Rotonda, Florida

History

The land was first part of a large cattle ranch owned by brothers William and Alfred Vanderbilt, direct descendants of Cornelius Vanderbilt. They purchased the land in 1952 and sold a portion in 1969 that became Rotonda West. The development of Rotonda West began in 1970. The layout of Rotonda West mimics temporary World War II airfields in Southern Florida, laid out like a wagon wheel. The choice of the airfield layout as the pattern for Rotonda West gives it a flavor of Florida history, however there was no airfield at this location prior to development, while the format was used at many locations, such as Forman Field NOLF, a training site for new pilots. The circular pattern used a configuration of four 3,000 ft (914.4 m) paved runways, oriented along the cardinal directions of the compass, along with a circular taxiway running along the outer boundary of the runways. This allowed easier landing maneuvers of student pilots, before having to learn how to make crosswind landings. Forman NOLF is now the location of Nova Southeastern University at Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The circular nature of Rotonda West was developed after Walt Disney introduced his "City of Tomorrow" called EPCOT on national television October 27, 1966, two months before Disney's death.

This area was one of many in Florida hit by Hurricane Ian in September 2022.

From the History section of Rotonda West, Florida on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.