The Stranahans of Fort Lauderdale: A Pioneer Family of New River (Florida History and Culture)

Two individuals who shaped the development of one of Florida'smajor urban centers

Whenthey married in 1900, Frank and Ivy Stranahan began a life together on theFlorida frontier that would shape and define the development of one of thestate's most sophisticated urban centers. Pioneering spirit and economicenterprise linked them to Seminole Indians, venture capitalists, and colorfulentrepreneurs along the New River settlement; today they're recognized as afounding family of Fort Lauderdale and their riverfront home has been restoredand designated a National Historic Landmark.



Frank Stranahan came south from Ohio in 1893 to run an overnight camp on thestagecoach line carrying passengers from Lake Worth to the Miami area. He soonopened a trading post that thrived on commerce in pelts, plumes, and hides withSeminole Indians, who in turn purchased goods and groceries to take back totheir camps in the Everglades. Stranahan's business interests expanded toinclude real estate and banking. An honest businessman, he became a respectedpolitical and civic leader, instrumental in the birth of Fort Lauderdale in1911. When the Florida land boom collapsed and his bank closed, Stranahan'smental and physical health failed, and he committed suicide in 1929.



IvyCromartie, a native Floridian, was 18 when she arrived at the settlement as itsfirst schoolteacher and met her future husband. Energetic and articulate, shefocused her activities outside the home. Besides teaching, she was active in avariety of reform movements ranging from Audubon Society efforts to save theplume birds to temperance and women's suffrage, working mainly through theFlorida Federation of Women's Clubs. She is best remembered for her role as anadvocate for Indigenous American rights--especially education and childwelfare--primarily with the Friends of the Seminoles, an organization sheestablished in the 1930s. Before her death in 1971 she spoke frequently abouther full life to reporters and historians and was interviewed extensively byKersey.

A volume in theFlorida History and Culture series, edited by Raymond Arsenault and Gary R.Mormino