Monochromatic depiction of the city's first official seal, used from 1963 to 1991.
In the early 1960s a young developer namedKen Behring came from theMidwest and bought land where he could, creating anactive adult community of two-bedroom maintenance-free homes. He called his new city Tamarac, named after the nearby Tamarac Country Club inOakland Park.[6]
In 1963, Behring built and Jesse Pilch sold the city's first development east ofState Road 7, Tamarac Lakes Section One and Section Two. Next came homes built on a former orange grove called Tamarac Lakes North and Tamarac Lakes Boulevard. Four of Behring's last developments were Tamarac Lakes South, then the Mainlands of Tamarac Lakes just west of State Road 7, and finally the Woodlands community.[7]
The city's early leaders, hoping to preserve Tamarac as a bedroom community, allowedFort Lauderdale to annex commercial pockets, forever losing land that might have bolstered the city's coffers. In the late 1970s, the city de-annexed a long line of commercial buildings from State Road 7 all the way to Northwest 31 Avenue, but it went along with Behring's vision of Tamarac as a bedroom community. The boundaries were wherever Behring decided to build homes. The city's current eastern boundaries narrow to a sliver from Northwest 31 to 37 Avenues, then widen to the south. The city's easternmost boundary extends belowCommercial Boulevard to Northwest 16 Avenue.[8] City officials had once considered revising their east city limit lines to ensure efficient delivery of government services.[9]
Behring also named a subdivision he built in thePinellas Park area, the "Mainlands of Tamarac By-the-Gulf".
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.1 square miles (31.3 km2), of which 11.6 square miles (30.1 km2) is land and 0.46 square miles (1.2 km2) is water (3.92%).[11]
In 2000, the city the population was spread out, with 13.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.5% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 37.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 53 years. For every 100 females, there were 80.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.3 males.
As of 2000, 15.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.8% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.6% were non-families. 36.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 23.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.56.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $34,290, and the median income for a family was $41,927. Males had a median income of $32,317 versus $28,360 for females. Theper capita income for the city was $22,243. About 6.1% of families and 8.9% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 13.5% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.
Over the years, themulticultural population has expanded in Tamarac, such as people fromLatin American andCaribbeanancestry. As of 2000, Tamarac was the fifty-first-mostColombian-populated area in the U.S., with 2.74% of the population.[19] It also had the thirty-second-highest percentage ofJamaicans in the U.S., (tied withRoyal Palm Beach andGoulds) at 4.1% of all residents.[20]
Other elementary schools serving sections of Tamarac include Discovery Elementary School (Sunrise),[24] Pinewood Elementary School (North Lauderdale),[25] Park Lakes Elementary School (Lauderdale Lakes),[26] Oriole Elementary School (Lauderdale Lakes),[27] and Lloyd Estates Elementary School (Oakland Park).[28]
Millennium 6–12 Collegiate Academy is the sole public secondary school in Tamarac; it was previously only a middle school, but its high school began operations in 2017.[29] Tamarac has a middle school attendance zone serving the majority of the city (sections of the city limits west of NW 81 Avenue). High school students are not zoned to Tamarac; preference is given to those who attended Millennium middle, and those wishing to attend the high school must be eligible for dual-enrollment withBroward College.[30] Other sections are served by Silver Lakes Middle School in North Lauderdale,[31] Lauderdale Lakes Middle School inLauderdale Lakes.[32] and James S. Rickards Middle School inOakland Park.[33]
^"Boyd H. Anderson." Broward County Public Schools. Retrieved on September 27, 2018.
^"Northeast High." Broward County Public Schools. Retrieved on September 27, 2018.
^"Saint Malachy". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami. December 30, 2003. Archived fromthe original on December 30, 2003. RetrievedMay 9, 2020.7595 NW 61st Street Tamarac, Florida 33321