family sold of undeveloped land west of University Drive (originally named Annapu Road) at approximately $3,000 per acre to the Gulfstream Land Development Company, led by president John H. Cleary. The land is purchased for development of the Jacaranda community, the intent of which was to build an equivalent to Coral Gables in Broward County. Other expansions during this time included Plantation Elementary School in 1965, The Florida Air Academy in 1969, Plantation High School (the city's first high school) and Plantation General Hospital (at the time, a 264-bed hospital) in 1966, and a facility for the telecommunications company Motorola in 1969. The city's population reached 23,523 by 1970, and in 1972, a $1.03 million construction bid was accepted for a new city hall, alongside groundbreaking for construction of the Deicke Auditorium. Plantation Acres (which is designated a Special Public Interest Rural District to protect the natural landscape) and Melaleuca Isles were annexed into Plantation in 1973. Deicke Auditorium and the new Plantation City Hall were dedicated in May and December of that year respectively. Also in 1973, the Gulfstream consortium acquired the remaining land from the Peters family holdings. Moving away from Plantation's original rural direction, Gulfstream instead targeted commercial, industrial and home office establishments, beginning agreements with Motorola, American Express, and those who would build the Broward Mall. The Plantation Historical Society was founded the following year by Genevieve Veltri, Dorothy O'Hare, Lois Brickhouse, and Marilyn King, with their first meeting held in the Veltri home, and Veltri elected as the first president. Frank Veltri was elected as the city's mayor for first time in 1975. Veltri became the city's longest-serving mayor, completing six terms over 24 years. That same year, the financial services company, American Express moved its 'Southern Region Operations Center' to a newly constructed building in Plantation, beginning with 1,000 employees. During the US bicentennial celebration in 1976, a 45-foot oak tree was planted in Plantation's Fifth Street Park to represent the Liberty Tree. The park was renamed to Liberty Tree Park as a result. In 1977, the city and Broward County jointly acquired land which was previously a part of the Peters family farm, and began work on the Plantation Heritage Park, using a grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Broward Mall opened in 1978, on what had previously been cow pasture land. At the time, it was the largest mall