Note Type
Historical NoteNote
Ivy Cromartie Stranahan 1881-1971
Ivy Cromartie Stranahan lived and led a long and interesting life. Born in White Springs, FL in 1881, she moved with her family southward several times before settling in Lemon City. After graduating in 1899 and taking her teacher’s exam, Ivy accepted the position to become the first school teacher in Fort Lauderdale. Once here, she met Frank Stranahan, who ran a trading post on the New River. A year later they married at the Miami Methodist Church South and Ivy stopped formally teaching school.
As the First Lady of Fort Lauderdale, Ivy helped Frank lay the roots by which the city took hold. No longer a formal school teacher, she worked closely with the Seminole Indians in the field of education. Additionally, Ivy helped to establish a Seminole reservation in Davie and continued to invest her time and interest in Seminole affairs.
An active in the women’s suffrage movement, Ivy fought alongside Mr. and Mrs. William Jennings Bryan for women’s rights. Ivy would go on to become the President of the Women’s Suffrage Association of Florida. In 1917, she circulated petitions that led to women getting to vote in Fort Lauderdale city of elections. In 1920, she successfully lobbied the Florida Legislature to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Ivy participated in many other activities including establishing the Women’s Civic Improvement Association (Women’s Club) in 1911, establishing the Friends of the Seminoles in 1932, and was very active in both the Garden Club and the Seventh Day Adventist Church. In 1962, she set up the Stranahan Trust for the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society and until her passing Ivy was a trustee of the Historical Society.
U.S. Representative Dwight Rogers and Ivy Stranahan at Dania Reservation.
Ivy Stranahan also served several years on the Fort Lauderdale Planning and Zoning Board and was a champion of preserving natural beauty throughout the city. Ivy strived to preserve and maintain the natural beauty of the city for future generations to enjoy.
For seventy years, Ivy lived in the trading post that her husband Frank had built in 1901. From there she could watch the yachts cruise up the New River where once only dugout canoes traveled. Ivy Stranahan was indeed “The Mother of Fort Lauderdale.”