VILLAGE VOICE THE ORGANIC TRANSFORMATION OF NORTH BEACH VILLAGE CONTINUES
HOME TO THE TEQUESTA INDIANS, FOLLOWED BY THE SEMINOLES, what is now downtown Fort Laud-
erdale has been settled for hundreds of years. Its mesmerizing beach, however, is a different story. The oceanfront remained relatively uninhabited until late in the 19th century, after the completion of the Intext John O’Connor illustration Rollin McGrail
tracoastal Waterway, which separated the mainland from what is now the barrier island. One of the first to settle here was a Chicagoan and lawyer
for Standard Oil, Hugh Taylor Birch. Birch was keen to escape a rapidly expanding Chicago, and was seeking a land of quiet beauty. Visiting Henry Flagler in Palm Beach, Birch is said to have procured a small boat and sailed south until he was caught up in a storm and took refuge along the beach near the actual Fort Lauderdale, near what is now the Bahia Mar marina. Birch fell in love with the pristine shores
ISLAND MAGAZINE 25
