Overview

Come along with me and let's take an imaginary walking tour through the historic Walter E. Peele Dixie Water Treatment Plant, located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Originally built in 1926, Dixie, became more than just a water filtration plant for our community. The city fathers wanted their fair share of the 1920s Florida Land Boom money that was flowing into south Florida. To get it, they knew that they were going to have to make a statement if they planned on competing with neighboring Miami/Dade County. Who was already years ahead in having a modern infrastructure, etc. in place. Dixie, along with the Fort Lauderdale Golf and Country Club's clubhouse, which was built during the same year, became that statement. Dixie wore many hats during her 82 years of producing safe drinking water for our citizens. The many roles that she played during her lifetime, are discussed throughout the tour. Along with the architecture, engineering, and working aspects of the plant. I've also interjected many fun and interesting childhood stories about Dixie, etc. throughout the book, from the days spent with my father Carroll G. Hage. He too was an important part of Dixie's history, and of our community. Having been shut down in 2008, and replaced by a new and modern plant, today Dixie quietly stands as a testimony to our city's history. This is the first book written that provides as much detail about the plant, and other notable locations within Fort Lauderdale pertinent to the history of our city.

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9781535611466

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The author is no stranger to the Walter E. Peele Dixie Water Treatment Plant located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Born in 1956 as the son of then Plant Supervisor Carroll G. Hage, that as a child, Gary was fortunate enough to be able to make Dixie his own special playground. On many days after school, his mother would drop him off at the plant to hang out with his father for the afternoon. During the course of time that Gary was there, his father taught him all about how Dixie worked and how to operate portions of the plant. Once graduating from Fort Lauderdale High School in 1974, the author took a janitorial position in the City of Fort Lauderdale's Utilities Department, followed by working there as an assistant storekeeper, maintenance worker on a sewer crew, and finally moving into the Utilities Engineering Division as a draftsman. Thus, beginning his career in both municipal water and wastewater systems maintenance and design. He continued working in that field after moving to Ocala, Florida in 1978 to raise and train his Quarter Horses and Arabian Horses on his father's ranch. Then in 1995, Gary chose a new career as a cross country truck driver, first as a company driver before owning and operating his own specialized trucking company for fifteen years with his wife. It was this career (and his wife) that first inspired the author to begin writing and publishing books. Today, although battling stage four Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the, skin, neck, and throat, the author is enjoying his life's dream of living fulltime in his RV with his wife and little Boston Terrier named Abby. Together they manage a state-owned trailhead and campground located on the Cross Florida Greenway, (formally known as the historic Cross Florida Barge Canal project) as fulltime live-on campground host. He continues to write in his spare time and has several books in various stages of completion.

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