Pompano Beach

2011 Pelican History Edition, Vol. I The Pelican Friday, Aug. 12, 2011 - Vol. XVIIII, Issue 32 Pompano Beach • Deerfi eld Beach • Lighthouse Point • Lauderdale-By-The-Sea Wilton Manors • Oakland Park • Hillsboro Beach • The Galt • Palm Aire Call 954-783-8700 to Advertise - Email: [email protected] Back taxes nearly swamped Cap’s Place, Barefoot The Mailman presumed dead at Hillsboro Inlet and Pelican The Pelican presents its 2011 Historical issue Visit us online at www.pompanopelican.com History 101 Enjoy the Third Annual History issue of The Pelican. We have dozens of stories about our Broward County history and the histories of the people with whom we do business. This issue, the first of three, will introduce Peli- can readers to local merchants, what they do and how they do it. And we hope you will find a good reason to visit them. Business Histories Ancora Insurance Agency ............14 Auto Tronics, Auto Service Inc .....32 Bee Insurance Agency ....................37 Brandy’s Shoes ..............................36 Broward Health ..............................15 Campbell & Rosemurgy Real Caring for Cap’s Place has become a family tradition. Here, Talle Hasis, the person her brother Tom calls “the heart and soul of the place” manages the bar. [Staff photo] Estate ...............................................35 Cap’s Place ........................................1 Checkers Old-Munchen.................17 Cap’s Place survives time and tides to Dairy Queen ....................................18 Deco Tile ..........................................41 remain area’s most unique restaurant Dr. Philip A. Pine ............................10 By Judy Wilson Burns through his investigative work, Lighthouse keeper. Cap’s brother Tom Hasis because of the stories about was the keeper. Fisher Auction Company ...............30 PELICAN STAFF Cap’s Place told to him by his family. With the advent of prohibition in Frank H. Furman Insurance .........31 Lighthouse Point – At Cap’s The tale is fi lled with runaways, 1919, Cap and Lola found a way to Hecker Dermatology Group ..........44 Place, the island restaurant accessible squatters, bootleggers, a complicit supplement their income. Cap ran an Hedglon Chiropractic Center .......11 only by motor launch, history just lighthouse keeper, gamblers and extremely fast boat to Bimini where he McNamara Chiropractic Center. .13 keeps happening. Earlier this summer, perhaps as important, a tough woman. picked up liquor and brought it back documentary movie-maker Ken Burns As with most histories, there may be to this nearly deserted shore. Legend Milbern’s Shaver Center ...............34 had lunch there with PBS supporters many versions of this story. Here is has it that his brother fl ashed warning North Broward Medical Center..15 and his 30-minute one-on-one with the one Tom Hasis likes to tell. signals from the lighthouse whenever NU TURF ........................................38 owner Tom Hasis was a highlight of Cap’s Place was an enterprise the Coast Guard was near. It was a Pine Chiropractic Center ..............33 Hasis’s life. operated by Eugene “Cap” Knight, very successful enterprise. Pompano Ford Lincoln ..................39 The two talked about prohibition, a runaway from the Cape Canaveral In 1926, Cap opened a store on the subject of Burns’ new documen- area who came here in 1916 when Wahoo Bay, a piece of real estate just Reel Loco Marine ...........................40 tary which will air in September. Both his wife Lola was hired as the school Toyota of Deerfi eld Beach ........ 22-23 have become experts on the topic, marm for the children of the Hillsboro See CAP’s on page 8 Zuccarelli East ................................16 2 The Pelican Friday, August 12, 2011 Frank Stranahan’s trading post was the beginning of Fort Lauderdale By Cindy Thuma a store, operate the ferry and postmaster and banker. manage the New River Camp, Born Aug. 21, 1865, in PELICAN WRITER a way station for workers Vienna, Ohio, Frank was Frank Stranahan did not traveling to the Bay Biscayne the second of four children come to South Florida to Stage Line. of Robert Stranahan and his become the father of Fort But he did found this city. second wife, Irish-born Sarah Lauderdale. His focus was His was the fi rst non-Semi- McFadden. elsewhere. He came to open nole homestead. he served as When Stranahan moved from Melbourne to what is now Fort Lauderdale, he came down in a wagon, which provided his accommodations for his fi rst night in the area. Stranahan parked his wagon under a large pine tree, spread his bed roll, and fell asleep. He awakened the next morning surrounded by a curious, silent group of Seminole Indians, who watched him in- tently. Stranahan rose slowly and cautiously, rubbing his eyes. The Seminoles watched him warily, too. Quickly, their looks of puzzlement turned to smiles. They soon established rapport, and trust followed. cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline cutline See Stranahan on page 3 Friday, August 12, 2011 The Pelican 3 Stranahan Continued from page 2 The bonds that were fi rst formed that morning lasted for decades, Stranahan’s arrival was noted by Ivy Cromartie, who had come from Lemon City, fi ve miles north of Miami, to become the area’s fi rst schoolteacher. Ivy was the fi rst of Au- gustus and Sarah Cromartie’s seven children. One brother died at birth. The other siblings were sister Pink and brothers Bloxham, De Witt, had grown to 14. The Stranahans were very Frank Stranahan built this two-story house on the New River for Ivy, his wife. Augustus and Albert. Ivy was [Left] Today, restored and open to the public, the house is on the National Historic Cromartie earned $48 for born Feb. 24, 1881 in White much alike: simple folks Register and serves the community as a museum. her fi ve-month teaching stint; Springs, on the banks of the with big hearts. Both were $15 of it went to the King Suwanee River. intelligent, revered for their family for room and board. When the Cromartie fam- integrity and with high regard Cromartie met Frank ily arrived at Lemon City, Ivy for other people. They were Stranahan when she visited went to school there, taught his trading post to collect her See Stranahan on page 4 by Ada Merritt. She gradu- mail. ated in June 1896, and Merritt It took a while, but Strana- tutored her for the teachers’ han summoned up the courage examination. to ask her if she’d like to go In October 1899, inland fi shing with him, and Cromartie began her job as she accepted. schoolteacher. She lived in the Their relationship bloomed home of Edmund T. King and as they chatted and fi shed his family. King was president along the banks of the New of the local school board and River. father of four. The courtship lasted about Cromartie’s fi rst class a year before Stranahan consisted of nine students in proposed. They were married grades 1 through 8. Four of Aug. 16, 1900 in a simple, those students were members early-morning ceremony in of the King family. By the end Lemon City. of the school year, her class 4 The Pelican Friday, August 12, 2011 In 1928, the bank founded vote, worked on the concep- Stranahan by Frank folded. The entire tion of the Homestead Act Continued from page 3 country was deep in de- that led to tax exemptions. pression, and Frank’s own April Kirk, executive unpretentious and both held depression led him to take his director of the Historical the Seminole Indians in par- own life. On May 22, 1929, Stranahan House, says, “Ivy ticularly high regard. he tied a grate to his leg and worked every day helping After her wedding, Ivy jumped into New River. He is other people. She was frugal Stranahan could no longer buried in Evergreen Cem- and brilliant.” teach school. That was a job etery. Ivy died on Aug. 30, 1971. for single women. But being Frank’s death put Ivy in On Jan. 4, 1974, her home unable to teach for a living fi nancial peril. For a while, was listed on the National didn’t mean Ivy couldn’t she made money by moving Register of Historic Places. teach. She decided to teach into the attic of her home and In 1979, the Pioneer House Frank Stranahan Ivy Stranahan the local Seminole children rented out the rest. Part of the closed for good, and Fort who were not welcome in the time it served as a restaurant, Lauderdale Historical Society, tiny schoolhouse. and it operated under several the property’s owner, began The building regarded now In 1906, he converted the business district. This was trading post into his home, also the year of the comple- names -- Casa Basque, Swiss preservation efforts. as the Stranahan House was Chalet, the Water’s Edge Inn, In 1984, the Stranahan built in 1901. Mostly using and he and Ivy moved in. tion of the Florida East Over the following seven Coast Canal, later named the the Rockery Tea Room, and House opened as a museum. pictures she had gotten from fi nally, as the Pioneer House. Fort Lauderdale’s founding her Sunday school, Ivy began years, they made many modi- Intracoastal Waterway, from fi cations and additions to the Jacksonville to Biscayne Bay. But Ivy was not done. She mother and father’s legacies teaching Seminole children founded the Woman’s Club, live on there. English, and they, in turn, home. The Florida Land Boom In 1912, the North New was ending in 1926, and that a club that today has active The Stranahan Museum, tried teaching her the Semi- chapters throughout South 335 SE 6 Ave., Fort Lauder- nole language.

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