Coral Springs

Coral Springs, officially the City of Coral Springs, is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, approximately 20 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a population of 121,096. It is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census.

The city, officially chartered on July 10, 1963, was master-planned and primarily developed by Coral Ridge Properties, which was acquired by Westinghouse in 1966. The city’s name is derived from the company’s name and was selected after several earlier proposals had been considered and rejected. Despite the name, there are no natural springs in the city; Florida’s springs are found in the central and northern portions of the state.

Living in Coral Springs

Coral Springs is a planned community. Prior to its incorporation as a city on July 1963, the area which is now Coral Springs was part of 20,000 acres of marshy lands bought by Henry Lyons between 1911 and 1939. After several floods in 1947, Florida created the Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District. Canals and levees drained much of the area upon which Coral Springs was built. After the land was drained and cleared, most of the area was used as a bean farm. After Lyons’ death in 1952, his heirs changed the focus to cattle.

A post-World War II real estate boom in South Florida attracted the interest of developers. Coral Ridge Properties, which already had several developments in Broward County, bought 3,869 acres of land from the Lyons family on December 14, 1961, for $1 million. The City of Coral Springs was chartered on July 10, 1963. Other names that were considered for the new city included “Curran Village,” “Pompano Springs” and “Quartermore”. By 1964, the company had developed a master plan for a city of 50,000 residents. On July 22, 1964, the first sale of 536 building lots netted $1.6 million. The landmark covered bridge was built that same year to promote the town. In 1965, Coral Ridge Properties bought an additional 6,000 acres from the Lyons family, increasing the city’s land area to 16 square miles. The first city government elections were held in 1967.

The city added 19 public schools, a regional mall, shopping centers and parks between 1970 and 2000 in response to rapid population growth. The construction of the Sawgrass Expressway in 1986 brought even more growth. A museum and a theater opened in the 1990s. The city reached residential build-out in 2003