History of Area by Dorothy Jones 1964Dorothy J -o n,e,s 0 t1l
L
Mayor Beery,
The area East of tT
was not filled in and 0
developed as it is now, When
Mayor Berry moved to, Bay- road he and his wife could sit ont�jei -r front ortch
and see the boats
.,o by and now its filled in and, built up so, Nit that was
one of the reasonsthey were attracted to the area. In the early times there
was great ]#1KNR:iX:pmxx:t controversy about developers fillincr in land but the SN t a t
was somewhat loose in their regulation as to what C uld an could not be do-ne
and dev'e'lopqrs bei�n,:.) the kind of entrepanei..�xs they -are, so were filling i_in lan&
left and ri..._rht as fast as they dared. The great disap"oointment :carne to those,
who purchase(',. homes -Darallel - to Lake worth and thou:.�.,rht they, c I preserve t,he
view forever (ca.n't ban I ea
k on a vi in Florida) Pa'rt of the plich to se -11
land in N -PB were promises that there would be a'Marinaas part Of the Village,
-
a play.-rrourd for children*' After ay ear or two when there was no si-,M of a
Marina or a playgrohnd, the council pushed pretty hard to the. developers to
fulfill their promise on. the land just behind the Sewera�--.--,e Disposal Plant
There is a nice Marina now and that was even before the Mar ina on U.S. 1 was
developed.. From year to year some money was appropriated to buy eauipm. e,' -n t " f Cr
the play,-Pround and it has turned into a nice place. Like anl developers, . '- they
had a vi �73 * 0 1 i
, ..s.ion in their mind of what they wanted to do***thele is what 0 ; 0 .0 t they sell***
t 11-r v Is 1 o n.,
F, 1hen the ppople moved in,.and after a yerr-�,,.t or two the villa.,.,:_re;rs
became a little restless with the Ross b
ros and, Mr, Schwenke and they were
sevp.r.ely criticized. The intent of the developers was pi......roodq howevp-.-, they were a
little slow in f011ow"l,i'th-ru on romses. *The early year's were somewhat ro6k!
There was m.u' Y
The ch resentment and hard feelin..,.'_1..)s when the developers sat on the,Coi,ncil
_p(�O-le need to ap-preciate that Mr* MacArthur who purchased land
and Wold it to the RO-.'S.'.s Bros..,
The Ross 'Bros. and Mr. S. had business de,?.,.lin:�.r,s with M&LacArthi.ir. and M i s known
as a very tou--�7h bi..isi.ness man and if you a- reed to to payhim in silver on�.)the t e..
.of the City Hall in Chicago at 12:01 on s . uch and si-ich a date, he or 41
s
represen,tati-ve would be there and if weren't there; M'ee�inp all th-P. st*p
I u T!;', t- ir) r S
You woul d have trouble wi.th him., Well, there was a - 11
payments d e on thnn one 6-f` the,
facilities, either the water co. or sewa,:.,.)e dis-oosajol plant, and the` R
osses weirp
ready to pay and tried to pay by check and Mac would not accppt it and. they t ri., P. d
to give Mac cash , and he wol.-, ldn I t accept that ei the so they s �arted read. t�ip
7)
contract and disc6ve'red that it stipulated that they had to make Da me in wh�iter
it specifiedl of the steps of the City Hall in Chicago on such a y
nd sUch a date,,'"
They then Hired a Brinks Truck and brou.:;-ht the cash as specified to avoid a
rather sticky foreclosure (delivered) by adherein,-. to the, letter of the law,
P the Rosses and Schwenke .:7,,ot to know Mac, well
From inquiries with enou::,-,,
and his idior.,yn'I
cracies,
t ri"a 0"o a s t
There is a Pie.-ce of land adjacent to U*Sel and the Countr Clubg n4lc,�ar w3
y ater,.
and the �)rid.,,-re. And on that land now there are the tennis colirts. Dfat little
piece of land. rempained in the possession of th(n, Ross ,Bross, when. they s -61d. the
C*C9 to the Village They reserved that, The Villa, --,se had an option to buy at a
cert,?"n date. he Vi 11 a:- e wanted to buy that smal c but - thp Ro.sses did' n6t,
want to sell it to ;the cr1 pi e e,
-re. So the Vil�.ae had'to' threaten a loaw suit and
Villa',11
ID
they finally a,...>reed to live up to the option But
they tried, every way th��y know
how to avoid sp
e i n,cr t s m. a 1 of land and for the 8209000. They t'hou,rht t hr -
b. e bi_i, *11 d " y ,
would,.x something on it, There were numero•
V L us deals of th..at type, goinpon.
at that time. The developer would sell the bare bones but they'd save 'a little
piece for. themselves-) but Five one the option of buy* *t later on and yould have
1 n i_
to fi:�Tht them, or they'd. hope that you
would, for..,; -et about tl�e option. One of the
pTeasing, facts was that the Village- and Mayor 19. were able tr, r""evgail an c __ 0 P1 .,.
.�: t' ' i-rchas
the land and. buil the t;vety" time
_d terms courts which were needed in the I
the ViI.I_age ran afoul of the developers it was irritatin.-Ir
Mayor Beery,
AirForce Beach. There were problems with Mac, fie.. wouldpi-111 some 1..andout of
J
the ViTlaha
Fe He always attemtd to do somethin��-r. He f 'lled lana?. West of the
V1�
Road that runs aro-,ind illegally. The b 0s1had s gep law si.li.ts.
s +rPe
MxXxxxEyier We attempted to annex the an tind :�r
1 a so we wouii. Ave a'donti,3uous pi,ece
of land. to even off our boundaries. Mac. always blocked that. He never wanted
the Village to have access to the land on the beach.
You cant o through to
Te W
Air Force Beach from the ithouAhgoinp th-'01JFh. some other land., Thi s i
Mac, ploy to 'keep the Villa;., fror-,i adding to Ets tax base. •He was reserving
that land for Paim Beach U )
ardens wh-*ch he subsequently devp.loped. He had every
L
intention at the time he loaned money to the Rosses built. thp Water and S` 'ewer, : -j- P
-Plant) and the Rosses purchased that development and take over t�ip sale q-,n(i
development off' much of the land --Mac. fully intended to own all of N.?R He d. i d
not think that the Ross bros. wol-ild make it,, Many people sell property
*With the
hope pe, and expectation of repossessing, Let the developar sp'end his money to develop
and then .-,o broke, etc. When Mac. finally accepted the fact that Rosses and, Schw.
were'D to make iw_
.t that's _en Mac. started Palm Beach Gardens,
There was much controvr,-�rsy and .1 much publicity for MacArth-, -i r ... which in effect is
what he really wanted, It didn't matter what People said as lon.:". J, as they talked,
I., 'I
It senms Mac, and the -P.G.A. and Mae. and whoever he had dealin..--,*s with, he N1.7ould
end uD havin,��- or contriving
to have millions of dollars of publicity,
Mac* Durchased from Hary Oakes 4'state,
Dorothy Jones See. to Mayor CharlesA. Cunningham, First.
She came to West ..Palm Beach in 191:--.1she worked in her own Secretarial Service
in Boynton Beach, She was also mana:.:der of a title insurance col. in Delray
Beach subsea-1-iently and when :kkRtxx9ftxxxxi_msmt she resigned from their to accept
a - i
ostion advertised in the newspaper for a secretary. Since she had the
back,--rrolind for title work and she was a r.e. broker she was hired in Dec. 1q�7.
Actually Mr. Cunningham was a real- estate broker in Chl*cp-..,p,,o and there he met
Mac. and he was asked to come to the P. B, area, because Mac. had ba�,,-'A. 19
mort.(xages on the property in N
P.B and. Lal�.e Park and to gee ee what Cunningham
could do about them. Cunningham had met MacArthur through other friends in
ChI. -�f
cal o. He came down from Chi..ca,.,,;,-.-o aftd staSred at the Colony Hotel on
halm Beach. A story in told how the two sat on the ed, -Te of the be(! in the hotel
and made a deal for $6rmillion dollars for selling the properties in N7.B to the
builders.
The very fi.rst builder,s iwere the Ross Bros. (photo. w,hen sign, the contract)
So it was thru Mr. Cunningham. o,
promoting the sale to the Ross -6ros fvr Mac,
%...I
that it all began. Eventually Mr. came down to stay and. opened his office in
the Citiznns Bldg.in WPB and Norm -an Rolland, an Assistant to C. later joined
the offices of Mr. Mac, C. handled all, the projects for the sellin;-,r of the lots
in L. P, and N.D.B., C* did not move down unt*1 later so ac teal.. 1V D.. orothy was
workin:-1- for Bankers Life. C. was an agent for Mac, When C. walked into °Lake
Park to pay off the Tax indebtedness, it wC--,.,.s really Bankers Li. fp, money and C.
was actl*n:.",* as the liason.
When the name N.,D.B. was
selected it had to be ap,,.)roved by the State
Gipping shows there were
too many places called Pala. Beach June 1076 to be
of a special sessio-ra of State Legislature on July 23 and. 'it was to be called.
N. P, comprisin,,- 9 sq. miles of land and. water immediately North of Lake 'Park.
New Village Uovernment formed. First m-eetin-.-r i 1 :.-re Hall Sept. 1159 19P6*
--n 4'lla,:,,
See CliiDp i ngs Presented to Le J., July 30
ew
-�6 they had the first parade of liomec�
Mr. Gunnin_ ham, a -Q October 191
.-pointed Mayor.
opening in N.P.B9
92, R709000 000 cost to Ross Bros. for purchase from MacArthur. Ross announced
they would. build a 3500 home community. 970 acres of 3000 acres that MacArthur
owned, $-
The various bu'ilders had model homes
Anchora.,--1e Drive was the very beginnin...,.;
_
their, Phil Lewis tai lt a house in theire.
Village has a statistical report put out every month showing no. of res~ dents
That should tell me how many residents at bezrinnin-,�,.
Ross paid Mac. 5790,000 for P.B. Winter club and then sold it to vi. lla;7e for
I? I?
6 .
Cunningham had leadership ability in bl_isi ness acumen was fantastic
He was a referee in Bankruptcy Co1..)..rts in Ch.icai-,----ro for many nears.
Falling into mayors job was a natural
Mayor r;6 to ':'7 then served as col.incilman from. 17 to 60
It was his leadership which helped others. He was ..---ood in promoting
"POB, County Utilities belonged to MacArthur, they depended u. -Don at, first
Lake Park and Rivier-a had schools
t
0 t.4
In early 6Q' s when. Mac . came down here to take over, office separated. G i i nn i m
a
kept his office and Mac. took over the remiainin.:.,- pr6perties he controlled.
By this time although thvilla---e was started by people associated with Mac;. and
the Ross Bros (they were the first to become part of the council) once they -7ot
it started, they Paper -p'Mmes eased out. He hired first Village Mana.:'-er, Al 01 -son.
Library of Palm- -'os (Rich ''loch}"
Ther:' �.:l were bulkhead problems
Mrs. Cunnin:Tham will donate his gavel
Mr. Cunningham received some of the -oropn.rties he owned in -payment of commission
when he -old real estate for Mac. He purchased more properties to add on to
. P. B 'P. B
and also property that later became Go He was a scout Eft Mac. and
Tdt Rr�gjf Rie was a piece of real estate on U.�1.1
in pa ment wo 1jrTTR S
bordaring on R e wWt' no too CAR�0�r' m what i --.s now P..�, G. Blvd. The Pass oni.sts
fathers came to this area looking for a site and. Msgr. O'Manney at St. Edwards
Church on Pa `..m Beach, where Mr. C attended sent them to Mr. C. At thetimeg to,
help pro -mote the area and. improve the roR,:,,:p y -Oas s i o -n i S t
0 convinced the
C
property for
Fathers whio to purchase the
There was a beautiful openin.,:.,at the time. The remaining property had t-0
be,-,bul1headed and filled and it had to sit for 3 years Joieft for tax purposes
before Mac. coi..,-lld even promote it for sale. Eventually Ecc'elstone, came along
and wanted to purchase and bou:..-rht the land thatu upon which si-ts Old Port Cove
for $2000,000. (about 1`4 acres from Passionist Fath,,rs to Old. Port Cove)
1 named forpeople
Othe f 111. * n,.-., North of North Lake Blvd. Vari--o.us F"
on MacArthur's staff. Mr. Cunningham -promoted the sale of all of that
p roper;ty.
There were contracts for all of those lots Mr. Mac. would not, spi 1.
so all depose is had to be refunded. Lots along TJ,,S, 1 and 'riots alonD- -1U- h e c.? n a.
fingers of 'Lake Worth (all. mapped olit with sizes) After that he camo, and
took over and Mr. C. sdpar-at(-.'.\d from the Org. of Mac. N. Rolland. went w1th- Mac.
and. Dorothy Jones stayed with C.. At that t' Trn e there was a proiDer
ty settlement
that Mac, was to control and what G . was to own
superficially remained on the best of terms.
Regardlp.ss ! .of his personality, were it not for Mac. who made many peo-ple successful
and d i d munch to develop the land,, -there seems to be a general meeting of the
minds that it w a s !A_ac'.. to who*m they owe their success -'and the development. of,
.the area,
t-4
t-4
If
-3
io
d
L
r
\,D t74
Mro Jay White Florida
0
Mrs White came to NYI_48. March 10,iN"
a bkrren ?500 acres, The 1951 when North _:?alm Beach was
only structure in the area was the Sir
Harry Oakes Mansion which was .the Rvxxticy CAU42uegu;?�y t 6111golf
C an
�-3
c u r s�,e
Shortly after his arrival, he joined a partnership with his brother.
in-law, Ric"iard Ross and his plans had been to build about 40 houses ..�..�
in the West side of West Palm Beach. so his oriFinal building
I
ex-oerienoe started with those comparatively 'inexpensive homes
When
this project was com-PIPted 'in August of 19r-;1 they surveyed
the area now known as Relvidere Homes and commdnced the'Droject
of approx. 1000 homes plus several other projects in the South
end of West Palm. Beach and the Lake Worth about 200
additional homes 1-tt-4 -T
J P.
In May of 1996, land was purchased from John DO MacArthur -"
The land which is now N -?B, and 99% of Lake Park and 9300 lineal 4�
feet 'Sir
of the ocean was owned by Harry Oakes murder. in 1944)
He picked up bankrupted mortgages from Kelsey, 3
��.�-��` .� `
Kelsey built the Golf Course .w White and'Col purchased. about
2500 acres from MacArthur at $3000 per acre average 'including lake
front, back lands etc, what is now the V*Ilag
1 NPBS,
The first thinF e of
, they did was build the Sewage Treatment Plant and
Water Trea tment P I an. t 9 This took one year. located on Anchorage Dr.
No
moria pages would be approved without the basic fundamentals
Had
to be approved through the County and the .te--Palm beach
County Commistion
would have to apr)rove before they could create
a Village. (See records in Gourt 'House) At firstthey built *v
off of TJ,Q1 Anchorage Drive
k., on
,, to
When they opened the Village, there was a Sho gf Model Homes
and this is where they were built about 14 homwess F•irst thing, created.by
At the
same time they built and established the Village Hall.,0.1 several
Ross •Bui! a other builders
.dd�rg started with Ebbtide Dr. T'hey d'd not want' to cekapb
compete with the other builders and. did not have a mod -el with th-e rest
They built about 1�0 homes ard then went out of the building business,
The,, did not wish to compete with the purchasers of lotse Opened to
the public in zreneral about 191;7 (look for newspaper pictures),
Ross Bros.
were:> pretty much forced irto rebuildin'nr the Country Club li*,
which was 0
originally spread out in a rather ridiCU31ous, poorl"y planned
manner, that in ordly t elop the area as they did,
to compact thexgxii C it was essent*al
X��a.1
X in a more sensible layout. Eventually the
Village also added irprovements. The Villap,-e of NPT
Country Club around 1961 from the Ross Bros, purchased the
In 1957 the Rosi B so rebuilt parts of 9?Wft?gyrse •creating
some new holes ba"N �Xkloims 10 11 an d 1
rie f �r Ina -Lys
1.cr -L go if
course was on about 220 acres and later compacted down to hbout 1PO acres
and rebuilt
the rest of the holes, wideningfairways* rebuild-inp greens
9
iRand traDs and pits to a great extent to make •a
golf course and then sold the lots mo rex sensible
Ross Bros, filled in all the land adjacent to iake Worth because there
was only about 150 ft, of land away from what is known as US 1. As t,
a matter of fact t1lere
was one section thRt was so narrowthat Sir (PO ft), �;
Harry Oakes had a small dock in front of his oountry club right out to
Lake Worth, So m,,),t Of the' starting up at the Monastary in the North T _001
end of the Village down to what is
now Lake park was all filled in by
Ross Bros . Old ?ort Cove was built b J�IA
y Eccles Jr. Land
was purclin:,9sed"'
from another owner (check out) resold to interests ,Old Cove
developed 1971. Land's End built by Jay White himself, Fall of iqsq
and completed. in 14 months,
Gemini' Condo. and Aquarius on Sinp-,&r Island were built Simultaneously by
Ross Bross. Unfortunately the building
prosperous bulhble develo ed a
leak avound 1973-74 and deflated and the Ross Broswent bankrupi this
pro jectelosing millions of dollars, on
Apr 1 1 1P59 Jay White Mayor
;'First Mayor, John D. MacArth-fir
Dick Ross second Mayor Tt wasn''t necessary to be a, resident, to be Mayor.
Cleary built t�ie bridge over the Tntercoastal 1•
on ITS hpre was always
an old beat up narrow bridge. Northlake Blvd.. w�'
as a County Roaddxtaken
y
b eminent domain from Ross Bros. First American Bank was first to
-6uild a Bank -"second
and the office building just Eas,t of it was the
structure to be built -- all originally owned by Ross BrosThe Gas
Station on the Corner of U.S.1 was the first to .. occii.py, bank second.
and then 321 Northlake
and s�otty buildin�, here and there, Ross 'Rros,
gold, land at Twin City Ma 1 o Pantry. T e agreement was for Pantry Pride
dos
NORTH PALM BEACW pUBUC LIBRARY
to build ,a small shoppin,.Y, center. They werr. sold 40 acres,
Who -,n Ross Bros. looked the entire piece of property over,, this area from.
I-,
the Tntrqcoastal Waterway on the nortgend of the Droperty to roughly
4000 ft. west of US 1 there was a slew which is thousands of years old
which extended. on down to the north end of Lake Park. In studying
the development throu;:%rhout there was a question as to how to handle the
slew. It was finally decided to dredge it out and create two small
lakes approx. 10 acres each; one on the North Side of North Lake Bled.
and one on the south side. The fill was spread on the adjoining land
in order to raise it since all the land sloped rl',-rht down to the
swampy area and thats the primary. reason forcreatinE the waterway itself
1 borders on the seventh hole