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Palms West Monthly • May 2021 • Page 1
WELLINGTON • ROYAL PALM BEACH • WEST PALM BEACH • LOXAHATCHEE GROVES • THE ACREAGE Volume 11, Number 5
South Florida Fair returns to the Fairgrounds PAGE 11
PalmsWestMonthly.com
FREE • May 2021
The history of our Palms West communities
Palm Beach SuperCar Week Atlantic awards displays automotive scholarships technology and
Palm Beach Atlantic University design has awarded four of its seniors SuperCar Week, rescheduled the school’s annual Women from January due to COVID, of Distinction scholarships, displays speedofand includingautomotive Maria Landron design at SuperCar Sunday in Royal Palm Beach. West PAGEPalm 5 Beach.
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Photo by Village of Wellington
Aerial view from 1975 of the 150-acre Lake Wellington development and surrounding residential neighborhoods. By CLARA JENNISON Palms West Monthly
Dramaworks Dinosaur Revolution announces comes to the ‘Young South Playwrights’ Florida Science Center winners The summer exhibit, Dinosaur
Revolution into the South Palm Beachroars Dramaworks has Florida Science Center. Findof the announced its 10 winners out howPlaywrights to “live large” at this Young 10-Minute 2,500 square-foot exhibit inplay the Play Contest. Each winning Center’s main hall. will be read byexhibit a professional actor on12 March 24. PAGE
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If you live west of West Palm Beach, it’s not hard to recognize how new it all is. Fresh paint, unworn infrastructure, and well-kept lawns are all part of the present landscape. We usually get caught up in the day-to-day and don’t look back at what we came from. We overlook what got us here. Today we’re going to take a break from the present and go on a ride through our local history.
Before the Railroad, 1853
If you went back in time to 1860, you wouldn’t find much in Palm Beach County. Left mostly untouched by the Spanish, Palm Beach didn’t have much besides fruit farms and untouched wilderness. In 1853, the Jupiter Lighthouse was commissioned by Congress and assigned to Lt. George Meade of the U.S. Army Corp
Lesly S. Smith Pet Volunteers help Adoption distributeCenter PPE to opens new facility area non-profits
Peggy Animal Rescue ClinicsAdams Can Help and United League opens new Pet Adoption Way joined forces with dozens Center with a ribbon cutting of area volunteers recently to celebration. Learn more about give away $350,000 worth of this state-of-the-art facility. personal protective equipment.
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Industrialist Henry M. Flagler
Photo by Getty Images
of Engineers. The designated 61.5-acre site was strategically located at the junction of the Indian River and Jupiter Inlet. The project was finally completed in 1860 by civilian Edward Yorke. But during the Civil War, Confederate sympathizers extinguished the light, which remained dark throughout the war. The lighthouse was relit in 1866 and has been used ever since.
Henry M. Flagler, 1892
In comes Henry M. Flagler and his railroad adventures. Flagler was an industrialist and most known for his role as partner in Standard Oil, along with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews. In hopes that the warm Florida air would help his ailing wife, Flagler first traveled to Northern Florida in 1881. After his first wife died, Flagler remarried and moved to St. Augustine. From there he decided to continue the construction of his railroad southward. The State of Florida provided Flagler 3,840 acres per mile to develop his railroad from St. Augustine to West Palm Beach. Once he arrived in what is today Palm Beach County, Flagler built the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Lake Worth and the Palm Beach Inn (The Breakers today) in West Palm Beach. Flagler intended for West Palm Beach to be the end of the line for his Florida East Coast Railway but there was a cold snap in the 1894-1895 winter. The freezing temperatures brought havoc on farming, so Flagler considered moving his terminus further south. Landowners along the 60-mile route further incentivized him with land to use for his track. In 1896, Flagler eventually made it to Biscayne Bay. Eventually, Flagler finished the project by extending it all the way down to Key West. Flagler ended up spending about $50 million on his railroads and hotels. In doing so, Flagler and his Florida East Coast Railway forever changed the landscape of Palm Beach County and the State of Florida.
Western Communities Established, 1902
As Palm Beach and West Palm Beach started to boom and expand, burn down a bit, rebuild, and expand some more, the western communities did something entirely different. They wouldn’t “boom” for many years. So, what happened between then and now? Loxahatchee Groves is the oldest of the western Palm Beach County communities.
Photo By Getty Images
Jupiter Lighthouse at the junction of the Indian River and the Jupiter Inlet
This community was part of a two million acres land purchase by Southern States Land and Timber Company in 1902. At that time, they paid only 25 cents per acre. Once this company controlled the 3,125 square miles of land, they needed a plan. George F. Bensel, the manager and later president of the company, liked the idea of developing a farming community. He set the idea to the company’s engineer, T.G. Thorgesen. Together they spent the next three years developing, and eventually producing, the first map ever of Loxahatchee Groves. HISTORY OF PALMS WEST / PAGE 5