(Originally published on www.sunsentinel.com June 22, 2011)
By: Barbara Tarnove, President, Tamarac Historical Society
I can’t count how many times I’ve been asked, or heard the question, “Why does Tamarac have a Historical Society?” Perhaps you wondered this yourself. If you allow me just a few moments of your time, hopefully I can answer your curiosity.
As one of the founding members of the Tamarac Historical Society I’ve always had an interest in history. I can explain that interest very simply: the PAST causes the PRESENT and the FUTURE.
Have you ever wondered why our fair city attracted so many retired residents? Or, what was the attraction way back in 1963 when our City’s founding father, Ken Behring, had a vision for a new development geared toward active retirees? What did he aim to provide that no other city offered? Why does our city have such an odd shape? What attracts people to move to Tamarac even today? And, does Behring’s original vision still hold true?
There are so many questions about our City and my goal, along with my fellow Historical Society members is to answer as many as we can… and then some! Our small, but dedicated, group of volunteers has been meeting for almost two years now to make sure we document the answers to as many of these questions as possible. To help us with our goal, we developed a mission: The City of Tamarac’s Historical Society will research, collect, preserve and exhibit the history of Tamarac with goals of enlightening the community about our heritage and passing on an enduring legacy for future generations.
How are we doing? Well, so far so good. Let me give you some insight about how Tamarac developed.
Ken Behring’s idea was to build houses with maintenance-free convenience lifestyle and recreation facilities of a condo combined with the privacy of a single-family home.
In 1962 he bought his first plot of land in what would soon become Tamarac. The first development was very successful and by July 1963 the new City of Tamarac was officially incorporated by the State of Florida. People flocked from near-by cities to be the first to experience this new lifestyle. Word of mouth, and clever advertising, helped spread the word north to friends and family in the northeast and mid-west states. The promise of a life of leisure, social gatherings, golf, well appointed and affordable homes and the promise of a maintenance-free lifestyle – for the low monthly fee of $23.00 – brought people in droves. To accommodate and deliver this dream life, each community of 250 homes included a large recreation center and an oversized pool. No other city had ever offered such a package deal!
The land that Behring bought was generally unsuitable for anything other than grazing land for cattle and a place for locals to ride their motorcycles. Paved roads were rare and canals and lakes were yet to be dredged – but they were all part of Behring’s vision and master plan for his new city.
Tamarac was an instant success! More land was needed to keep up with demand so Behring began buying up as much land as he could and the City grew westward. It was these land acquisitions (which could be a whole article in itself) which created our City’s unusual shape.
Behring’s personal passion for golf was why so many golf facilities were included in his master plan; this further attracted people to the city and played a major role in the idealized way of life he envisioned. His dream lasted for many years, even after he left Tamarac and the new developers continued to build out the city.
There are so many more stories; so much more detail we’ll continue to share as we go forward, in the mean time I hope I have peaked your interest. If you have knowledge to share or memorabilia to donate, please contact us at history@tamarac.org or call us at 954-597-3523
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