Flower Delivery to Plantation - Li-Flowers
Plantation is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the population was 84,955. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area. The city's name comes from the previous part-owner of the land, the Everglades Plantation Company, and their attempts to establish a rice plantation in the area. Plantation was incorporated as a city on April 30, 1953 (with a population of 300 and a budget of less than $2,000 at the time). The Plantation Homeowners Association appointed Ellsworth D. Gage (then president of the Homeowners' Association) as the city's first Mayor, with Paul Stoner, Winslow Freeman, George Bartold, Walter Bartels, and Wilfred J. Perry Lohman elected to the City Council; however, none of these early city officials took any salary from the position. A building originally intended as a community center, but being used as a warehouse, was used for the first city council meeting, city hall, fire station, and police station. This building, originally known as the Hoffman Building, is now the kitchen area of Deicke Auditorium. On August 1, 1954, the Miami Herald publicly unveiled the new city plan, calling Plantation "The City of the Future". In 1955, S. Robinson Estey was elected as the city's second Mayor (and the first elected to the position). Plantation Police Dept. was also organized in the same year, with the first police car and officer (Henry C. 'Hank' Donath), who ran the department alone for several years, on call 24 hours a day. At that time, the city population remained less than 800 people. The city's fire department's barbecue fundraiser began in 1956, and remains one of the city's annual traditions. Plantation's Volunteer Fire Dept. was subsequently formed in 1957, with Richard Stephenson appointed as the first Fire Chief. The city's first industrial plant (Airpax Products, Co.) opened on Sunrise Blvd in 1957 (in what is now Plantation Technology Park), as did Plantation Community Church's first sanctuary (now known as Missions Prayer Chapel) and the Sunshine State Parkway (now known as Florida's Turnpike), which connected Miami and Fort Pierce. By 1958, construction was completed on the new City Hall. A new fire station was also built on Broward Blvd, with Frederick T. Peters (son of Frederick C. Peters) appointed as the new city Fire Chief. Plantation's budget had grown to over $170,000 by 1959. That year, the city's first school was dedicated: Berenice Todd Peters Elementary School (named after the wife of city founder Frederick C. Peters; known today as Peters Elementary) was a 24-classroom, 725-child school, built on ten acres of land gifted by Frederick Peters. Hank Donath was also appointed as the city's first Police Chief, with the operating costs of the police department covered by cigarette taxes. In 1960, the city adopted the slogan "The Dream City", including matching license places. The Plantation Library, based out of Peters Elementary School, was founded in 1961, with Mrs. Helen B. Hoffman as chairwoman and members of the Plantation Woman's Club as volunteer workers. In 1962, Edwin Deicke donated $100,000 to the city for expanding and renovating the Hoffman Building (which was later, in 1973, renamed to the Deicke Auditorium). Also in 1962, the city's Chamber of Commerce was founded and the Doctors General Hospital was opened. The city's population reached 8,500 in 1963, and its original motto, "From the Wilderness, this City", was made official, with adoption of a corresponding city seal (designed by Mayor Robinson Estey and architect A.T. Hardel). The Latin translation of this motto was later found to include a spelling error; however, future mayor, Frank Veltri opted not to change it. The city's Community Center, designed by original city master plan architect Russell Pancoast, was also built in 1963, becoming the site of the first city library (which had been previously housed in Peters Elementary).