A Colorful History of coral springs Coral Springs became a City on July 10, 1963. the first structure was a Covered Bridge, built in 1964 at NW 95 th Avenue, off Wiles Road. It was painted red. There were no other buildings in the whole City. Hurricane Cleo passed over the Covered Bridge in August of 1964, but the Bridge was so strong, it was not damaged.
To make the Bridge more interesting, murals (large paintings) were painted on each side. The mural on the east side of the Bridge had a picture of a red bull.
The mural on the west side of the Bridge showed a can of peaches. There were no trees around the Bridge, so the murals were easy to see.
The first building was the Coral Ridge Properties Real Estate office, opened in 1964. It had maps of the first neighborhoods built. They developed the entire City of Coral Springs roads, canals and parks. The R.E. office was a white, one-room building with a Bahama-style roof. The steps on the roof allowed the rain to run off.
The R.E. office was built at the northwest corner of 441 and Wiles Road, the first road into the City. It was not paved, so when someone drove on it, clouds of dust billowed up from the dirt road.
By 1966, the R.E. office became too small for Coral Ridge Properties. They gave it to the City of Coral Springs, who moved it to the northwest corner of Wiles Road and Woodside Drive, where it became the first Police Station. The first Coral Springs Police Officer had a black and tan German Shepherd K-9 named Sgt. Satan.
By 1972, it was too small for the Police Department. The police moved to a bigger station and the building became a clubhouse until 1976. Then, nobody wanted it. The building was towed to 127 th Avenue and 39 th Street the City Dump. It was used by the Fire Department as a training school. One day, they accidentally set it on fire!
When people saw how sturdy the little building was, they decided to rescue it. In 1977 it was moved again, pulled by a flatbed truck. It was followed by a parade of people and the Coral Springs High School Band, marching along to Mullins Park.
The building was cleaned and repaired and opened as the Mini Museum in 1978. It is now the Museum of Coral Springs History, displaying the earliest maps and pictures of the City.
WHERE WAS THE REAL ESTATE OFFICE MOVED AND HOW WAS IT USED? Draw a line from each picture below to the place where the building was. Real Estate Office Police Department Fire Department Museum
Coral Ridge Properties needed a bigger building by 1966 for all the people working to develop the new City of Coral Springs. The Coral Ridge Properties Administration Building was planned to look like Thomas Jefferson s University of Virginia. Both were built of red brick with white columns and arcades.
Eight years after he was President, Thomas Jefferson began to design the University of Virginia in 1817. He planned 10 different pavilions (buildings), one for each subject to be taught, and even designed the gardens. The professors lived upstairs and the classrooms were downstairs. The University opened in 1825. Mr. Jefferson died on July 4, 1826.
Thomas Jefferson designed this two-story classroom building, Pavilion IV, with four Doric columns (pillars) and a fanlight (window in the shape of a fan).
George Hodapp, an architectural engineer for Coral Ridge Properties, designed their Administration Building with two stories, four Doric columns and a fanlight. In 1978, the City of Coral Springs bought the building to use as City Hall.
This is Mr. Jefferson s hand-drawn design for an arcade, which was built to keep the rain off the walkways between buildings. He used pen, ink, engraved paper, a t-square and a compass to draw the arches.
Mr. Hodapp designed arcades in front of the West, North and East Wings for the same purpose. He used a pencil, vellum paper, a t-square and compass.
The first restaurant, The Red Fox Inn, and Coral Springs Public Library were in the West Wing. The first Post Office was in the East Wing. Children rode their horses to the Coral Ridge Properties Administration Building to pick up the mail until 1970, when local delivery began.
FIND A WORD C I T Y H A L L B R I C K O X W I L E S B U F H U R R W V J V I R G I N I A E A M D E M U R A L Q X T A L U O F P K C O D B C H L S L R F W A G S I T O I E P L I E R O L M N P M S S R I C R E I J U G V P T T I N E S A R C A D E A O A N S C O L U M N R O S R T G X E N M U S E U M S Y E S R E D F O X I N N Q X Z C O V E R E D B R I D G E arcade City Hall Coral Springs doric Mullins real estate Virginia brick column Covered Bridge history mural Red Fox Inn Wiles building compass Jefferson museum
WORD-CROSS AROUND CORAL SPRINGS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. ACROSS 2. First building built in Coral Springs 4. Name of planned City 7. Red material used to build City Hall 8. City Department that used the R.E. office as a training school 9. City Department that used the R.E. office as a station 11. Current use of R.E. office DOWN 13. Second road into Coral Springs 1. First structure built in Coral Springs 14. Porches around City Hall 3. Pillar that supports a porch 15. Park where first R.E. Office was moved 4. Building that looks like it was designed by Thomas Jefferson 5. First road into Coral Springs 6. Picture on Covered Bridge 10. Picture on Covered Bridge 12. Large painting The first crossword puzzle, published in 1913, was named a word-cross game.
The Covered Bridge continues to be very important to the City of Coral Springs, even though the Bridge can no longer be seen from Wiles Road because of all the trees. Its image is on the City Seal, badges and the City flag.
Acknowledgements Thanks to the volunteers of the City of Coral Springs Historical Advisory Committee who worked on the project, especially Roy Gold who suggested creating a coloring book, Gina Orlando, Maryann Grandy, Rachel Galvin, and to Janis Humpage for the FIND A WORD puzzle. Appreciation to the City s Communications and Marketing Department, including Sheri Chadwick and Christine Parkinson, for their great skill and imagination, and especially Sherry Lumpkins, who turned our historic photographs into charming line drawings. Thanks to Firefighter/EMT Mike Matz for his amusing cartoons. Thanks to Public Works Director Rich Michaud for helping to fund this project on recycled paper and to Ed Kohlhorst for providing the map. This project would not have happened without the presence of the unique structures that inaugurated the City of Coral Springs. Coral Ridge Properties Architectural Engineer George Hodapp designed them all and continues to advise on their preservation. Our appreciation to him for his vision of a City in the Country. CREDITS Written by: Wendy Wangberg Illustrations by: Sherry Lumpkins Mike Matz Cover Photographs by: Christine Parkinson Matt Hoffman This book was printed on recycled paper.
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