Timeline 1513 – Juan Ponce de Leon claims Florida for Spain 1565 – St. Augustine is founded (under Spanish rule) 1696 – Jonathan Dickinson is shipwrecked near Jupiter Island
1763 – Feb. 10; Spain trades Florida to England for Cuba
1783 – England returns Florida to Spain for Bahamas 1795 – Spain establishes Florida’s current boundaries 1818 – First Seminole War occurs 1821 – Feb. 22; Spain sells Florida to U.S. for $5 million.
1824 – Mosquito County established; includes area of PBC.
1830 – First census has population of South Florida at 517
1835–1842 – Second Seminole War 1845 – Florida admitted to the Union as 27th state 1853–1856 – Third Seminole War 1861 – Florida secedes from U.S., joins Confederacy 1878 – The Providencia wrecks off the coast with its load of 20,000 coconuts; they were distributed and planted
From left: Marjorie Merriweather Post enters The Breakers with her escorts for the Red Cross Ball in 1971; dancing at the Everglades Club; Rose, Joe and Jacqueline Kennedy in Palm Beach
1885–1893 – 11 barefoot mailmen carried mail the 136 miles between Palm Beach and Cape Florida
1889 – First rail line in South Florida (the Celestial Railroad) born on July 4
win, and where they spent many winter vacations. The Kennedys went to Sunday mass at St. Edward Catholic Church, and Teddy and Rose were photographed shopping on Worth Avenue. When Joe Kennedy died in 1969, Teddy took over the estate. By the 1970s and 1980s, Rose Kennedy’s visits became infrequent, and the house began its long downhill slide. By 1991, when Patrick Kennedy Smith was accused of rape at the compound, the days of the dynasty were over.
LILLY PULITZER
EVERGLADES CLUB
Pulitzer blazed her trail in the 1960s with a highprofile marriage (and divorce) from Peter Pulitzer (yes, that Pulitzer). Her star, however, is more firmly affixed to her line of colorfully designed cotton print dresses, slacks, shorts and skirts. Pulitzer’s clothes became an instant hit as ladies from Palm Beach to the Hamptons began sporting her signature togs. In 1995, Pulitzer’s line was introduced to a new crop of Palm Beachers in a nostalgic re-launch that has become wildly successful over the past decade.
This is arguably the most exclusive—and oldest—club in Palm Beach, built in 1918 by Addison Mizner.
JESSE NEWMAN
GEORGE HAMILTON The son of society bandleader George “Spike” Hamilton (who also helped develop White Shoulders perfume) and Anne Stevens Potter Hamilton Hunt Spalding, the tan man is synonymous with the whitedinner-jacket charm of the privileged Palm Beach social scene. He spent part of his boyhood in Palm Beach and won an award for “best actor” in a Palm Beach High School contest.
Long known as “Mr. Palm Beach,” Newman started out as owner of The Prep Shop and The Lullabye Shop on Worth Avenue, but he soon came to be a central figure in Palm Beach business and society. In the early 1970s, he assumed the presidency of the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce, a post he held for 25 years. He was president of the Palm Beach Zoning Commission for 15 years; was on the Landmark Preservation Commission for six years; was a trustee of the Flagler Museum for 20 years and president of the Worth Avenue Association for
1893 – Henry Flagler, Standard Oil tycoon, declares Palm Beach a “veritable paradise”
1894 – Flagler’s Royal Poinciana Hotel is completed. It is the largest wooden structure in the world
1894 – Flagler’s railroad, FEC Railway arrives 1896 – Flagler opens the Palm Beach Inn, which becomes the Breakers in 1901
1907 – Telephone service established with 18 phones 1911 – Palm Beach incorporated 1913 – Henry Flagler dies in Palm Beach 1925 – First regular steamship at the Port of Palm Beach
1938 – Flagler Memorial Bridge opens 1959 – Royal Palm Bridge to Palm Beach opens 1976 – I-95 is completed from Miami to Palm Beach Gardens
1977 – First snow ever recorded 2011 – Town of Palm Beach turns 100 Source: Palm Beach Centennial Fund
WORTH AVENUE
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