December 31, 1941, the Florida Board of Forestry and Parks obtained the title to what became Hugh Taylor Birch State Park.
In 1893, Chicago attorney Hugh Taylor Birch came to South Florida in search of a secluded area for his home. He settled in the small Fort Lauderdale village that included a store, a few houses and the old Army Post remains. Purchasing ocean-front property for about a dollar per acre, he eventually owned a 3.5-mile stretch of beachfront.
In 1940, at age 90, he built his Art Deco-style home, calling his 180-acre estate Terramar or ‘land to the sea.’ Wishing to preserve his subtropical paradise from encroaching development, Birch donated his estate as a public park. On December 31, 1941, the Florida Board of Forestry and Parks obtained the title to what became Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. It is now a barrier island of trees and greenery in the middle of urban Fort Lauderdale located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, and is one of the city’s most distinctive feature frequently compared to Central Park, also an island of peaceful green vegetation in the midst of a bustling city.
