor Camp on Hammondville Road, a one-room school was established off State Road 7, south of todays Coconut Creek Parkway. The 1960s saw Charles Drew Elementary estab-lished to serve the Pompano subdi-vision of Collier City. Later, Sand-ers Park Elementary, the Pompano Project Elementary and Markham Park Elementary were added.6

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Pompano Colored School, later known as Coleman. Courtesy of the Pompano Beach Historical Society.

Math teacher at Attucks. Courtesy of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, photograph by Gene Hyde.

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Carver Ranches Elementary School today. Broward County Historical Commission.

ROSENWALD SCHOOLS

According to the website of the National Trust for Historic Pres-ervation the Rosenwald School Building Program has been called the most influential philanthropic force that came to the aid of Ne-groes at that time. It began in 1912 and eventually provided seed grants for the construction of more than 5,300 buildings in 15 states, including schools, shops and teach-ers houses, all of which were built by and for African Americans. The Rosenwald rural school building program was a major effort to im-prove the quality of public educa-tion for African Americans in the early 20th century in the South.

In 1912, Julius Rosenwald gave Booker T. Washington permission to use some of the money he had donated to Tuskegee Institute for

the construction of six small schools in rural Alabama, which were con-structed and opened in 1913 and 1914. Pleased with the results, Rosenwald then agreed to fund a larger program for schoolhouse construction based at Tuskegee. In 1917 he set up the Julius Rosen-wald Fund, a Chicago-based phil-anthropic foundation, and in 1920 the Rosenwald Fund established an independent office for the school building program in Nashville, Ten-nessee. By 1928, one in every five rural schools for black students in the South was a Rosenwald school, and these schools housed one third of the regions rural black school-children and teachers. At the pro-grams conclusion in 1932, it had produced 4,977 new schools, 217 teachers homes and 163 shop build-ings, constructed at a total cost of $28,408,520 to serve 663,615 stu-dents in 883 counties of 15 states.7

Broward County had four Rosen-wald schools: Braithwaite in Deerfield, Liberia, Hallandale and Pompano. None of the structures that housed the four schools exists today.8 Pompano Colored School, located at 728 N.W. Sixth St. in Pompano Beach, was built in 1928 as a six-teacher school that cost $30,985.9

In 1929, with funds from the Rosen-wald School Building Program, the Hallandale School was built. The Liberia School, also known as At-tucks, was located at 3600 N. 22 Ave. in Hollywood. It was built as a four-teacher school that cost $12,200.10 In 1924, a school de-signed by John Morris Peterman opened in Fort Lauderdale as Col-ored School No. 11, later known as Dillard School, with grades from elementary through high school.

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Edna Thornley Herriott (1892-1974). Courtesy of Helen Herriott Landers.

Fern Hall School. Courtesy of Helen Herriott Landers.

The original 1924 building was later renamed Walker Elementary School and is now the Old Dillard Museum. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A new and sepa-rate Dillard High School was built in 1950. A new Dillard Elemen-tary School was built near Dillard High School in 1959 in Washington Park.11

Oakland Park Negro School, later known as the Carter G. Woodson El-ementary School, was built at 3721 N.E. Fifth Ave.12 The school build-ing is no longer there. A park on the land still bears the name of the African-American historian Carter G. Woodson.

The Davie Negro School, located between the Florida Turnpike and the Davie Road Extension, was built for a small group of students, like many early rural schools.13

Danias first school for African- American students was opened in 1905, and by 1917 another school was built on land donated by Da-nia pioneer M. C. Frost.14 Later, the Collins Elementary School was con-structed at 1050 N.W. Second St.

Bethune Elementary at 2400 Meade St., was a local school in Hollywood.15

Carver Ranches Elementary School was built at 2201 S.W. 44 Ave. in West Hollywood, now the City of West Park.16

Schools in Hallandale included La-nier Elementary, located at First Avenue and Ninth Street; Chester A. Moore Elementary School, at 912 Pembroke Road; and Lanier Junior High School, also on Pem-broke Road. Beginning in 1916, this unique wood frame and stucco school was the first school build-ing used by the African-American children of northwest Hallandale. It remained in use until 1970, when court-ordered desegregation meant that white students would be attend-ing. The structure was later used as a private home. It became dilapidated and was torn down in the 1980s to make way for a community center.17

EARLY PRIVATE SCHOOLSMany private schools existed in Broward County in the early years. Some of the most notable included Fern Hall and Pine Crest in Fort Lauderdale, the Outdoor School in Hollywood, and the Lake Plac-id School for Boys in Hillsboro Beach.

Edna Thornley Herriott founded Fern Hall School. The school was first located at the Bivans Hotel at 205 S.W. First Ave., in Fort Lau-derdale. In 1935, it moved to the former county courthouse at 509 S. Andrews Ave. Due to increased en-rollment in 1936, the school moved to the Maxwell Arcade at 300 S.E. Andrews Ave. Later Mrs. Herriott purchased land at 315 S.E. Ninth St. Architect Courtney Stewart was commissioned to design the new school building. Fern Hall closed in 1971. Hundreds of students from

kindergarten through twelfth grade fondly remember the school.18

Mrs. Herriott came to Fort Lauder-dale from Illinois shortly after the 1926 hurricane. She taught in pub-lic schools for a time before found-ing Fern Hall. She was a member of the civic-minded fraternal orga-nizations, the Eastern Star and the Royal Neighbors of America, and an active member of Park Temple Methodist Church.19

The Outdoor School, or Outdoor Private School, located at 2301-2307 Polk St. in Hollywood, was founded in 1938 by Lamora Mick-elson as a dancing school for nurs-ery-age children, and immediately became popular since the public school did not accept children be-fore the age of six. Next, the school expanded to a full curriculum for elementary and middle school

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Mae Horn McMillan. Broward County Historical Commission, Broward County Womens History Coalition Collection.

Mrs. Mickelson at the Outdoor School. Courtesy of Joan Mickelson, PhD.

grades, and the school became ac-credited by the State of Florida. High school was taught mostly on a tutorial basis. Head Mistress Mick-elson taught French to all children. Extracurricular classes in dance and horseback riding were available. During its peak years, the school had as many as 100 pupils and a dozen teachers. The Mickelsons retired and closed the school in the mid-1970s. The school was known for its structure, a row of classrooms enclosed on three sides and no wall on the south side. Open windows on the north allowed for cool breezes and ventilation in an era before air-conditioning. Both the north and south sides could be enclosed on the rare chilly, rainy day.

Lamora Gleason Mickelson had degrees from Radcliffe College of Harvard University and the Uni-versity of Miami. Mrs. Mickel-son and her husband, Tony, were Hollywood pioneers, both having worked for Hollywoods founder,

Joseph Young, in the early 1920s. She helped found the Hollywood Historical Society in 1974, and was active in the Art and Culture Cen-ter, the Museum of Archeology, the American Association of Uni-

in 1965. Pine Crest remains open today.21

The Seminole Indian Day School in Dania was started in the late 1920s and closed in 1936 for lack of com-munity interest. As Betty Mae Tiger Jumper noted, We kids wouldnt go to school regularly, and our parents wouldnt make us go, so it closed because it was so expensive for the government to maintain.22

First used as a private school from 1922 to 1925, it was the winter

versity Women, the American As-sociation of French Teachers and Harvard alumni activities. She and Tony donated important memora-bilia to the Hollywood Historical Society, including photos from Vir-ginia Elliott TenEicks collection.20

In 1939, Mae Horn McMillan leased the Pine Crest Sanitarium on 1515 E. Broward Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale and started McMillan-Pine Crest School. She operated the school at that location until it was moved to its current location

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Lake Placid School for Boys now the Hillsboro Club, 901 A1A, Hillsboro Beach, 1922-1925. Broward County Historical Commission.

The Seminole Indian Day School. Broward County Historical Commission, Abby-Sheldon Collection.

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The Riverside Military Academy. Broward County Historical Commission.

Kathleen Cooper Wright (1935-1985). Broward County Historical Commission, Broward County Womens History Coalition Collection.

headquarters for the Lake Plac-id School for Boys (based in the Adirondacks) and was known for small classes and high tuition. Many of the students were from so-ciety families, with names such as Rockefeller and Pirie. 23 The mil-lionaire owner of Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale sent his son, Clay, to the school. Several wood-frame structures just north of the lighthouse that once comprised the school are now part of the exclu-sive Hillsboro Club complex.

In 1932, the Riverside Military Academy of Gainesville, Georgia, bought Hollywood Hills Inn, which was designed by Rubush & Hunter in 1924. It was located where Hol-lywood Boulevard ended at the traf-fic circle west of I-95. The Spanish/Moorish style building had never been successful as a hotel. Cadets spent the winter season there, enter-taining Hollywood locals with their Sunday parades. A number of local boys went there. The gym, Blan-ton Hall, was designed by Bayard Lukens in the 1930s. The build-ing was demolished and replaced by the startlingly modern, blue-lit, glass Presidential Building.

GONE BUT NOTFORGOTTEN:SCHOOL NAMESAKESFifty-one schools in Broward County were named after people. Some namesakes are national his-toric figures like Charles Drew and Crispus Attucks; others are local pioneers like Leola Collins from Dania and Ivy Stranahan from Fort Lauderdale. Some schools are named for politicians and judges.

Whether a school is named for a school superintendent or teacher or named out of gratitude for a land donation, the significance of the naming of schools remains a noble exercise in recognition of past ac-complishments.

The Broward County School Board involves parent and teacher partici-pation in naming schools by vot-ing on the name. Today the School Board requires the schools use their namesakes first and last name and not be named for a living person.

Today, new schools are no longer named after municipalities.

Katherine C. Wright Administra-tion Building, Fort Lauderdale: In 1974 Kathleen Cooper Wright was the first black woman elected to the Broward County School Board, making her the first African-Amer-ican elected to county-wide office. She was a distinguished educator, teacher and mentor who actively supported professional groups as

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Blanche Forman (1884-1959). Courtesy of Austin Forman.

Ivy Cromartie Stranahan (1881-1971).Broward County Historical Commission, Abby Collection.

well as many civic, church and community organizations. She was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1985, at the age of 49. The Broward County School Boards Adminis-tration Building in Fort Lauderdale is named in her honor.

Stranahan High School, Fort Lauderdale: Ivy Stranahan started teaching children in 1899. She later served as president of the Florida Equal Suffrage Association and was active in the Fort Lauderdale Womans Club.

Nova Blanche Forman Elemen-tary, Davie: Blanche Forman was an elementary school teacher and principal from Illinois. She and her husband Hamilton came to Bro-ward County in 1910 and lived in a tent in the Everglades in what is now the town of Davie. In 1912 they became the first lock tenders on the New River canal operating the locks for the boats traveling

from coastal settlements and Lake Okeechobee. Blanche earned and retained the respect of the rough tough men who passed through the locks. Among those who went through the lock were members of Floridas outlaw bank-robbing Ashley gang. Because there was no corner grocery store accessible she had to raise her own chickens for eggs and meat. The surplus was sold. Blanche became an excellent shot

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Leola C. Collins. Courtesy of Marcellus Sterling Collins.

Boyd H. Anderson (1902-1968).Broward County Historical Commission, Easter Lily Gates Collection.

Judge George W. Tedder, Sr. (1880-1966).Broward County Historical Commission.

with both rifle and shotgun to keep the alligators and other wild animals away from her chickens. In later years, Blanche engaged in activities associated with the Daughters of the American Revolution and the P.E.O., a womens service organization.

Collins Elementary, Dania Beach: Known as the Mother of the Black West Side, Leola C. Collins opened a grocery store in Dania in 1910 but spent most of her time feeding the hungry and tending to the sick. She sought donations all over the county for Provident Hospital, the first hospi-tal to serve African-Americans in Broward County.

Boyd H. Anderson High, Lauder-dale Lakes: Boyd H. Anderson was one of Broward Countys first judg-es, elected to the bench in 1934. He served on the bench for 40 years. He was once described as a genial poli-tician with a homespun philosophy.

Tedder Elementary, Pompano Beach: George Tedder, Sr. was Browards first appointed circuit court judge in 1929, presiding for almost 30 years until he passed the mantle to his son George. The first four floors of the Broward County courthouse of west-wing are named the Tedder wing. Southeast Sixth Street was named for Tedder.

Blanche Ely High, Pompano Beach: When the school reopened

after a brief closing in the early 1970s, the first name of the for-mer principal, Blanche Ely, was dropped as a way to also honor her husband. Blanche Ely is best known for fighting to keep the school open during harvest at a time when black children were pulled from the class-room to pick beans. A grass-roots campaign prompted the School Board to restore the original name

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Blanche General Ely (1907-1993). Broward County Historical Commission, Broward County Womens History Coalition.

James S. Rickards(1883-1949).Broward County Historical Commission, Rickards Family Collection.

William H. Harry McNab (1878-1956) and Robert A. Bob McNab (1882-1958). This image of the two brothers was taken in 1951. Broward County Historical Commission, T. H. Chapman Collection.

M. A. Hortt(1880 -1958).Courtesy of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society.

of Blanche Ely High. Blanche came to Pompano when she was a young adult. She was appointed princi-pal of a two-room schoolhouse on Hammondville Road in Pompano Beach that later became Coleman Elementary School. She and her husband, Professor Joseph Ely, be-came a dynamic educational lead-ership team. She was instrumental in providing a school for migrant workers, The Project School, which served the needs of the mostly Hispanic farm workers who would come to Pompano during the season to harvest the vegetables grown by wealthy farmers. She has been the recipient of many awards including the Broward Commu-nity College Woman of Excellence

Award, 100 Black Men of Broward Out-standing Ser-vice Award, and the City of Pompano Beachs A Leg-acy of Cour-age and Care Award. A road and a low-in-come housing project are also named for her. Rickards Mid-dle, Oakland Park: James S. Rickards

served as principal of Fort Lauder-dale High, the oldest high school in

Broward County. He was also the County Superintendent of Schools 1921-1928. He was instrumental in bringing Seminole children to the white schools.

McNab Elementary, Pompano Beach: William McNab arrived in Pompano in 1899. The family, in-cluding brothers, William Harry and Robert Bob were farmers with large land holdings in Pom-pano Beach. They were involved with many civic and business deal-ings. McNab School bears the fam-ily name. It is located right off Mc-Nab Road and was built close to Harry McNab Lake. This was a man-made lake, the U.S. gov-ernment used sand to construct the highway. When the road was finished, Harry bought the county lake at auc-tion and stocked it with fish for many years. Williams wife Dora McNabb was a teacher.

Hortt Elemen-tary School, Fort Lauderdale: M. A. Hortt was a real estate salesman and developer. Hortt Elementary School was located at 1700 S.W. 14 Court, on a 9-acre site donated by the Broward pioneer. The school, built in 1958, was tucked away in the middle of a serene neighborhood

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Frederick C. Peters (1900-1964) and his wife Berenice Peters (1899-1982)Image from The Story of Frederick C. Peters by August Burghard.

Charles W. Flanagan. Broward County Historical Commission, Hollywood Sun-Tattler Collection.

Virginia Shuman Young (1917-1994).Broward County Historical Commission, Hollywood Sun-Tattler Collection.

Mertie Olsen. Courtesy of Olsen Middle School.

known as Shady Banks. Due to low attendance the school closed in the mid-1980s.

Peters Elementary, Plantation: Frederick C. and Berenice Peters donated land for the first school and church in Plantation. At one time they owned a ranch and large

tracks of land in Plantation.

McFatter Technical High and William T. McFatter Tech Cen-ter, Davie: William McFatter was the superintendent of schools from 1980 to 1983.

Charles W. Flanagan High, Pem-broke Pines: The citys mayor for 17 years, Flanagan died in office in 1995. He pushed for new schools and led an annexation effort that doubled the citys size.

Virginia Shuman Young Elemen-tary, Fort Lauderdale: Virginia Shuman Young was a dual pioneer the first female chairman of the Broward County School Board and the first and only woman to be mayor of Fort Lauderdale.

Olsen Middle School, Dania Beach: Named for Mertie Olsen, a long-time teacher in Broward Coun-ty. She taught at South Broward

High School and lived in Dania.

J. P. Taravella High, Coral Springs: James S. Hunt and J. P. Taravella and James S. Hunt of the development company Coral Ridge Properties founded Coral Springs.Whiddon-Rogers Education Cen-ter, Fort Lauderdale: Gene Aus-

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J. P. Taravella (1919-1978).Broward County Historical Commission, Hollywood Sun-Tattler Collection.

Dwight Rogers, Sr. (1886-1954).Broward County Historical Commission.

Gene Austin Whiddon (1928 -1989). Courtesy of Broward College, Archives and Special Collections.

Annabel Perry (1904 -1972). Broward County Historical Commission, Perry Family Collection.

Henry D. Perry (1901-1972). Broward County Historical Commission, Perry Family Collection.

tin Whiddon, president of Cause-way Lumber, served as chairman of the Broward County Commu-nity College Foundation until his death in 1989. He was named the

first recipient of the colleges Dis-tinguished Service Award in 1973 and the Seahawk Award in 1978. Whiddon Hall is home to Central Campus business programs. He managed the Broward gubernato-rial campaigns of Reubin Askew

and Bob Graham. Dwight Rogers was a U.S. Con-gressman from 1945 until his death in 1954. He was always interested in the progress of education. Rogers Junior High was originally named just for Rogers; later, after the clos-ing of the Whiddon Adult Educa-tion Center on Federal Highway,

the Whiddon name was added.

Annabel C. Perry Elementary, Miramar: The wife of Henry D. Perry, Annabel was very involved with her church and family. The couple gave the land for the Pem-broke Road Baptist Church. A little park next to the Annabel Perry El-ementary School is named for her as well.

Henry D. Perry Middle School, Miramar: Pioneer dairyman, banker and civic leader, Perry gave the land on which to build the Hen-ry D. Perry Elementary School.

C. Robert Markham Elemen-tary, Pompano Beach: Markham Park, which opened in 1973, was also named after the late C. Rob-ert Markham, who was briefly the countys property appraiser until his death in 1966 (his son, William, be-came property appraiser in 1968).

Walter C. Young Middle School,

Pembroke Pines: State Represen-tative Walter Young, a retired prin-cipal, was a champion for educa-tional issues.

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Representative Walter C. Young (1922- ). Broward County Historical Commission, Hollywood Sun-Tattler Collection, Photograph by Pat Farrell.

William Dandy. Broward County Historical Commission, Hollywood Sun-Tattler Collection, Photograph by Frank Alioto.

William Dandy Middle School, Fort Lauderdale: William Dan-dy was the first African-American deputy school superintendent. He helped lead the school system through one of its most difficult adjustments, desegregation. Dan-dy retired after 34 years with the school district as a counselor, prin-cipal and deputy superintendent.

James S. Hunt Elementary, Cor-al Springs: James S. Hunt was a developer of the city of Coral Springs.

Bennett Elementary, Fort Lau-derdale: Ulric Bennett was Bro-ward County School Superinten-

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James Stone Hunt (1897-1972).Courtesy of the Coral Springs Historical Society.

Ulric Bennett (1888-1982). Image from Painting at the Bennett Elementary School.

Frank Stirling (1878-1949).Broward County Historical Commission, Stirling Family Collection.

Clarence C. Walker (1880-1942).Courtesy of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society.

his decision that freed the ladies from wearing stockings in the classroom, as had been the rule.

Stirling Elementary, Hollywood: Frank Stirling was one of the founders of Davie, and a prominent horticulturist and civic leader.

Walker Elementary, Fort Lauder-dale: Clarence C. Walker presided over Dillard School from 1937 to 1942. When he came to Fort Lauder-dale in 1937, he led the fight to bring the school up to accreditation stan-dards and to end the School Boards policy of shutting down classes for African-American students so they could work in the fields and give growers cheap labor.

Colbert Elementary, Hollywood: Paul F. Colbert was a well-liked for-mer principal of Hollywood Central School. Colbert was also principal of West Hollywood, Hallandale and Dania elementary schools, McNi-col Junior High and South Broward

dent from 1932 to 1952. He was popular with female teachers for

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Paul F. Colbert (1904-1972). Courtesy of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society.

Pauline Watkins (1915-2011). From the South Broward High School Annual, the Browardier, 1960.

Russell O. Bair (1897-1973). From the Fort Lauderdale High School Annual, Ebb Tide, Courtesy of Christine Lee.

and Hollywood Hills high schools. Continuing his extraordinary service to the children and teachers of the county, Colbert went on to become assistant superintendent and then as-sociate superintendent for the Bro-ward County School District before retiring in 1970.

Watkins Elementary: Pembroke Park: Mrs. Pauline Watkins, a teacher in Broward County for 35 years, had this school named in

her honor in 1955 for her long service to students. She was a social stud-ies teacher and exten-sive world t r a v e l e r . She also led the Camp Fire Girls in Hollywood.

Bair Mid-dle School,

Sunrise: Named after teacher, tru-ant officer and textbook coordinator Russell O. Bair. He retired in 1966 after 36 years with Broward Coun-ty Schools. For years he provided free theater tickets to students with perfect attendance.

Piper High, Sunrise: William Piper, Sr. was an aviation pioneer, inventor and local benefactor. He gave the Broward County public school system the large acreage on which Fort Lauderdale High School was relocated to in 1962. His generosity has been memori-alized in the Piper Auditorium at that school. He was the inventor and manufacturer of the Piper Cub aircraft.

Other schools named after promi-nent people include the following.Morrow Elementary School, in North Lauderdale, was named for principal and School Board Special Projects Supervisor Carmon Morrow.

McNicol Middle School was named after Fannie McNicol, Hol-

lywoods first junior high teacher, and second teacher, beginning in 1924 and remaining for decades. She began teaching in the Young Company sales pavilion at 19th and Harrison Street, then Hollywood Central when it was built. Chester A. Moore Elementary School in Hallandale was named for Moore who was principal for many years of the Hallandale school. The school was closed because the number of students attending wasnt enough to merit the schools continuance.

McArthur High School, Holly-wood: James Neville McArthur owned the best-known dairy in south Broward County, begun in 1929 with 50 acres. Prior to start-ing the dairy, McArthur taught for several years in Miami. In 1956 he donated land at 6501 Hollywood Boulevard where McArthur High School opened, initially in portable classrooms. In 1958 he donated an-other 10 acres and the permanent school was erected. He often went by the name of J. Neville.

Broward Legacy 21

Schools of PompanoBy Daniel T. Hobby

1899 Schoolhouse. From an unidentified newspaper clipping in the collections of the Pompano Beach Historical Society.

22 Broward Legacy

Pompano Beach Elementary School, ca. 1940s. Courtesty of the Pompano Beach Historical Society.

In January, 1836, the Florida Leg-islature created a new county that covered the southeastern portion of the peninsula, from the upper Keys north to the mouth of the St. Lucie River. Named in honor of Major Francis Dade, a U.S. Army com-mander, who recently had been killed, along with most of his com-mand, in an ambush by Seminole Indians, Dade County had but a handful of residents.

It was not until 1885, that a county school board was established and began meeting. In the fall of that year, Dade Countys first public school was opened in what is to-day the town of Palm Beach. A year or two later, a second school was opened in present-day Miami. As the population of southeastern Florida began to grow, new schools were built, and within a decade, the School Board was operating as many as 15 schools throughout the county, including at least one in Miami for black students.

The completion of the Florida East Coast Railway extension to Miami

in 1896, led to the creation of new settlements along the tracks, in-cluding one named Pompano. By 1899, there were enough children living in the Pompano area that the Dade County School Board autho-rized a school for the community. As was the procedure then, the school board provided plans for a one-room schoolhouse and the lumber needed; local men provided the labor to build the structure.

On October 2, 1899, Pompanos first public school opened its door to nine students. Because many of the early settlers lived near what is today known as Lake Santa Bar-bara, the schoolhouse was located in that area, around the present-day intersection of 25 Ave. and S.E. Fifth Street. Mary Butler was hired as the towns first teacher, and was paid $40 per month. That same year, a similarly small school was opened in Fort Lauderdale, with 19-year-old Ivy Cromartie serving as its first teacher. These were the first two schools in what is today Broward County.By 1901, there were 28 students

attending the Pompano school. As with other local schools in agricul-tural areas, school terms were ab-breviated. The original Pompano farmers did not have access to many agricultural laborers beyond family members and everyone in the family was expected to work during critical times in the growing season. An article in the April 14, 1905, Miami Metropolis newspa-per explained the situation:

Within the next two weeks prac-tically all of the rural or county schools of Dade County will have closed for the term.

The school at Pompano was closed last week as most of the children were being taken from the school and put to work in the tomato fields.

In nearly all of the schools that will close this month, the attendance has been up to the standard and above, though it is stated that it should and would have been larger but for the fact that many parents prefer to profit by the labor of their children

Broward Legacy 23

Blanche General Ely with students, ca. late 1920s. Courtesy of the Pompano Beach Historical Society.

than to send them to school.

For many of Pompanos residents, the first hurricane they experienced was a minimal storm that hit south of the Jupiter Inlet on October 11, 1903. Even though the winds were barely hurricane strength, a num-ber of buildings in Pompano were damaged, including the towns schoolhouse.

Classes were resumed in a nearby building and, in 1905, a new and somewhat larger school was opened on what is today the 800 block of East Atlantic Boulevard. The relo-cation of the school was a reflection of a shift in the communitys center of population eastward to around the railroad tracks. Around 1910, the school building was moved to the 100 block of N.E. First Street.In 1909, Palm Beach County was created, with Pompano being its southernmost town. With the lo-cal population increasing, the Palm Beach County School Board au-thorized a second teacher for the Pompano school. Plans were being made to replace the wooden struc-ture with what one resident de-scribed as a fine stone building. To that end, four acres of land lo-

cated north of N.E. Fourth Street were donated for the new school.

Before Pompano got its bigger school, it was moved into yet an-other county. In 1915 Broward County was carved out of portions of Palm Beach and Dade counties. Initially Pompano was not rep-resented on the Broward County Board of Public Instruction, but in 1919 Pompano pioneer Joseph P. Smoak was elected to that body and served on it for the next decade.

One of the early actions of the Broward County Board of Public Instruction was to authorize a new grammar school for Pompano. A two-story masonry building was constructed on the land donated for that purpose (today the site of Pompano Beach Middle School), and the old wooden school was sold and moved once again. After being used as a private residence for a while, the building was sold to the Methodist Church, which used it for Sunday school classes before it was finally demolished in the 1960s.

Perhaps nothing did more to boost Pompanos civic pride than the opening of the towns first high

school in 1928. Prior to this, Pom-panos white high school students took instruction at and graduated from Fort Lauderdale Central High School, which had been Broward Countys only high school from the time it was built in 1915.

Although they could now avoid the long daily ride to Fort Lauderdale, some Pompano students who had been attending Fort Lauderdales Central High School were a little disappointed that they would be moving from a school with 2,000 students and a full range of pro-grams and activities, to a school that had an enrollment that was counted in the dozens.

A new school building was con-structed adjacent to the existing grammar school that had been built a decade earlier, and when com-pleted, the grammar school stu-dents moved into the new, larger building and the high school took over the older structure. The first graduating class at Pompano High School had just eight students.

As Pompano entered the 1930s, it had a kindergarten through twelfth-grade educational campus that would serve it through the 1950s.

24 Broward Legacy

There were still, however, a signifi-cant number of area residents who did not have access to local public schools. Rigid racial separation laws prevented Pompanos black resi-dents, who constituted over half the local population, from attending the Pompano schools; they would have to wait until the coming decades for significant educational support from the public school system.

During the era of segregation, the myth was that the races were separat-ed but were provided equal facilities. No one believed it. Almost without exception, black students were given inferior buildings and instructional materials. Black educators were generally paid less than were their white counterparts and had more stu-dents in their classrooms.

Exactly when formal education be-gan in Pompanos black community is open to debate. Some evidence in-dicates that there were regular class-es by 1915, but clearly by the 1920s, there was a formal school for black students in Pompano.

According to long-time Pompano Beach resident Mercerlene Alexan-der Rutledge, the first school serving Pompanos African Americans was a two-room, wooden building located in the 400 block of Hammondville Road. When this structure was de-stroyed in the 1926 hurricane, classes were held in Psalters Temple A.M.E. Church, located less than a block away. Unfortunately, the church was heavily damaged two years later by another hurricane.

Despite the discrimination and mis-fortune Pompanos black students had to face, the 1920s brought at least one fortunate change. In 1923, a young teacher came to Pompano. Born in the small central Flori-da town of Reddick in 1904, she would later graduate from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical Uni-versity, commonly known as Flori-da A&M or FAMU.

Blanche General Ely was a woman who was not given to deep self-doubts. She saw her role as more

expansive than being an academic instructor, although she did not shirk that duty. Rather, she felt that she had to use her talents to pro-vide children in her community the tools they would need to make it in a world in which many forces were at work to insure their failure.

Hers was a 24 hours-a-day, 365 days-a-year calling. Any number of her former students still recall that if Mrs. Ely caught you doing something you shouldnt be doing, anywhere in town, it didnt matter if school was in session or not -- punishment would follow.

Although Blanche Ely differed with Booker T. Washington in some ar-eas, she closely followed Wash-ingtons philosophy of making the best of a bad situation and that the black community must develop, on its own, an economic founda-tion and social stability in order to move forward. No doubt, she was in agreement with Washington when he said, Character, not cir-cumstances, make the man. She would be a force in the community until her death, seven decades after she first arrived in Pompano.

The Broward County Board of Public Instruction (School Board) budgeted for a new school in Pom-panos black community during the 1927-28 school years it opened as the Pompano Colored School at 718 N.W. Sixth Street. Mrs. Ely was se-lected to be the schools principal. In 1954, this facility was renamed Coleman Elementary School, in honor of Rev. James Emanuel Cole-man, pastor of Pompanos Mount Calvary Baptist Church.

Prior to the Second World War, two other schools were established for Pompanos black students whose families worked in the agricultural fields. One was located west of town off todays State Road 7 and was known as the Hammondville School. The other was located in the migrant labor camp on Ham-mondville Road just east to todays Powerline Road.

The burden that these African-American schools worked under can be seen by teacher-student ra-tios reported by the Board of Pub-lic Instruction in 1938. Pompano white schools collectively had one teacher for every 25 students, while the Pompano Colored School had one teacher for every 54 students. At the Hammondville School, the single teacher employed there had 67 students.

Another challenge faced by black students and educators was the tra-dition of closing their schools dur-ing the peak period of harvests so as to allow the maximum amount of agricultural laborers in the fields. This practice continued into the early 1950s, in spite of strong condemnation of it by Mrs. Ely and others in the black community.

As the second half of the twentieth century began, Pompano Beachs African-American students who sought a high school diploma had to enroll in a high school in Fort Lauderdale, Miami or some other city. Blanche Elys lobbying for a new school that included all grades was finally approved by the Board of Public Instruction in the fall of 1951, and Pompano Beach ac-quired its second high school. At the insistence of the community, the school was named for Mrs. Ely. Over the years, she had not wavered in her commitment to pro-viding her students with the best educational environment available and character-building.

In 1954, the United States Supreme Courts ruling in Brown v. Board of Education held that schools that were racially separate were inher-ently unequal. Despite the courts order, the Broward County School Board did just about everything it could to keep the schools segre-gated. Mrs. Ely did not object to separate facilities as much as she did the unequal resources pro-vided to the countys black pub-lic schools. In 1957, the Broward County School Board attempted to transfer Mrs. Blanche Ely from her position as principal of Blanche Ely

Broward Legacy 25

Pompano Elementary and High school campus. White students went from kindergarten through 12th grade here. This view is looking northeast - the building in the lower left is the gymnasium, with the old elementary school to its right and the new school (used by elementary students after it was built) behind. Courtesy of the Pompano Beach Historical Society.

High School in Pompano Beach to a lesser position in Hallandale. Many were convinced that this was an attempt to punish Mrs. Ely for being so outspoken. The rul-ing was appealed all the way to the State Board of Education, which overruled the transfer.

Meanwhile, on the east side of Pompano Beach, the white educa-tional campus was showing its age. The city and surrounding area was experiencing a dramatic population growth and in the early 1950s, plans were being made for new facilities. Pompano Beach Elementary School was relocated to a new campus half-a-mile to the east in 1953, and the high school to an adjacent parcel several years later. As the student population swelled, the schools nickname, the Beanpickers, seemed anachronistic to many of those who had not grown up in Pompano. In 1956, a referendum was held and a new school nickname chosen: the Golden Tornadoes.During a relatively short time-frame, from the late 1950s into the

1960s, a number of new schools were built in the Pompano Beach area to accommodate the expand-ing student population: Norcrest, Charles Drew, Cresthaven, Sand-ers Park and McNab elementary schools opened during this period. By the end of the 1960s, it was clear that the county schools would have to integrate. The problem for Pompano Beach was that demo-graphic changes and housing pat-terns made it difficult to keep two high schools open. Following the 1969-70 school year, Blanche Ely High School was closed. Most Ely students went to Pompano Beach High School the following year. Mrs. Ely and community lead-ers instituted a lawsuit against the closing, and the high school was reopened in 1974, but the demo-graphic problems continued.

In what was a shock to the commu-nity, in 1985 the Broward County School Board voted to close Pom-pano Beach High School. In spite of political controversy and pub-lic protests, the school remained

closed for a dozen years. During that period, the facilities were used for administrative offices, adult ed-ucation and community programs. School Board member Bob Parks, who had previously taught at Pom-pano Beach High School, took the lead in finding a way to reopen the school. In 1997, it was reopened as an All Magnet school, draw-ing its student population from not only Pompano Beach, but also ar-eas farther away.

As the school year began in 2012, Pompano Beach has nine public elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools locat-ed within its city limits. There are also several specialized, alternative and private schools within the city. Portions of this article have previ-ously appeared in Trade Winds of Pompano Beach Magazine.

26 Broward Legacy

Edna Jacobs, Broward County Historical Commission, Broward County Retired Educators Collection.

Broward County Retired Educators AssociationBy Margarite Falconer

The membership year is from July 1 through June 30. Dues are $50 per year. The Broward County Retired Educators Association will forward the state dues of $35 to Florida Re-tired Educators Association, the state organization (FREA). Mem-bers receive a membership card from FREA and are listed in the BCREA membership directory.

BCREA meets on the first Thurs-day of each month from October through May. Since October 2009, meetings have been held at Deicke Auditorium, 5701 Cypress Road in Plantation. Meetings begin at 11:45 a.m. and include a potluck lunch. Everyone attending is asked to bring a dish to share.

What We DoBesides having monthly meetings with good food and interesting speakers, members contribute to the community in many ways.

Broward Legacy 27

Lillian Lampkins, president of BCREA from 1986-1988 (1920-2006). Courtesy of the Broward County Retired Educators.The primary purpose of the group is to raise money for scholarships which we give to high school se-niors who plan to become teachers. Through the Community Service Committee donates school supplies for the Broward Education Founda-tion, food and clothing for the Co-operative Feeding Program, sup-plies for the Humane Society and books and magazines for patients in the VA hospital. We also col-lect coupons for our troops, Camp-bells and General Mills labels for education, aluminum pull-tabs, old eyeglasses, blankets and pillows for children in crisis. Members sponsor a fifth-grade essay con-test through our Literacy Commit-tee, and donate both new and used books for needy children. Through our Cultural Affairs Committee, of-fers several activities each year in

the performing arts. The group also have a state travel consultant who plans trips and cruises throughout the world which might be of inter-est to members.

HistorySoon after she retired in 1964, Edna Jacobs was asked by Superinten-dent Myron Ashmore to organize a group of retired educators in Bro-ward County. On October 26, 1964, a meeting was held to consider the matter. On November 4, 1964 a con-stitution was drawn up and by-laws were formed. On February 10, 1965 the first official meeting of BCREA was held. Jacobs was elected Presi-dent of the Broward County Retired Educators Association

Born in Milo, Maine, Edna Kittredge came to Fort Lauderdale

to teach in 1925. She lived with her uncle C. D. Kittredge who was mayor of Fort Lauderdale at that time, and had just built a fine new house. Edna was married to Wal-lace Jacobs in that house on May 7, 1927. The house later served as the Red Cross Headquarters for the county and is now the French Quarter Restaurant.

Ednas first teaching job was at the Southside School. After six years at Southside, she went to West Side Elementary as principal and sixth grade teacher. In 1954 she became principal of the new Lauderdale Manors Elementary Schools and continued there until her retirement in 1964.

In the meantime, she served as Chairman of the Broward Associa-tion of Elementary School Princi-pals and was on the State Board of Elementary Principals where she served as vice-chairman. While on the State Textbook Committee she was instrumental in the promotion of legislation to advance elemen-tary school libraries statewide.

In 1979 the Broward County His-torical Commission named her a Pioneer. She was also active in the First Methodist Church where she taught Sunday school, played pia-no and sang in the choir. She also found time to serve as President of her Delta Kappa Gamma Society.Edna served as District 10 Direc-tor for the Florida Retired Educa-tors Association (FREA) for four years, but the Broward County Re-tired Educator Association was her pet organization. She loved all its people and always worked in their interests until her late nineties. She died May 17, 2003.

Lillian Lampkins, who served as President from 1986 to 1988, was the first African American to hold the position.

28 Broward Legacy

2012-2013 officers. From the left, President, Margarite Falcone; President-Elect, Diane Texter; Secretary, Josephine Walker; Treasurer, Marelise Le Clerc

Broward Legacy 29

The Spirit of the Times(Reflections of a Broward School Teacher)By Maureen Dinnen

Maureen Dinnen, 35-year veteran Broward teacher, former president of Florida Educators Association and the Community College Senate Presidents, has served on the Broward School Board from 2004 to 2012 and has been a member of the Bro-ward County Historical Commission since 2009. She has been a resident of Broward County for 64 years.

Maureen Dinnen. Courtesty of the Broward County School Board.

In August of 1962, I was hired by the Broward County Board of Pub-lic Instruction to teach eighth grade American History at Northeast Junior-Senior High School. Lo-cated on the site of the present-day Northeast High School in Oakland

Park, Florida, my first class-room was a non air-conditioned portable with wooden jalou-sie windows and a heater that looked like a pot-belly stove.

We never got to try out the heater because shortly after the start of the term, the en-tire school was moved to the old Fort Lau-derdale High School build-ings on N.E. 3rd Avenue in downtown Fort Lauder-dale. In earlier days, when I was growing

up, not only was Fort Lauderdale High School located there but its football field, Stranahan Field, was a major center used by schools and city groups for a variety of events. By the 1960s the Broward County School System was growing so

30 Broward Legacy

The School Board Administrative Offices. Broward County Historical Commission.

rapidly that old school buildings were used as temporary holding places while new schools were be-ing built.

One day while leaving school in downtown Fort Lauderdale, I re-member being held up in traffic as a long convoy of freight train flat-bed cars went by for what seemed like a half-hour. The parade of tanks, large artillery and a variety of fearsome war machinery slowly passed as we got out of our autos to watch. This was before we had heard anything about a Cuban Mis-sile Crisis. On my way home from work, I looked down from the 17th Street Causeway Bridge to see that all sorts of U.S. Navy craft had moved into Port Everglades. You can bet the Dinnen family and ev-eryone in Broward County was glued to the nightly news on televi-sion that night.

As a result of the Cold War appre-hensions that atomic blasts were possible, teachers of that era had to practice bomb drills with students. I can recall having to demonstrate the turtle position on the floor in

front of my eighth graders. Needless to say we all dissolved in hysterics. Meanwhile, I was thinking how in the world the turtle position training would help us withstand an atomic attack in these old buildings.

Fortunately, I was only 21 years old and regarded this entire time as an adventure. My adventures continued, for next I was assigned one large class of some 289 pre-teenagers on the second floor in the former high school library with the book shelves removed. Televi-sions were located around the room because during each class a history lesson was transmitted from the Dade County Lindsey Hopkins Center. Since the TV presentation came on in the middle of the class, I had about 15 minutes before and 15 minutes after the TV program to teach my students. This large TV-class style of instruction was the new idea in that eras education cir-cles. I can tell you, teaching teens this way did not last long.

An even more sorrowful experi-ence was being in that large class-room when the news of President

Kennedys assassination came on the TVs in Dallas. What a horrible history lesson for our students.

Soon we all moved back to the Northeast High School site where the junior and senior high schools were separated, and we were re-named Rickards Junior High School. While at Rickards I honed my teaching skills, and even took a years unpaid leave to go to gradu-ate school.

In 1964 as part of the racial inte-gration of Broward County Public Schools, Rickards Junior High ad-mitted African-American students. I remember two young boys coming to my seventh grade class looking scared but brave. I was proud of the way my students welcomed them amidst some of the negative atmo-sphere that existed in the county.

Even though Rickards Junior High was a new school, the non-stop stu-dent population growth made the use of portable classrooms neces-sary once again. I taught in a por-table that seemed so dingy that one Saturday the students and I painted

Broward Legacy 31

History Teacher Miss Maureen Dinnen from the 1972 Epic, Hollywood Hills High Schools annual, Hollywood, Florida, Vol. V.

Hollywood Hills High School, 2013. Photograph by Joan Mickelson, PhD.

the inside. They were so proud of their work. It was beautiful.

In 1967 I decided I needed a new challenge and embarked on high school level teaching. Once again, adventures loomed. I took a job teaching mathematics at Da-nia Sterling High School. Over the summer the school name was changed to Hollywood Hills High School and the school was set up at the old naval air barracks on the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Air-port. This site had once been a ju-nior high school called Naval Air Junior High and had served as the first location for Broward College, then known as the Junior College of Broward County. Unknown to our parents, as children, we used to play around and in the earthen bun-kers in that area.

Well, into the barracks went Hol-lywood Hills High School. The faculty shared one mimeograph machine and one hand-cranked ditto machine. My classroom was on the second floor of a barracks building that had previously been used as an electronics lab. There were five narrow poles standing in a row down the center of the room. Since I walked around a lot when I was teaching, I became a navigation expert! Again, no air conditioning was provided, and the awning style windows had to be propped open with sticks since the opening handles had long since vanished. Let me tell you, barracks are hot in South Florida in August and September.

The building was strange in that you had to walk through two other classrooms to enter or leave my room by the front door. There was a back door that led to a rather shaky stairway down to the ground. As a teacher, one had to keep alert as some enterprising students would sneak out the back door when you turned your back. The only avail-able teaching tool was the black-board that was about six feet wide by three feet high. About mid-year someone stole my classroom back door so sometimes bugs and birds

did fly into the room. The low mark was when I returned from winter break to find that some creature had chewed off the edges of my grade book.

During that year at the barracks we had other challenges. A group of young men from our school on the way back from an airport lun-cheonette got into a disagreement with an airport official and began to rock his car as a joke. Remember, this was 1967. The official, under-standably upset, called for help and the sheriffs office responded with a number of officers. Somehow this whole incident escalated into a ma-

jor riot with racial elements. I re-member using every ounce of force and threats I could muster to pre-vent my kids from joining in. What a mess! Racial tensions were ap-parent during that time. Hollywood Hills High School incorporated a smaller nearby African-American high school named Attucks High School. Attucks kids felt outnum-bered, and they were. I recall how great we all felt when Tyrone Ash from Attucks became a Hills stu-dent leader.

Also, 1967-68 was the year that the Broward County public school system was the pilot case for the

32 Broward Legacy

Hollywood Hills Classroom. From the 1977 Epic Yearbook.

Florida state-wide teacher walk-out. Most of the 4,000 Broward public school teachers turned in resignation slips to the Broward County Classroom Teachers Asso-ciation. All of them were dramati-cally put in a giant steamer chest on the stage of the War Memorial Auditorium where every day for two weeks teachers assembled in-stead of reporting to their schools for work. An agreement was forged for Broward teachers to re-turn to work, and an injunction was slapped on the association to keep them from joining the state walk-out. The teacher resignation forms were burned in back of the Broward County Courthouse. These were really tough times professionally. We lost some excellent teachers. However, I did receive textbooks for my students to augment the 30 I had for some 175 students and we got a small raise.

Hollywood Hills was the high school attended by the kids who lived on ranches in Davie. In the spring during those years students were allowed days off for cattle round-up. It is amazing to think of that much vacant land existing in Broward County.

Once we moved from the barracks into the new Hollywood Hills High School building we enjoyed new classrooms, air conditioning, a modern cafeteria, movie projec-

tors, overhead projectors and all the latest audio-visual learning aids of that school era. We were doing great! At Hills, I taught American history most of the time in both regular and portable classrooms because Broward County never seemed to be able to catch up with the monumental student population growth. One portable I taught in was dingy beige in need of a paint job. Again, my students and I came on Saturday and did the work. Af-ter the students rejected my color choice we put on a second coat that made everyone happy. It looked fabulous.

One January day at Hills my stu-dents were taking an exam when I told them to put down their pencils. I explained we were go-ing outside because it was snow-ing, and they might never see this again. It melted before it hit the ground, but you could actually see snow falling on your shoulders in Hollywood, Florida.

A highlight of those early days at Hills High School was the winning of the state football championship. The entire school got so involved. Everyone who could went to the championship game in Orlando, including parents, students, teach-ers, administrators and community members. We felt invincible!

I stayed at Hollywood Hills High

for 10 great years. Known for win-ning National Merit scholarships, the school grew to be one of the top high schools in the county and the state. Many of its students, includ-ing those in the classes that painted that portable classroom, are today attorneys, teachers, doctors, busi-ness leaders and prominent citi-zens. The Hills faculty still has re-unions which I attend although I left in 1977.

All during this period the school district center, called the County Office, was located in a group of World War II buildings clustered in what is now the Sailboat Bend area of Fort Lauderdale. For a growing district to operate out of such an old, cramped location was a won-der. When I needed a film to show in my classes, I would go there to the film center, pick it up by hand, and later one person would return several films for the rest of the fac-ulty. When the School Board meet-ings attracted a crowd, people had to stand out on the lawn in front of the building and listen to the pro-ceedings over loud speakers.

The period from 1962 to 1977 in the Broward Schools was certain-ly eventful, and there are some wonderful memories for anyone who taught or attended our public schools. As I reread these accounts of that period in our school system I know todays teachers, students and parents must wonder how we ever got anything done success-fully. We did rise above a great va-riety of problems. The redeeming features were the people I worked with and the students I taught. We had a certain spirit that I still see in many of our public schools and at the school district level. With that you can do anything!

Broward Legacy 33

SPOTLIGHT The Sensory Experience that is the Mai-KaiBy Anne E. Sallee

Original Entryway Sign. Image courtesy of the Mai-Kai.

34 Broward Legacy

Thatched building out in front of the Mai-Kai. Image courtesy of the Mai-Kai.

Tatched-Roof building in front of the Mai Kai. Courtesy of the Mai Kai.

Mai-Kai in 1962. Courtesy of the Mai-Kai.

In the 1950s, conditions in post-World War II America were perfect for two young Stanford University graduates from Wilmette, Illinois, to come to Southeast Florida and build what is arguably the longest-standing and most successful Poly-nesia- themed establishment, a mecca for Tiki-philes, the Mai-Kai Restaurant.

In a 1988 Sun-Sentinel interview, Bob Thornton said, From the time I was eight years old, when my folks took me and my brother to eat at Don the Beachcomber in Chi-cago; Ive loved all things Polyne-sian. While other kids dreamed of becoming firemen, my brother and I dreamed of opening a South Seas restaurant. We didnt know a thing about food, but the bridges, the torches and the funny masks were irresistible.

Bob and Jack Thorntons timing was impeccable. Hawaii had been annexed and would soon become a state, the writings of Thor Hey-erdahl and James Michener were widely read and the musical South Pacific was a stage hit. World War II had profoundly affected every aspect of life in America, from work, shopping and popular en-tertainment. As American soldiers returned home from World War II, they brought home stories and sou-venirs from the South Pacific. Once

the war was over, life would never be the same.The explosion of Polynesian kitsch pop culture and the availability of mass-produced, low-cost air condi-tioners for homes and commercial properties led to dramatic popula-tion growth in South Florida in the 1950s.

As WWII veterans and their fami-lies moved to South Florida, where many had spent basic training, the stars aligned for the success of the Thorntons Mai-Kai, which means the finest in Hawaiian.

As fans of Don the Beachcombers

and Trader Vics, with their Can-tonese cuisine, exotic rum punches, flaming torches, rattan furniture, flower leis and brightly colored fabrics, Bob and Jack Thornton studied their predecessors, emu-lated what worked and invented the rest. They created the Mai-Kai Restaurant, which opened on a de-serted area of Federal Highway on December 28, 1956.

To visualize a Polynesian oasis in the sleepy location just outside of Fort Lauderdale, on the west side of Federal Highway in Oakland Park, took great imagination. When they purchased the land in the middle of nowhere along U.S. 1, there was no stop light from Oakland Park Bou-levard to Pompano Beach. Many of the surrounding roads were dirt and the only sign of life were the cows in a pasture nearby. Milk was 22 a quart, and Boca Raton was drafting its first city charter. Bob and Jack Thornton cobbled to-gether family funds and a reluctant bank loan, and searched for just the right artifacts that would depict the customs and village life of Polyne-sia, whose many islands are bound-ed by a triangle formed by Hawaii, New Zealand and Tahiti. Though a few original works of art remain in the restaurant, many would later become prohibitively expensive to insure and were donated to the Fort Lauderdale Art Museum and Stan-

Broward Legacy 35

Bob Thornton. Courtesy of the Mai-Kai.

ford University, the Thorntons alma mater.

The Mai Kai was built and designed by the esteemed Fort Lauderdale architect Charles McKirahan, who shared a love for all things Poly-nesian with the Thornton brothers, and decorator Wayne Davidson. The Mai-Kais original construc-tion cost was about $400,000. It was the most expensive restaurant built anywhere that year. The suc-cess of Mai-Kai was quickly ap-parent as its earnings exceeded the initial investment in its first year, making it one the most successful restaurants of its time. The restau-rant consisted of four rooms that could seat 150 people, with a small gift stand by the front desk selling souvenirs. As the restaurant grew, so did the lagoons, rivers and luxu-riant gardens that wind around, creating the feel of an exotic tropi-cal village.

Initially the front section of the roof over the dining area was open to the sky and tables were moved in during inclement weather. A sliding glass roof was later added

which was closed to keep the din-ing patrons dry. The ceiling was permanently enclosed in the 60s when the work and maintenance of a sliding roof became more aggra-vation than value.

The dining areas included an up-scale private dining room, called the Bangkok Room, designed in Thai style. If you look at the ceil-ing of the current gift shop, you can see what remains of the Bangkok Room dcor. The Mai-Kai was the hippest spot in town, one of the top-grossing restaurants in the United States and the largest consumer of rum in the nation.

The Polynesian Revue that is syn-onymous with the Mai-Kai expe-rience was introduced January 2, 1962. Every year, the Polynesian Revue is restaged and is performed by Hawaiians, Tahitians, Samoans and Maoris, who are directed by Tahitian-born Mireille Thornton, wife of Mai-Kai owner Bob Thorn-ton. Mrs. Thornton continues to re-main the shows principal choreog-rapher and costume designer. The show remains the longest-running

Polynesian Revue in the mainland United States.

From Navy officers on liberty to Saudi kings, the show kept a full house every night. In those days, they were the number one place in town, says Jack Drury, who handled public re-lations for the Mai-Kai from 1963-1983. Dur-ing the season, you couldnt get in. There was a line around the block. We promoted the whole image. If you came to Fort Lau-derdale, you had to go to the Mai-Kai before you left. Patrons regu-larly caught glimpses of the celebrity set such as Joe Namath, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon,

Yul Brynner and Omar Sharif.

As the numbers grew, creativity to make room for more seats stretched the limits. The show stage had a railing that was raised before and between shows to make room for tables. There was a seating area behind the stage which staff had to block from the stage during shows to keep patrons from acci-dently wandering through the stage on their way to the restrooms. In a passageway from the kitchen, small two-top tables were added along the wall and diners ate as staff whizzed by, earning that area the nickname I-95.

The early restaurant boasted two bars: the Molokai Lounge with its 1880s seaport saloon decor, and the Surfboard Bar. The Surfboard Bar was designed like a long sleek surfboard and the barstools were designed to look like pineapples. The image behind the bar changed from daytime to nighttime light-ing once or twice every hour. The Molokai Lounge was a bit smaller than now but had the same ship-board feeling.In the 1970s, the Mai-Kai under-

36 Broward Legacy

The Surfboard Bar with Mariano Licudine. Courtesy of the Mai-Kai.

went a $7 million expansion under the supervision of architect/design-er George Nakishima. The expan-sion included a $600,000 kitchen with a unique Chinese-style Mon-golian brick smoke oven, the only one of its kind in Florida and one of only four in the United States. The restaurants seating capacity was expanded to over 700. The build-ing to the north of the entryway was added to make room for the South Seas Trading Post, a larger gift shop and offices. This later became the Bora Bora Room, used for private parties and office space and the gift shop was returned to the res-taurant. On Monday, October 24, 2005, when Hurricane Wilma clob-bered South Florida, the damage was so severe the Bora Bora Room could not be re-opened, and serves now as storage. The gift shop was moved back into the main build-ing. Dave Levy, Mirielles son and corporate vice president, estimated

that Wilma caused more than $1.3 million in damage to the Mai-Kai. Notably, the restaurant opened as soon as the power was restored on November first and the staff did not lose a days pay.

Although Jack Thornton sold his share of the business to his brother in 1969 and Bob Thornton passed away in 1989, Mireille Thornton, Bobs widow, runs the restaurant with her son and daughter, Dave Levy and Kulani Thornton Ge-lardi. They continue to maintain the character and special flavor of the Mai-Kai, The Finest, to this day. The building and grounds of the Mai-Kai have withstood hur-ricanes, challenges to the economy and changes in society for the past 55 years. In a 2007 Sun-Sentinel article, Diane Smart, then president of the Broward Trust for Historic Preservation Inc., said, The Bro-ward Trust has placed the Mai-Kai

on its website list of significant Broward County architecture and believes the (Old Flame) qualifies for both local and national designa-tion as a historic landmark.

The ambiance, the libations, the food, the gardens and, of course, the show, whether for a visit to the Molokai for Happy Hour or an evening with the full dinner show experience, are an unparal-leled sensory experience! If you havent been yet or have dismissed it as a tourist trap, you are missing a uniquely memorable encounter in our eastern Broward area.

Credits:Sun SentinelMai-Kai Staff; Pia Dahlquist and Kern Mattei, Jr.Mai-Kai Press ReleasesTiki Central Forum

Broward Legacy 37

book rev iewBy Marla Sherman Dumas

Marla Sherman Dumas, a planning consultant, has served as a Broward County Historical Commissioner since 2007. She previously contributed an article on an historic Hollywood neighborhood, Parkside, which appeared in the 2009 Broward Legacy. Her interest in historic preservation and the history of Broward County provides her with expertise necessary to review this book.

Fr. Jerry Singleton, pastor of Saint Anthony Church and School since December 2005, with assistance from editor Chauncey Mabe, and researcher Judy Borich, developed

Pioneer Parish: Saint Anthony Browards First Catholic Church by Fr. Jerry Singleton, Middle River Press, Oakland Park, Florida, 2011, ISBN 978-0-9838203-0-7, $75, 174 pages.

this publication in honor of the 90th anniversary of the church and the 85th anniversary of the school. The final product is a lovely and engaging coffee-table style book

Pioneer Parish, Saint Anthony Browards First Catholic Churchby Fr. Jerry Singleton

38 Broward Legacy

Drawing of the Saint Anthony School, circa 1921. Courtesy of the Fort Lauderdale History Center.

containing a written history and a collection of significant photo-graphs and illustrations that memo-rialize the history of Saint Anthony Church and School.

The author acknowledges that the content was compiled through ar-chival research and recollections of parishioners. As part of the book, a list of all interviewees is included. The book tracks the history of the church and school from their incep-tions in 1921 and 1926, respective-ly, through the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights pe-riod, Fort Lauderdales decline in the 1970s and its later resurgence. It also contains a final chapter in which Singleton discusses the potential for change faced by Saint Anthony, and the Catholic Church in general, dur-ing the 21st century.

This book includes information that clearly ties the earliest history of Saint Anthony Church and School to what was happening in secular settings in the area and the nation. For example, the author explains that in 1921 when Saint Anthony parish was established, the com-munity still remained clearly anti-Catholic. In support of this asser-tion, Singleton relates the story of Julia Murphy, who in 1915 was

hired as a public school teacher in Fort Lauderdale but was fired al-most immediately when members of the community found out she was Roman Catholic. One source that the author quotes regarding this incident is the same publica-tion for which this book review has been written, the Broward Legacy. (The article appeared in the Bro-ward Legacy, volume 18, number 3-4, summer/fall, 1995.)

Of great interest to readers is an opportunity to gain an understand-ing of the significance of the names given to many community institu-tions such as Barry University and Archbishop Curley High School (originally known as Central Cath-olic) and the roles their namesakes played in the history of Saint An-thony Church and School.

The founding of Holy Cross Hospi-tal was described as a small Catho-lic hospital that has become a ma-jor medical facility for the entire community at large. Both of these institutions serve Catholics and non-Catholics alike and are iconic examples of excellence in educa-tional and medical services to all South Florida residents.

Fr. John Joseph OLooney, who

was assigned to this parish in Oc-tober 1929 and served the commu-nity for over 40 years and retired in June 1971, is credited for much of the early success of Saint Anthony Church and School. Furthermore, he is acknowledged as being respon-sible for initiating the idea for open-ing Holy Cross Hospital through his fundraising efforts he started in 1950 enabling the hospital to hold an official ground-breaking cer-emony in 1953. He is credited with recognizing the need for Central Catholic, the second Catholic high school in Broward County, with its first graduation class in 1953; and opening Annunciation Church in 1952, a mission that served Fort Lauderdales African-American Catholics prior to the success of the Civil Rights movement.

Sr. Mary Paschal Sydnor, who joined St. Anthony in 1940, is cred-ited for recognizing the need for a gymnasium-auditorium for the school. Designed by architect Rob-ert E. Hansen, it opened in 1941 and served St. Anthony School, Central Catholic High School for a time and during World War II, the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard servicemen stationed at Port Everglades and the nearby small airfield that even-tually became Hollywood-Fort

Broward Legacy 39

St. Anthony school bus. Broward County Historical Commission.

Lauderdale International Airport.

Also included as part of the book are lists with short biographies about students called to service in the Catholic Church and famous stu-dents, supporters and parishioners. The latter list includes politicians, sports stars, actors and business leaders that are easily recognizable to the community at large.

Throughout the book, the photo-graphs and illustrations give an excellent pictorial overview of the church and school and include formal and more candid pictures of key stakeholders, students and parishioners responsible for the de-velopment and ultimate success of both of these facilities.

Certainly this book has great sig-nificance to anyone who ever at-tended the church or school as well as those persons that are currently involved with Saint Anthony. Ad-ditionally, anyone interested in the overall history of Fort Lauder-dale and the greater South Florida

community will find reading the narrative and reviewing the pic-tures from Pioneer Parish: Saint Anthony Browards First Catho-lic Church a valuable experience. For those interested in obtaining a copy, this book is available for sale at Well Read Book Store on 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauder-dale and on Amazon.com. It is also

available from the church.Contact Information:Pauline FavreauAdministrative AssistantSaint Anthony Catholic Church901 N.E. 2nd Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301954-463-4614

Aerial Veiw of St. Anthonys Church and School. Photograph by Anthony Kozla

Broward Legacy 40

You Can Help Preserve HistoryEach day more of our local history is lost by the passage of time, the passing of early pioneers, and the loss of historic and archaeological sites throughout Broward County.

But you can help. The Broward County Historical Commission has been working to preserve local history since 1972 with help from people like you.

By donating old family photos and documents, volunteering at events, and providing donations to the Broward County Historical Commission Trust Fund, your efforts help preserve our history.

Consider how you can help save our heritage and create a legacy for your community by contributing your time, historical items, or your generosity. What you do today maintains the dignity of history for the future. Call us at 954-357-5553.

Monetary donations may be made to: Broward County Historical Commission Trust Fund

301 Harmon (S.W. 13th) Avenue Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312

www.broward.org/history

The Restored West Side Grade School, 2011

A Service of the Broward County Board of County CommissionersThis public document was promulgated at a cost of $00000 or $0.00 per copy,

to provide historical information to the public about Broward County.

Broward County Schools:A Look Back

Gallery at West Side School, Photograph by Steve Vinik

This exhibit, Broward CountySchools: A Look Back was created by the Broward County Historical Commission as part of the 2nd Annual Broward County Heritage Celebration in honor of National Historic Preservation Month. The theme of the 2012 heritage celebration, Browards Education History: A Path to the Future, was presented to bring focus to this part of the Countys rich heritage.

On October 1, 1915, Broward County was officially incorporated by Florida State Statute. The county was formed from the southern part of Palm Beach County and the northern part of Dade County. Bro-

ward Countys population was then 4,763. At the time of incorporation, nine schools from Hallandale to Deerfield were handed off to the newly-elected, three-member Bro-ward County Board of Public Instruction. In 1915, there were 835 white students and 247 black students, who were educated separately. By 1920, the population of Bro-ward County had grown to 5,135 residents, prompting the Board to organize the county into three districts; today there are five.

The earliest educational opportunities for African-American students were provided by the Dade County Board of Public Instruction. Lat-

Broward Legacy 3

er, for some African-Americans, school buildings were providedby the Rosenwald School Building Program. Broward County had four Rosenwald schools.

This beautifully presented look back is captured in fourteen large panels with historic images and informative text. Glimpses of history are represented in this exhibit on these panels depicting: Broward County Schools: In The Beginning, Broward Schools 1915-1938, African-American Schools in Broward County, Rosenwald Schools, Gone But Not Forgotten: School Namesakes, First Schools in New Suburbs: 1951-1990, and Private and Specialty Schools. Augmented by interesting and well-preserved artifacts, the exhibit is something to experience.

West Side Grade School in Fort Lauderdale, Courtesy of Helen Landers.

Portables at North Side School in Fort Lauderdale, Courtesy of Helen Landers.

The Broward County Schools: A Look Back Exhibit is on display in the Gallery at the Broward County Historical Commission Buildinglocated at the historic West Side Grade School, 301 Harmon (SW13th) Avenue, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The exhibit will remain on

display there until late April. At that time, this exhibit will become a part of the traveling exhibits which will rotate through Broward Countys Regional Libraries. For more information, please call the Historical Commission office at 954-357-5553.

Primary contributors to the Broward County Schools: A Look Back Exhibit are as follows: Dave Baber, Historic Preservation Coordinator Denyse Cunningham, Curator Helen Landers, County Historian Zoraida Garcia, Digital Media Designer, Office of Public Communication

4 Broward Legacy

Broward County Schools:Some Places of Instruction By Denyse Cunningham

Braithwaite School. Broward County Historical Commission.

Denyse Cunningham was the curator at Bonnet House Museum and Gardens in Fort Lauderdale and has been the curator for the Broward County Historical Commission since 2002. She earned a Masters Degree in American and New England Studies from the University of Southern Maine. For the past 29 years she has worked for several art and history museums around the country.

AFRICAN-AMERICAN SCHOOLS

In 1903 the first school for African American students in Bro-ward County opened in the town of Deerfield with the Rev. B. F. James as the teacher.1 It was named Deerfield Colored School.The second school in Deerfield, the Braithwaite School, was built in 1929 as a three-teacher school and cost $9,000. It was torn down to make way for a senior center.2 West

Deerfield Elementary was opened sometime thereafter.

African-American schools were operated on a split term, with no classes during the winter harvest season so that children could work in the fields. This meant that black schools could not be accredited and that their graduates would have difficulty entering accredited colleges. The NAACP took the matter to court which ruled in their favor to keep the schools open in 1946.3

Broward Legacy 5

1938 Map of Broward County Schools, from a report of Florida State Department of Public Instruction. Broward County Historical Commission.

Though most of the earliest African-American public schools were housed in privately owned buildings, teachers and administrators were provided by the Board of Public Instruction.

With a donated building from Fort Lauderdale pioneer Tom Bryan,Colored School No. 11, a one-room wooden building on Northwest Third Avenue and Second Street, opened in 1906.4 Four years later, classes moved to the Knights of Pythias Lodge Hall on the corner of Northwest Fourth Street and Fourth Ave. Later schools included Sunland Park Elementary, at 919 N.W. 13 Ave., and Lincoln Park Elementary, at 600 N.W. 19 Ave. Lincoln Park, a neighborhood facility, is located on the site of the