An Illustrated History of Palm Beach is a nostalgic journey through the history of the town of Palm Beach as told through the photographic collection of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County. From an early pioneer community, Palm Beach evolved over the past 150 years into today's sophisticated resort, starting with the grand hotels of Henry Flagler, the Royal Poinciana and The Breakers, and elegant mansions of the Gilded Age. An Illustrated History of Palm Beach is a primary source look into the development of one of America's most prosperous and enchanting communities.
Palm Beach is a remarkably small town to be so famous; its population is only a little over 10,000. Nor is it an old town: the oldest extant building dates from about 1885, and the town itself was not incorporated until after 1900. What has granted Palm Beach its fame is the same combination of elements that made Bath famous in the 18th century: a very few clear-sighted men—they can be counted on the fingers of one hand, wealthy families attracted to what these men had to offer, and some remarkable architecture built when wealth and vision intermingled. This book records that architecture. The contents are strategically arranged, so that the visitor can drive or walk the area and see the buildings sequence of location. Within this compendium of photographs and descriptive text, you will find more than 150 Palm Beach buildings written and photographed by a resident active in historic preservation. The book does not attempt to evaluate, but rather to exhibit the richness and diversity of this extraordinary place. The work of famous architects is featured, notably that of Addison Mizner, Marion Wyeth, Maurice Fatio, Howard Major, John Volk and the designer Joseph Urban. Also covered are the famous Breakers Hotel, the Bath and Tennis Club, the Everglades Club, and the shops of Worth Avenue.
Florida has long been a beacon for retirees, but for many, the American dream of owning a home there was a fantasy. That changed in the 1950s, when the so-called "installment land sales industry" hawked billions of dollars of Florida residential property, sight unseen, to retiring northerners. For only $10 down and $10 a month, working-class pensioners could buy a piece of the Florida dream: a graded home site that would be waiting for them in a planned community when they were ready to build. The result was Cape Coral, Port St. Lucie, Deltona, Port Charlotte, Palm Coast, and Spring Hill, among many others—sprawling communities with no downtowns, little industry, and millions of residential lots. In The Swamp Peddlers, Jason Vuic tells the raucous tale of the sale of residential lots in postwar Florida. Initially selling cheap homes to retirees with disposable income, by the mid-1950s developers realized that they could make more money selling parcels of land on installment to their customers. These "swamp peddlers" completely transformed the landscape and demographics of Florida, devastating the state environmentally by felling forests, draining wetlands, digging canals, and chopping up at least one million acres into grid-like subdivisions crisscrossed by thousands of miles of roads. Generations of northerners moved to Florida cheaply, but at a huge price: high-pressure sales tactics begat fraud; poor urban planning begat sprawl; poorly-regulated development begat environmental destruction, culminating in the perfect storm of the 21st-century subprime mortgage crisis.
International hotelier, Worth Avenue Association Historian and Palm Beach aficionado Rick Rose releases the 2nd edition of his best-selling guide: Palm Beach: The Essential Guide to America’s Legendary Resort Town. The full-color illustrated guide to Palm Beach, published by Pineapple Press, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield, is a rich and beautifully curated collection of destinations, must-sees, and restaurant and shopping recommendations in what has become known as “American’s First Resort Destination.” Leading 2,000 visitors a year on public and private tours of Worth Avenue and Palm Beach Island and hosting thousands of guests a year at his boutique inn and vacation homes, Rose was inspired to write a local guide to help visitors make the most of their visit to Palm Beach. The first edition was released in 2017 and quickly became the most widely distributed curated guide to The Palm Beaches. The completely revised and updated 2nd edition of Palm Beach: The Essential Guide to America’s Legendary Resort Town features a foreword from celebrated designer and author Steven Stolman, as well as new content, such as a scenic walking tour, information about private clubs, birding tips and new local attractions. The book offers insights on island-appropriate attire, tips on self-guided tours, recommended regional road trips, horse show 101, and so much more, providing a complete overview of everything Palm Beach. The guide is the ultimate resource for those who know the city intimately, wish to visit, or just have an appreciation for the cultural destination that is Palm Beach. Throughout the community, Rose’s expertise is wildly hailed. “This guide highlights all of those special places in Palm Beach for visitors and residents alike”, said Danielle Hickox Moore, Mayor of Palm Beach. “Rick Rose’s Palm Beach – The Essential Guide has become truly essential for anyone visiting or relocating to the Palm Beaches. His attention to historical facts and their influence on who we are today is outstanding” – Jorge Pesquera, President & CEO of Discover the Palm Beach.
Sculpted from the swamp, saw grass, and sand of Florida scrubland, Palm Beach Gardens emerged as a pristine embodiment of the dream of eccentric--but brilliant--billionaire John D. MacArthur, who appealed to the Florida Legislature in 1959 for the creation of this new city. A larger-than-life character who relocated an 80-year-old, 76-ton banyan tree several miles down roads and across railroad tracks to mark the entrance to his city, MacArthur later fully financed the Palm Beach Gardens interchange on Florida's Turnpike to promote growth in the western part of the city. Palm Beach Gardens, with 30 percent of its 4,000 acres devoted to green space, was ecologically sound before the environmental movement began. With the RCA Corporation and nearby Pratt & Whitney providing employment in the early years, schools and churches nourishing families, and a strong strain of volunteerism among residents, by 1970 Palm Beach Gardens was the fastest-growing municipality in the nation. Although "Mr. Mac" did not play golf nor particularly like the game, he encouraged its development in the "Gardens" because of its positive influence on real estate sales and tourism. Indeed, he invited the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) to make its home there and declared Palm Beach Gardens the "Golf Capital of the World"--today, there are 17 golf courses in the city.
Palm Beach is known internationally as a winter resort where the wealthy enjoy life in a tropical paradise. More than 100 years ago, Palm Beach was far different from its well-kept beaches, estates, and fabulous Worth Avenue shopping mecca of the 21st century. When the first permanent settlers arrived, they found the area covered by thick jungle that had to be tamed before they could carve out a new life for themselves. The settlers ended up with a paradise, and when Henry Flagler decided to build a grand hotel in Palm Beach, he planted the first seed for the creation of a modern winter retreat for the rich.
Only 12 miles long, Palm Beach has become America's Riviera, with grand Arabian Nights mansions and lavish champagne and caviar parties. The island has turned into the playground of influential industrialists, politicians, aristocrats and diplomats.
Cultural columnist and architectural historian Augustus Mayhew's revealing and entertaining essays portray Palm Beach's larger-than-life characters, bigger-than-ever mansions and stranger-than-fiction pursuits. Focused on the fine line between illusion and reality so often blurred at Palm Beach, the book explores the town's standing as a rarefied destination where extravagance and excess are commonplace, upheld by successive generations who have built their own Taj Mahals while partaking of all the splendors Worth Avenue offers. This detailed volume chronicles Palm Beach's unique ever-changing landscape from its origin as a remote tropical refuge to its transformation into an international resort playground that recreated itself as an exclusive residential enclave. New insights into Paris Singer and the building of the Everglades Club are gained from previously undiscovered research materials and archival sources in the United States and England. Our awareness and appreciation of Otto Kahn's role in the founding of Palm Beach's exclusive clubs are enriched by his diaries, account ledgers and correspondence found among the Otto H. Kahn Papers at Princeton University's Firestone Library. On a lighter note, Judge James R. Knott's wedding diary documents the numerous at-home ceremonies he performed, taking the reader inside the world of private Palm Beach where guests were asked to hum "Here Comes the Bride." Considering Palm Beach's fondness for distractions, the book also delves into the resort's passion for aviation, dancing, portraits, movie-making, marriage and divorce. Comprised of essays originally published at the New York Social Diary, Palm Beach Daily News and Palm Beach Life magazine, this new collection is illustrated with numerous historical photographs.
