Blakely Plaque (Revised) (sent by Tim Hullihan on 5-20-21)A Forg
By Timothy H
The Date
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In 1926 the nursery came under private ownership with Sam Blakely as the president of Kelsey City
Landscape and Nurseries Company, Inc. His son, James, would continue his father’s estate planning
work after serving aboard the U.S.S. Core during World War II. In 1957, James Blakely and his young
family moved to 413 Driftwood Road – just the 13th family to move into the village.
The Canary Islands Date Palm, the bronze marker once described, was a descendant of the first tropical
species imported to Sam Blakely’s nursery in 1918, and was propagated from seeds in the satellite
nursery just west of the North Palm Beach Waterway, decades before North Palm Beach was founded in
1957.
We have the plaque because we once had a garden club – a team of dedicated and thoughtful residents
who volunteered tirelessly for the betterment of North Palm Beach’s overall quality and appearance.
James Blakely knew, and was consulted by, the members of the Garden Club frequently. He did
landscape work for the village’s developers, Ross Brothers. The large Ficus trees at the South Anchorage
entrance to the village were planted by him.
According to Jeff Blakely, “In 1973, The Village was still young and memories of those areas once
unthought‐of for development (west of the North Palm Beach Waterway) must have been something
that he considered the public should be made aware of.” Thus, the plaque contains a subtle reference
to the areas farming history.
The farms along Prosperity Farms Road are long gone, as is the Kelsey City Nursery. But, the knowledge
of how we got here does not need to fade. For this small slice of our past we have a forgotten marker to
help us remember.