Davie

Address 6591 Orange Drive Davie, FL 33314
Phone 954-797-1000
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Davie, Florida was a lovely rural town of some 2,000 in the early 60's when my husband and I first saw it. Young people on horseback sauntered along tree-bordered banks of the New South River that flows through the heart of the village. The air was filled with the fragrance of orange blossoms from the nearby groves, and cattle grazed contentedly in surrounding fields. This was just the kind of town we were seeking as we reached the time for retirement, when the New York winters seemed too long and severe, the crowds too close.

Having spent some 40 years as a teacher and administrator of the Ethical Culture Schools in New York City, I was ready for a change, and my husband even more appreciated the slower pace and sunny climate of this town. We both had a special interest in history, so we wondered how this settlement happened to be here on the fringe of the Everglades some 10 miles west of the Gold Coast skyscrapers on the Oceanfront. When we inquired, we found the story more colorful and fascinating than we had anticipated.

The greatest appeal to us was the people themselves and their style of life. Unlike the communities to the east, this area was not a tourist haven, but a settlement of homes and families without a single hotel or condominium. The men and women here produced the food and constructed the buildings for others who were less permanent. They were strong, energetic workers, whether in farming, ranching or construction.

I wondered why they seemed so different, where they came from and why they had chosen this spot. In the small town library I found nothing to answer my questions, but Esther Prytherch, the volunteer librarian, suggested that some of the first settlers still lived in Davie and would be the best source of information. They were indeed the best source and very generous in their help. The story of any one of them would make a chronicle of heroism worthy of recording in detail. I have gathered from them memories, recorded facts and hearsay to save the stories from oblivion as the character of the settlement now changes. This is not a definitive history, but a tribute to those who came when the only access was by water, and not a home had been built.

Now this town, with a character of its own, is in danger of becoming like every other neighborhood. Even more serious, the food it had produced will no longer be available to meet the needs of the increasing South Florida population. When first settled, the land was devoted entirely to agriculture; now, only about 40 percent is used for this purpose. Some of the richest soil is sold for housing. This is true in thousands of towns throughout our nation.

Is there an answer to this dilemma? The citizens of Davie, though faced with new problems which, to many, seem more intractable than the sawgrass and alligators they originally found here, are energetically working toward a solution.

Camelot Farms on Orange Drive in Davie, where James Bright bred and trained the first thoroughbred horses in the state in the 1930's, is now in the hands of a real estate developer and Jim has died. He is remembered not only for introducing the horses which have brought so much pleasure to the families of Davie but also for having started Hialeah Race Track. Perhaps most affectionately of all, he is remembered by those who recall how he walked about the town even in his nineties, always the gentleman, attired in riding pants and alligator boots and with a large jar of peppermint candies under his arm.

His introduction of throughbreds received such an enthusiastic reception, that a special way of life resulted with large hats, high boots and a popular rodeo. Davie became known as "horse country." Many Davie families own a horse almost as a member of the family. One young mother said recently, "I have three children and three horses. The one gift I asked for my birthday was a pitchfork to help care for the horses."

A horse may occasionally be seen grazing contentedly on the front lawn of a small home in the town or tied to the hitching post of McDonald's, Mister Donut or other favorite eating places of the younger set. Ten gallon hats and blue jeans are very much in vogue, as teenagers ride bareback and barefooted along the banks of South New River in the heart of town. The young people and their horses seem completely at ease as they enjoy this experience together.
Many early residents say their most pleasant memories of childhood in Davie are of riding freely about the town on their favorite horse. But now the main roads are too heavily traveled for safety, and horseback riding has to be restricted. Even the cherished rodeo, which has been such fun since it was begun about 194O, may have to be abandoned.

Kenneth King, a former mayor and president of the local Historical Society, remembers when he and his friends started the rodeo. "We just made a circle with our horses or wagons," he says, "and performed for each other."

"Now," he continues, "it has become a professional performance, with professional participants who make a circuit of rodeos throughout the country. It is no longer a Davie rodeo in my opinion."

Other problems have arisen. The simple structure built some years ago as an arena for spectators has been condemned as unsafe. The town is debating whether to rebuild the stands or give up one of Davie's most colorful activities. The problem is complicated by the fact that there is no room for parking the automobiles and vans at the present site behind the Town Hall.

The cattle, too, are disappearing. Martin Woodward, one of the last of the big ranchers, still retains about 10,000 head grazing on land leased from the Arvida Real Estate Company while they are awaiting development of the tract. Each year, Woodward and his trucks move his herds farther west and north to Alabama or Lake Okeechobee. Now, as you drive along University Drive past the new shopping mall, you can dimly discern a few stray cows in the fields. The shopping mall has space for parking 5,000 cars, but none for grazing cattle. The cattle seem unable to comprehend this change in their lives and drift back at nightfall like ghosts returning to their previous haunts. One night recently the watchman for a new water slide installed for the entertainment of shoppers' children discovered that the cattle had slid down a slide, to their surprise and the watchman's. Police assistance had to be called.

With the opening of stores such as Burdine's, Sears and Jordan Marsh, the traffic has tripled and new access roads must be built. Many of the earlier residents of the area think back with nostalgia to the time when there were no roads, all trade was carried by water, and the pace of life was slower. Now Martin Woodward, making a temporary stand with his cattle at Bonaventure, west of Davie, says, "You can see the people coming like a wave."

An even more serious aspect of this changing scene is pointed out by Broward County Agricultural agent, Lew Watson. He says that in the last 10 years in Broward County, productive agricultural land has been converted to another use at the rate of 5,OOO acres a year. At the same time, an additional 5,0OO acres a year of non-productive agricultural land (so zoned but not used) has been converted into homesites.

"In 1955," Watson says,"there were 80,OOO acres in Broward County involved in agriculture; today there is half that much."

With starvation a serious problem throughout the world and inflation climbing steadily upward, can we find a way to protect our agricultural resources? The question not only confronts Davie and Broward County, but many other towns and counties throughout our country.

Fresh, uncontaminated water has also become a problem, now that the wealth of natural resources in this area is attractive to so many.

Although Florida has water on three sides, the land is so low that the salt and fresh water mingle and wash back and forth. This world of half land, half water was for centuries considered too difficult to cultivate.

The early Indians-Calusa, Tequesta, and now Seminole-have used the open Everglades as a great highway of travel. Airboats, still a favorite in Davie, are frequently seen parked in side yards of local homes, but the Indian dugout canoe has never been excelled as a means of transportation in this river of grass-the Pay-hai-o-kee or great grass water as the Indians called it.

But how did all these people get to such a spot in the heart of this strange region? It never had the glamour of the tourist-oriented Gold Coast. Life here was simple, rural, and made many demands upon its settlers. only the strong and hard-working could survive. This area of southern Florida until 1905 was considered an impenetrable swamp of mangrove and palmetto. A map of the period shows the Everglades extending as far east as 1-95. When the first settlers arrived, the area was inaccessible except by New River. Then why did settlers come, exposing themselves to snakes, alligators and mosquitoes? Only those of courage and initiative would attempt it. The man who stimulated and encouraged these pioneers was Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, Governor of Florida from 1905-9.

"One hundred million acres of the richest land this side of the Nile delta, and it is in our own back yard," Broward proclaimed in his campaign speeches. He urged that the Everglades land be sold for $2 an acre and that the money be used to drain and channel the water that frequently covered the land. So effective was his presentation that after his election he was able to have the necessary laws enacted to carry out the plan.

Why did Governor Broward feel so strongly about this project? He had vivid memories of the stories his grandfather told him when he was a young boy about the Indians, the Spaniards and the history of his own family related to both. Francis Broward, the first of the family to come to America, was a native of Provence, France, one of the Huguenots who settled in South Carolina. According to Napoleon's grandfather, Francis served under Count Pulaski in the fighting around Savannah during the American Revolution.

When the conflict was over, the family moved to Florida where Spain offered generous land grants to settlers. Francis Broward received a grant of 300 acres in East Florida. The entire peninsula at that time was sparsely settled with only a few dozen families of the sturdiest pioneers, chiefly from Georgia and the Carolinas, a few Spanish settlers and occasional fishermen. The Spanish governor in Florida made a "water sawmill grant" to any settler who would build and operate a sawmill. John Broward received 16,0OO acres in different tracts.

When Florida was organized as a state in 1845, John Broward represented Duval County in the first State Senate. Furthermore, he was on the committee that returned a favorable report on draining the Everglades. No wonder Napoleon Broward was so effective in presenting this cause. He had a family heritage of men who cared deeply about this country and felt a responsibility for contributing to its progress. Napoleon Broward believed that draining the Everglades would release resources of value to all the people of the country. Fortunately, the first decade of this 20th Century was a vigorous period. Theodore Roosevelt was president and gave enthusiastic support to such conservation efforts.

Lake Okeechobee, the largest fresh water lake in the United States next to Lake Michigan, constituted the heart of the Everglades drainage problem. The level of the lake is about 20 feet higher than the rivers of South Florida and therefore controls their flow.

On Independence day, l9O6, the dipper dredge, Everglades, moved up New River in Ft. Lauderdale and began digging a canal to Lake Okeechobee. There was rough going from the start. Even in draining the land which might seem rather a prosaic engineering project, there was adventure, danger, and error. In 1909, the dredge Caloosahatchee started south from Lake Okeechobee, expecting to meet the Everglades, halfway. Surveyors wore heavy canvas aprons because the Glades mosquitoes chewed any exposed flesh, and the sawgrass cut it. The water was deep and the soil soft, so surveying instruments would not hold. The engineers had to lengthen the legs and attach metal flanges near the bottom so the legs would hold in the muck.

The canal was cut due south from Lake Okeechobee for about eight miles, and this is where a six-mile error may have begun. The crew's chief engineer surveyed the curve for the canal, then left for Ft. Myers, having instructed the crew to begin work the next morning at a certain compass reading. The compass seemed very erratic the next morning. Later, a severe electrical storm developed which may have caused this trouble, but in the meantime, the crew was off course.
Taking two canoes and three men, they decided to meet the dredgeEverglades, coming in from the coast. They struck out through the sawgrass, and cutting and chaining as they went, marked a trail. At night, the boats were lashed together, and the men slept on wide boards at either end of the boats.

But still another problem faced them-they ran into shallow water. The boats had to be abandoned. Their food was almost gone, but they sloshed on through the wet grass. Finally they saw smoke which they believed to be from the dredge Everglades,, but it was not where they expected to find it. They were finally rescued by the crew of the dredge, who found them exhausted by their efforts and lack of food. There is still a jog in the North New River Canal at State Road 84 at Andytown as a result of the compass error. But, in spite of the irregularity, the water can now flow unobstructed from Lake Okeechobee to the sea.

Governor Broward's message in l9O5 urging a giant reclamation project stated that: "Such work would reclaim millions of acres of highly valuable land...It is my opinion that it would be the best sugar land in the South and also excellent for rice and corn. It could, in that latitude, be made valuable for raising tropical fruits."

Financing this huge drainage operation was difficult until the sale of land was authorized by the state. The first large sales were to R. P. Davie of Colorado and to Richard J. Bolles of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Both had carried through similar projects elsewhere and were eager to undertake this one. In l9O8 Bolles bought 50O,OOO acres at $2 an acre. During the process of selling off the acreage, he was accused of using the mails to defraud, but few of his customers concurred; he was brought to trial and exonerated.

In 19O6, millionaire R. P. Davie bought about 27,5OO acres. Construction of irrigation and drainage canals was begun and smaller parcels of land, usually 10 acres each, were sold to persons all over the country. Brochures were sent out advertising "The First Improved Town in the Everglades", and the settlers began to arrive, attracted by the cheap land, warm climate and rich soil.

The first permanent settlers arrived about 1909. Dean and Emil Cross and the four Hill brothers came from Michigan. They were joined by the Griffins from Kentucky and workers returning from the Panama Canal Zone. Finding the terrain and its problems similar to those just left in Panama, the settlers called the new town Zona. Then came the William Hammer family after a long and arduous trip from Alberta, Canada. With eleven children, one an infant in arms, they traveled by train to Jacksonville and then had their first experience traveling by water. According to Mrs. Mary Lloyd, one of the children on that voyage, the boat was an old Mississippi River steam boat and not adequate for the surge of the ocean as they moved out of the St. John's River and into the stormy water beyond. The boat creaked and groaned, but the children, coming from the plains of Canada, thought all boats sounded like that, and anyway, were too seasick to care.

Finally they reached the quieter inland waters of New River and made their way to Zona. They were fortunate to have arrived safely, for the boat, while making its next trip with cement and other supplies, sank and could not be reclaimed.
Tony Salvino, who lives across the canal from Mrs. Lloyd, remembers when his father, a farmer from Illinois, saw an ad for the First Developed Town in the Everglades and made a trip to see it. He found the soil rich, moist and good for raising vegetables. Having a large family, he was impressed with the possibility of running two farms, one in Illinois and one in Florida. The children could help, he thought, and together they would produce vegetables year around.

"So," says Tony, "in 1914, my Dad bought 10 acres for $1500. The next year, 195, he came again and brought my older brother. Then in 1916, he brought the rest of the family. We came by train to Jacksonville via the Illinois Central Railroad. There was no connecting train south the day we arrived, so we walked about the city and enjoyed the sightseeing. The following day, we took the Florida Coast Railroad to Ft. Lauderdale. From there a boat carrying both passengers and freight ran to Zona. There were no roads at that time and very few families to use them.

"The Hammers had already come from Alberta, Canada, in 1912, and Ed Hammer was a good carpenter and mason. Lumber and tar paper were used for the first homes until the '26 hurricane forced us to develop houses of concrete blocks. Dean Cross had come in 1911 to work on dredging the canal and decided to stay on. He, too, was very helpful in those early years.

"At first our family went back to Illinois every year in April. We never locked our place, and when we returned in the fall, everything was just as we had left it. We had no police and needed none."

"After 1933, Dad settled here and gave up the place in Illinois. He owned the land where my house now stands as well as the land where my sons live on either side. My three daughters live in Ft. Lauderdale now."

"There were a number of homes here by 1911," writes the Rev. Martin R. Davis, an early minister, in his brief 'History of Davie Community Methodist Church'."

"And then the church started," he continued, "represented by the Sunday School. One characteristic of American people," he comments, "is that they do not live long in any territory without the church. The first Sunday School class met in a packing house located on the south side of the canal just east of the Davie bridge. The seats were bean hampers turned bottom up, or planks across the hampers."

Another of the early families was that of Ed Viele, still a leading citizen of the town.

"Why did you come to this location in the Everglades when it was still an impenetrable swamp?" I asked him one day as we sat on the wide veranda of his home on Griffin Road.

The house was surrounded by well-kept citrus groves and towering royal palms. The heady, sweet scent of orange blossoms filled the spring air. A quiet, tree shaded canal flowing by gave a dream-like quality to the scene. Joe, the pet alligator, sleeping in his pool nearby and requiring 15 pounds of food a day, was evidence of the taming of the Glades, now cleared to a safe distance to the west.

"My father heard about it in Chicago in 1912," replied Mr. Viele. "He was a mining engineer and had developed serious bronchial trouble. His doctor told him to seek a tropical climate. We had considered going to South America, but when we heard about the Florida deal, we decided this would be better. We heard the governor of Florida, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, had persuaded the legislature to start draining the Everglades. The governor financed the plan by selling off large blocks of land for $2 an acre.

"I was just a child," he continued, "and don't remember too clearly, but I believe we paid $30 an acre for our small plot. Now land like that sells for $16,000 an acre.

"At the time I was much more concerned with the troubles we were having just getting here. We came by train to Ft. Lauderdale and then by boat the rest of the way. Our furniture came by barge, and on the way the barge overturned. I remember seeing the furniture float here and there down New River. Most of it was ruined.

"We had to build our own house, but we were able to hire a carpenter from Ft. Lauderdale who came up the river and camped out with us for a weekend. We paid him $2.50 per day. Field labor at that time was $1.50 per day. Building materials had to be brought in by barge from Ft. Lauderdale.

"As soon as our house was built, we started raising vegetables. No matter what your occupation or profession had been previously, here you raised tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, and took them by boat to Ft. Lauderdale to be shipped north.
"But it was a pretty precarious business. Our land is only five feet above sea level here, and with heavy rains or strong winds we are inundated. At first, the horses and mules had to wear "muck" shoes to keep from sinking knee deep in the heavy wet soil. Then the occasional frost finished the situation. We would have to begin all over again. It can be pretty depressing," he said, remembering those early days.

But then he smiled at a more pleasant recollection. "Gradually sandy trails became roads and we were able to buy our first Ford for $500. It was a Model T, not a Model A, and it had to be cranked each time we started it. There was also a great deal of trouble with the tires; we were always having punctures, it seemed, but we had mobility and it was fun.
"For those who could not afford a car of their own, one enterprising man offered a ride to Miami in his car for $1.00 per head.

"We had fun, too, when our trading barge called at some of the small docks of the lateral canals and picked everyone who wanted to go to a picnic at the ocean beach, usually at Dania, the nearest beach.

The town was soon deserted, for everyone wanted to go. We packed out lunches and hurried to the barge, leaving our houses unlocked, without an anxious thought even though we had no police.

"Sometimes we had our picnics or covered-dish suppers in the school, especially after the new building was constructed and we could use the second floor for community affairs.

"Then, just as we were well started, and my groves were beginning to bear fruit - without such warning reports as we now have - a hurricane descended upon us on September 16, 1926.

"The top of this house was blown off," he said, looking up with the memory of shock. "There were three feet of water in front of this house," he reached forward as if seeing it now.

"We tried to save some of our plants by moving them up to the higher ground on the canal banks, but the cattle had taken refuge there as well as the wild cats, deer and snakes of the flooded Everglades. The plants were trampled; we lost everything and had to make a fresh start."

He sighed, "Many quit after the 1926 hurricane and our nearest bank, the Witham Bank of Dania, failed during the Great Depression which followed.

"Fortunately for us, there was a remarkable banker in Dania, our neighboring town. Mr. I. T. Parker, with his brother, William, reorganized the Dania Bank, which has prospered ever since.

"I am their oldest living depositor," he said with pride. "The Parkers would lend you money without collateral if you needed it for planting new stock or buying new equipment. I. T. always said of the early settlers: 'Their word is as good as their bond. When their crops are good, they will pay what they owe. We have to trust each other and God.'
"But now," Ed Viele said, coming back to the present, "the big groves here are almost gone, and the cattle are going rapidly. Real Estate is booming, and traffic is becoming unmanageable. We have homes to the west of me here priced at $150,000 with 10 acres of ground to each house. But it is the condominiums that cause most congestion, and so we try to discourage them."

When asked what he foresaw as the Future of Davie, he said, "Good! Though losing much of its rural spaciousness, it still has more than most communities around here."

As if an afterthought, but with great intensity, he added, "It is the muck and sandy soil in and around Davie which have given life to the $5 million Broward citrus industry. More publicity is given to the tourist business, but actually Florida has a greater income from agriculture. If Davie and Communities like it fail to produce crops, while population continues to increase, inflation is inevitable.

The Griffin family is well known in the community and has given its name to one of the town's main roads, Griffin Rd. paralleling the South New River Canal through the center of town.

Anna Elida Griffin Hammer gives the following account:
"In 1909, due to appealing ads and enthusiastic salesmen, William David Griffin, a railroad man, moved from Kentucky with his wife Sally Frances and two sons, T. M. and William Alfred (Al). The elder Griffin farmed and the sons started a boat hauling business, picking up the farmers' produce, passenger and mail, and transporting them to Ft. Lauderdale. The produce was then shipped out by train to northern markets. On their return home, they brought groceries, mail, ice, animals, furniture, fertilizer, seed, farm implements, hampers and passengers, according to what had been ordered for the needs of the small settlement.

The younger son of the Griffin Family, William Alfred, met and married Anna Zanetti, a Panamanian, who came to this area with her mother and other member of her family, from the Panama Canal Zone, to seek their fortune from the rich agricultural land. Al and Anna established their home in a houseboat which Al built. Their family grew to six sons and two daughters. In later years they banked the houseboat, and the older boys helped their father build on a basement and add extra rooms to the house. The children swam in the nearby canal, always being cautious of the snakes and alligators. In 1937, when A. D., the oldest brother was sixteen, and Jerry, the youngest was six, both parents were killed in an automobile accident. Their older sister and her husband, Anna Elida and Ralph Hammer, moved into the home of their parents, and took over the responsibility of the Griffin boys until their adulthood. Anna's younger sister, Christina, was already married to Kenneth King, and they lived nearby. The six boys all attended Davie Elementary School; they all graduated from Ft. Lauderdale High School; three served in the U. S. Army during World War II."

Out of all their experiences grew a closely-knit, successful family, which like other pioneers learned to rely upon themselves and each other. This family helped to create a community under difficult conditions; they still live here and contribute to its growth. Griffin Brothers Co. Inc., primarily a landscaping and paving business, and Grif's Western, a feed and western-wear business, are familiar signs along the South New River bank. The fifth generation of Griffins is now living in the area and active in the community.

The early settlers who came from Panama, British Columbia, Michigan, Kentucky and Illinois had one characteristic in common - the courage to face new experiences. Al Aunapu, now a real estate broker in Davie, tells how his father, a sea captain from an island between Estonia and Sweden, was attracted by the semi-tropical shoreline, he first discovered in 1907. In 1911 he brought his wife with him to make a home here. He built a house on the canal bank along what is now Griffin Road. Anapu recalls the extension built from the house to the canal to catch bream and bass for the family. The arrangement made a sort of "running refrigerator," he says, which provided better fish than we can buy today with all of our conveniences. The stream, too, at that time, was clear, sparkling, and unpolluted.

Al's father ran a scheduled boat to Lake Okeechobee and so extended his business interest to that area. He developed a merchandising center and had just built a new home and storage warehouse when the hurricane of 1926 struck. In the Lake Okeechobee region, the storm was even more severe than in Davie, with winds up to two hundred miles per hour "so trees were blown about like tumbleweeds," Al says. Though his father had built the house on a dike, the water kept coming up to the second floor and crashing over the house. Finally, the dike broke, and not only water but six feet of muck surrounded the building. The new house and all their possessions were in ruin. The family and neighbors fled to the warehouse, but that new building also went down and eleven persons lost their lives. Al's father, in the prime of his life at age 46, was killed while using a Fairbanks-Morse pump in an effort to control the flood.

Al's mother brought the family back to Davie, and at the age of 12, Al went to work. He was strong and daring like his sea-captain father, and when he was 13 bought his first motorcycle. At the age of 16 he went in for racing, winning both Florida and national trophies.

The young men of Davie today still show their enjoyment of the power and speed of their motorcycles. When they are of an age to work, many are equally proficient at managing heavy bulldozers or caterpillar tractors in major construction projects.

As the young men of Davie have turned from agriculture to construction, the town, is changing. Harry Earle, who lives in the heart of the town where Griffin Road and Davie Road form the busiest intersection in the growing municipality, has put his houses on the market for sale.

"It was a good life in this neighborhood when I was a child." he says, "and later a good life for my children. The canal was great for swimming and boating; there was plenty of space for horseback riding. Now I have to fence in the property for safety and swim in my pool. The traffic makes it dangerous for my grandchildren and I must move.

"I remember my father telling how he came here in 1911. He had gone from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Panama for work on the Canal. When the Canal was completed, the workers were approached by real estate salesmen from the Everglades Sugar and Land Company. Those who were gamblers at heart, and wanted to be farmers, bought the land sight unseen."

In 1912 the men from Panama organized the Zona Glades Company and named their new settlement Zona. They were men of energy and initiative so, by 1913, about 30 varieties of crops were grown, from strawberries to cabbages. Engineers cut canals for drainage, but there was no adequate pumping system to facilitate the flow; flooding continued to be a problem.

"Water damaged the crops of truck farmers and frequently killed the plants," said Earle. "Summer rains made production a gamble; winter was the only reliable growing season, and that sometimes brought killing frosts. A farmer had to learn to roll with the punches.

"Then there were the hurricanes. I remember my Dad had just finished remodeling his house with an addition about 100 feet by 50 feet when the hurricane of 1926 struck us. The house was shoved off its foundation and the corrugated iron roof was blown off.

"Then came World War II and after that the Hurricane of '47. The flood affected the entire southeast coast. After '47, the Army Corps of Engineers developed the present Water Management Control. The huge pumps increased the possibility that farmers could make a stable living. But many pastures were now mowed off, and the rich, moist muck land was used for sod farming. The raising of food crops decreased.

"The current Davie land-use plan will keep low density in the town, but this location where I live and where my family grew up will now be the hub of business activity. I must find more space and privacy. Fortunately, there is still acreage available to the west.

Woman, as well as men, braved the dangers and discomforts of the Everglades. They, too, helped to prepare the land we now enjoy, one of these courageous women was Blanche Collins Forman (1884-1959). Now, as the yellow school buses crowd the traffic lanes on Davie Road and the children scramble out, running toward the building marked Blanche Forman Elementary School, how many wonder why she came here or what her life was like when she arrived?

According to her sons Charles and Hamilton, Blanche Forman was born in Clinton. Illinois, attended the University of Illinois and taught briefly until she and her husband, Hamilton, decided to leave the security of their home community and head southward for one of America's last frontiers. South Florida and the Everglades. Hamilton's father had died the day his son graduated from the University of Illinois Law School in 1908. Because of injury to his eyes in an explosion, Hamilton found he could not do the intensive reading required by the practice of law. but his legal background was invaluable in later years both in his business affairs and in the political growth of his new community. Blanche's father, a prominent midwestern livestock dealer, was enthusiastic about the agricultural potential of the Everglades, and persuaded them to investigate the situation.

So in 1910, the Formans came to Fort Lauderdale by train, bought supplies there. and then found a boatman who would take them up the New River to Zona as Davie was then called. When they arrived, there was no one to greet them. no house to receive them. They lived in a tent on the canal bank a half mile east of the present Davie Road, at the intersection with State Road 84. There were no roads at that time and the few families who had settled here were widely scattered. But Blanche and Hamilton built their own one-room house out of the local pine which they hoped would be impervious to termites.

They found that insects were a constant threat to their crops, their animals and poultry. At times the mosquitoes were so numerous that they would actually kill unprotected livestock left in the open. Al Aunapu says that the mosquitoes were indeed so bad that to get relief the cattle would plunge into the canals, only to have their nostrils so bitten and swollen that they could not breathe. For many years Blanche and Ham had to sleep under mosquito netting. Sun bathing, shorts and halter bras which people now enjoy were out of the question.

Not only was there no house to receive the Formans when they arrived in the Everglades, there was no corner grocery store where they could buy food. The supplies they brought with them were soon exhausted so they planted vegetables and raised chickens for eggs and meat. Blanche learned to be a good shot with both rifle and shotgun to protect her chickens from the alligators, coons, opossums, wildcats, skunks and snakes.

She had other handicaps in making a home on the frontier, a lack of the conveniences which young people starting a home today take for granted. There was no electricity, gas, running water or indoor plumbing. Water was pumped by hand, carried in pails, and heated over an open fire or on a kerosene or wood burning stove. Since there were no refrigerators, vegetables, fruits and meats were cooked and canned for preservation. There were no washers or dryers so clothes were washed by hand, using tubs and a scrub board. Kerosene lamps and lanterns were used for light. In addition to the problems of housekeeping under these conditions, Blanche and the other women of this scattered settlement took on some of the tasks of farming. They helped by preparing seed, harvesting, grading and packing.
As soon as the canal from Lake Okeechobee was opened to traffic by the dredges Everglades and Caloosahachee, the Formans took the job of operating the locks and moved into the lock tender's house about 200 yards west of Davie Road. The locks were used by a strange variety of men at all hours of the day and night: farmers. trappers, fishermen, dredge and boatmen, hunters. even members of Florida's notorious outlaw "Ashley Gang" as the Formans later found out. At the time, when Charles Forman was little more than a baby, John Ashley enjoyed bouncing the child on his knee and playing with him whenever the gang came through.

Many years later, Charles, now a veterinarian and a prominent man in the community, reports that there were mixed emotions in the Forman household when they learned who John was, and that he had been killed by a sheriff's posse.
Checkered Sunshine by Weilding and Burghard tells the story: "On December 29, 1911, a dredge working on the canal between Fort Lauderdale and Lake Okeechobee had churned up the body of a Seminole Indian named De Soto Tiger. Investigation showed that he had been murdered. Tiger had left the lake for a trip down the canal to Miami with a load of otter skins. He was accompanied by a young man, named John Ashley. The same John Ashley later sold $1200 worth of otter skins to Gertman Brothers in Miami. The skins were the property of the Seminole tribe .

"The entire Seminole nation was aroused and the outcry became so great that John Ashley fled North. He later returned and was taken to .Miami where his trial was to be held. John broke jail and the gang robbed the bank at Stuart. John was shot in the jaw which resulted in the loss of an eye. Forced to stay near town for medical attention, he was captured and taken to the Dade County jail. On June 2, 1915, Bob Ashley, his brother went to the home of Deputy Sheriff Wilbur Hendrickson and murdered him for his keys; but Bob never reached jail. In a running battle with police, he and one officer were killed.

"John was sentenced to life imprisonment but in 1918 escaped again with the help of the gang. For years they terrorized the lower east coast. They robbed banks, bootlegged and hijacked. Sometimes they ventured into town from their hideout in the Everglades to buy groceries or 'fetch' back Dr. Kennedy to treat members of the family or the gang.
"...The gang was finally wiped out by an ambush at Sebastian River bridge November 1, 1924 when four members including John were killed as they went for their guns'."

As he recalls those early days, Charles Forman says. "It was a young country for strong, courageous people."
In 1917, when the first narrow rock road was built to Fort Lauderdale, the Formans used $3,000 in savings, accumulated from their successful potato growing, and a $5,000 loan from a State Bank to buy a few cows. With them they started the first dairy in Davie. When they began, Blanche washed the bottles, cooled and bottled the milk by hand in her kitchen. She also took charge of raising the young calves, purchasing supplies and paying the bills.

Meanwhile, Ham introduced and distributed the milk. Stories are told about his ingenuity in getting families off the ''tin cow." They were so accustomed to using canned milk that it was difficult to change the habit. A Ford truck of the early type helped Ham. Unfortunately it had to be cranked each time he started it. To save time he parked the truck at a convenient spot and used the skill in running he had developed on the relay team in college rather than crank the truck over and over.

Kenneth King, remembers when he was a boy in Fort Lauderdale High School. He worked for the Formans delivering milk. At that time, before homogenized milk was introduced, the richness of cream was judged by the height of the collar at the top of the bottle. Kenneth was instructed to place a bottle of Forman milk on the steps beside any other without charge so the customer could see the difference. This object lesson was so effective that other dairies, struggling to make a start, put pressure on the state legislature to pass a law against this procedure.

By 1955 there were 45 dairy farmers with 24,000 milk cows in Broward County. In 1958, the number of farms had decreased to 35, and from then on local milk production continued to decrease. Now there are only 12 farms left and 12,500 cows, although Assistant County Agent Jim Cummings says Broward County needs at least 60,000 cows and 125,000 gallons of milk daily. Meanwhile, the population is steadily increasing and the situation is worsening.

Along with their fellow pioneers, the Formans for many years had a constant struggle for survival. The 1926 hurricane destroyed or severely damaged all of their buildings, most equipment and pastures. They lost many cows. Indeed, they were all but wiped out financially in 1926 and again by the flood of 1947.

But the land was steadily increasing in value so they were able to retire after 40 years in the dairy business to devote themselves to the many activities of the growing community. One of the most serious problems was the flooding which occurred every fall. Ham spent a major share of his time through the years trying to control the water on his own land and develop an effective water control program for Broward County and the coastal area.

After years of effort, serving under four governors as a commissioner of the Napoleon B. Broward Drainage District. Forman persuaded the Army Engineers to come to their assistance after the devastating flood of 1947-48. As a culmination of all these efforts, the 1949 Legislature established the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District. The work of 50 years came to fruition.

Every election day for 40 years when his customers picked up their milk delivery, they also received leaflets and brochures prepared by Ham at his own expense telling them who and what to vote for and why.

Because they knew he did his homework and that he was conscientious and sincere in his efforts, many of his customers came to look for and rely upon his recommendations.'' says Orville Revelle, past editor of the Fort Lauderdale News.

"Ham believed you could accomplish almost anything worthwhile if you worked hard enough. and didn't care who received the credit," his friend comments.

Both Blanche and Hamilton were deeply interested in education. One of Ham's last projects was to get a commitment from both the state and federal government that the property called Forman Field, now devoted to the South Florida Education Center, would not be disposed of for any other purpose than education. They both looked forward to the eventual construction in the 1950's of the Nova experimental and other public school facilities, to Broward Community College and Nova University. They also hoped for the transfer of the Agriculture Station (then on Peters Road). Unfortunately they did not live to see the realization of all these dreams, but the educational institutions on Forman Field keep alive their name and their memories as the schools continue to serve the community with increasing vitality.

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