LAUDERDALE-BY-THE-SEA
A LIVING HISTORY
BY MARTHA E. MUNZER
1989…published in LBTS… out of print….
BCbythesea…obtained on EBay…
used later for reference in Seventy-Three Years By The Sea…..Candice Richard…1997
Chapter IV
Banding Together-Some Early Clubs
pages 21-23
“The Women’s Club was one of the very first to become organized. The story of this club’s beginning was recounted by Dorothea Seaver, one of the club’s first members.”
“Very few year- round families lived in town, but presently there were enough so that six women decided to form a club. Mrs. Linardy, the first mayor after the town’s rebirth in 1947, was one of its organizers……”
” They first met in Carrie Humiston’s White Cap-…The ladies first expressed desire was to have a clubhouse of their own.”
“In 1947, when Lauderdale-By-The-Sea was officially made a municipality, a Men’s Improvement Association had been formed….”
“These were the men who told the infant Women’s Club they might build their clubhouse on the point of land which A1A and Bougainvilla came together.”
“The women raised the money for materials; the men volunteered to provide the labor. …..”
“The building was crudely finished in 1949 and was called the Civic Center because the commission, police department, and town clerk all used it for headquarters.”
“Soon the club was outgrowing its small Civic Center Clubhouse. So, in 1954, the members started talking seriously about building their very own.”
“With treasury funds of $2000, the club was able to purchase a piece of land in the newly platted Silver Shores subdivision in the far western section of town, bordering the Intercoastal Waterway and just north of Commercial,….”
“Ten $1000 bonds were sold and the construction job put up for bids…..”
“THE OLD CIVIC CENTER WAS GIVEN TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE …..which still has its headquarters at 4201 North Ocean Drive.”
BCbythesea….not only was this location given to the Chamber…it is a historical site…for the Womens Club/ commission/police department/town clerk….and as such should be honored….
Not only should this building continue to house the Chamber of Commerce…the Welcome Center…
A committee should be formed to declare it a historic landmark and to be placed on a the South Florida Historical Preservation Registry…..
more to come…..
