Palm Beach, Florida
Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoastal Waterway to its west and a small section of the Intracoastal Waterway and South Palm Beach to its south. It is part of the South Florida metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, Palm Beach had a year-round population of 9,245.[7]
For other uses, see Palm Beach (disambiguation).
Palm Beach, Florida
April 17, 1911[2]
Margaret "Maggie" A. Zeidman
Julie Araskog,
Lew Crampton,
Ted Cooney, and
President Pro Tem
Barbara "Bobbie" Lindsay
Kirk Blouin
Kelly Churney
7.80 sq mi (20.21 km2)
3.80 sq mi (9.84 km2)
4.00 sq mi (10.37 km2)
7 ft (2 m)
9,245
9,235
2,430.26/sq mi (938.52/km2)
UTC-4 (EDT)
12-54025[9]
288390[9]
The Jaega arrived on the modern-day island of Palm Beach approximately 3,000 years ago. Between 1816 and 1858, the Seminoles were expelled from the area.[10] Americans settlers began to inhabit the area as early as 1872, and opened a post office about five years later. Elisha Newton "Cap" Dimick, later the town's first mayor, established Palm Beach's first hotel, the Cocoanut Grove House, in 1880, but Standard Oil tycoon Henry Flagler became instrumental in transforming the island of jungles and swamps into a winter resort for the wealthy. Flagler and his workers constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel in 1894, The Breakers in 1896, and Whitehall in 1902; extended the Florida East Coast Railway southward to the area by 1894; and developed a separate city to house the hotel workers and other laborers, which later became West Palm Beach. The town of Palm Beach incorporated on April 17, 1911. Addison Mizner also contributed significantly to the town's history, designing 67 structures between 1919 and 1924, including El Mirasol, the Everglades Club, La Querida, the William Gray Warden House, and Via Mizner, which is a section of Worth Avenue.
Forbes reported in 2017 that Palm Beach had at least 30 billionaires, with the town ranking as the 27th-wealthiest place in the United States in 2016 according to Bloomberg News. Many famous and wealthy individuals have resided in the town, including United States presidents John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump. Palm Beach is known for upscale shopping districts, such as Worth Avenue, Royal Poinciana Plaza, and the Royal Poinciana Way Historic District.
Education[edit]
The School District of Palm Beach County operates one school in the town, Palm Beach Public Elementary School, on Cocoanut Row between Seaview Avenue and Royal Palm Beach and directly east of the Society of the Four Arts. Opened in 1929, Palm Beach Public Elementary School has a school grade of A and an attendance of 362.[159] Palm Beach Day Academy is a private school in the area. It was formed in 2006 from a merger between Palm Beach Day School and the Academy of the Palm Beaches. The school has one campus in Palm Beach and another in West Palm Beach.[160] Most public middle school students attend Conniston Community Middle School in West Palm Beach, while students who live in the southern portions of the town attend Lake Worth Middle School.[161] Public high school students in northern Palm Beach attend Palm Beach Gardens Community High School and students residing elsewhere in the town attend Forest Hill Community High School. Palm Beach is also near Dreyfoos School of the Arts, though that school has no attendance boundaries.[162]
There are no colleges or universities in Palm Beach. However, the nearby cities of Lake Worth Beach and West Palm Beach have a few public and private higher education institutes, including Keiser University, Palm Beach Atlantic University, and Palm Beach State College.[163]
Historic preservation[edit]
The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), established by an ordinance approved by the town council in 1979, studies and protects historic structures in Palm Beach. The LPC has a list of 328 properties, sites, and vistas it works to protect under the 1979 ordinance.[44] Similarly, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach is "dedicated to preserving the architectural and cultural heritage and the unique scenic quality of the Town of Palm Beach", according to its mission statement.[173] The town of Palm Beach also conducts historic sites surveys in collaboration with preservation organizations, historians, and local officials, with the most recent survey completed in December 2020.[174] The 2010 survey identified 50 structures that had been demolished since the previous survey in 2004 and others that had been altered significantly.[175]: 52
Federally, thirteen structures and one historic district have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[120][175]: 24 However, two of the designated buildings have since been destroyed.[175]: 24 A fire and subsequent burglaries at the Bingham-Blossom House likely contributed to the owner's decision to have it demolished in 1974,[176] while construction crews razed the Brelsford House in 1975 after trustees at the Royal Poinciana Chapel (the property where the building was located) believed "the aging structure was more of a liability than an asset" and also cited its high costs of renovation for public use, according to The Palm Beach Post.[177]
In popular culture[edit]
In Dr. Seuss's classic children's book Horton Hatches the Egg, Palm Beach is the vacation destination for Mayzie the bird.
Palm Beach is the setting of the 2024 American period comedy-drama television miniseries Palm Royale.