West Palm Beach ,WPB, FL
West Palm Beach is a popular tourist destination known for its cultural attractions and wonderful climate. Enjoy a weekend escape, a golfing trip to one of the local courses, or head to the beach with the family for the day. Stop by Lion Country Safari and check out the Southern White rhinoceros and other endangered species. Peanut Island would take a whole day to explore. Detachment Hotel is a great attraction to visit, as it houses a historic bunker constructed in 1960 for President Kennedy.
West Palm Beach Could Be Your Next Vacation Destination
The Kennedy Bunker is part of Peanut Island. The island is also full of nature trails, picnic areas, and natural wildlife. To visit Peanut Island, you have to take the ferry, and that is an adventure in and of itself. You are going to cruise past enormous mansions, showing you how some of the city’s most wealthy residents live. You also want to check out the Norton Museum while exploring Peanut Island.
West Palm Beach Entertainment
Catch some great performances if you stop by either The Kravis Center or The Harriet. You are going to discover some great shopping experiences while you are in West Palm Beach, too. West Palm Beach has more designer boutiques than you can count. The city is certainly known for its shopping experiences, and West Palm Beach is one of the most popular travel destinations in the country.
Palm Beach Gardens
Former Pine Forest and Cattle Ranch- Prior to being developed, the land that was to become Palm Beach Gardens was mainly pine forests and cattle ranches, in addition to swampland in the farther west region. In 1959, John D. MacArthur, a wealthy insurance magnate and landowner, announced plans for developing 4,000 acres and building houses for 55,000 people.
PBG
He selected the name of Palm Beach Gardens because the Florida Legislature denied his first choice of Palm Beach City due to the name being too similar to the nearby city of Palm Beach. MacArthur was planning on building a “garden city.” Therefore, he slightly changed its name. The city became incorporated in 1959 as a “paper town” (which meant it only existed on paper).
The 1960 Census shows that the city’s official population was one, which was a squatter who MacArthur allowed to remain on his property.
West Palm Beach Population
The city’s population was almost 7,000 people by the 1970s. During the 1960s, rapid development occurred. In order to highlight his brand new community, MacArthur bought an 80-year-old banyan tree situated in the nearby community of Lake Park that was scheduled to be cut down in order to expand a dental office. Moving the tree cost 1,008 hours of labor and $30,000. The next year a second banyan tree was moved. While the first banyan tree was being moved across the Florida East Coast Railway, the huge tree shifted and ended up disconnecting the Western Union’s telegraph and telephone lines running next to the railroad, which cut off a majority of communications between Miami, located 78 miles south of the area and the rest of world until damage was repaired. Those trees are still in the middle of MacArthur Boulevard close to Northlake Boulevard and are featured prominently on the city’s shield. Alexandre Renoir, the great-grandson of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, presented the city with a painting in 2007 which depicts the banyan tree of the Gardens. It is on display currently at the city hall located on North Military Trail.
Palm Beach Gardens
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the growth of Palm Beach Gardens was slow but steady. A 55,000 population that MacArthur had envisioned had still not been reached. However, in 1988, Gardens Mall, a 1,300,000-square-foot facility, opened and spurred on a large wave of new development, along with the sell-off of about 5,000 city acres in 1999 by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This property was developed rapidly and led to a lot of new growth for the city. An Art in Public Places ordinance was adopted by the city in 1989, which has resulted in an eclectic collection of art being amassed.
North Palm Beach
During the 1985 and 1989 hard freezes, a great deal of damage was sustained by Palm Beach Gardens’ tropical landscaping. Since that time there have been no freezing temperatures experienced by North Palm Beach. In 2004 and 2005 the city was struck by Hurricanes Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma. Following each storm, a majority of the city lost power for several days at a time, and many of the city’s directional signs and traffic signals were destroyed.
Hurricane Legacy
Numerous businesses and homes were seriously destroyed during these two storms and construction materials and contractors were at a high premium. At the time that Hurricane Wilma hit the next year hundred of houses were close to finishing their final repairs. The storm destroyed or damaged many of the ongoing or completed repairs.
Downtown at the Gardens, Legacy Place, Midtown, PGA Commons, and The Gardens Mall
are at the heart of the retail market of the city. They are all located on the main stretch of the municipality’s PGA Boulevard.
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