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1926...Kelsey, with the help of Paris Singer (Singer Island is named after him) (Village Early History)In 1919 he moved to Silver Beach and bought 14 miles of oceanfront and lakefront between Miami and Jupiter, including 100,000 acres • which later became Kelsey City/Lake Park and NPB. He purchased the Florida East Coast Canal, which is part of the intracoastal • waterway, and operated it as a toll waterway with a toll chain across the intracoastal to stop boats and collect a fee. Dredging became costly • so Kelsey sold the waterway to the state. 1915...This is a history of a pioneer family • called McLAREN that was told to me by the 90 year old, spry, thin lady known as Lulu McLaren • Nelson, daughter of early settler R.E. McLaren, • Today Lulu lives alone in one of the four houses • owned by the McLaren's on a cul-de-sac behind a white picket gate labeled "McLaren Junction • Population 12- Keep out- R.V. McLaren, Mayor". The enclave is located at the farthest west end of McLaren Road. That road lies • in unincorporated county property directly adjacent to our NPB border. • In 1915 Robert Edgar McLaren, Lulu's father, sold his factory up north and traveled to this area to recover his health . McLaren's health • improved and he liked Florida so much that he built a house alongside the intracoastal on • McLaren Road and sent for his family. Soon two • more children were born in that house making a total of ten children. To feed this hungry brood he tried farming without much success, but he • soon became prosperous by opening a grocery store. The family had to go by boat to West Palm Beach for groceries and to Palm Beach for • mail pick up. Riviera Beach was then known as • "conch town (1)." • • 1918...R.E. McLaren built a one room school house on the west side of the intracoastal waterway across from his house. PBC had built • a drawbridge located about 100 yards south of McLaren's house and extending straight to . AIA., with a paved road across Prosperity Farms • Road. U.S. #1 was shell rock at this time. This Monet Bridge, as it was called, was damaged during the `28 hurricane and from subsequent • hurricanes, but Lulu said the county government j paid to repair the damage. The bridge washed • away during the hurricane of `47 and was • never replaced. One of Lulu's sisters was a toll collector for Kelsey and she unlatched the chain . whenever a boat wanted to pass through and • she collected a toll (1). • • 1921...Kelsey City Dairy, ovrned by Harry Kelsey, • was producing 800 quarts of milk a day. The cows grazed between AIA and Prosperity Farms Road. Many farms were successful on this stretch of land, and that is the reason. "Prosperity" was chosen for the name of the road. 1923 ... Kelsey City was incorporated in 1923 after Kelsey had laid out his carefully zoned town. Over 100 houses were built by him and these homes sold quickly. 1924...The Florida legislature abolished the state income tax and inheritance tax, thus sparking the land boom and motivating Northerners to buy land or build homes in this area. Harry Kelsey built the first 18 hole golf course and a small wooden clubhouse where our library is now located. This golf course was abandoned in 1926. 1926...Kelsey, with the help of Paris Singer (Singer Island is named after him), built an 18 hole golf course and Winter Golf Clubhouse ("The Winter Club" ) on the land where the NPB Country Club sits now. According to author Gooding, the cost was $500,000 (4). Singer ferried his winter guests back and forth across the waterway; and Everglades Country Club guests also came by boat from Palm Beach. Lulu (1) said the boats used to tie up at a wood dock near the Parker Bridge, and a taxi would drive the guests over a shell rock road to the nearby Winter Club. U.S. Highway One was still just a shell rock path. Singer never completed his eight story hotel on Singer Island. He had begun construction in 1927, but after the 1928 hurricane the hotel was demolished and never opened. The Winter Club, the Hygeia Hotel and the Parker bridge tender's house were the oldest (prior to 1928) buildings in NPB. These three buildings were our first pioneer buildings in NPB. In 1984 by voter referendum, the NPB residents chose to tear down the historic, but dilapidated, Winter Club. The Hygeia Hotel burned and the Parker house was torn down. 1926...The Parker drawbridge was completed in 1926. Our first pioneer family to live year round on the mainland in the Village of NPB were the Parker family. The county built his house on Stilts just east of the bridge. The bridge was named after Mr. Parker because he was our first full-time bridge tender and was on duty 24 hours a day. The house was later abandoned. 1927 ... In 1927 the Winter Club opened for the first time but it sustained damage in the '28 hurricane. Some wealthy Everglades Club members leased and ran the golf course and club house from 1929-30. The first two Winter Club members were County Sheriff Robert C. Baker, and B.D. Cole (of B.D. Cole Insurance). Thr t,t''i wer Club 1928...A hurricane with 130 mph winds caused Lake Okeechobee to overflow it's banks and drown 3000 residents who lived near the lake. The hurricane wrenched the concrete Earman River bridge from its mooring, demolished all but a few of the one hundred Lake Park homes, uprooted and leveled Kelsey's three timber mills, and the entire Park Avenue shopping district, and ruined the vital credit rating of this once thriving town (3). Many of the pioneer families who had purchased homes in Kelsey City fled North, abandoning their demolished homes, defaulting on their mortgage payments and causing the Kelsey City Bank to fail. In Florida, if property taxes went unpaid for two years, the state took tale to that land. The unpaid taxes totaled $300 per lot and went up for sale. Kelsey, very disillusioned that his carefully planned town was in ruins, abandoned his first original home on the southwest corner of U.S. #1 and Park Avenue (now an osteopathic clinic) and left Kelsey City. He died in Orlando, Florida in 1957. 1929-30....Sir Harry Oakes purchased the Winter Club and all the NPB land from Kelsey. Oakes added a south wing to the Winter Club and moved his family into the wing for the winter months. This south wing housed our NPB Library from 1963.68. Oakes opened the golf course to winter visitors but closed it shortly after the stock market crash of 1929.30. Oakes was originally from Maine made his money in gold mining and then became a Canadian citizen. He moved to Florida to avoid Canadian taxes. His Tesdem, Inc. Corp. began buying abandoned property in Kelsey City and all the land in NPB. Sometime in the 1930's Oakes moved his family to Nassau and spent considerable time in London. He donated f $500,000 to London's St. George Hospital and • was rewarded with the knighthood title of "Sir." In 1943 Sir Harry was bludgeoned to death and • his bed in Nassau was set on fire with gasoline. His murderer was never caught (7). • • 1926-55 ... In the period of time from '26, when ' Kelsey built the Winter Club and '55, the land ; now known as NPB consisted of seven (7) . square miles of sugar sand and scrub palmetto and fewer than 100 individuals living between Lake Park and Jupiter (5). e The Tesdem Company, which was formed by Harry Oakes' Estate, held trusts of over 1000 • lots in Lake Park and all the land in NPB including both sides of U.S. Highway One, 1951 ... In 1951 the widow Oakes sold this land to Ralph Stolkin who was short of cash. When Stolkin was audited by IRS for defrauding a ; Veteran's Association by mail he got John D. • MacArthur to loan him $3 million using the land as collateral. Stolkin defaulted on payments, thus making MacArthur sole owner of NPB and Lake Park. However MacArthur was more interested in developing Palm Beach Gardens. ; • 1955..CharleS Cunnin ham • Bankers of MacArthur s 31 Land offered the NPB properties for sale Richard ;�`.J. • and Herbert Ross of the Ross Brothers Company sold :4N� their Boutwell Dairy holdings • locally and used that money: to buy the LP/NPB land from '` • Bankers Land( ed callnow �``\�::>::t • ;,..••�, ...`?fig ..r:..:;., .,. the MacArthur Foundation, . ) Nrrbrrr Rom. 6uJldrr and • This deal between Ross fiytth.&T ofNarcl, /1r,jr), SeW,-J, and Banker's Land was signed in 1955 for the price of $5 Million. The ; MacArthur Foundation is required to divest itself of all land holdings but some ; land across from our Village • Hall is still ow • •:��• � ned by this Foundation. The layout for our Village had superior planning, and credit ; Job" Sdir-cyn ke, est I'rRaL for this award -winning plan • Coun�11man 1.957es to Richard and Herbert Ross, John Schwencke (Ross • associate and still alive today) an ay i e ( Ross' associate). Mr. Schwencke, who is 88, ' reviewed my history and corrected some details. His memory is unimpaired. The Ross Brothers • hadpreviously built about 5,000 homes in the ' City of West Palm Beach between 1950.56. Ownership of the NPB area: 1892...Albert Sawyer was given a warranty deed by the state of Florida with the stipulation that the land had to be developed by a specific date. Sawyer died and willed the property to his son, Albert Sawyer, Jr. who sold the deed to: 1915...Ea.rton Peck, was unable to develop NPB by the specified date. so he sold the deed for $100,000 to: 1929...Harry Kelsey, who built the Winter Club and golf course in NPB and sold both of these along with all the NPB land to: 1930 ... Sir Harry Cakes, who briefly lived in the Winter Club, added a south wing to the building and did not develop any of the land in NPB. Oakes was murdered in 1943 so his widow sold the land to - 195 1 ... o:1951... Albert Stolkin, a man who was audited by the IRS for defrauding a Veteran's Association (3) by mail fraud. Stolkin had to borrow the money to buy NPB land and then he defaulted on payment to: 1955...John D. MacArthur, who was uninterested in developing any of NPB, so he immediately sold the land to: 1956 ... Herbert and Richard Ross for $5 million. 8/13/56 ... Together with Seward Mott Associates of Washington, D.C., a master plan was drawn and the Village of NPB was incorporated by Tallahassee (7). Pratt & Whitney, encouraged by John D. MacArthur, initiated plans to build a rocket and jet engine development and testing facility on 7000 acres of a remote scrub pine area 17 miles west of NPB (4). Pratt & Whitney invented the first liquid hydrogen rocket engine (RL 10), wtlich powered the satellite that carried the first human to the moon, and created the electric power system for the International Space Station. The world's fastest jet -the J58 - was developed by this facility (5). Months before Pratt & Whitney Aircraft opened, • the sale of homes commenced in October, 1956 with a Parade of Homes built in conjunction with • the Home Builders' Association and located on • the south side of South Anchorage Drive, west of Eastwind Drive. The homes sold briskly, • mostly to Pratt engineers and managers. The • Ross brothers also built 50 homes before deciding not to compete with the other builders. (7) Our Village issued the first three (3) permits for occupancy to: 402 So. Anchorage Dr, 406 So. Anchorage Dr, and 410 So. Anchorage Dr. 402 S. ,!)!'Tagg' Dryt 1956....B fia e NPB was incorporated, the Ross brothers had these _ e services in place: a utilities general manager (Fred Trapnell), a Village Hall, a village council consisting of pioneer first council members: Charles Cunningham (MacArthur's associate and our first Mayor), Richard Ross, Jay White (Ross' associate), John Schwencke (Ross' associate) and John D. MacArthur, a Fire and Police Chief named Albert Dudden, Anchorage Park Marina and ramp, 75 miles of sewer pipes, a bulkhead and dredged 20 canals and 3 lakes and hired Village Manager Alvin Olson.(7) According to James Michener (13), Mr. Olson had an interesting work history. After graduation from Annapolis, he became a merchant shipper. Then he became captivated by Chinese decorative art, went to China and started and import-export business. 12/12/57...The first business to be issued an occupancy permit was the Pantry Pride / Food Fair at 101 U.S. Highway One (building permit #100) according to the former village utilities director, Charles O'Meilia (2). NPB Properties sold 40 acres to Food Fair and Pantry Pride which opened in 1958 followed by J.M. Fields/ AKA Jefferson's Dept, Store. The Twin City Mall and Sears arrived on this acreage in 1971. A. problem arose because the boundary line between Lake Park and NPB ran through the middle of Sears. How to split the cigarette tax money, among other issues, was discussed at council meetings. An amiable agreement was reached and relations with neighboring Lake Park have remained excellent (7). 1958 ... The developers donated ten acres of land to the school board and NPB Elementary opened for classes. The two other schools that are located in NPB are The Benjamin School and St. Clare Catholic Elementary School. 1958...The National Association of Home Builders out of Chicago, chose NPB as an award winning community. This was the first time a Florida town had won. The criteria used included excellence in: landscaping, planning, schools, recreation, zoning, shopping, variety of home styles and public services in place (7). 1961...The Village purchased 145 acres around the NPB Country Club for $1,250,000 by issuing general obligation bonds. NPB voters approved spending $400,000. to build a new clubhouse and Olympic size swimming pool These improvements opened in '63 and the bond was paid off in '88 (7). ,�rri4l v."erv Nor.,h Nim Back C&un:rr Club 1963...The NPB Library opened in temporary quarters in the Winter Club. Thelma Obert surveyed the Village residents, and proposed to the Village council that a library should open. She also persuaded Village residents to contribute 1700 books. Nancy Moore was appointed Library Director from 1984 until her retirement in 2005. 1966...The oldest still -standing business, Winship Pharmacy, opened on Northlake Blvd. It was built by renowned architect, Eugene Lawrence. The exterior remains unchanged. Mr. Winship stated that in"1966 Northlake Blvd. was a two lane dirt road and only two businesses were open along Northlake: First American Bank and Little General grocery (corner of Northlake Blvd. and Prosperity)". This community has many miles of navigable canals. A boat launching ramp is available tc residents at Anchorage Park. It includes wet storage for 30 boats and dry storage for boats on trailers. There is also one public marina and one private marina as well as a private launch at Lott Bros., Inc. (19) 1960...The oldest church in NPB is St. Clare Catholic Church which was established as a parish in 1960 and began holding Mass in private homes, rented Pantry Pride space and the 2nd floor of St. Clare School. In 1969 the present church building opened its doors. The outside architecture remains unchanged. (17) 1969... NPB Library, off Anchorage, was dedicated. The downstairs Obert Room houses framed photos of early village history as does the hallway of village hall. The NPB year-round volunteer village historian is housed in the library and has archived our village historical photos and clippings. Old Port Cove condominium complex with over 1,000 units was started. It has proved to be one of the most successful and prestigious locations in Florida. (7). 1973 ... The University of N.C. chose NPB as an example of "one of the few well planned communities its size in the U.S.A." Much of the uniqueness of our Village is due to the enforced zoning that prohibits garbage cans lining the streets on collection day, commercial buildings over four stories tall or located on any streets except Northlake Blvd. and U.S. Highway One, strip shopping malls, commercial buildings close to the sidewalk, neon signs, and no blighted housing units, By restricting commercial development to two streets and prohibiting industrial plants, NPB has achieved a balance of land use absent in so many other Florida coastal communities which have succumbed to urban sprawl. 1980 ... After extended negotiations between the State of Florida, PBC and the MacArthur Foundation, the 1 112 miles of oceanfront land, which lay within the NPB boundaries, was sold to PBC for $23 million. The 385 acres included the controversial Air Force Beach where nude sunbathing was allowed. It is called John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. 1980...George Delacorte, a NPB resident, donated $600,000 toward building our second Community Center. The Delacorte Recreation Building on Prosperity Farms Road was built with the stipulation that no fee ever be charged for use of the building. (7) 1981.2004..Tbe major additional condominium complexes completed in the past 25 years include: Northlake Condominiums on Lake Circle, Governor's Pointe (356 Golfview), Seamark (Golfvlew), Marina Bay (U.S. Hwy One), Southwind Circle (Southwind Drive), River's Landing (Hummingbird Way), Harbor Isles (Prosperity Farms Road). Sanctuary Cove (Prosperity Farms Road), and Prosperity Harbor (Prosperity Farms Road). 1980—Harriet Nolan was elected female NPB Council member. 1989...Judy Pierman was elected female Mayor of NPB. as the first presence of narcotics-. Thanks to a donation, he owns a bullet proof west that is also stab proof. Chapter III Early Settlers of Palm Beach County (1835-1950) 1835... Military Trail was a raised dirt trail cleared by the U.S. Army and used as a wagon trail during the Seminole Indian Wars. When these wars ended in 1838 local settlers used the trail for trading goods 1898... Baseball games were held between rival West Palm Beach saloons on Banyan Blvd. Sam Lewis. a bartender, was lynched 8/24/1895 after he was arrested for shooting the PBC Tax Collector during a Banyan Blvd poker game. An angry mob of poker players stormed the jail, hung Lewis from a telephone pole and riddled his body with bullets (6). 1909 ... PBC was incorporated and became separated from Dade County. 1910—Dade County and PBC population census reaches 17,000. 1912—The oldest still existing store in PBC is aptly named Pioneer Linens and is located on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach. as the first 1916 ... The Palm Beach Post newspaper began publishing daily. 1996 ... Ryan Berube, a NPB resident, won an Olympic Gold Medal for relay swimming. He trained at the NPB Country Club for ten years. (2) 1980's ... Mark Soverel, helmsman and winner of national sailing races, was listed by Yachting Magazine as one of the top five sailboat designers in the world. He grew up in NPB and built his sailboats at Soverel Marine in Palm Beach Gardens. 1999...Our NPB Department of Public Safety was one of the first police stations in PBC to sponsor a teenage Explorer Post in 1977, The current Public Safety facility on U.S. Highway One opened in 1999. At that time it had the most technologically advanced equipment in PBC. Atos is a German shepherd K-9 dog acquired in 2002 and currently trained to alert officers for the 1919.33... Riviera Beach was a fishing port during Prohibition and imported illegal rum from the islands, Lulu said it was called ''conch - town" .(1) Henry Flagler named the streets in downtown WPB. His workers lived there. Flagler named the E -W streets alphabetically after flowers: Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia, Fern, Gardenia and Hibiscus (9). The nation's wealthy northerners `'wintered" in Palm Beach during the traditional 'season' from Thanksgiving to Easter. The island was still a wild and swampy frontier amidst a plush Breaker's Hotel and Bradley's gambling casino. The invention of the auto, the extension of Seaboard RR to PBC and the completion of Dixie Highway/U.S. #1 paved the way for developers to expand into northern PBC and our area.