Palm Beach Attractions

Palm Beach

The fashionable bathing resort of Palm Beach lies on a long sand island on the Gold Coast, 75 mi. north of Miami. West Palm Beach was originally established to house the large staffs of the hotels and their families. It is now the administrative and business centre of a considerable surrounding area.

History Palm Beach owes its name to a Spanish ship carrying coconuts that ran aground here in 1878. The few inhabitants of what was then an inhospitable stretch of coast planted the coconuts, and in course of time a grove of palms grew up. The real fathers of Palm Beach were the financier Henry Morrison Flagler and the architect Addison Mizner. From 1874 onwards Flagler spent the winter in Florida and got to know the palm-fringed beach; then in 1894 he extended his Florida East Coast Railroad to Lake Worth and built the legendary Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach. Thereafter this became a popular resort with the great ones of the world, and a tremendous land and building boom developed. In 1895 Flagler built the less formal Palm Beach Inn (in 1901 renamed the Breakers) directly on the Atlantic, hoping to appeal to a younger public. Among patrons of the hotel were the millionaire industrialist John D. Rockefeller and the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. In 1918 the architect Addison Mizner came to Palm Beach and introduced the Spanish Mediterranean style that was to become characteristic of the resort. His best known buildings are the Boca Raton Hotel and Club and the Everglades Club.
An affluent, residential and resort city located on the sandy, barrier island across the inter-coastal waterway from West Palm Beach. Today, it is as big a playground for the rich as it ever was, especially in the winter, the season of galas, functions and society balls held in one of the many multi-million dollar mansions.