About Hallandale Florida...
The area that is now known as Hallandale Beach
was not even settled until the late 1800's, when Henry Morrison
Flagler expanded the Florida East Coast Railway to Palm Beach in
1895. Before then, there wasn't much to Hallandale Beach except
swamp and a gray, sandy soil called marl. The Seminole Indians would
hunt in the area and gather cootie root, which was used to produce
starchy dough.
Flagler recruited Luther Halland, son of a Swedish minister and
brother-in-law to one of Flagler's agents, to start a Swedish
settlement south of the Danish settlement of Dania. With the
assistance of an immigrant named Olaf Zetterlund, Halland began
promoting the frost-free subtropical climate and cheap land of
Halland (later to be named Hallandale). Halland set up a small
trading post in the new community and became its first postmaster.
Settlement was slow, with only a dozen families in town by 1900 -
seven Swedish, three English, and two black. The first school was
built in 1904 and had only ten students. The first church, Bethlehem
Lutheran, was established in 1906. Originally, Hallandale was a
farming community, with farmers using the beach only for recreation.
Hallandale officially became a town on May 14, 1927. By that time,
there were 1,500 residents, street lights, and electricity in the
community. In 1947, Hallandale was reincorporated as a city, and was
allowed to annex land to the east. In August of 1999, the city
officially changed its name to Hallandale Beach.
