More historic than 2% of U.S. towns · #608 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Pembroke Pines was built recently: 0.2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1949 on, and the census since 1960.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1960.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pembroke Pines’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pembroke Pines is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns, #608 of 638 in Florida. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pembroke Pines’ overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Pembroke Pines ranks #390 on History.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Pembroke Pines’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Pembroke Pines’ size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to D. The pre-1940 share (±0.2 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1956.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Pembroke Pines’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Pembroke Pines was officially incorporated on January 16, 1960. The city's name, Pembroke Pines, is traced back to Sir Edward J. Reed, a member of Britain's Parliament for the County of Pembroke from 1874 to 1880, who in 1882 formed the Florida Land and Mortgage Company to purchase from Hamilton Disston a total of 2 million acres of mostly swampland located throughout the southern Florida. A road through one of the tracts came to be known as Pembroke Road. When incorporating the city, Walter Smith Kipnis, the city's first mayor, suggested the name Pembroke Pines because of the pine trees growing near Pembroke Road.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pembroke Pines. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1949Fort Lauderdale South sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pembroke Pines.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewMiami-Hollywood-Racetrack-1985, 1985
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pembroke Pines’ page.
In 1956, according to Wikidata. Pembroke Pines’ post office opened in 1960, and the census of 1960 counted 1,429 people here.
How does Pembroke Pines rank for history?
Pembroke Pines is more historic than 2% of U.S. towns, #608 of 638 in Florida. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Pembroke Pines?
0.2% of Pembroke Pines’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1992.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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