Five schools are found within the city limits -- Cooper City Elementary, Griffin Elementary, Embassy Creek Elementary, Pioneer Middle and Cooper City High. Each of the schools boasts relatively high scores in the various standardized tests given statewide and nationwide to measure achievement. Cooper City is just a few miles from the Davie educational complex that includes a community college, Nova University, the Police Training Academy and a branch of Florida Atlantic University.

There are three larger shopping centers in the city anchored by large supermarkets: Publix, Winn-Dixie and Albertsons. Each center is further populated with the typical retail mix of restaurants, pharmacies, banks, clothiers, videotape stores, jewelers, fast-food franchises, etc. Many smaller strips -- plus a WalMart -- are conveniently scattered throughout Cooper City with many more nearby.

A short drive south takes shoppers to the regional Pembroke Lakes Mall and all the big stores nearby. A few miles north, is Sawgrass Mills, a giant outlet mall that has become a popular destination for locals and tourists alike. Two hospitals are nearby in Pembroke Pines (just to the south of Cooper City), the area is heavily populated with physicians and medical service companies.

Broward County was formed from portions of Dade and Palm Beach Counties in 1915 and named for former Florida governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward. In less than a century, a land "unfit for human habitation" has been turned into the permanent home of over a million people and the winter residence of tens of thousands more.