History of the City of Broward County, Florida

Broward County, Florida is located along the state’s southward Atlantic Coast, and was created in 1915 when Palm Beach County and Dade County contributed nearly equal portions of land to create it.  The name derives from Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, who was Governor of Florida from 1905 to 1909.  In its early years, Broward County was a leader in agriculture products and services in the state, though the massive post-World War II buildup of South Florida transformed the region.

Broward County was one of the Florida counties involved in the 2000 U.S. Presidential election recount controversy.  Since the 1960s, the county has gone from solidly Republican to solidly Democratic.  In fact, in the 1972 U.S. presidential election, Broward County residents voted overwhelmingly for Richard Nixon over George McGovern.  By the 1992 U.S. presidential election, however, Broward County voters backed the Democratic presidential nominee over the Republican nominee by strong majorities.  The change in voting tendencies is most likely due to the continuous flow and large influx of “snowbirds” and transplanted people from the liberal Northeast and other blue states.  There is also an expanding LGBT community, as well as naturalized U.S. citizens born in places such as Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

In 2002, Broward County began a controversial and aggressive campaign of placing surveillance cameras along highways and traffic lights.  Critics contend the cameras violate drivers’ due process rights.  Two separate lawsuits have even been filed over their use, one in Aventura filed in February, and one in Temple Terrace near Tampa, filed at the end of July.