Pompano Beach, Florida, United States

🇺🇸 Pompano Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Located 35 miles north of Miami, it is a principal city in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area.

Pompano Beach Airpark, located within the city, is the home of the Goodyear Blimp Spirit of Innovation.

History Its name is derived from the Florida Pompano (Trachinotus carolinus), a fish found off the Atlantic coast.

There had been scattered settlers in the area since at least the mid-1880s, but the first documented permanent residents of the Pompano area were George Butler and Frank Sheen and their families, who arrived in 1896 as railway employees. The first train arrived in the small Pompano settlement on February 22, 1896. It is said that Sheen gave the community its name after jotting down on his survey of the area the name of the fish he had for dinner. The coming of the railroad led to development farther west from the coast. In 1906, Pompano became the southernmost settlement in newly-created Palm Beach County. That year, the Hillsboro Lighthouse was completed on the beach.

On July 3, 1908, a new municipality was incorporated in what was then Dade County: the Town of Pompano. John R. Mizell was elected the first mayor. In 1915, Broward County was established, with a northern boundary at the Hillsboro Canal. Thus, within eight years, Pompano had been in three counties. Pompano Beach experienced significant growth during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. In 1940, the U.S. Supreme Court disallowed forced confessions in Chambers v. Florida, a dispute stemming from a murder in Pompano Beach.

Following the population boom due to World War II, in 1947, the City of Pompano merged with the newly-formed municipality on the beach and became the City of Pompano Beach. In 1950, the population of the city reached 5,682. Like most of south-east Florida, Pompano Beach experienced great growth in the late 20th century as many people moved there from northern parts of the United States. A substantial seasonal population also spends its winters in the area. The city of Pompano Beach celebrated its centennial in 2008.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.4 square miles (65.8 km²), of which 24.0 square miles (62.2 km²) is land and 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²), or 5.54%, is water.

A 2017 study showed 73,000 residents living within FEMA's coastal floodplain.

Pompano Beach is in north-eastern Broward County along the Atlantic Ocean. It includes about 3 miles (5 km) of beachfront, extending from the intersection of State Road A1A and Terra Mar Drive to the Hillsboro Inlet. The city is bounded by the following municipalities: On its northeast: • Hillsboro Beach • Lighthouse Point

On its north: • Deerfield Beach

On its west: • Coconut Creek

On its southwest: • Margate • North Lauderdale

On its south: • Fort Lauderdale

On its southeast: • Lauderdale-by-the-Sea

Neighborhoods These are the neighborhoods and communities that are officially recognised by the City of Pompano Beach. • Andrews Industrial District • Arvida-Pompano Park • Avalon Harbor • Avondale • Beach • Blanche Ely • Boulevard Park • Canal Point • Civic Campus • Collier City • Cresthaven • Cypress Bend • Cypress Cove • Cypress Lakes • Downtown Pompano Beach • Garden Isles • Gardens • Golfview Estates • Harbor Village • Highlands • Hillsboro Shores • Island Club • John Knox Village • Kendall Green • Leisureville • Liberty Park • Loch Lomond • Lyons Park • Northwest Pompano • Old Collier • Old Pompano • Palm Aire • Pine Tree Park • Pompano Airpark • Sanders Park • Santa Barbara Estates • Santa Barbara Shores • Snug Harbor • South Dixie • Terra Mar.

Economy In recent years, an effort to rejuvenate rundown areas near the city's beach has gained momentum and has stimulated a multibillion-dollar building boom. Community redevelopment agencies were established for the East Atlantic/Beach corridor, as well as for the old downtown and Hammondville/Martin Luther King Jr. corridor.

Largest employers Companies based in Pompano Beach include Associated Grocers of Florida. Nonprofits include Cross International. Among he largest employers in the city are: Pompano Park; City of Pompano Beach; Broward County Sheriff's Office; Walmart; Publix; Aetna Rx Home Delivery; Point Blank Solutions; Associated Grocers of Florida; Pompano Masonry; FreshPoint.

Events Pompano Beach holds several annual cultural events including the Pompano Beach Seafood Festival, St. Patrick's Irish Festival, St. Coleman's Italian Festival, the Pompano Beach Holiday Boat Parade, The Holiday Yuletide Parade, The Annual Nautical Flea Market at Pompano Community Park & Amphitheater, and The Annual Blues and Sweet Potato Pie "Juneteenth" Festival.

Culture: Museums The Kester Cottages (the Pompano Beach Historical Museum), Blanche Ely House Museum, Meridian Gallery, The Historic Ali Cultural Arts Center, Bailey Contemporary Arts, and Pompano Beach Art Gallery are located in the city. Two theatres in the area include Curtain Call Playhouse and Poet Productions. There are two malls in Pompano Beach. The first is Festival Flea Market Mall, which houses booths and kiosks selling jewellery, electronics, and clothing. The other, Pompano Citi Centre, is an open-air mall.

Sport Pompano Beach Municipal Golf Course has two 18-hole courses, the Palms, and the Pines, which opened in 2013.

Parks and recreation Parks include Pompano Beach Community Park, Kester Park, Cresthaven Park, Harbors Edge Park, and Scott Meyers Memorial Park. Fern Forest Nature Center is just across the Coconut Creek city boundary.

Pompano Beach Community Park features an aquatic centre, pickleball courts, basketball courts, soccer fields, jogging paths, and baseball fields. Prior to 2008, this park was the location of the Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium, which served as the spring training camp for the Washington Senators from 1961 to 1971 and the Texas Rangers from 1972 through 1986.

Media Pompano Beach is a part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood media market, which is the twelfth-largest radio market and the seventeenth-largest television market in the United States. Its primary daily newspapers are the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Miami Herald, and their Spanish-language counterparts El Sentinel and El Nuevo Herald. Local Pompano-based media includes The Pompano Pelican, the longtime local weekly newspaper; the Deerfield-Pompano Beach Forum, published by the Sun-Sentinel Company; Pompano Post Community Newspaper and PompanoFun.com, a website focusing on local entertainment and events; and television program Today in Pompano.

Transport The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority has its headquarters in Pompano Beach, located next to the Pompano Beach Tri-Rail station.

In addition to Tri-Rail, Pompano Beach is also served by several bus routes operated by Broward County Transit. Two major transfer points are the Northeast Transit Center and Pompano Citi Centre.