Tales from Old Oakland Park: From Floranada to Oakland Park

1925 was the height of the Florida land boom – real estate was king and new developments were springing up all around the Sunshine State. The future Oakland Park was a community of farmers and small businesses centered along Dixie Highway. Fort Lauderdale and Pompano were looking to expand their territory into what is now […]

Tales from Old Oakland Park: Getting the Bugs Out

Forget the heat – what did the long-ago residents do about pests in the olden days before DDT and “integrated pest management?” Well, they suffered, for one thing. In a small town with lots of horses and cows there were plenty of flies and nasty horseflies. There was a lot more water around then – […]

Come Be a Part of the Oakland Park History Project

Do you have a good story about the history of Oakland Park? What was your favorite restaurant or hangout? Do you remember life before air conditioning and pest control? Are you the owner of a longtime business in the city? Tell us about the history of your neighborhood? When and why did you and your […]

Dr. Carter G Woodson Park: A Park with a Name

To understand the namesake of Dr. Carter G Woodson Park, one must travel back in time. Starting in Oakland Park’s earliest days when settlers came to the area in search of fruitful land to grow crops. This brought many sharecroppers to the area such as R.J. McBride, an Irish settler who bought acreage in Oakland […]

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 […]