The Pompano Beach city commission elected in 1967 represented a break from the past. It was the first commission composed entirely of individuals who could not claim any connection to a Pompano pioneer family. It was the culmination of a trend that had been developing over the previous elections.

The six commissioners were Edward J. Stack (Mayor), Robert C. Fuller (Vice Mayor), William Pelski, William J. Alsdorf and George Fivek.

All had arrived in Pompano Beach fairly recently. In fact, except for Mayor Stack, records indicate that none of the other commissioners had lived in Pompano Beach for more than ten years.

William J. Alsdorf, who was elected to the Pompano Beach City Commission in 1967 and died in office on November 22, 1978, was a colorful individual who provided newspaper reporters with plenty of material for their stories:

The Pompano Beach Commission flew en masse to Tallahassee to push for its pollution control bill that eventually became law. But it was in the trip to the capital, not during the lobbying, that the commissioners lost their cool.

Vice Mayor William Alsdorf, was at the controls of the Commanche twin-engine, just before arriving in Tallahassee, when the plane dropped nearly 2,000 feet after Alsdorf was told by the pilot to "get the plane through a hole in the clouds."

Alsdorf earned the nickname "The Red Baron" from fellow commissioners, who felt the drop was a bit rough on their stomachs and on their composure.

"You never saw such a bunch of grownup men screaming for their lives. Shame on you," responded the vice mayor.

This incident probably took place in 1970; the account was found in an undated and unsourced clipping in the Historical Society files.

From an undated newspaper clipping found in the files of the Historical Society:

Since irascible [Pompano Beach] Vice Mayor William Alsdorf is often quick tempered and shockingly honest in what he feels and says, he put up [a] sign during yesterday's budget meeting to remind himself to watch his tongue.

Although the "no profanity" sign went up, it was disregarded a few times during the day-long session as commissioners entered the final week of budget reviews under quite a bit of pressure, because there is still much work to be done in order to balance the balance sheet.

Alsdorf is giving commissioners free reign today. He took the sign down.

It is not clear what newspaper the excerpt above came from, but it was probably published in 1969 or 1970.

The Pompano Beach Air Park received a major expansion in 1969 when Sunstream Aviation added about half-a-million dollars in new facilities to the airport.

A new terminal building was constructed at the cost of $150,000. Other improvements included hangers for 10 aircraft and a new maintenance building.

Sunstream won the bidding to operate the Air Park, taking over from Gulfstream Aviation, the previous operator.

Also, at this time the city made investments at the Air Park, including renovations to the runways and improvements in lighting.

During the early days of farming in Pompano, the price a farmer received for produce could vary widely from year to year.

In the best year, a farmer could get as much as $7.00 a hamper for beans. When the market was down, the price could drop as low as $1.00 a hamper, which hardly paid the cost of production. Most years the price was somewhere between three and four dollars.

A farmer could anticipate harvesting around 125 hampers an acre, although the yield could go much higher under optimum conditions.

Farmers expected to harvest three crops of beans during the growing season.

The final edition of the Pompano Beach Town News came off the press on Saturday, April 20, 1963. The newspaper had been bought by the Gore Publishing Company, which owned the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel.

Managing Editor Ed Seney wrote the newspaper's farewell:

This is the last edition of the Town News.

We could express ourselves in many ways on this page about the end of a newspaper.

But instead we decided upon no tears and no sour grapes.

No one is to blame except economics.

For 13 years this newspaper has served the community as a local paper, both as a weekly and a daily. It was founded by a young woman named Doris Klein. It was then owned by Ted Spurr, Fran Zent and until the present, The Peoria Journal Star.

In its 13 years of existence it has published a library of news about the community. Anyone who is lucky enough to have a complete file of those 13 years has a valuable history of the area.

In the past few years as a daily it has tried to do a monumental task of reporting and reflecting the area with a news staff that wasn't always as large as we hoped it might be.

The people here who wrote the news, sold the ads, put the paper together, handled he finances, printed and circulated it have done so with a spirit that doesn't often come together in any one organization.

To put it simply, we had a lot of esprit de corps.

And we have made friends. We have personal friends and business friends who have expressed their friendship to us.

And, of course, a few enemies. A newspaper is not worth its salt unless it makes a few enemies.

It has been a wonderful experience. We hope we have served the community in the way we intended.

And don't blame anybody.

Just economics.

The Town News' offices and printing facilities were located at 24 NE 24th Avenue.

Among the local accomplishments that the Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce noted for 1955-1956 was:

Most of our mangrove lowlands is now cleared and built up in finger islands which provide much desired waterfront homes and make this area a boatman's paradise. This has also eliminated the breeding areas of the salt marsh mosquito and sand fly. During the past two years we have had very little complaint from this source.

At 9:00 PM on December 16, 1942, Broward County went dark. The cause was a one-hour blackout drill ordered by the U.S. Army's interceptor command.

Other than essential services such as railway trains, aircraft beacons and emergency vehicles, local residents were required to extinguish all lights in their homes and businesses and were to park their cars alongside the road with the headlights off during the blackout. Outdoor smoking was prohibited as was the lighting of matches.

Churches that held Wednesday evening services were asked to be done early enough that those attending could be home before the blackout began.

The 1956-57 and 1957-58 agrcultural seasons were not good for local farmers. Gross receipts at the Pompano State Farmers Market dropped both years: by about five percent in the former and fifteen percent in the latter.

It was reported that agricultural losses in the first months of 1958 were the worst on record, with the crops dealt a double blow from freezing weather and heavy rains. Some farmers were ruined, but others were able to recoup some of their losses by replanting.

Because of the scarcity of winter vegetables, the late crops were able to command a premium price.

The Lyons Park subdivision was developed in the mid-1950s by the Mar Building Corporation and was one of the first large residential projects south of Atlantic Boulevard.

It featured two and three-bedroom houses, with modern kitchens and baths, that sold from about $12,000. One of the company's selling points was that all houses in Lyons Park were connected to sewers (no septic tanks).

Joe Hudins, president of the Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce, in the organization's monthly newsletter

At this writing, we are especially pleased to comment on action that has been started by our City Commission on slum clearance. If there is any one thing our Chamber should get behind, it is certainly this project. The condition of our colored area has been our Number One eyesore for some time, but it has been brought to the attention of many of us recently with the opening of the new Sunshine State Parkway which has routed traffic through the heart of this area, a first view of our city through discolored lens.

None of us quite appreciate, though, all the many problems involved in clearing up a situation like this, and we know it takes courage on the part of elected officials to take on this problem. I feel certain that the problem will now be licked and we can look forward to a happier, healthier situation in the future. We hope that our members will get behind this project and we wish to take this opportunity to offer the services of the Chamber to further expedite this move.

The Sea Bean, September, 1957.

During the floods of 1947 it was estimated that over 2,000 acres of vegetable crops were destroyed and over 3,000 cattle and calves were drowned in the Pompano Beach-Deerfield Beach region.

The 1945 Southern Bell local telephone book had less than two pages of listings for Pompano and the immediate surrounding area, and one page of instructions for making a call:

On all calls, remove the receiver carefully from the hook and listen for the dial tone before starting to dial a number. The dial tone is a steady humming sound heard in the telephone receiver indicating that the line is ready for you to dial.

When you hear the dial tone, keep the receiver off the hook and dial each figure of the telephone number. For example, if you are calling 2341, proceed as follows:
1. Place your finger in the opening over the figure"2."
2. Turn the dial around until your finger strikes finger stop.
3. Remove your finger and without touching the dial allow it to return to its normal position.
4. Proceed in the same way to dial the other figures.

If your finger slips, or you make a mistake in dialing, hang up the receiver at once, wait a few seconds and dial again. Before starting to dial a second call, always hang up your receiver for a few seconds in order to clear the previous connection.

Within a few seconds after you have completed dialing, you should hear either the ringing signal, an intermittent burr-rr-ing sound, indicating that the bell of the called line is ringing, or the busy signal, a rapid buzz-buzz-buzz, indicating that the called line is busy.

If you do not hear either of these signals within half a minute, hang up the receiver, wait a few seconds and make another attempt.

Pompano had switched over to automatic dial phones in 1931; prior to that it was necessary to connect with an operator to place a call. Still, even in 1945, many families were, or were about to, acquire their first home phone.

Over seventy pieces of artwork featuring lighthouses will be on display on August 6th, at Pompano Beach's Herb Skolnick Center (800 SW 36th Avenue) and on August 7th, at the E. Pat Larkins Center (520 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). The exhibits will contain different works at each venue.

The receptions are open to the public from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at each site. Light refreshments will be served.

On both evenings Hillsboro Lighthouse Preservation Society will offer a power-point presentation showing the upcoming tour (August 16)of the Hillsboro Lighthouse and its grounds .

These two exhibits are part of the Pompano Beach Centennial Celebration.

Between 1920 and 1930, Pompano's population expanded by over 400 percent (from 635 to 2614). After 1930, the city lost population -- it would not pass its 1930 census count until 1950, when that year's census showed 5,682 residents.