Lauderhill, FL

Cricket gives Lauderhill a public stage that few U.S. suburbs share. Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium occupies 110 acres near Sunrise Boulevard and State Road 7. Developed on a former municipal landfill, the complex began opening in phases in 2007. Its cricket ground was the first U.S. venue certified by the International Cricket Council, and the site has hosted international matches and Major League Cricket. Practice cages, playing fields, a water playground, walking routes, and event grounds broaden its use beyond match days. J’Ouvert celebrations, a Festival of Colors, and other large gatherings also use the grounds. In a city where Caribbean cultural events recur, the stadium turns a sport followed across the region into a visible part of the local calendar and places that activity beside one of Lauderhill’s busiest commercial corridors.

ATTRBob B. Brown / CC BY 2.0

The city began in 1959 on Broward County dairy land. Developer Herbert Sadkin established Lauderhill, and writer William Safire helped him arrive at a name that playfully paired “hill” with South Florida’s flat landscape. Some early houses drew from architect Andrew Geller’s Leisurama designs, marketed as packaged homes through Macy’s. Those plans grew from Geller’s work on the “Typical American House” displayed at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, giving an otherwise young subdivision an unexpected Cold War connection. The original development had few municipal facilities and cows still wandered nearby. Lauderhill’s early history survives in its street plan, mid-century houses, and a name created for a new suburban project.

ATTRBear and Bird Boutique + Gallery / CC BY-SA 2.0

Later development produced distinct eastern and western sections. State Road 7 serves the older eastern side, where Lauderhill Mall opened in 1966 and where Central Broward Park now concentrates major public venues. Farther west, Inverrary Country Club opened in 1970 as part of a large planned community; its East Course hosted the PGA Tour’s Jackie Gleason Inverrary Classic from 1972 through 1983. Residential construction spread through northwestern Lauderhill later in the 1970s, and Oakland Park Boulevard and University Drive became additional commercial references. These layers created several activity centers. Along NW 38th Avenue, the Commercial Arts & Entertainment District clusters restaurants, lounges, indoor soccer, and CRA pop-up shops near State Road 7. Daily destinations gather around the State Road 7 corridor, the civic complex near Oakland Park Boulevard, neighborhood shopping areas, and the broad residential landscape of Inverrary.

ATTRBob B. Brown / CC BY 2.0

The performing arts center and county library make Central Broward Park useful on days when no match is scheduled. Completed together, the complex combines a 1,200-seat theater with a 10,000-square-foot Broward County library branch. Lauderhill Performing Arts Center presents music, comedy, community forums, classes, and rehearsals; the Mayor’s Jazz Concert Series is a recurring part of its program. Jamaican Independence celebrations have also used the theater, while the stadium grounds host events requiring a much larger outdoor setting. The city’s Historical Museum, located at the footprint of the first City Hall in Wally Elfers Park, preserves photographs and artifacts from the dairy-land and early-subdivision years. In present-day Lauderhill, a library, concert stage, cricket oval, and festival field sit within the same public campus along Sunrise Boulevard.