Area Facts Before NPB Was Incorporated by Chas. A. Branch 12-18-78Mr. & Mrs. Chas. A. Branch
4500 N. Dixie Highway, A-6
West P. -dm Beach, FL 33407
ARRA FACTc BUORF NORTH PAI271 JiFACH WAS INCORPORATFD,
HARRY S. K8LSFY
))as 42 young man began the promotion of restouvants around
City, 0
lioston and afterwards in New York kilty, After acquif0 ng, with the help of Samuel
-Oickford, n.ore than 101 units, he so�_d all to'a chai .formed. in 1i'Y.0, about 1920.
With his Profits, he came to lorida and began to invest t)ro'rariGies
North) and past of Palm hel�.-ach. He formed the "Jast Coast Finance Corporation, owning
all stock except a few shares necessary to be held by the other officers of
.W
his Company.,.A.Mr. Bert Winters was the attorney, Miss Houran Secy and.Treas,
Mr. Kelseyp'6btbo&&-,44lpeg�igktyfjs the first zoned City in the `tate, Olmstead
giros. of Boston, being his planners. He began selling lots, Incorporated the Town Site,
and began the construction of streets, drainage and Water Works. e sold off two miles
of ocean front nofth of the Palm Beach Inlet to Mr. Tony kiddle and lots in Riviera
Beach, south 6f t�,e Silver Beach Road and west of the F*RC R-14. Also, acerage in
I F to,
rosperity arms states, North of the arman River and South of the Intercoastal Canal.
r. Kelsey had acquired the Intercoastal `anal. from St. Augustine to Miami, By 1925$
about (-�O% of all the lots in Kelsey City had been sold by the '11,�,CFC.
Kelsey had promotes, busl1ne'S
Mir. Li . s firms around the railroad area. he
-)rake Lumber Co occupied 20 Acres in the western part of the town. 'anks had been
formed and other companies allied with the building trade had been formed by his
friends and followers. To add to the bDautification f the area, he had formed the
Kelsey 'Jity Nursery Go and placed '4i r. Samuel 4lakel in charge of operations.
Mr. elsey constructed the Kelsey City GolfGourse on the North side of
Palmetto '-J.J'rive with a Chicago Golf Architeet drawing the designs for an 18 hole course.
P&Mr.elsey had Mir. Austin do much of the grading -work in and about Kelsey City and
he built t1 1e first 9 holds. The fairways of the 2nd, 3rd, lith and part of the 5th
fairways lay north of the Barman river, where the present Library and School of
North .1'alm 'beach is now located.
When Paris Singer began the construction of his klue Heron Ilotel on the
Ocean runt, he contacted 14ir. Kelsey about the construction of an 18 hole golf
course just south of the Intercoastal anal and an 18 story Hotel at the foot of
Palmetto J"Live. at the edge 'of Lake Worth, la'.
k Zr. Singer had a French Friend who was an Architect in Faris and. Mr. e#lsey
had ?is friend, Lou's De Puyseger, draw up plans for a Golf Clubhouse and the hotel.
Mir. Kelsey began buying back some of the land he had sold that would interfer with
this new Venture, as It was planned to construct another 18 hole golf course between
L!4 the Selsey City Golf Course and the new one which would be called the Palm keach
Winter Club, At that time the Palm Beach area had. only the Palm Beach Country Club
3!: and.the short holes aroun"_ 1� the veakers Rotel. . Only the old established residents
-,
.of lalm peach were welcome on this course and 11r. 'inger desired to have a more open
M.'embership for his Everglade Club.
!I, r. A elsey,,directed Mr. Andirson use his dredge to dig a channel from the
the Intercoastal uanal to the proposed site of a new Clubhouse, using the soil to
elevate the land for that purpose., lir. Sin K er and 1i elsey entered into a Road
Construction Contract with the Fla. State oad E�epertment to give them a right-of-
wqy from �elsey City to the Intercoastal 6anal, wh* h not interfer with the two
golf courses and construct thenew 24 foot wide road avement,
Herman and JY Arnold from 1§11alert6nig, G a-,,* had entered into a Contract with
Mr. Selsey to build 100 homes in Kelsey City. They wereassigned the construction of
the Clubhouse, using local sub -contractors for lighting, plumbing, etc. Lumber was
delivered from the rake Lumber Co by the Prosperity Farm Roads and thru the k.� anal
IV,
r. Anderson would dredge to a slip about 100 feet east of the site of the Clubhouse.
lubhouse.
The 1" els% Q'*t I
IL Nursery was to furnish the plantings an�` shrubbery. A golf
F
architct from ew 1-:ingland designed the course lay -out, but because of his death later,
the `j anadian Champion finished the final draft and suppevised the construction.
At this time, the only road, north and south, through 'elsey Gity between acksonville
to Miami, was th-.e Old Dixie Highway, laying either side of the F10 R -W tracks,
I spent the most of 1925 in Melbourne lal. with the Hou -Elliott Co,
Fhton *gtt had
r. El
,,Airml.lcting and designing the Construction of Melbourne e*ghts. it
Acc.%4" t978�167
-2-
been an Auditor for vames P. Welch Reators, F -11 -int, Michigan, in 1916, The Welch Firm
had been appointed by General "A Motors to handle sales of a new building project made
necessary by the expansion of eneral Motors increased production at Buick and
Chevrolet.
At that time I had an 'Fingineering and Surveying Office in Flint and was doing
most of the Work for -the _,deleh Firm and general Motors. The only orders -L received
from C. S. Mott, GM VTQ17 PRPS. was, I How soon can you build lOpOOO houses'. After
Lnterests,
VId 1 wasover, and" eneral Motors had been acquired fromMr. Dufant by the DtPont
they brought in their own organizations to finish the consturtion of the
civic Building Project for GM. ?Cir. Welch went bahkto his own eal state iiubiness,
Oscar 711iott came to -�Florida for Ifteal Estae speculatiloll and a hir. Chas, kurr, who
Kelsey as an Asst to
Florida and joinedwith, Mr.
worked with al" of us came to
the operation of the fast Coast Finance Corporation,
In August 1924�, 1 had completed the work askedfor Fir. 711iott in Melbourne.
ASmpbt 316h, I received a call from iL r. Chas. Burr, requesting me to come at once
to talk with Mr. Selsey about becoming a Vice-4Pr8s. of the Fast 'oast Finance Corp.
.2nd to be `"eneral Viangger of all his holdings. Accordingly, I contacted Mr. 4L elsey
Nov. 1st, found out that his past Ivianager, lr. Morrison had resigned to build houses
for his own firm, a A accepted hA.]1s proposition. On Nov. 5th, I moved my family from
gelbourne,Fi'la. to a home furnished by the ''CFC in "elsey City.
I found out the condition ofwhat was necessary to keep up with the present
payrolls for all the vCF.0 projects and the contacts with. the City of "ake "ark.
I was busy settle,`M-1,7 contracts for work being done. I also found out that the
'tate Road ' Contract was about to be cancelled with Singer and. Selsey. On Nov. 22nd,
went to Tallahassee and got the Road dept. to place this contract in my hands,
Returning Nov. 25th Thanksgiving aye I ordered a I'L r. 'Langston of rlando to
Linish the rack road with Ocala ock, 5eynolds of WPB to oil and surface the road
.Mr. Austin to finish up the grading and get it all finished by the end of the year,
The Golf fairways were not responding to the growing of grass, so i had 25
cars of marle shipped up from Odjus to be spread over the fairway sqrfice. I
�irected the inside work on the Clubhouse be ftnihlbbd_ and the last of the side
gteps from the back to the front of the building be completed with �Jrnmental
Cement Blocks furnished by our pwn plant being made by a "r. 1 orno.
Course
On Jan. 5, 1921, Mr. Selsey was able to open the Club House and Golf 'jourse
of the Palm Beach Winter Club for the__,first f irst time. A summer Pro from Winenkee, Ill.
was hired to be our Winter Pro.Miss Falconer, who operated a Lunch Club in Kelsey
'ity, was placed in charge of the Dining Room. lie had bought a large bus which
operated between the Palm lieach Hotels and the New Clubhouse which traveled up the
newly completed highway. Our Opening was blessed by many of the Old 4Palm Umach
4inter Society, amount lahom was the Phipps, tiarrimans, Woolworth, Bosche, et al.
The records of this opening was later lost in the 1929 hurricane, althou it was
T
covered by the news me is of Vyest 'alm keach and alm lieach,
i"lany of the winter. -----,
visitors, who wre not welcome at the l alm peach yours:es
came to Palm Beach ";inter Club "uring the next Lew years. T remember when Al Jolson,
lien Burney and his wife and many show People attended o:Drfal*rways, along with their
many friends. As many of the Golf Pros qame to Florida each 'inter, we had many
tournaments at the Winter Club and the Kelsey City Golf Course. In fact, The
KelsbyUity course was written up in Golf' s ed book as being the best 9 hole
sportima Course of that year.
The Golf Course had many lockers in the basement, a fine dining room that
c oult-1 b e used for 3ancing, gocKI meals but only three bedrooms in the South wing
. --owers Everything was of Vnm. as maintained at the best.
The picture most shown today of the Palm each Winter Club when first
f)Rrmed to the public was taken Jan. 1'-'5, 1927 and shows Mrs. Chas Burr and laughter,
11
I , V aide oL r1h C)
r. Mrs. Chas. Jir. anch ani:` son V, eirill, in front of the 48bT the Clubhouse.
V .1
Although V�- - - dining roam was closed during the summer, the course was kept
open for any visitors from 4alm leach. it was a struggle to meet the costs, of
1,�eepi.ng the. course In fair shape durihg the summer and Fall. However, on !"arch 26 19279
A.& P W .9
r. Kelsey was honor,. -ad. on his 39th- kirthday, with a golf tournament and dinner.
In1) 'ec. 1927, I -was introduced to a r.
Smiley., who had a small airport in Tenn.
-3-
Under his direction I rad constructed an air strip just north of the FarmanI FarmL �6
River and west of the prosperity Road
on our land, known as the elsey
vitt' wiry.. 74hen we reopened the calm 'each 14inter Club Oan. 12th 1928
C",
Mr.�-m.ilfsy gave arial exp+ditons over the fairways, driving many of the players
C-1
�I
to run for cover. is Fairchild plane acted correctly ani no damage was done.
".1111he .,1J_1,ub'noUse was again under the direction of 1v1iss galconer and the
local girls who actsid is cools and waitressesthe ' alm . many wh,,.q I see. about us today.
r ; T
The winter season was well attended by beach esidents and Visitors)
but bait-0ouse of the Florida Land b`ust, much of the glamor was absent.
c
Mr. elsey was meeting with financial difficulties iihknnhed by the
TRS who were looking into his reported- profits and looses of his personal
dealings and the ast Coast Finance Corp. All resulting charges were fuouat . 'A,
to be L*n,gr jf.alnst him, but it was years later, -�Iuring this ti-r_e, his
ability g B Governemnt Action'to. raise funds or sell properties.
y
Feb., 20, 1928. Mr. lihas. iurr resigned and returned to ''lint, Michigan
for employment there. Soon afterwards, Mr. J. C. fills, an Attorney from
SanXford, Fla. and ao�,qton Mass,. was called in. Mr. Bert linters turned his
aladvice over
leg-to r. ills and the ast Coast finance orD. went under
k
l
t ) 4elsey
1 Trusteeship. On arch 2(th re
Zvi
a rusteeship to the J. C. Bills T p
came t2 my office and requested me to, act in all capacities for the J. Ce
Corp. kith Florida (s
iiiis Trusteeship that I 2hd for theast Coast Finance Q
wand Bust, it becames, an ar-lded burlen to keep all field opevirtlLons . funded.
In spite of the fact that the banks of West Palm Beach had closed ''arch l4th, 1927)
1,
we had been able to keep t-,..e two keep the two golf courses operat! 9, although much
oli
of the last Coast Finance Corp's money was in them. On April lst ,
I , n3er the J. Ce foills
.i.
Trusteeship w4closed the Palm Reach Winter Club for the summer. The former officers
of the ',q"!CFC went to other locations. The Kelsey...City Water Works had been transferred
to the Town of Kes,:y City for back taxo%,s.A�P
_,T elsey City Nursery had been idn
incorparted into a Jae*,. Co. with r. 8c Mr exception
ing all the stock with the
of that given to �t Mrs. ilakely for past services. Mr. Bills and myself were
left to salvage out any value left in the East Coast Finance Corp for Mr. Kelsey.
1 0 -3 some damage to the
On August 1921, we had a small storm which dil,
I
Kelsey City area. On Sept. 13. 1928, a s--,cond storn in was reported the Atlantic.
I followed this with the , aval Officer at the weather station at the Jupiter
Lighthouse. As the storm continued in our direction, on Sept. 15th, I had the entire
payroll men begin boarding up th- "-alm "each 'Tinter Club and our properties in
Kelsey City. 141r. J. C. Bills came to my office for a conference and then Took Mrs.
-elsey and most of -the children in their car and my family to his home near 'anford.
I left at PM ?46V
4:loin home after all I -would t# '
19 o protect the Kelsey holdings.
9Pi
After the hurricane struck this area on the Ath, r. Bills and I returned to
K Sept.elsey City at 9:30 PM) S17th, just as Marshall -Law was being declared.
Most of all property had been damaged] but Mr. iills and managed to stay
that night in our wrecked home. Mrs. Xelsey and Mrs. liranch, with the children
returned on Sept. 21st, after we had partially made th-eir home-As livable*
This storm finished the downfall of property values which the Florida Land
lust and the general depression had started. 'and and buildings could not be
q1van away and. everyone Ceased paying taxes on any property. All kond payments
and 11ond Interest ceased to have any value. kut someway, people lived, had fun
and enjoyed meeting at the Go Courses, 'Community Clubs, church, etc. as
the.; had more time to work outcourse
stiny. However) the Clubhouse of the Palm iieach
,lint,linter Club was repaI*r ed the maltained and on 'an. 12th, 1929, was
again reopened for the Winter season.
As wor"king with the J. C. Bills ...'ruteeship became less demanding)
01*1
was elected to the jioard of "Fducation of "alm lead County for 1929-1930,
t-:)o1K p-;�calm time work with the Beach Count ounty Engineering Office and An
April ist, l93(--1, was appointed to be a Chief Engineer Inspector for the
US Dept. of Interior in the Construction of the Overses Highway, between
Lower I at�bcumbe and Kg Pine
14 Keys, work in Lade County and later, on a
�A
M*Ssissippi Rivek-Ir Dridge at reensville, Miss.
Mr. iills, as Trustee, was attempting to dispose-, of the East Coast
Finance hollings. The IRS ma`terwith Mro tLelsey had been settled, the
6-4- wired at discount tax
have propert.-Les, a c q u.
-A
of Flori(3s had passed laws to
ra,�_emption prices a , nd to guarantee defaulted -4ond and Interest, payments due*
he Federal wept. Intercoastal Ganal -roperties had been transferred to t
of ar, who were busy in deepening and wiiening to improve shipping between
tjack-sonville and Miami.
associated withpl4re iert Winters.
Pir. Foskett was an a.ttorney who became assoc
Mr. J. C. hills interested Mr. Foskett in the acquistion of -the,properties of
the East Coast Finance Corporation by buying up the Unpaid lax Qertficates of
its and nearby parcels from the 'tate of Florida. Also, in buying up the
Mr. arry Oakes in
defaulted Bonds of Kelsey City. Mr. Foskett inttrested T
this leal and theme the Special -�uick Gliam Deed to the esdem, Inc* /n,
1 � A"L
114 Li t toast Finance Cor"P. will establish the date whenoMrs
�Jompany from, the as %i I perties was the
Oakes took over these holdings deeded to h1m.1,,.Am5pg these pro
Ootse
NL
two golf courses, along with about 85% of the Kelsey amity
It is believed that the Jakes family lived a short time at the luhhouse
of the r" aim 'beach Winter Club* however� they soon bought a h, -.-)me in calm lieach
'Lhey seemed to be more interested in
and the Oakes family began living there. %.4
%1� Ill. -110ty Golf Course was entirely destroyed
ponie's and polo than in Golf and the elseY ul
and the irreggtion system, P=Psi etc was removed t the s6uth end of the
wt.' afield for riding horses. The golf course
Pal inter Club #o begiin a f
m beach
paths for re Oakes and his c5ildren. After
was made over to accomadate riding
'lubhouse seemed. to have less
i-',�ey took up residence in palm ;6each, the
maintenance. o London when "Ir. Uakes began to re
Mrs. Oakes and family moved t the 4w" VU11 of
hole3*Lngs in the "ahamas an all became 71nglish subjects, before t
Pngland granted them the The title of Sir and Lady Oakes. They became less interested
in t1ne _.)ropert1Les near and around 114 Kelsey C'J'Lty and left most of the activities to be
' ` i parry Oakes spent most of his time
Ietermtned by Mr. Foskett. XThLle nor Sir
U . I" amity divided their time between London and ♦_alm 'each*
in th.e l-ahamas9 mad Oakes and am
Kelsey City changed to make 'ark and half of
r. Foskett had V�el. name of %.0 sell lots and improve the
chain ed in name* while promising to
t" st-rmets % Sir harry Oakes drew a
�J little was -done.
conr3itions of the Town and Golf 'ourse,
U d Executator of his Estate,
-.4111 lesignating Mr. Foskett the hdministrator an signing
IJ at he had been a witness to the S ,
ELr marry
anal r. J. c. Bills a,,Jvis,%=-.(J me later that
of t'his wil.l. hn_1 d&te of this signing and the date of the mUrde'r of
Oakes are. matters of public record. ..& perties be
Mrs. "akes could not demand that the Lake nark or other pro,
4 so I have been
unrest son had reached the age of 211
,es-oosad of until I- er Yo unge Pi E,Oske,t lesposed of all the fakes holdings
advised. ',Tnen that time did come, r. tion t,-) ,ne Ms"ArtFadrItnterestse
acquired frain the mast Coast Finance corporation U... e J
n, 'ity of N--)rth I -ail -n Deach was forraed, who in turn
1+ as then V. -at the -J
B aa ch 'Anter Club renameLng it the North "alm each
acquired the o1q. 'alm.
0 oti n t ry Club.
L '!Xust that this imformation may be placel in the records of th'i'm
U r
-catLonal purposas� relative '0 t"
m
ort1r. ♦ a -L Beach Library to be used for adu
it is a vast change of the land known as
-,-,a rly history, of tYlis arcl�a. 'fter all, :rood and. the Juck hunting in
1%0 Ige,, where the quail hunting used to be g
attlesnake ri, b now many 4ik.*Lgh Rises provide taxes for the MuncipalitY-
4ke ',Jorth was f 11-ne where V I vide
o r # mp into boati at night nor are any oysters picked to pro
P mano no Ionger jump
a meal for the people who struggled thru-ogh the lean. years of the d. pression of
f Progress is warranteed from what
19,725-1933. h few of us wonder if the price o
present. I hop., that while
de used to know and enjoy and. the reality of the
T.Q;-any of 'is will soon pass away) that what can be.'saved or past History will be
to the N,-)rth -Calm beach Clubhouse erected about
e
inaintained. In spite of the misuse to the oil paLnting� made by
,,Jhat has happened -101liwood ArtLs
w*11- be allowed to stand. t ?
sey before Mr. 'orno became a
lorno ani presented to r. Kel the day bef ore
I ha{3 placed it so carefully in .the Nortb fall of the pining room,
we net to calebrat�; mr. Y�^,_.lsey s 3) hirthday.
-'has. A. branch. 12/18/19780