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100 Years

Rogers, Morris & Zeigler LLP

In this historic 1925 photo of an emerging downtown Fort Lauderdale, the first Andrews Avenue Bridge, lower left, divides the city to the east and west. The tallest building to
the right is the former Hotel Broward. The Wheeler Building, site of the original Rogers & Morris law firm, is among the two-story buildings just across the New River and to the
left of Andrews Avenue. (Photo Courtesy History Fort Lauderdale)

Fort Lauderdale Law Firm with Historic Ties to Rio Vista

Celebrates 100-Year Anniversary of its 1925 Founding

xactly 100 years ago, two youthful Fort Lauderdale 1926 Hurricane and Real Estate Crash
pioneers, both 1910 graduates of Mercer University Law
ESchool in Macon, Georgia, met by chance on the newly- Inspire the Homestead Exemption Act
created streets of a fledgling downtown Fort Lauderdale. And The partners’ early commitment to Fort Lauderdale survived
the rest, as they say, is history. its first big test when the September, 1926 hurricane leveled

The year was 1925 and law school classmates Dwight Laing much of downtown Fort Lauderdale on a destructive path that
Rogers and John Edward Morris ran into each other in front of killed hundreds in South Florida and in towns around Lake
the Hotel Broward. It was Fort Lauderdale’s first hotel and had Okeechobee. Both the hurricane and resulting real estate
opened six years earlier at the then-bustling corner of Andrews crash pushed the entire region into an economic tailspin, well
Avenue and Las Olas Boulevard. ahead of the Great Depression.

Both Rogers and Morris had left their South Georgia Rogers witnessed the Depression-era struggles of his associates
hometowns and their emerging law practices to join the and friends, many of whom lost their livelihoods and even their
1920s land rush to South Florida. The two early transplants homes. During the height of the Depression, in 1931, the 45-
soon established a partnership, and in November of 1925, year old Rogers ran for and won a seat in the Florida House
they opened a law firm in the Wheeler Building on Wall of Representatives. He became known as the father and author
Street, one block north of the New River and just west of of the Homestead Exemption Act, which he sponsored in the
Andrews Avenue. Florida House to help prevent more Floridians from losing their
homes. The bill passed through the Legislature and was put on
The startup law firm, Rogers & Morris, was named based on the state ballot as a Constitutional Amendment in 1934, when
a coin flip that Rogers won to see which name would go first. it passed overwhelmingly and went into effect in 1935.
It was one of the area’s earliest law practices and is now the
oldest law firm founded in Fort Lauderdale. In 1944, Rogers ran for U.S. Congress and won the election
to represent a newly-created South Florida Congressional

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