Davie, Florida

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Davie
Town
Davie, Florida
Old Davie School Historical Museum
Location of Davie within eastern (incorporated) part of Broward County, Florida
Davie city map, Florida
Coordinates: 26°4′53″N 80°16′49″W / 26.08139°N 80.28028°W / 26.08139; -80.28028Coordinates: 26°4′53″N 80°16′49″W / 26.08139°N 80.28028°W / 26.08139; -80.28028
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Broward
Settled	1909
Incorporated (town)	November 16, 1925[1]
Formally Incorporated (town)	September 19, 1963[1]
Government
• Type	Council-Manager
• Mayor	Judy Paul (D)
• Vice Mayor	Caryl Hattan (D)
• Councilmembers	Michelle Whitman (D) Marlon Luis (D) Susan Starkey (R)
• Town Manager	Richard J. Lemack
• Town Clerk	Evelyn Roig
Area [2]
• Town	35.78 sq mi (92.67 km2)
• Land	34.92 sq mi (90.43 km2)
• Water	0.87 sq mi (2.24 km2)  2.32%
Elevation	9 ft (3 m)
Population  (2010)
• Town	91,992
• Estimate  (2019)[5]	106,306
• Density	3,044.62/sq mi (1,175.54/km2)
• Metro	5,564,635
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes	33312, 33314, 33317, 33324–33326, 33328–33331
Area code(s)	754, 954
FIPS code	12-16475[3]
GNIS feature ID	0281316[4]
Website	www.davie-fl.gov

Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States, situated approximately 24 miles north of Miami. The town's population was 110,320 at the 2020 census.^[6] Davie is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,198,782. It is the most populous municipality labelled as a ″town" in Florida, and the third most populous such community in the United States, trailing only Gilbert, Arizona and Cary, North Carolina. Horseback riding is common as much of its historic buildings include ranches and other Western establishments.

History[]

Prior to European colonization, the Tequesta were the native people of what is now Davie. A few campsites and graves have been found in Davie, the oldest dating back 5,000 to 7,000 years in Pine Island Ridge.^[7] After Spanish colonization, many of the Tequesta died and the remaining few escaped to Havana with the Spanish when Florida became a British colony or they assimilated into the newly arrived Seminoles in the late 18th century.^[8] Davie was founded by Tamara Toussaint and Jake Tannebaum. The original name of the town was Zona. In 1909, R.P. Davie assisted then Florida Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward by draining swamplands. Robert Parsell (R.P.) Davie, a developer, bought about {{convert|27000|acre|km2|0}, 42 mi2} in the area. He built a school in Zona. In 1916, the people of the town were so grateful they renamed the town after him. It was carved out of Everglades land that was mostly underwater.

Davie has always had a reputation as a "Western" town, with many earlier buildings having "Wild West" architecture. It boasts a significant horse-owning population and once was home to many herds of cattle. In recent years, commercial and residential development has discouraged such practices, but Davie still tries to maintain a "Western" feel. Pioneer City, a western theme park, was located across the street from Flamingo Gardens. It was built in the 1960s and closed a few years later.

The Old Davie School[]

The Davie School, designed in 1917 by August Geiger, one of South Florida's most prominent early architects, opened in 1918 with about 90 students. The Davie School was the first permanent school in the Everglades and is now Broward County's oldest existing school building. The building was in continuous use as a school until 1980. The Davie School Foundation was established in 1984 to protect and restore the Davie School to the integrity of its earlier appearance. The Foundation in conjunction with the Town of Davie, the Broward County School Board, the Soroptimists International of Davie, the Davie Historical Society and the community at large has worked tirelessly to preserve this important piece of Broward County's history The building is now referred to as the "Old Davie School," and is maintained by a collaboration of the Davie School Foundation and the Town of Davie.

In the early 2000s two other historic buildings from the surrounding neighborhood were moved to the property adjoining the Old Davie School.

• The Viele House, built beginning in 1912, is the oldest residential structure remaining in Davie and is an excellent example of vernacular architecture. It survived the hurricane of 1926 and the floods of 1947. It was continuously occupied by members of the Viele family until being moved to the Old Davie School property. Regrettably, the Viele House was sealed to accommodate a modern air conditioning system, as part of the permanent preservation plan. One of the most important features of the original structure was the non-electric "air conditioned" design of the home. Specifically, warm air was drawn up and out through the opening in the top of the attic. The natural air flow kept the home relatively comfortable, even in the hot south Florida climate. Also, as with most of the old Davie homes, the Viele House was elevated on pillars, which permitted the breeze to blow under the building.
• In 2004 the former home of Colonel Charles A. & Katherine M. Walsh (1912–1932) and the Bud & Betty Osterhoudt family (1958–2004) was also moved to the site.

In the 1970s Davie had the reputation of not being hospitable to Jews. Davie was rumored to be the seat of the Ku Klux Klan in South Florida; a cross was burned on the front lawn of a new Jewish family in 1977. This provoked an outpouring of community support which persuaded the family to remain, insisting that "never would they see anti-Semitism like that again." There are Chabad houses, and a K-12 Jewish day school.

Geography[]

Davie is located at

26°04′53″N 80°16′49″W / 26.081426°N 80.280223°W / 26.081426; -80.280223.^[9] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 35.7 square miles (92.5 km²), of which 34.9 square miles (90.4 km²) is land and 0.85 square miles (2.2 km²) (2.32%) is water.^[6]

Demographics[]

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1970	5,859		—
1980	20,500		249.9%
1990	47,217		130.3%
2000	75,720		60.4%
2010	91,992		21.5%
2019 (est.)	106,306	[5]	15.6%
U.S. Decennial Census[10]

Davie Demographics
2010 Census	Davie	Broward County	Florida
Total population	91,922	1,748,066	18,801,310
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010	+21.5%	+7.7%	+17.6%
Population density	2,636.8/sq mi	1,444.9/sq mi	350.6/sq mi
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)	80.1%	63.1%	75.0%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)	56.8%	43.5%	57.9%
Black or African-American	8.0%	26.7%	16.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	29.1%	25.1%	22.5%
Asian	4.6%	3.2%	2.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan	0.3%	0.3%	0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial)	3.1%	2.9%	2.5%
Some Other Race	3.8%	3.7%	3.6%

As of 2010, there were 37,306 households, with 8.0% being vacant. As of 2000, 36.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.1% were non-families. 22.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.4% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 33.4% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $47,014, and the median income for a family was $56,290. Males had a median income of $38,756 versus $30,016 for females. The per capita income for the town was $23,271. About 6.9% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.3% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

As of 2000, those who spoke only English at home made up 75.47% of the population, while those who spoke Spanish made up 18.74%, and French speakers made up 1.13% of residents. A few other languages spoken were Italian at 0.73%, Chinese at 0.53%, Portuguese 0.51%, and Haitian Creole being the mother tongue of 0.38% of the population.^[11]

Education[]

Davie is host of the South Florida Educational Center. A number of educational institutions have campuses in Davie, including:

Colleges and universities[]

• Nova Southeastern University
• Florida Atlantic University (Davie Campus)
• University of Florida (Davie Campus)
• Broward College (Central Campus)
• McFatter Technical College
• Trinity International University - Florida

Public schools[]

Broward County Public Schools operates public schools.^[12]

Elementary schools

• Davie Elementary School^[13]
• Flamingo Elementary School^[14]
• Fox Trail Elementary School^[15]
• Hawkes Bluff Elementary School^[16] (opened in 1989^[17])
• Silver Ridge Elementary School^[18]
• Nova Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School (district-wide magnet)^[19]
• Nova Blanche Forman Elementary School (district-wide magnet)^[20]
• Elementary schools outside the city limits serving sections of the city include Tropical in Plantation.^[21]

Middle schools

• Indian Ridge Middle School^[22]
• Nova Middle School (magnet)
• Those outside the city limits serving sections of Davie: Driftwood (Hollywood),^[23] Pioneer (Cooper City),^[24] Seminole (Plantation),^[25] and Silver Trail (Pembroke Pines)^[26]

High schools

• Zoned

• Western High School^[27]
• High schools outside of the city limits serving sections of Davie: Cooper City in Cooper City,^[28] Hollywood Hills in Hollywood,^[29] South Plantation in Plantation^[30] Stranahan in Fort Lauderdale,^[31] and West Broward in Pembroke Pines.^[32]

  Alternative

• College Academy @ BC
• McFatter Technical High School - Takes students from southern sections of Broward County^[33]
• Nova High School - District-wide^[34]

Public charter schools[]

• Championship Academy of Distinction at Davie^[35]

Private schools[]

Catholic schools are under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami:

• St. David Catholic Elementary/Middle School
• St. Bonaventure School (Catholic Elementary/Middle)
• St. Bernadette School (in the Davie city limits, has a Hollywood address)^[12][36]
• Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School in neighboring Southwest Ranches

Other private schools

• American Heritage School in neighboring Plantation
• Apple Tree Montessori School
• The Master's Academy
• AEF Preparatory School (Formerly Kentwood Preparatory School),^[37] a school for children with AD/HD and similar learning problems
• Summit-Questa Montessori School
• Conservatory Prep Senior High School - an arts-integrated school for grades 8-12
• Parkway Christian School (Christian Elementary/Middle)
• Sunset Sudbury School
• David Posnack Jewish Day School
• University School of Nova Southeastern University

Media[]

Davie is a part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood media market, which is the twelfth largest radio market^[38] and the seventeenth largest television market^[39] in the United States.

Its daily newspapers are the South Florida-Sun Sentinel and The Miami Herald, and their Spanish-language counterparts El Sentinel and El Nuevo Herald.

Points of interest[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Davie, Florida.

• Town of Davie official website
• Davie, Florida Police Department
• Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple