HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-01-10 Former V-P of Developer Harry S. Kelsey (WeekDay)KELSEY EY HAPPY• 41
HARRY KELSEY
By Charles A. Branch
Former V-P of Developer Harry S. Kelsey
.s Told To Geoffrey Birt
Charles A. Bx atch was vice president to Harry S.
Kelsey, developer 3f what is today the town of Lake
Park during the 1':)2 )3. An engineer, he played a major
role in the buildii g of the Palm Beach Winter Club,
known today as LIE Takes Mansion, located at the
North Palm Beach Country Club — a charming (if now
decaying) building of architectural significance which
exudes real "character". •
Today, Mr. Branch (B. Oct. 22, 1892) reside in
retirement with his wife at 4500 N. Dixie Highway (the
Regency Apartments), West Palm Beach, and this is
the third in a series of articles he specially penned for
this column on the mansion and pioneer days in the
Lake Park- North Palm .Beach area (N.P.B., of course,
did not exist in the days of the roaring twenties):
"In Dec. 1927 I was introduced to a Mr. Smiley who
had a small airport in Tennessee. Under his direction, I
constructed an airstrip just north of the Earman River
and west of the Prosperity Farms Road on (part of) our
land which was known as the Kelsey City Dairy.
"When we reopened the Palm Beach Winter Club
(Now the NPB club and golf course), Jan. 12, 1928, Mr.
Smiley gave aerialexhibitionsover the fairways, driving
many of the players (off the course and) running for
cover, but his Fairchild 'plane acted correctly and no
damage was done
The clubhouse (now the Oakes Mansion) was again
under the direction of Miss Falconer and the local girls
who acted as cooks and waitresses, many who I see
about us today. The winter season was well attended but
much of the glamor had gone because of the Florida
land bust.
"Mr. Kelsey was meeting with financial difficulties.
The I.R.S. was looking into his reported profits and
losses ofh.is perso:lal dealings and those of the (Kelsey auditor — who was rated incompetent. Kelsey
owned) East Coast Finance Corp. All resulting charges complained to Branch he had paid all his bills and
were found to be in error against him, but that was owned nobody. He asked his attorney Bert Winters,
years later. Meantime, Kelsey's ability to raise funds for advice. According to Branch, Winters
and sell properties was limited by the government recommended that Kelsey should file_ for bankruptcy.
action. Kelsey asked Winters how much he owed him. Winters
Kelsey Vs. The I.R.S. replied, $60,000. Thereupon, Kelsey wrote him an
(Branch was interviewed on this IRS point, for I.O.U. for $60,000 and Winters departed. Branch
clarification and elaboration. He explained to me that added .-G.B.)
the IRS auditor came to him (Mr. Branch) complaining "In the end Kelsey returned to Boston and started
oflack of cooperaton by some members of the ECFC some promotions on frozen food stuffs — in his earliest
and to inform him that the government was going to file days he had developed a chain of restaurants. Finally,
a lien against Kelsey's properties. with the help of Sam Bickford -- a former associate —
(Branch said: "Mr. Kelsey never went into Kelsey re-entered the real estate field in the Orlando
barr.kri ptcy. The matter was settled after the 1928 great area. He did not die poor, but he never again became
hurricane." The ex-V.P. recalled that when he very wealthy. He managed to make a good living."
telephoned Kelsey— who was in the north— the
developer refused to believe he was at fault, and
returned in a state of indignation against the IRS
WeekDay January 10-16, 1979