Wilton Manors

Wilton Manors is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,632. Wilton Manors is part of the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010 census.HistoryIn the early twentieth century the area now known as Wilton Manors was known as Colohatchee. A train stop along the Florida East Coast Railroad near the current NE 24th Street shared that name. The name Wilton Manors was coined in 1925 by Ned Willingham, a Georgia transplant and land developer. Wilton Manors was incorporated in 1947.The city is home to a sizable LGBT population as well as winter vacationers, who frequent its many nightclubs and gay-owned businesses along the main street, Wilton Drive; the 2010 U.S. Census reported that it is second only to Provincetown, Massachusetts in the proportion (15%) of gay couples relative to the total population (couples as reported to the U.S. Census). It contains a large Pride center, the World AIDS Museum and Educational Center, and a branch of the Stonewall National Museum & Archives, whose main facility is in neighboring Fort Lauderdale. The mayor, Gary Resnick, refers on his official biography to his male partner. While most of the gay guesthouses are to be found in neighboring Fort Lauderdale, a growing number are being established in Wilton Manors. A city web page highlights LGBT life in Wilton Manors, stating that "the City of Wilton Manors Police Department conducts police training that is geared toward working with the City’s LGBT population and has gay and lesbian officers amongst its ranks." All members of the city commission are LGBT, with the exception of Vice Mayor Scott Newton.