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Home My WebLink About1985-05-26 The Miracle City That The Wind Blew Away Part 4 (Palm Beach PostSupplement to The Post, Sunday, May 26, 198 THE BIG FIRST NORTH PALM BEACH PUBIlCL6RARti SUNDRY BROWN WRAPPER THE BIG FIRST — FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS OF THE PALM BEACHES — is celebrating 50 YEARS OF SERVICE. The Miracle City That The Wind Blew Away �.n ....:.:.... THE SHOWPLACE of early Kelsey City was the Palm Beach Winter Club and Golf Course (right) built Sir in1926 by Kelsefatyd to and Paris be muSinger in e r infor $ 00,000. ssau in 1943,f Golfers from d the Palm Winter Beach rode a bus (left) to get to the club which was located in what is today North Palm Beach. In the 9 Harry Club and most of Kelsey City. country club. However, unPart IV the Recovery from a gold mine in Ontario. (Helike., • subject in Kelsey, few of his plans were realm B : G. Keith Bailey had become a British � • y KingGeorge IV ed. Some municipal improvements and the 1915, and in 1939 g After the 1928 hurricane -net, A New were made and fourteen houses • made him a baronet.) economic disasters that followed it, e's estate were built. Englander by birth, Oak times were very hard for the at some It was a reed that a new name at one point was valued g residents o f the area that had been twelve would be conducive to growth and • two hundred million dollars, Kelsey City. In the midst o f this in the helpto improve the town's image. • million of which he invested p hardship arrived Sir Harry Oakes, Oakes Cor- Mr. Walter Fosket of Tesdem Inc. Kelsey City area. The with big money and big plans. petitioned Tesdem Inc., held 80% of the legislature and on ' on Island and June 15, 1939, the area officially Sir Harr Oakes must have Kelsey City, Munyon Like his became Lake Park. A few months seemed like the very y antithesis of the Winter Club.� HarryKelsey,Sir later Kelsey Park was named to the dismal early1930 s as he arriv- predecessor, plans. He honor Harry Kelsey. Meanwhile, ed,wealthy,flamboyant, and buy- Harry Oakes had grand Y • large project to center Sir Harry Oakes was brutally in land at every turn. Oakes had proposed a g p � g around aposhgolf course and, : murdered in his.. Nassau ,home in. become tremendously wealthy I i 1 1 ROWN WRAPPER" 1943. His corporations continued but not with sufficient impetus to carry out his dreams for Lake Park. What has been called the last, or present period of Lake Park's history began in 1958 when John D. MacArthur's Banker's Life and Casualty Company of Chicago pur- chased the Tesdem holdings, in- cluding all former city facilities. The price as five and a half million dollars. John D. MacArthur was in- strumental in interesting United Aircraft in locating its Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Testing Center in an area to the northwest of the town. United Aircraft's decision to build there virtually guaranteed the future prosperity of Lake Park. Kelsey City again made the news in the late 1970's as controversy erupted over the gates to the city, a local landmark since 1923. A Riviera Beach resolution called the gates: "a link to our past develop- ment a symbol for our future." Unfortunately, the gates were only wide enough to accommodate a two lane highway, and the four laning of Dixie Highway became a pressing necessity. The age old conflict between "progress" and historical preservation, as usual, engendered numerous arguments. The value of the gates was perhaps best expressed in a report by a committee of the Palm Beach County Historical Society designated to determine their historical significance. The report dated September 6, 1974 declares: THE BIG FIRST "SUNDAY "Although gates marking the en- trance to isolate boomtime sub- divisions in Florida were not un- common in former years, these par- ticular gates are not in that category. They are distinguished not only by their monumental size, but by the fact that they marked the entrance, on a main highway, to a well known settlement which through the years has grown, and continued to grow in importance. The gates memorialize a different age, an earlier era now completely gone, in which the community was born. Little else remains in present Lake Park to remind residents and visitors of its past, and we believe that the historical significance of the gates warrants their preserva- tion. If maintaining them at the present location is found to create serious traffic problems, we would recommend that they be moved to another site, and faced with a plaque explaining their history." Many local residents fought to preserve the gates and raised thousands of dollars to finance the moving operation. Estimates for the total cost of preserving the gates ranged from ten to forty thousand dollars. Undaunted by those figures, local historian, Edith Judge, spearheaded drives to save the gates. When the fateful day arrived in September of 1981, Ranger Con- struction Industries Inc. attempt- ed to move the gates in pieces so that they could be transported to the new location and reassembled. Ironically, the prodigious weight "GRAN PENI "Thy Comp "GRAND DRAM] May 31 at 2:0 in our Jupiter THE BIG FI i FIRST FEDERAL 825 U.S. Highw mortgage. The Big First can help you purchase or )nce your home with a fixed or variable rate gage. me Equity Loans help you cash in on what is probably your largest - Home Equity. This loan can be used for just about worthwhile purpose: tuition, new car, vacation, even rments or to start a new business. It's a sensible tative to refinancing. -,. w.►..r ,' Supplement to The Post, Sunday, May 26, 1985 • THE:B1GF1RST "SUNDRY BROWN RAPPER" THE BIG FIRST HAS REAL ESTATE LOANS st Mortgage al Estate Loans Construction Loans pt and efficient service under a fixed rate or variable Whether you're a builder/owner, developer or professional _ builder, The Big First can tailor a construction loan to meet your specific building needs. Commercial Loans The Big First has funds available for office buildings, warehouses, shopping centers and other construction projects. For complete answers to your loan questions, talk with one of our loan officers today. They'll help you set up the loan you want with terms and payments that are right for your needs and budget. ?"1"0:vroita./# FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS OF THE PALM BEACHES 655-8511 Jupiter -Boynton 428-0900 Delray -Boca = FSLIC y that enabled the gates to survive the hurricane of 1928 also made them virtually impossible to move. A crane with 35 ton capacity near- ly tilted over while attempting to lift but a portion of the mortar and coquina structure. Other portions simply crumbled before they could be moved. Although the gates were reduced to rubble, the city, and the spirit which they represented lived on. The Town of Lake Park receiv- ed its present charter in 1961, and to this day the story of prosperity continues virtually uninterrupted. Today the area is valued at more than 2000 times its assessed valu- ation in 1921. (The assessed valu- ation of Kelsey City in 1921 was little more than $25,000.) As for the man who started it all, Harry Kelsey spent the winters of his last years in Miami. After 1950, he saw the community that had once borne his name only from his railroad car, as he passed through. He died in Orlando, November 27, 1957, and was buried in Spring- field, Mass., where his business success had begun. The above article is based on documents kept on file at the Historical Society of Palm Beach County. WEST PALM BEACH GOLDEN LAKES Main Office 1950 Golden Lakes Boulevard 215 S. Olive Avenue 655-8511 *WESTWARD 2701 Okeechobee Boulevard 683-3133 *SOUTHERN 301 Southern Boulevard 833-5523 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 loth 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 *LAKE PARK 500 Federal Highway 844-6366 *BOYNTON BEACH 280 N. Congress Avenue 737-5777 *JUPITER 825 U.S. Highway One 747-6552 *24-Hour Teller at these locations For current rates call toll free: Jupiter to Boynton 833-FUND, Delray to Boca 483-516i