Fort Lauderdale:
A Gleaming Beach-side City with a New Image
Five Fun Fort Facts
- Fort Lauderdale is often called the "Venice of America" because of its expansive and navigable 300-plus miles of inland waterways.
- Fort Lauderdale is the home to 42,000 resident yachts and more than 100 marinas and boatyards.
- Fort Lauderdale's spring-break culture, which sprang up in the 1950s, was immortalized in the 1960 movie "Where the Boys Are," a tale of four Midwestern co-eds seeking fun and romance in Fort Lauderdale. The movie helped boost the city's allure to college spring-breakers.
- Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the U.S. military during frontier wars with Seminole Indians. Major William Lauderdale was the commander of U.S. soldiers who built the first fort.
- The Fort Lauderdale area has 23 miles of "Blue Wave Beaches," which means the beaches are certified by the Clean Beaches Council for environmental sustainability and ethical use.
This isn't the travel destination you know from its raucous '80s spring break reputation. Today's Fort Lauderdale is upscale and sophisticated, yet always laid back and unpretentious.
Modern Fort Lauderdale history began in 1890 - long before the city's reputation for attracting suds-seeking college students - when railroads expanded into southeast Florida, spurring settlers to develop the area.
The city was incorporated in 1911, became the Broward County seat in 1915, and quickly developed in the '20s until the Great Depression brought hardship to the area.
World War II brought new life to Fort Lauderdale. The U.S. Navy built a major training base in the city and a U.S. Coast Guard base was established nearby. After the war, service members returned to the area, sparking population growth that dwarfed the '20s boom.
In the 1950s, Fort Lauderdale became a popular destination for college students on spring break, a boozy rite of passage that grew in popularity and size over the decades.
After a notorious wild 1985, when about 350,000 spring-breakers overwhelmed the city, the local government and business leaders set out to connect the city's arts and entertainment district, historic downtown area and Las Olas Boulevard shopping and beach district to shake its rowdy party-town image.
Today, Fort Lauderdale is an adult beach vacation destination with miles and miles of golden sand. The city of 1.8 million is a major yachting and boating center - tens of thousands of yachts and sailboats dot the Atlantic and are anchored in slips or docks.
Now is the time to experience all Fort Lauderdale has to offer. Qualify for Sales Leaders Roundtable in 2011!