HISTORIC STRANAHAN HOUSE
AND MUSEUM

By  Mike Miller October 12, 2025

Located on a curve of the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale, the Historic Stranahan House Museum showcases tales of Florida's pioneer days.

Built in 1901, this weathered wood-frame beauty is the oldest surviving structure in Broward County. Step inside and you're not just touring a house; you're learning the history of a city born on this site. 

Stranahan House

Restored to its 1915 glory by dedicated locals, it opened as a museum in 1984. 

Ivy and Frank Stranahan

Frank Stranahan came to the area as a 27 year old in 1893 and turned a humble trading post and river ferry into the pulse of New River settlement.

Trading with the Seminole, he earned their loyalty, transforming his outpost into a bustling hub.

He enticed a schoolteacher to the area in 1899.  Ivy Cromartie was an 18-year-old whose one-room classroom sparked the first flicker of formal education here.  She was paid $48 a month.

They got married in 1900 and soon Frank built the Stranahan House.  The ground floor was a busy trading post and post office, and the second floor was a town hall where settlers hashed out dreams and made decisions.

The railroad had arrived in 1896 and helped Stranahan's business flourish.  Fort Lauderdale bloomed from swamp to streets, incorporating in 1911 with land donations from Frank and Ivy paving the way.

Ivy taught both Seminole and white children, forging bonds that lasted for decades.  But boom turned to bust: the 1926 hurricane and land boom crash crushed Frank, leading to his tragic suicide in 1929 in the river he loved.

Ivy bravely carried on, renting rooms, championing women's rights and Seminole causes until her death in 1971 at 90, her spirit etched into every creaking board.

Perched on the river at 335 SE 6th Avenue, right on the Riverwalk beside the posh Riverside Hotel, the museum's a quick jaunt from Las Olas Boulevard's busy activity.

It's typically open Wednesday through Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m., with self-guided audio tours in English, Spanish, or French kicking off in 30-minute slots.

Make reservations online ahead, as slots fill fast with school groups and rentals.  Admission runs $13 for adults, $11 seniors, $8 kids.

Parking's a pain downtown in downtown Fort Lauderdale.  Try for the lot at 620 SE 4th Street and stroll 150 yards, or hop the Water Taxi for a scenic glide right up to the place.

• Ivy Stranahan was a trailblazing suffragette who lobbied for women's voting rights in Florida and founded local chapters of the Red Cross and Campfire Girls, all while hosting Seminole families in her home.
  
  
• The house's original cistern, hidden beneath the floorboards, caught rainwater for the family— a clever backwoods hack that kept them hydrated through dry spells.
  
  
• Frank's trading post bartered everything from alligator hides to Seminole embroidery; one ledger entry notes a swap of a shotgun for a panther skin, sealing deals with nothing but a handshake.
  
  
• After Frank's death, Ivy turned the downstairs into a speakeasy during Prohibition, serving "medicinal" tonics to flappers and fishermen alike under the nose of the law.
  
  
• The Stranahan House survived two hurricanes in 1926 by sheer luck. Its sturdy balloon-frame construction flexed like a palm in the gale, while other buildings crumbled.

WEBSITE FOR STRANAHAN HOUSE

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