Stranahan House is the home of Fort Lauderdale pioneers Frank and Ivy Stranahan. Built in 1901 as a trading post and converted into a residence for the Stranahans in 1906, the house is the oldest surviving structure in Broward County. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and today operates as a historic house museum. The House is open for guided tours at 1, 2, and 3 p.m. daily, and hosts special events throughout the year.
In 1893, at the age of 27 Frank Stranahan was hired by his cousin to manage his camp and ferry at Tarpon Bend located on the New River. He would quickly establish his own trading business with the Seminole Indians and gain the reputation of being a fair business man. Arriving via dugout canoes, large groups of Seminole families would camp at the post for days at a time. Eventually, in 1894 Frank would acquire ten acres of land for his own commercial interests and would move the trading post farther west along the river. This property became the focal point of the tiny New River settlement, of which Stranahan was now its postmaster.By 1899, the community had grown large enough to qualify for a teacher from the county board of education. Eighteen-year-old Ivy Julia Cromartie of Lemon city (what is now Little Haiti) was hired at $48 a month for the job. Community members built the one-room schoolhouse for Ivy and her nine students. Frank and Ivy would come to know one another during the five months Ivy lived and taught at the settlement. They would marry on August 16, 1900, at her family home, and as was customary for married women at the time, Ivy gave up her paid position. Though she gave up her paid position she did not, however, give up her teaching aspirations. She instead turned her attention to the Seminole children, offering informal lessons at the trading post that respected the Tribe's traditions. Her approach quelled skeptical tribal elders' fears and formed the basis for her lifelong friendship with the Seminole people.
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Google map-https://goo.gl/maps/V5RjVFzjNnKkYrne9
2430 E Commercial Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308
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