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Home My WebLink About1984-07-01 The Village of NPB Part 1 (Palm Beach Post)siderable time in London. He gave $500,000. to St. George's Hospital there and made othe contributions, and was rewarded with a baronetcy in 1939, becom- ing Sir Harry Oakes. - �t.: Oakes was known as a crude, unmannerly boor. In 1943, a mur- derer bludgeoned him to death and doused his bed with gasoline and set fire to it. No one has ever been convicted of the crime. Mrs. Oakes wanted to sell the assets of Tesdem, but, by her husband's will, was prevented from doing so until their son reached 21 years of age. When it was sold in 1956, through a com- plicated mortgage situation, John D. MacArthur stepped in and became -owner of all the Tes- dem properties. (To be concluded) THE BIG FIRST 655-8511 Jupiter -Boynton 428-0900 Delray -Boca First Federal Savings of the Palm Beaches Q FSLIC WEST PALM BEACH Main Office 215 S. Olive Avenue 655-8511 *WESTWARD 2701 Okeechobee Boulevard 683-3133 *SOUTHERN 301 Southern Boulevard 833-5523 GOLDEN LAKES 1950 Golden Lakes Boulevard 683-9300 PALM BEACH 165 Bradley Place 655-1485 280 S. County Road 655-6446 *STUART 2285 S.E. Federal Highway 286-7300 *PALM SPRINGS 10th Ave. & S. Congress 964-2212 *LAKE WORTH 531 Lucerne Avenue 582-3511 DELRAY BEACH *95 N.E. 5th Avenue 278-6261 *14828 S. Military Trail 498-4447 BOCA RATON 2400 N. Federal Highway 395-6811 *9033 Glades Road 483-5110 For current rates call toll free: Jupiter to Boynton 833-FUND, Delray to Boca 483-5161 - *LAKE PARK 500 Federal Highway 844-6366 *BOYNTON BEACH 280 N. Congress Avenue 737-5777 *24-Hour Teller at these locations Supplernent to The Post, Sunday, July 1, 1984 THE BIG FIRST SUNDAY BROWN WRAPPER THE VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH Part 1 James R. Knott North Palm Beach was founded in 1956, on land pur- chased by Harry Kelsey after he sold his restaurantchain in Mas- sachusetts and came to Florida in 1919. Kelsey acquired 26 miles of ocean and lake front, with 100,000 acres north and west of what became Kelsey City, later, in 1939, renamed Lake Park. Kelsey also purchased the Florida East Coast Canal, an in- land waterway running from Jacksonville. to Miami. Early ca- nals in this country were dug by THE WINTER CLUB private interests and operated like toll highways, and this canal, created in the 1890s, was no ex- ception. Charles Branch, Kel- sey's general manager, says one of his principal headaches was dredging out the sandbars that were continually being formed. This canal was later taken over by the Federal government and is now the Intracoastal Waterway. Kelsey formed the East Coast Finance Corporation and founded Kelsey City, which was the first completely planned and zoned city in Florida. Then a nine -hole golf course was created on both sides of the Earman Ca- nal. Four fairways of this course lay north of the canal, where the library and school are located. A flimsy wooden bridge connected the two banks. Incidentally, the Earman River got its start as "Dimick's Ditch," draining land to the west. It was later known as the Earman Canal and, finally, the Earman River. Houses were built, stores and businesses brought to Kelsey City, as well as a bank. An impor- Page 2—Supplement to The Post, Sunday, July 1, 1984 t name in this period was the foresaid Charles Branch, an en- gineer brought in by Kelsey as vice president and general man- ager of his properties. From 1926 on, he was a key balance -wheel in the economic storm which was starting to threaten Florida. At this writing, Mr. Branch at the age of 91 is very much alert and able to provide an excellent re- cord of the early history of the area. We're The 1 Your Money Needs. • Insured Money Markets • 6-Month Certificates • 1-Year Certificates • 2-5 Year Certificates • Jumbo Certificates Paris Singer, of the sewing machine family, who financed and owned the . Everglades Club in Palm Beach in its early years, was starting a hotel on the ocean during the boom in the area now known as Singer Island. He want- ed a golf course for his guests and in late 1925 persuaded Kelsey to build an 18-hole course and club- house, the Winter Club, which was the beginning of the North PalmBeach Country Club. The r THE BIG FIRSI, 83 3 -FUND for current rates 655-8511 Jupiter -Boynton 428-0900 Delray -Boca First Federal Savings of the Palm Beaches C golf course and the Winter Club opened in January 1927. Golfers were bused back and forth from their hotels in Palm Beach. Since the only road running north and south was the Dixie Highway alongside the F.E.C. railroad tracks, a road was built from Kelsey City to the club. This later became part of the pre- sent U.S. 1. During the early '20's, Kel- sey sold more than 20 square miles of acreage to speculators. The years had been good, but real estate sales later started to fall off. Kelsey started having problems after the mid -twenties boom, and obtained the legal ser- vices of J. C. Bills, a lawyer of wide experience then living in Geneva, Florida, with a law office in Sanford. The Bills family has continued to be a leading factor in local real estate and construc- tion fields. The economy continued to deteriorate. In June of 1928, the Kelsey City Bank failed, along with banks in West Palm Beach. There was economic despair, and no market for real estate of any kind. Then, on September 16, 1928, a bad hurricane delivered the final blow. The devastation was complete. Part of the Winter Club roof was blown away. The Kelsey City Hall was filled with dazed people whose homes had been destroyed. The national de- pression followed all this. Thousands of people in Flor- ida simply fled, walking away from their properties. Taxes went unpaid, and finally the Murphy Law was put into effect in 1937. This provided that when taxes had become delinquent for two years, the property was taken by the State of Florida and sold to the highest bidder. For exam- ple, a house which had cost $8,000 on a $1,000 lot might pos- sibly be bought for, say, $300, the amount due in taxes. Many peo- ple followed this procedure and thus profited from the depres- sion. Kelsey went back north in 1929, his empire crumbled. He was remembered as a good man. Paris Singer's Blue Heron Hotel near the ocean fell victim to the.. economy, was never fin- ished, and was later torn down, a haunting reminder of Florida's boomtime overdevelopment. Singer was reported to have lost everything and was said to have spent his last days on a house- boat on Egypt's Nile River. Important contributions in these years were made by Samuel Blakely, who did extensive land- scaping, barging trees over to the Winter Club from Munyon Is- land. He served as city commis- sioner. His family still owns the thriving Kelsey City Landscap- ing and Nurseries. Edward New- ell, who came to Kelsey City with his bride in 1926, served as city commissioner, city 'attorney and judge of the Criminal Court of Record. His son, Emery Newell, has been a circuit judge for Palm Beach County for many years. A. A. Poston was appointed post- master in 1924, served as city commissioner, and then county commissioner from 1933 to 1948. His family is still important in the area. Harry Oakes picked up the pieces in the 1930s, at a fraction of their distress value. Through his Tesdem, Inc., he became the owner of the Kelsey City lots and golf course, the Palm Beach Win- ter Club, and most of the lands now comprising North Palm Beach. WO1Wie Supple ent to The Post, Sunday, ly 1, 1984—Page 3 Oakes was originally from Maine. He went into gold mining in Canada, struck it rich, and be- came a Canadian citizen. After becoming reputedly the largest individual taxpayer in Canada, he became disenchanted with Canadian taxes, came to Florida, and started buying property for unpaid taxes. For a while, the family lived in the Winter Club, then moved to Palm Beach, leav- ing the clubhouse and golf course in poor condition. He later moved his family to the Bahamas for tax purposes and spent con- Bring Us Your Signature ...Not Your Home. You don't have to give us the roof over your head to get a Personal Line Of Credit at THE BIG FIRST. Our Personal Line Of Credit is secured by your signature not your home. THE BIG FIRST 655-8511 Jupiter -Boynton 428,0900 Delray -Boca First Federal Savings of the Palm Beaches i rsuc