The following historical facts and stories are arranged in alphabetical order by "subject" matter and the key subject is in bold type. For instance, the Flagler railroad car is under "R."
BY THE WAY! If you have some interesting Palm Beach history to add to my web-site, please send me an e-mail at palmbeachmalcolm@aol.com
BATH & TENNIS CLUB. The Bath & Tennis club, just across the street from Mar-a-Lago was built by financier E. F. Hutton to meet the social needs of his wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post (see Mar-a-Lago below).
Bath & Tennis Club.
BERNIE MADOFF. Here's some very recent Palm Beach History, this was the Bernie Madoff House. Bernie Madoff, as I am sure you know, was recently imprisoned for bilking unsuspecting investors out of billions of dollars. The house was originally built and occupied by Peter Pulitzer.
Bernie Madoff House
CARTIER. Cartier is the oldest jewelry store in Palm Beach. Worth Avenue is the home of many famous retailers, including Cartier. Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis Francois Cartier, and opened the first Palm Beach jewelry store in 1924.
COASTAL. No history here. Just a couple of great dogs. My dog Abbey (Border Collie) died in 1999. A month later friends of mine plucked Coastal out of the Intra-Coastal Waterway in Delray Beach in the middle of a rain storm. Having no identification (no tags, no computer chip), and unable to find her owner, after a couple of weeks my friends insisted I "rescue" Coastal. And the rest as they say is history. Coastal's official name is Delray Beach's Intra-Coastal...Coastal for short. God works in mysterious ways!
Abbey Coastal
DUCK'S NEST. In spite of what the sign says, Duck's Nest is the 2nd oldest residence n Palm Beach after Flagler's Seagull Cottage. Duck's Nest was built in 1891 by Henry Maddock whose descendants still own it. The home is located on the north end of the Island overlooking the Intra-Coastal Waterway and can be viewed from the Palm Beach bike trail.
THE EVERGLADES CLUB. The Everglades Club was founded by Paris Singer (of the sewing machine fortunes) in 1918, and is about as exclusive as clubs get. It's at the top of just about everybody's south Florida list. The membership is not published, and it's said to be "membered-up," meaning somebody has to have their will mature for a new member to get in.
KENNEDYS. 1095 North Ocean Boulevard served as the "Winter White House" during the John F. Kennedy administration. The original part of the house was designed by well known Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner in 1923, with additions designed by another famous Palm Beach architect, Maruice Fatio. Originally built for Rodman Wanamaker, a member of the Philadelphia family that owned department stores, the house was sold in 1933 to Joseph Kennedy as a family vacation home for $120,000. Totally renovated in the 1990s the home today is worth more than 100 times what Joe Kennedy paid.
1095 N. Ocean Blvd. ~ The Winter White House.
LAKE WORTH. Why is Lake Worth called a lake? Lake Worth was originally a fresh water lake and Palm Beach was not an island. It wasn't until A.O. Lang dug an inlet from the Ocean to the Lake in the late 1800s that the "island" of Palm Beach was created.
ESTEE LAUDER. That beautiful white home you see when you are forced to make a 90 degree left turn while driving north from the center of town on S. Ocean Blvd. is the former winter home of Estee Lauder, co-founder with her husband Joseph Lauder of Estee Lauder Cosmetics.
Estee Lauder Home
MAR-A-LAGO. Marjorie Merriweather Post (of the Post Cereal fortunes) spent $8 Million to create her very own Shangri-la, a 17-acre estate with a 100-plus-room mansion known as Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago of course means sea to lake, and Ms Post's property stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Worth. Donald Trump would later purchase Mar-a-Lago for $7 Million (furnishings included). Trump kept the Post social traditions alive by transforming Mar-a-Lago into a private club.
Mar-a-Lago
MILITARY TRAIL. Where did the name Military Trail come from? It was during the Seminole Indian War (1835 to 1842) in south Florida that the U.S. Army decided to build a road to transport military supplies from Fort Jupiter south to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Dallas (Miami). The Army had to go considerably west of the Ocean to find a contiguously dry piece of land on which to build this "military trail." Hence the name.
PALM BEACH. Why is it called Palm Beach? In 1878 the Providencia, a small Spanish brigantine, wrecked on the shores of Palm Beach(right about where the Bath & Tennis Club is located today) with its cargo of 20,000 cocoanuts. Early Palm Beach settlers rescued the cocoanuts and planted them all over the Island, thus creating an island of palm trees. It was this planting of cocoanuts and the resulting palm trees that gave Palm Beach its name. By the way, it can be spelled either way, cocoanut or coconut, although the Palm Beach street is spelled Cocoanut.
MORE PALM BEACH. As of 2000, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 10,468, with an estimated seasonal population of 30,000. As of 2004, the year-round population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 9,860. Palm Beach is approximately 14 miles long and 1/2 mile wide.
THE PALM BEACH HOTEL. The Palm Beach Hotel on Sunset Avenue in the north end of town came on to the scene in 1902 and was destroyed by fire in 1925. The current building was built in 1926 by the Maddock family. The Maddocks originally came from England and were known for their English earthenware. The John Maddock Company is still in business today in England.
Palm Beach Hotel
PALM BEACH SHORES. Why is it called Palm Beach Shores? Palm Beach Shores (the small incorporated town at the southern tip of Singer Island) was originally part of Palm Beach. After the inlet at the north end of Palm Beach was created that part of land on the north side of the inlet became known as Palm Beach Shores.
PARAMOUNT THEATRE. Joseph Urban, a theatrical set designer, created Marjorie Merriweather Post's Mar-a-Lago and also the Paramount Theatre on N. County Road.. The Paramount is now home to several retail shops as well as offices and a church.
RAILROAD CAR. That old railroad car located at the Flagler Museum (Whitehall) was built in 1886 in Delaware. This rail car was the personal car of Henry Morrison Flager, known as the founder of what we call Palm Beach today. The 60-foot-long, 30-ton rail car had mosaic tile floors covered with Oriental rugs, Flagler's private bedroom, a sitting room, and a kitchen with a pull down berth for the cook.
ST. EDWARDS. St. Edwards Catholic Church in Palm Beach began in 1924 as a mission parish. The Provincial of the Jesuit Order in the south, headquartered in New Orleans, sent the Reverend Felix J. Clarkson, S.J., to Palm Beach to provide services and take care of the spiritual needs of winter visitors. Almost all the stained glass windows in the church are arch-shaped, and constructed from handblown, painted, pot metal glass from the well-known stu of Frantz Mayer and Comapny in Munich, Germany. My great-uncle, the Reverend Monsignor Vincent McCormick, was the Father General of the Jesuits of the Untied States, working for years out of the Vatican. I often wondered if my uncle ever made it to St. Edwards.SEAGULL COTTAGE. Seagull Cottage, sitting next to the Flagler Museum, Whitehall, and just behind the Royal Poinciana
Chapel on Cocoanut Row is the oldest residence in Palm Beach.
SEMINOLE INDIANS. Seminoles means The Wild People. The Seminole Indians were not originally from Florida. Various bands of Creek Indians migrated to Florida after the Queen Anne's War (1701-1713) forming an amalgam which came to be called Seminole, or "Wild People." The name was first used by John Stuart, British Agent, in 1771, reflecting that these were people who "stood apart," who wanted to break from the Creeks. There are no direct descendants of Florida's original people. (Compliments of Jonathan W. Koontz from LAKE WORTH Jewel of the Gold Coast.)
THE SLAT HOUSE. Ever wonder what that odd looking tower is that sits on top of the Slat House on Cocoanut Row? The octagonal tower is all that remains of Henry Flagler's original hotel. The name Slat House stems from Palm Beach's first theatre. Mary Howes organized a group that performed in "The Slat House," the Royal Poinciana Hotel's original plant-propagation nursery. 
The Slat House
EDWARD DURELL STONE. Here's a little bit of more modern history, 400 South Ocean Blvd., an Ocean-front condominium, was designed by Edward Durell Stone, the great New York architect famous for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and his major marble skyscrapers.
400 S. Ocean Blvd.
TUSTENEGEE. As the story goes, long before it was known as Palm Beach, Palm Beach was originally called Tustenegee after a local Seminole Indian.VIA MIZNER. Worth Avenue in Palm Beach is know for it's beautiful "vias." Via Mizner was named after Addison Mizner, Palm Beach's most prominent architect in the early 1900s famous for his Mediterranean Revival & Spanish Colonial Revival style of architecture. Many of the early buildings on Worth Avenue as well as many Palm Beach homes were designed by Mizner. Mizner also designed Worth Avenue's famous Everglades Club as well as the original Boca Raton Resort & Club, and LaGuerida, the Kennedy home on N. Ocean Blvd.
Via Mizner Via Mizner Via MiznerVIA PARIGI. Via Parigi was named after Paris Singer of the Singer Sewing Machine fortunes. Paris was a close friend and financial supporter of Addison Mizner.
Via Parigi Via Parigi Via Parigi
WORTH. The name Worth has been applied to several Palm Beach area places, including the Town of Lake Worth, the body of water known as Lake Worth that separates Palm Beach from West Palm Beach, and of course the world famous Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. Lake Worth (and subsequently Worth Avenue) was named after Colonel William Jenkins Worth who was in command of the Federal troops in the latter part of the Seminole Indian War in Florida. Later on Colonel Worth was second-in- command of the U.S. Forces in the Mexican War (remember the Alamo) in what is now Texas. And, Ft. Worth, Texas was also named after Colonel Worth.
Worth Avenue around 1925
My History and Photo Tour of Palm Beach is in the very early stages of construction...so please come back another time for a more History and Photos.
