The city built to house the servants of grand hotels
In short: Before it was a bustling hub of the Miami metropolitan area, West Palm Beach was a planned community. Conceived by industrialist Henry Flagler in 1893, its original purpose was far more utilitarian: providing housing for the staff working in the opulent hotels of nearby Palm Beach.
The origins of West Palm Beach are tied to the expansion of the Florida East Coast Railway. In 1893, Henry Flagler platted the area as a residential site for the workers of the grand hotels located across the Lake Worth Lagoon on the adjacent barrier island. To secure the original town site, which stretched from Clear Lake to Lake and Lake Worth, Flagler paid settlers Captain Porter and Louie Hillhouse a combined $45,000.
The area's early identity was defined by agriculture and industry. Settlers in the late 1870s and 1880s, known as the Lake Worth Country community, focused on shipping tropical fruits and vegetables north. By 1890, the small settlement included a post office, a church, and the 'Cocoanut House' hotel. The city was officially incorporated on November 5, 1894, making it the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida and predating Miami's incorporation by two years.
The city's landscape has been shaped by both booms and disasters. The 1920s Florida land boom saw the population quadruple between 1920 and 1927, bringing Mediterranean Revival and Mission-style architecture to neighborhoods like El Cid and Flamingo Park. However, the era was interrupted by the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane and the Great Depression. Later, the presence of the Palm Beach Air Force Base during World War II brought thousands of military personnel, helping the city recover and eventually expand westward as drainage and air conditioning made year-round tropical living more viable.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: West Palm Beach, Florida
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