Davie, Florida


Davie is a town in Broward County, Florida, United States about 24 miles north of Miami. The town′s population was 91,992 at the 2010 census. Davie is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census. It is the most populous municipality labelled as a ″town" in Florida, and the fourth most populous such community in the United States, trailing only Hempstead, New York; Gilbert, Arizona; and Cary, North Carolina.

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. 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. 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 Davie, a developer, bought about 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.
in 2005 in Davie

The Old Davie School

The Davie School, designed in 1917 by August Geiger, one of South Florida's most prominent early architects, opened its doors 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 and the .
In the early 2000s two other historic buildings from the surrounding neighborhood were moved to the property adjoining the Old Davie School.
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. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Demographics

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.

Education

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

Colleges and universities

operates public schools.
; Elementary schools
; Middle schools
; High schools
Catholic schools are under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami:
Other private schools
Davie is a part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood media market, which is the twelfth largest radio market and the seventeenth largest television market 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.
Davie Digest is the local free community newspaper serving the town with community news and an allowing for the community to submit news and subscribe to the paper.

Points of interest