In Palm Beach Country in earlier times the first occupants were the African Americans. Those African Americans were the slaves before or the descendants of the slaves who had escaped from the slave plantations in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina to the State of Florida. The escaped African slaves started to coming and in the late of 17th century the placed was then named Spanish Florida. Then the runaway slaves coming to Spanish Florida in there found the safe place among the Seminole Native Americans. Seminole people were a member of the Muskhogean people who moved into Florida in the 18th century.
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It was Henry Morrison Flagler who first came here in 1893. Flagler called the Lake Worth region “a veritable paradise” and decided upon a dual plan for the sea. He would turn Palm Beach into a resort and he would build a commercial city across the lake for his workers. From that on the former “worker city” turn into a beautiful West Palm Beach. Flagler had his city laid out in November 1893, naming the streets for native plants. Running east and west were Althea, Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia and Fern streets. On Nov. 5, 1894, by a vote of 77 to 1, residents of the little town decided to incorporate the city of West Palm Beach. It soon became a bustling frontier town with storefronts along Clematis and Narcissus streets, and saloons lining Banyan Street. Banyan Street became as wild and well-known as any raucous town in the Wild West.
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| Henry Morrison Flagler |
Palm Beach County was created in 1909. It was named for its first settled community, Palm Beach, in turn named for the palm trees and beaches in the area. The County was carved out of what was then the northern portion of Dade County, comprising part of the areas now occupied by Okeechobee and Broward counties, part of Martin and all of Palm Beach County, initially including all of Lake Okeechobee. The southernmost part of Palm Beach County was separated to create the northern portion of Broward County in 1915, the northwestern portion became part of Okeechobee County 1917 and southern Martin County was created from northernmost Palm Beach County in 1925. About three-quarters of Lake Okeechobee was removed from Palm Beach County in 1963 and divided up among Glades, Hendry, and Martin and Okeechobee counties.
From 1920 to 1927, the city's population quadrupled, and everything grew including the schools, the farming and sugar businesses in the Glades, the hotels and theaters. Then there came the killer hurricanes of 1926 and 1928. From 1929 to 1930, the Depression dropped West Palm Beach's total property value by more than half. By 1935 property value was down to a little more than its pre-boom 1920 value.
Strengthened by military dollars during World War II and an influx of veterans moving south after 1945, West Palm Beach exploded into a new era of progress. The city's total property value rose from a rock-bottom $18 million in 1935 to $72 million in 1949 and continued to surge year by year until it was $147.5 million by 1962 - an 800% increase in less than 30 years. The West Palm Beach metropolitan area was the fourth fastest growing area in the United States between 1950 and 1960. Development spread west past Military Trail and south to Lake Clarke Shores.
On October 29, 1966, the main terminal at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach was dedicated. Between 1990 and 2000, the population of West Palm Beach grew 22.8%. There are now over 100,000 permanent residents making West Palm Beach the largest community in Palm Beach County as well as the seat of its county government, judicial complex and boasting a newly renovated, vibrant downtown business district. West Palm Beach continues to grow into the 21st Century.
http://www.westpalmbeach.com/history.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Palm_Beach,_Florida
Here are some videos showing West Palm Beach, Florida today.
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