HomeMy WebLinkAbout1984-06-17 Munyon's Island (Palm Beach Post)Supplement to The Post, Sunday, June 17, 1984—Page 3
elers as 'the most picturesque
spot in Florida.' "
"Doctor" James M. Mun-
yon bought the island from
Pitts in 1901. Munyon was a
genial, stocky man of financial
means and unusual energy
who made a popular patent
medicine called "Paw -Paw
Remedy" from papaya juice.
He liked to be called "Dr.
Munyon," although he had no
medical degree, and became
well and favorably known by
that name in the West Palm
Beach area. He was a married
man of mature years, but
L. greatly relished the company
of young women — demon-
strating that Paw -Paw Reme-
dy was powerful stuff.
Munyon loudly hawked
his medicine, advertising it as
a "great natural remedy for in-
digestion, dyspepsia, and all
stomach ailments. It cures
nervousness, sleeplessness,
loss of vitality, kidney, liver
and blood problems, dizziness,
and constipation."
He had a theme song:
Munyon's Isle all
hearts beguile
Down where the Paw -
Paw grows;
There's joy for each at
gay Palm Beach
Down where the Paw -
Paw grows!
Munyon built an attrac-
tive inn, the Hygeia Hotel, on
the south end of the island,
replacing the Pitts' house. A
post office was established on
the island in 1903. Although it
had only 21 rooms, the hotel,
which rose to five stories in the
center, had expansive lounges
and a large dining room for the
accommodation of droves of
visitors who came by boat
from Palm Beach. An article in
the Philadelphia North Amer-
ican on March 25, 1902, de-
scribing the busy resort life in
Palm Beach, stated:
"There isn't a dull minute
— golf, fishing, ostrich riding,
visits to the alligator pens, lun-
cheons at the Beach Club, at
the Houseboat and Casino —
where a band of Hungarians
furnishes music — and chiefly
excursions by the whole fleet
Here Is A List
Of Every Bank Service
The Big First
Doesn't Have:
THE BIG FIRST
Page 4—Supplement to The Post, Sunday, June 17, 1984
THE I1G FIRST S1J N DAY BROW i'V WRAPPER"
of launches and lake steamers
to Munyon's Island, ten miles
up the lake, on which there is a
magnificent growth of tropical
trees and fruits, with hundreds
of visitors daily."
Dr. Munyon went into
rose culture on a considerable
scale in the vicinity of his ho-
tel. Joel Dean's Palm Beach
News stated in 1903 that
"nearly 2,000 choice varieties"
were in bloom, and 3,000 more
were added later. The News
observed that "an unbroken
line of orchard and garden"
extended for nearly a mile
along the length of the island
with an "astonishing variety of
tropical and subtropical trees
and plants."
The Hygeia Hotel was de-
stroyed by fire, evidently
about 1917. Munyon's family
sold the island to Harry Kel-
sey, the founder of Lake Park
(originally called Kelsey City),
in 1925, after which it came
into the hands of Sir Harry
Oakes. During these years its
ornamental shrubs and floral
life languished from storms
and neglect.
John D. MacArthur ac-
quired the island on June 21,
1955, and ultimately complet-
ed the obliteration of its plant
life and trees by heaping tons
of dredged sand all over it. He
originally planned to develop
it, with a bridge crossing the
waters of Lake Worth from the
mainland, but this idea was
abandoned. Australian pines
cover the island now, and a
boggy kind of fill covers the
old oyster beds between it and
Singer Island.
° 1984 by James R. Knott
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