Port Everglades is an artificial harbor that got off to a somewhat inauspicious start. A developer named Joseph Young purchased 1440 acres in the 1920s for the Hollywood Harbor Development Company. President Calvin Coolidge was brought to Ft. Lauderdale on February 28, 1927, and asked to press the explosion detonator to open the harbor. Thousands gathered to watch the show. Unfortunately, he pushed the detonator and nothing happened! The harbor was unceremoniously opened later that day, and the new seaport was named Port Everglades in 1930 after a naming contest was held.