Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-10-05 A short history of Singer Island (Hometown News)HOMETOWN NEWS ACCESSION # Gt%'7/3Wr-4 DATE: /p — S — U 7 A short history of Singer Island The following information was pro- vided by Palm Beach Shores, Past and Present, a document written by Palm Beach Shores committee members in 1998 and A History of Riviera Beach, Florida, published by the Bicentennial Commission of Riviera Beach in 1976, which was available on the city's Web site. Singer Island is the portion of Riv- iera Beach, the city known as "conch town" from 1919-33, which is situated along the Atlantic Ocean. Riviera Beach was dubbed "conch town" due to the fishermen from the Bahamas, referred to as "conchs," who visited Singer Island before it was named. The island is approximately 5 miles long and a half -mile wide. Approxi- mately 3,400 people call the island home, and 1,400 additional- people reside there during the winter. There are two ways to enter and exit the island. Residents and visitors can cross over the Blue Heron Bridge, which connects the mainland of Riviera Beach to the island. They can also enter or exit the island from PGA Boulevard. Drivers taking this path go over the Burnt Bridge, which was originally constructed in 1937. The island is named for Paris Eugene Singer, one of the sons of sewing machine magnate Isaac Singer. Mr. Singer developed the island of Palm Beach along with Addison Mizner. Mr. Singer often visited the island north of Palm Beach with his friends and family, so it became dubbed "Singer's Island." He and famed architect Addison Mizner had plans to build a Paris Singer Hotel and the Blue Heron, another hotel, on the island. They would be adjoined by a 36-hole golf course. Construction began on Mr. Singer's hotel in 1927, but the hurri- cane of 1928 demolished the hotel and it was never rebuilt. The hotel's service wing was the only part con- structed but the shell of the seven - story building survived the hurricane. A slowing real estate market, the Great Depression and the hurricane hurt Mr. Singer financially and he could not afford to repair the damage. The building, which became known as "Singer's Folly," was eventually The North Palm Beach, Singer Island connection Mr. Singer helped Harry Kelsey build an 18-hole golf course and winter golf clubhouse, known as "The Winter Club" on the property in North Palm Beach where the current North Palm Beach Country Club is currently located. Mr. Singer would bring guests across the waterway to play at the club. Guests at the Everglades Country Club in Palm Beach, which was started by Mr. Singer, also visited the "Winter Club." Guests would be ferried over and their boats would be docked near the Parker Bridge at U.S. 1. A taxi would then take them over to the club on what was a rock shell path. The club was demolished in 1984. demolished in the 1940s. The hurricane also destroyed the wooden Sherman Point Bridge Palm Beach County engineers built in 1925 to connect Riviera Beach and Singer Island. It was not rebuilt until 1935. The second wooden bridge burned down later and a concrete and steel lift span was constructed in 1949. It was replaced with the current bridge in 1976 due to an increase in the amount of traffic going over the bridge, but the name Burnt Bridged, stuck. Another famous island landmark, the Colonnades Beach Hotel, owned by John D. MacArthur was demol- ished in 1990. Mr. MacArthur pur- chased the property in 1963 and quickly built it into a see -and be -seen venue for the likes of celebrities Bob Hope and Jackie Gleason, athletes, such as golfer Lee Trevino, and more. "In it's heyday, in the 1960s and 1907s, it had more than 400 rooms," wrote Bob Sanford in the book "John D. MacArthur: A View from the Bar," a memoir of Mr. MacArthur. Mr. Sanford, the bar manager of the hotel, worked with Mr. MacArthur for three_ --v rs_ from 1975 until Mr MacArthur died at age 80 in 1978. Despite being a wealthy man, Mr. MacArthur was known around the island for his eccentricities, including wearing threadbare and stained cloth- ing, feeding his beloved ducks, skinny dipping in what is now John D. MacArthur State Park in North Palm Beach and holding court at his "office" a table in the hotel's coffee shop.