Oakland Park History: From Floranada to Oakland Park

The Roaring 20s : America Comes of Age

World War I, the most devastating industrial war the world had ever seen, ended on November 11, 1918. The experience changed everyone who lived during that time. Many of those that it experienced it first hand, having come so close to death, emerged with a different outlook on life – they wanted to live it up.

At this time, American was also coming of age. The economy boomed, cities grew, unemployment dropped and a great majority of Americans began to enjoy an economic prosperity unseen before (George). This led to the Era of Wonderful Nonsense, an age of great excesses and experimentation, the 1920s.

Florida in the 1920s

floranada-club-countess-of-lauderdale — The Earl and Countess of Lauderdale took a particular interest in investing in South Florida and turning it into a resort town.

Florida experienced a land boom in the 1920s which attracted a lot of speculators (George). Among those who had a vision for what Florida could become was Gwendoline Maitland, the 14th Countess of Lauderdale*. She wintered in Palm Beach county and thought this would make a great resort town. She envisioned it becoming the Biarritz of the Americas (the original Biarritz is a very popular resort town in southern France).

*(Not a coincidence! Fort Lauderdale was named for her husband’s relative.)

The Floranada Club is Born

The well connected Countess put together a group of investors which included a viscount, the former King of Greece, and the former owner of Dodge Motor Cars to name a few. Together with her investors they formed the American-British Improvement Corporation and set to the task of building the Biarritz of the Americas.

Floranada-Club-Investors — List of Floranada Club investors

The American-British Improvement Corporation purchased 12 square miles of land from Arthur Galt, a Chicago lawyer. Oakland Park was a subdivision included this land purchase. The town of Floranada, a combination of the words Florida and Canada, was incorporated on November 25, 1925. Soon after construction began on the Floranada Inn and golf course (Salle).

Floranada Fails

Less than a year later the Great Miami hurricane hit South Florida and was one of a series of disasters that led to the end of Floranada. Florida’s land boom soon ended, and the Floranada declared bankrutpcy. Investors were refunded their money and farmers took over the administration of Floranada.

Oakland Park is Born

Soon after the farmers took over management of Floranada they dissolved the town. They voted to revert it back to its former size and incorporated the town of Oakland Park on July 1, 1929 (Salle). And the rest is history!

Sources:

George, Paul S. “Flamboyant Floranada : Broward’s Unique Boom-Era Development”. Broward Legacy, vol. 15, nos. 3-4, 1992, pp. 2-10.

Salle, Anne. Images of America, Oakland Park. Charleston, SC. Arcadia Publishing. 2009. Digital.

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About the Author

Désirée Ávila has called Oakland Park her home for over 31 years. In addition to publishing LivingInOaklandPark.com , Désirée publishes three other blogs and has been featured in print publications, locally and abroad. Désirée was an award winning teacher for 10 years and has a doctoral level education in Educational Technology. She is currently a licensed Florida Realtor® and is committed to a high-level of professionalism and to helping others with their real estate endeavors through education. Désirée is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian.