Fort Lauderdale's oldest structure, built in 1901 by pioneer Frank Stranahan, who died by suicide in the adjacent New River in 1929
335 SE 6th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Self-guided tours from $13; check website for current pricing and hours
Access
Limited Access
Two-story historic structure; original staircase; limited accessibility
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1901 · Oldest surviving structure in Fort Lauderdale · National Register of Historic Places (1973) · Seminole trading history · Florida suffrage movement
Frank Stranahan arrived on the New River in 1893, initially managing a camp and ferry crossing at what was then a remote South Florida settlement. He established a trading relationship with the Seminole, earning a reputation for fair dealing, and by 1901 had built a two-story wood-frame structure on the riverbank. The lower floor functioned as a trading post; the upper floor served as a community gathering space for the settlement that would become Fort Lauderdale.
In 1899, Ivy Julia Cromartie arrived as the settlement's first paid schoolteacher, earning $48 a month for nine students. She and Frank married on August 16, 1900. After leaving formal teaching, Ivy conducted informal lessons for Seminole children at the trading post, and she later became president of the Florida Equal Suffrage Association in 1916. A 1906 renovation converted the upper floor into their private residence; indoor plumbing and electricity were added in subsequent years.
Frank Stranahan's finances collapsed during the 1926 Florida land bust. Deeply depressed and in declining health, he weighted himself and drowned in the New River in front of his home on May 22, 1929. He was 63. His funeral drew the entire city; schools and county offices closed for the service. Ivy survived him by nearly fifty years, remaining in the house until her death in 1971.
The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Fort Lauderdale acquired the property and restored it, opening the Stranahan House as a historic house museum in spring 1984. It is the oldest surviving structure in Fort Lauderdale.
Sources
The ghost lore at Stranahan House is inseparable from Frank Stranahan's documented death on May 22, 1929. The New River, still visible from the front of the house, is where he died; the proximity between the place of death and the place where he lived for nearly three decades gives the haunting narrative a geographic specificity that other Fort Lauderdale ghost sites lack.
Regional paranormal tour operators and travel writers have described as many as six resident presences in the house, including an entity attributed to Frank himself, and reports of window banging, cold drafts, and object movement on the second floor — the former residence. The museum, which has operated for more than forty years, has addressed these claims directly: staff attribute the window sounds to original single-pane casements reacting to river winds, the temperature variations to an uninsulated structure adjacent to water, and the object movements to the foot traffic of the roughly 20,000 annual visitors. No paranormal evidence has been validated during museum operations, and the museum has stated publicly it will not offer ghost tours.
The tension between the documented tragedy and the building's institutional position — a history museum that declines to sensationalize — makes Stranahan House an atypical entry on South Florida haunted-site lists. The dark history is real; what attaches to it remains disputed.
Notable Entities
Explore Fort Lauderdale's oldest surviving structure, a two-story wood-frame building that served as trading post, community hall, and residence for Frank and Ivy Stranahan from 1901 to 1929. Tours run most Tuesdays through Fridays at 1, 2, or 3 p.m. Advance booking recommended.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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