Fort Lauderdale is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, on the Atlantic coast. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521.
It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.
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The city is a popular tourist destination, with an average year-round temperature of 75.5 °F (24.2 °C) and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Greater Fort Lauderdale which takes in all of Broward County hosted 12 million visitors in 2012, including 2.
8 million international visitors. The district has 561 hotels and motels comprising nearly 35,000 rooms. Forty six cruise ships sailed from Port Everglades in 2012. Greater Fort Lauderdale has over 4,000 restaurants, 63 golf courses, 12 shopping malls, 16 museums, 132 nightclubs, 278 parkland campsites, and 100 marinas housing 45,000 resident yachts.
Fort Lauderdale is named after a series of forts built by the United States during the Second Seminole War. The forts took their name from Major William Lauderdale (1782–1838), younger brother of Lieutenant Colonel James Lauderdale (1759–1828).
William Lauderdale was the commander of the detachment of soldiers who built the first fort.
The most recent fort built was Fort Lauderdale Beach Park in 1925. When the United States Army left at the end of the war in 1842 the forts were abandoned.
The forts were decommissioned in 1847 after Florida became a state; however two posts continued: Fort Dallas as a headquarters for the Seminole Wars until 1858 when it was finally abandoned; and Fort Brooke (Tampa) as an active duty garrison until 1883 when it too was decommissioned and abandoned except as a harbor defense post during times of war or threat of war until 1922 when it was permanently abandoned.
In 1896 Colonel Nelson A. Miles arrived with 1,100 men from Cuba during his campaign against Chief Antonio Maceo during what is now known as the Spanish–American War but what was then known as “the Cuban Insurrection”.
On March 12th 1898 Fort Lauderdale was officially incorporated as a town; it had a population of 150 residents and 75 houses along with three churches and one school within its boundaries which at that time stretched from today’s Andrews Avenue on its western boundary to today’s Southeast 3rd Avenue on its eastern boundary along with today’s Las Olas Boulevard running north to south through its center along with today’s Federal Highway running east to west through its center as well. The town’s boundaries were later increased with annexation of surrounding areas on January 1st 1915 and January 1st 1927 which brought Fort Lauderdale up to its current geographical size of 33 square miles (85 km2).
In 1911 construction began on what is now known as the Seaboard Air Line Railway or SAL for short; it ran from Richmond Virginia to Miami Florida opening up access to markets in both cities for produce coming from central Florida farms as well as providing northern tourists an easier winter escape route from cold winters up north; in 1925 SAL built a large pier at today’s Las Olas Boulevard which served both passenger ships coming down from New York City as well as being used to load freight onto ships bound for Cuba; this pier served as SAL’s headquarters for their steamship operations until SAL merged with their chief competitor Atlantic Coast Line Railroad or ACL in 1967 after which ACL moved their headquarters to Jacksonville Florida though some operations including passenger ship operations continued out of Fort Lauderdale until 1971 when they too ceased operation due to competition from airlines which had by then replaced passenger ships as THE preferred method of long distance travel between cities; ACL’s pier was later demolished making way for today’s luxury high rise condos lining Fort Lauderdale beachfront property along Las Olas Boulevard.
In addition to being a major tourist destination itself Greater Fort Lauderdale is also home to two large convention centers: The Broward County Convention Center located just north of Port Everglades which hosted over 500 events bringing in over 2 million attendees generating over $500 million dollars in economic impact for Broward County in 2014; and The Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center located just west of Interstate 95 near downtown which opened in 1991 and since then has undergone two expansion projects most recently completed in 2006 doubling its size to 600000 square feet (56000 m2) making it one of the largest convention centers in Florida capable of hosting events attracting up to 20000 attendees; this convention center is currently undergoing yet another expansion project set to be completed sometime in 2018 adding another 120000 square feet (11000 m2) bringing its total size once completed to 720000 square feet (67000 m2).
With all these hotels motels restaurants golf courses shopping malls museums nightclubs parks campgrounds marinas and two large convention centers does Fort Lauderdale have a casino? The answer is no; gambling is illegal in Broward County with the exception of pari-mutuel betting on horse and dog races which is allowed only at two locations: Gulfstream Park Racetrack & Casino located just outside Hallandale Beach near Hollywood; and Dania Jai-Alai & Casino located just outside Dania Beach near Hollywood International Airport (FLL); both locations are about 20 minutes drive time from downtown Fort Lauderdale respectively northwest and southwest along Interstate 95 though Gulfstream Park Racetrack & Casino can also be reached via public transportation taking Broward County Transit Route 1 directly there from downtown Fort Lauderdale while Route 4 takes public transportation directly to Dania Jai-Alai & Casino from downtown Fort Lauderdale though both locations are within walking distance or short bike ride along public bicycle trails from their respective beach communities Hollywood Beach and Dania Beach respectively where numerous hotels motels restaurants bars clubs shops businesses etcetera can be found catering to both locals as well as tourists alike providing plenty of things to do without having to leave those beach communities should someone want or need a break from all that sand sun salt water and surf not that there’s anything wrong with that!.
