HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-07-22 NPB Turns 50 Next Year (WeekDay)North Palm Beach
Turns 50 Next Year
Planning Is Starting Now For
Anniversary Celebration in 2006
Incorporated on August 13,
1956, North Palm Beach looks
forward to celebrating its 50th
birthday next year. The celebration
will include picnics, outdoor
movies, softball and golf
tournaments, dances, and historical
displays. Diana Craven, the
chairwoman of the anniversary
committee. wants to remind the
participants of what is was like 50
years ago after Robert and Richard
Ross paid $3.7 million to John D.
MacArthur for 12 square miles of
vacant northern Palm Beach
County property.
After buying the property, the
brothers did not just start building
houses. They built a water and
sewage treatment plant, a city hall,
police and fire station and natural
gas lines. They dug canals to
access the Intracoastal Waterway
and donated 10 acres to build a
public school. This gained them
notoriety in a 1957 issue of
American Builder Magazine which
reported: "Good Land Planning
Means Community Facilities Like
These."
The tradition of planning ahead
is being continued with the
upcoming birthday celebration.
One of the highlights will be a
dinner for former council members
and mayors, and their families.
In 1957, the population of North
Palm Beach was 111. Now the
population is about 13,000 year
around residents, and about 20,000
residents during the winter months.
The first homes sold for $16,000 to
$38,000, with half of them on the
water. Now single family homes
start at about $300,000.
Current residents say that North
Palm Beach is a great place to live.
In the 1970s, when RCA closed
and in the late 1980s when Pratt &
Whitney began cutbacks, many of
the engineers at both companies
either stayed or came back when
they retired. Children who grew up
in the area and moved away have
returned to raise their own families
and enrollment in Little League,
soccer, and other youth programs is
on the rise.
For information about the 50th
anniversary celebration or to
volunteer, call the North Palm
Beach village clerk at (561) 841-
3355. The website is
npbclerk@village-npb.org.
JULY 22 - 28, 2005 - WEEKDAY - Page 'T