The Coming of the Railway

When reporting on the 1890 population count, the Census Bureau stated that for the first time in American history there existed no frontier. While this may have been true in a technical sense, southeastern Florida was still a virtual wilderness. Not until 1892 was an all-purpose roadway constructed from Lantana to what is today Miami.

It was, however, the railway that connected south Florida to the rest of the nation, and the person who brought it here was Henry M. Flagler. A retired executive for John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, Flagler had "retired" to Florida, but was soon buying and constructing hotels and resort, and building a rail line to bring in paying customers. By 1892 he had reached Palm Beach where he built his exclusive resort. It is said he intended to stop there, but that a disastrous freeze that hit Florida in the winter of 1894-95, ruining most of the citrus crops, convinced him to take his Florida East Coast Railway farther south, beyond the freeze line.

Surveyors preceded the construction crews, and many of south Florida’s coastal towns owe their origins to railway’s plats – Pompano included. The first train arrived in the small Pompano settlement on February 22, 1896.

The Pioneers

There had been scattered settlers in the area from at least the mid-1880s, but the first documented permanent residents of the Pompano area were the George Butler and Frank Sheene and their family who arrived in 1896 as railway employees. It is said that Sheene gave the community its name – Pompano – after jotting down on his survey of the area the name of the fish he had for dinner. As other people settled in the area, George Butler was appointed the community’s first postmaster, and his wife, Mary the first teacher when a one-room schoolhouse opened in 1899.

Many early residents were farmers, coming south to escape the effects of the mid-decade freezes. Among those were Earl Ehmann, who is credited with introducing pineapple to the area, and the McNab brothers, Harry and Bob. Other pioneer families in the area included the Smoaks, the Hardys, the Blounts and the Samples.

Although the local community at first was located around what was then known as Lettuce Lake (now Santa Barbara), the coming of the railroad led to development farther west. A small commercial district began to grow near the Florida East Coast Railway depot. In 1900, M. Z. Cavandish opened a general store at N.E. First Street and Flagler Avenue.

In 1906 Pompano became the southernmost settlement in newly-created Palm Beach County. That year, the Hillsboro Lighthouse was completed on the beach. In 1908, Pompano was incorporated as a town; J. R. Mizell was elected the first mayor.

..to be continued.