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The City of Lauderhill was
established on June 20, 1959. The “Founding Father” was a builder/developer
-Herbert Sadkin.
The first officers of the City, appointed by the Governor of Florida, were
Harold Wolk, who later became the first Mayor. Early Council Members included
David Shapiro, Herbert Sadkin, Nathan Ringler and Jerome Wolk. They held office
until the first general elections in the city on November 2, 1965.
 The
Early Years
Herbert Sadkin really had planned to name
Lauderhill “Sunnydale” upon its
inception. After some discussions with his dear friend, New York Times
journalist, William Safire, the name
Sunnydale would soon be second
choice. Safire explained he disliked the name “Sunnydale” because it sounded
like a neighborhood in Brooklyn. For whatever reasons, Mr. Safire liked the
word play of “hill” and “dale”. Although Mr. Sadkin mentioned to Safire there
are no hills there, Mr. Safire replied, “There are probably no dales in
Lauderdale, either!” Somehow, out of that simple discussion, the name
Lauderhill was born.
Housing
When the first houses were developed in Lauderhill, very few people wanted to
live in the “Dairy Farm country.” In the early years, there were actually far
more cows than people within the borders of the City. Only until only recently,
traces of the MCArthur Dairy Farm were still evident. Thousands of acres in
early Lauderhill were lands full of grazing cows that produced fresh milk for
the widely known dairy.
The area still referred to as
Inverrary, the neighborhood was designed as a planned urban development. This
innovative housing plan was designed to arrange the land and housing
developments before the building began. Each section was carefully designed for
a specific purpose. Inverrary later became the home of the Inverrary Country
Club and site of the Jackie Gleason Inverrary Golf Classic.
In the late 70s, the Northwest
section of the city was developed as a single-family home community. This
region was considered to be so far west people would say they were living “In
the Everglades!”
Commercial
In terms of the commercial property, Lauderhill was at the forefront of
commercial development
as well. Next to the Dairy Farm, the Lauderhill Mall, which opened in 1966, was
the first enclosed air-conditioned mall to open in the southeastern United
States. The land where the mall is located used to be a place to trap
alligators and other animals.
Overall
Generally, Lauderhill has undergone all kinds of changes. “Firsts” for
Lauderhill were and still are very common. Today, Lauderhill is still generally
undergoing changes that take us to the current “Renaissance” we are in today.
Innovation and
modernization has been looked at differently over time and the leaders of the
past have handled it differently. Lauderhill’s rich history is marked by
reluctance to change in some decades, and a complete of embracing of it in
others.
Its destiny is
its own. Lauderhill, under its current leadership does not allow chance or fate
to determine its future. What is to be for Lauderhill is dreamed of, fought
for, and attained by the many that live here and love it including the
residents, the administration, and the elected officials.
Lauderhill it
is not just Anytown, USA. We are the All America City! Lauderhill, FL, USA!
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