History Fort Lauderdale

History Fort Lauderdale has been collecting and telling the story of Broward County since 1962, when it was founded as the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. Over more than sixty years the organization has built a small campus of historic buildings along the New River downtown, and today it operates as the primary museum dedicated to local history in the city.

The museum campus includes several structures rather than a single building. The New River Inn, built in 1905, now houses the main museum exhibits and functions as the anchor of the campus. Next to it sits the King-Cromartie House, a 1907 pioneer home restored to show what a middle class Fort Lauderdale household looked like in the early 20th century, and an 1899 schoolhouse, one of the oldest surviving school buildings in the county. The Hoch Research Library on site holds archival material, photographs, and documents for researchers and anyone doing local history or genealogy work, and the third floor of the New River Inn is set aside for six working studio spaces used by artists in residence, which gives the campus an active creative component alongside its role as a history museum.

Exhibits rotate regularly and have covered subjects ranging from the region’s changing coastal landscape to the history of the Broward County judiciary, alongside longer running exhibits on the founding families, early tourism, and the development of the city from a small trading outpost into a major metropolitan area. Docent led tours run daily at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm and are included with admission, and the organization also runs field trip programs for school groups and can arrange historical walking tours of downtown by request.

The museum is open seven days a week from 10am to 4pm, which is more generous than most small history museums in the region and makes it easy to work into a downtown visit without much advance planning. Self guided admission runs $10 for adults, with a $15 ticket if you want the guided tour through all three museum buildings, and discounts are available for seniors and students. Active and senior military get in free, and the museum participates in the Museums for All program, offering free admission to anyone presenting an EBT card with photo ID.

Because the campus sits right along the Riverwalk in downtown Fort Lauderdale, it’s an easy add on to a day that includes Stranahan House or the NSU Art Museum, both a short walk away. Budget an hour if you’re doing the self guided route through the New River Inn alone, or closer to two hours if you want to see all three historic buildings on the guided tour. The New River Inn also functions as a rental venue for weddings and private events when it’s not open to the public for tours.