The First Schoolhouse
Long before the first L’s took flight and long before any OSHA safety concerns, with just six families in town, Fort Lauderdale got its first school building in 1899. A 20 x 25 pine schoolhouse built by Ed King and a group of volunteers. Its first teacher was 18 year-old Ivy Cromartie, the future Mrs. Stranahan. She taught nine students in grades 1st through 6th. The building doubled as an occasional church as well as a night school for some of the local adults. The school was located south of New River at what is now Andrews Avenue and SW 5th Street.
Given the growth of the town by 1910 a new school was needed so the original building was moved a bit north to allow for the construction of this new “modern” two-story concrete building shown on the two postcards below.
Fort Lauderdale’s Second School
The school building was used until 1915 when once again a bigger school was needed. After the opening of the new Fort Lauderdale High School the school building was converted into the first Broward County Courthouse as shown of the postcard to the right.
Next Up ~ Central School
As listed in The Historical Marker Database (https://www.hmdb.org) a commemorative plaque is located at the original site of the 1915 High School. Below is its text….
Fort Lauderdale High School, 1915-1962 Home of the Flying L’S
On this 13-acre site, bounded by Broward Boulevard, South Federal Highway, SE 3rd Avenue, and SE 2nd Street, stood the original Fort Lauderdale High School. The land was donated by Frank and Ivy Strahanan, Fort Lauderdale’s first school teacher. Built at a cost of $86,000 and dedicated on September 16, 1915, it was the first high school in newly organized Broward County. Originally called Central School with students in all twelve grades, as Fort Lauderdale grew it became exclusively a high school in 1924. North Hall was completed in 1924, two wings were added to the original building in 1925 and 1926, and the auditorium in 1925. The Great Hurricane of 1926 damaged both wings and the auditorium roof, requiring extensive reconstruction. A gymnasium was added in 1930, followed by the library and cafeteria in 1940. Between 1915 and 1962, forty-eight classes were graduated, totaling 8,833 students. A new high school building opened in the fall of 1962 at 1600 NE 4th Avenue. The original buildings were demolished in August 1970.
All the postcards shown are from my personal collection.
References….
- Fort Lauderdale News ~ 20 May 1929
- Fort Lauderdale New ~ 23 September 1979
- Fort Lauderdale High School, Wikipedia
- Broward Legacy, Summer/Fall 1988. “The Broward County Public School System The First Quarter Century” by Cooper Kirk https://journals.flvc.org/browardlegacy/article/download/77139/74654
- Broward Legacy. “Mrs. Stranahan’s Own Story” https://journals.flvc.org/browardlegacy/article/download/79232/76577
Fort Lauderdale Postcards 
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