In 2004, Palm Beach County was Florida's wealthiest county, with a per capita personal income of $44,518.[6] It leads the state in agricultural productivity; agriculture is Palm Beach County's second-largest industry, after real estate development.[7] In undeveloped (central and western) Palm Beach County there is significant tropical agricultural production, especially nurseries, truck crops (vegetables), and sugar cane.[8] Palm Beach County has been called the "Winter Vegetable Capital" of the nation.[9]
Around 12,000 years ago, Native Americans began migrating into Florida. An estimated 20,000 Native Americans lived in South Florida when the Spanish arrived. Their population diminished significantly by the 18th century, due to warfare, enslavement, and diseases from Europe.[10] In 1513, Juan Ponce de León became the first European in modern-day Palm Beach County when he landed at the Jupiter Inlet.[11] Among the first non-Native American residents were African Americans, many of whom were former slaves or immediate descendants of former slaves, arriving in what was then Spanish Florida in the late 17th century. Finding refuge among the Seminoles, the former slaves or descendants of former slaves fought alongside them against white settlers and bounty hunters during the Seminole Wars.[12][13] Portions of the Second Seminole War occurred in Palm Beach County, including the Battles of the Loxahatchee in 1838.[14]
The county's oldest surviving structure, the Jupiter Lighthouse, was built in 1860, after receiving authorization to the land from President Franklin Pierce in 1854.[15] During the American Civil War, Florida was a member of the Confederate States of America. Two Confederate adherents removed the lighting mechanism from the lighthouse.[16] One of the men who removed the light, Augustus O. Lang, was also the first white settler in Palm Beach County. He built a palmetto shack along the eastern shore of Lake Worth in 1863 after abandoning the cause of the Confederacy.[17] After the Civil War ended, the Jupiter Lighthouse was relit in 1866.[16]
In October 1873, a hurricane caused a shipwreck between Biscayne Bay and the New River. The crew survived the wreck but nearly died due to starvation because of the desolation of the area. In response, five Houses of Refuge were built along the east coast of Florida from the Fort Pierce Inlet southward to Biscayne Bay. Orange Grove House of Refuge No. 3 was built near Delray Beach in 1876.[18]
Very few people lived in modern-day Palm Beach County prior to the arrival of Henry Flagler, who first visited in the early 1890s. A Standard Oil tycoon, Flagler was instrumental in the county's development around the turn of the century. First, he purchased land on both sides of Lake Worth. Other investors followed suit, causing a small boom and bringing in existing businesses and resulting in the establishment of many new businesses. The Royal Poinciana Hotel, constructed by Flagler and his constructed crews to accommodate wealthy tourists, opened for business in February 1894. About a month later, the Florida East Coast Railway, owned by Flagler, reached West Palm Beach. On November 5, 1894, Palm Beach County's oldest city, West Palm Beach, was incorporated. In 1896, another hotel built by Flagler was opened, the Palm Beach Inn, later renamed The Breakers.[19] He also constructed his own winter home, which he and his wife moved into in 1902.[20] The arrivals of Major Nathan Boynton, Congressman William S. Linton, and railroad surveyor Thomas Rickards in the 1890s also proved important because they developed communities that later became Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton, respectively.[21]
The Florida Legislature voted to establish Palm Beach County in 1909, carving it out of what was then the northern portion of Dade County and initially including all of Lake Okeechobee. The southernmost part of Palm Beach County was separated to create the northern portion of Broward County in 1915, the northwestern portion became part of Okeechobee County in 1917, and southern Martin County was created from northernmost Palm Beach County in 1925.[22] The boundaries remained the same until 1963, when the Florida Legislature reduced Palm Beach County's share of Lake Okeechobee from about 80 percent to less than 40 percent and divided the lake more equitably among Glades, Hendry, Martin, and Okeechobee counties.[23] A final change to the county's boundaries occurred in 2009, when a small portion of land was given to Broward County.[24]
The 1910s and much of the 1920s brought prosperity and rapid population growth to South Florida, coinciding with the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Many local historic districts and landmarks listed in the National Register of Historic Places in Palm Beach County were designed and constructed during the 1920s, with the main contributors being architects Maurice Fatio, Addison Mizner, Marion Sims Wyeth, and the firm Harvey and Clarke, which included Gustav Maass.[25] Total property value in West Palm Beach skyrocketed from $13.6 million in 1920 to $61 million in 1925, before briefly reaching a pre-Great Depression peak of $89 million in 1929. The city's population quadrupled between 1920 and 1927.[26]
Early on September 17, 1928, the Okeechobee hurricane made landfall near West Palm Beach as a category-4 storm and crossed Lake Okeechobee shortly thereafter.[27] While the hurricane caused catastrophic impact in eastern portions of the county, the Lake Okeechobee region suffered a much heavier loss of life. Wind-driven storm surge in the lake inundated hundreds of square miles, including the nearby communities of Belle Glade, Pahokee, and South Bay. At least 2,500 deaths occurred, many of whom were black migrant farmers.[28] An assessment of impact throughout the county reported 552 businesses destroyed, 1,447 businesses damaged, 3,584 homes destroyed, and 11,409 homes damaged, leaving 4,008 families homeless. However, several cities were excluded, such as Boca Raton, Greenacres, Lantana, and South Palm Beach.[29]: 3 Damage in South Florida totaled roughly $25 million. In response to the storm, the Herbert Hoover Dike was constructed to prevent a similar disaster.[28]
As a result of 1926 Miami hurricane and the 1928 storm, Palm Beach County, along with the rest of South Florida, began suffering economic turmoil and pushed the region into the Great Depression, even before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. Housing prices dropped dramatically in the county, with the total real estate value in West Palm Beach falling to $41.6 million in 1930 and then to $18.2 million in 1935.[30] However, the decade also brought an airport to the county. Morrison Field, later renamed the Palm Beach International Airport, opened in 1936.
After the U.S. entered World War II, it was converted to an Air Force Base in 1942.[31] During the war, thousands of servicemen arrived in Palm Beach County for training and supporting the war effort.[32] Following the conclusion of World War II, a number of veterans returned to the area for work, vacation, or retirement.[32] The base was closed and became a commercial airport again in 1962.[31] Migration to the county by workers, tourists, and retirees continued into the 21st century.[33]
On August 28, 1949, a category-4 hurricane struck Lake Worth Beach with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 km/h),[27] causing considerable damage. Throughout Palm Beach County, the hurricane destroyed 65 homes and damaged 13,283 others.[34]
The area's first television station, WIRK-TV Channel 21, began broadcasting on September 13, 1953. It went off the air less than three years later. However, NBC affiliate WPTV-TV and CBS affiliate WPEC first aired in 1954 and 1955, respectively – both of which are still in existence today.[35]
Richard Paul Pavlick nearly attempted to assassinate then President-elect John F. Kennedy while the family vacationed in Palm Beach in December 1960. On December 11, Pavlick forwent his attempt because Kennedy was with his wife, Jacqueline, and their two children.[36] Four days later, Pavlick's car, which had sticks of dynamite inside, was surrounded by police and he was arrested.[37] Charges against Pavolick were dropped on December 2, 1963, 10 days after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.[36] Additionally, a secret blast shelter was built on Peanut Island during his presidency because escalating Cold War tensions.[38]
Hurricane David struck near West Palm Beach late on September 3, 1979, with sustained winds of 100 mph (155 km/h). The storm's winds shattered windows in stores near the coast and caused property damage. A few roofs were torn off, and numerous buildings were flooded from over 6 in (150 mm) of rainfall. Damage in the county reached $30 million, most of which was incurred to agriculture.
The "butterfly ballot" used during the 2000 election in Palm Beach County
Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, a Federal Bureau of Investigation investigation revealed that 12 of the 19 hijackers trained or resided in Palm Beach County during the months prior to the attacks.[39][40] Later that month, during the anthrax attacks, a letter containing spores of this substance was mailed to the American Media, Inc. building in Boca Raton. Three people were exposed to the anthrax, including Robert Stevens, a photo editor who later died after an infection induced by exposure.[39]
Three hurricanes severely impacted Palm Beach County in 2004 and 2005: Frances, Jeanne, and Wilma. On September 5, 2004, Frances made landfall in Martin County as a category-2 hurricane. With wind gusts in Palm Beach County peaking at 91 mph (146 km/h), the storm inflicted structural damage on about 15,000 houses and 2,400 businesses. Six deaths occurred in the county. Jeanne struck near the same location as a category-3 hurricane on September 26, 2004. The storm also brought strong winds, with an official wind gust of 94 mph (151 km/h). About 4,160 homes were damaged and 60 were destroyed. Jeanne left about $260 million in damage in the county. On October 24, 2005, Hurricane Wilma struck Collier County as a category-3 hurricane. The storm moved northeastward, directly crossing Palm Beach County. Several locations reported hurricane-force winds, including a wind gust of 117 mph (188 km/h) in Belle Glade.[41][42] Over 90% of Florida Power & Light customers lost electricity. Two deaths occurred in Palm Beach County.[43] The storm inflicted some degree of impact to more than 55,000 homes and 3,600 businesses. Palm Beach County suffered about $2.9 billion in damages.[44][45][46][47]
In August 2012, the outer bands of Hurricane Isaac dropped at least 15.86 in (403 mm) of rain near Lion Country Safari. The consequent flooding left neighborhoods in The Acreage, Loxahatchee, Loxahatchee Groves, Royal Palm Beach, and Wellington stranded for up to several days.[48] As Hurricane Irma approached in September 2017, mandatory or voluntary evacuations were ordered for more than 290,000 residents of Palm Beach County.[49] Although the storm passed well west of the county, much of the area experienced hurricane-force wind gusts, with a peak gust of 91 mph (146 km/h) in West Palm Beach.[50] Impact was generally limited to widespread power outages and damaged trees and vegetation, though isolated property damage was reported. The storm left about $300 million in damage in the county,[50] as well as five fatalities.[51]
Toponymy
The ship Providencia, wrecked off the coast of Florida, in 1878
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is not native to Florida (nor anywhere else in the United States). Its presence in what is today Palm Beach County is due to the shipwreck of the Spanish ship Providencia in 1878, near today's Mar-a-Lago. It was traveling from Havana to Cádiz, Spain with a cargo of coconuts.[52] The shipwreck was within walking distance of the shore—the Florida State Archives conserves a picture of a painting[53]—and a deliberate grounding so as to obtain an insurance payout has been proposed.[54] The coconuts were salvaged, too many to be eaten, and thousands were planted.[55][56][57] A lush grove of palm trees soon grew on what was later named Palm Beach.[58]
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,383 square miles (6,170 km2), of which 1,970 square miles (5,100 km2) are land and 413 square miles (1,070 km2) (17.3%) are covered by water.[60] It is the second-largest county in Florida by land area and third-largest by total area. Much of the water is the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Okeechobee. The county has an estimated 526,000 acres (213,000 ha) of farmland.
The eastern third of Palm Beach County is highly urbanized, while the central and western portions of the county are suburban or rural.[61] Palm Beach County is one of three counties in the Miami metropolitan area.[62] However, the county's western communities along Lake Okeechobee, such as Belle Glade, South Bay, and Pahokee, have also been considered more part of the rural Florida Heartland.[63]
The Atlantic coastline of Palm Beach County is about 47 mi (76 km) in length.[61] It consists mainly of barrier islands and peninsulas, including Jupiter Island, Singer Island, and Palm Beach Island. These islands are separated from the mainland by the Intracoastal Waterway, with much of the waterway locally known as the Lake Worth Lagoon. The main barrier landmasses are split by four inlets: the Jupiter Inlet, the Lake Worth Inlet, the South Lake Worth Inlet, and the Boca Raton Inlet. Two of the four inlets are natural, but significantly altered – the Jupiter and Boca Raton inlets – while the Lake Worth and South Lake Worth inlets are man-made, with the former dug in the 1890s and the latter created between 1926 and 1927.[64] Several other islands exist within the Intracoastal Waterway, including Hypoluxo Island, Munyon Island, and Peanut Island.[65]
Previously W. R. Grace and Company had its headquarters in unincorporated Palm Beach County, near Boca Raton, employing about 130 staff.[100] On January 27, 2011, it announced it was closing the Boca headquarters and moving its administrative staff out of state along with some employees.[100][101] Likewise, A360 Media, LLC, publisher of the National Enquirer, was headquartered in Boca Raton, but moved New York in 2014.[102]
For 2010, the median income for a household in the county was $53,242, and for a family was $64,445. Males had a median income of $44,324 versus $37,337 for females. The per capita income for the county was $33,610. About 8.6% of families and 12.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those aged 65 or over.[103]
USL Palm Beach is an upcoming American professional soccer team based in Palm Beach County. Founded in 2023, the team plans to make its debut in the USL Championship.
The County collected $1.1 billion in property tax revenue in FY 2018, an increase of 6 percent over the previous year. Sales tax collections rose to $175.8 million, marking the eighth consecutive year of growth. Revenue from Tourist Development Tax receipts was $53.8 million, up from $48.5 million in FY 2017. Meanwhile, Local Option Gas Taxes paid by motorists for gasoline decreased for the first time in five years, partially due to higher gasoline prices, which reduced the number of miles driven, according to the Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller's Checks & Balances report.[112]
County government
The county is governed by a board of commissioners, consisting of seven commissioners, who are all elected from single-member districts. One of the commissioners is elected County Mayor and one of them is elected Vice Mayor.[113] Commissioners serve staggered terms, and commissioners from Districts 1, 3, 5, and 7 are elected during presidential election years, while the commissioners from Districts 2, 4, and 6 are elected in gubernatorial election years.
Elected county officers include a clerk of courts and comptroller, sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, and supervisor of elections. State officers serving the Florida judicial district include the state attorney and public defender. All positions are 4-year terms, requiring direct election by voters in presidential election years.
Five former county commissioners have been accused or found guilty of corruption from 2006 to 2009. A grand jury recommended a strong inspector general. This position was approved by county voters in 2010. A county judge found that the mandate covered municipal government in 2015.[114]
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) provides police services to the county's unincorporated areas and the 13 municipalities covered by PBSO.[116] PBSO also oversees the county jail system, provides security at all four of the county courthouses, and is the primary law enforcement agency covering Palm Beach International Airport.[117] The Sheriff's Office is composed of roughly 4,200 employees, including approximately 1,600 sworn law enforcement personnel, 700 sworn corrections personnel, 1,900 civilian personnel and 1,800 volunteers.[118] The annual operating budget for the PBSO is more than $800 million, as of 2023.[119] Ric Bradshaw has been sheriff for Palm Beach County since 2005.[120]
There are two jail facilities operated by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. One is in Belle Glade, called the West Detention Center, which houses all custody levels from minimum to maximum security. At any one time it can contain up to 991 inmates (total bed capacity), with a staff of 188. The facility has a video visitation program which allows families to communicate with inmates remotely.[121] The largest jail is the Main Detention Center.[116] Three towers - South, East, and West, make up the center.[122] The largest is the South Tower, constructed in 1993 from concrete and steel at a cost of $52 million.[122] The East and West Towers were built in 1983; they now flank the South Tower, completing the Main Detention Center.[122] The Main Detention Center's primary function is to hold high risk inmates, federal inmates, and those inmates who are in need of special medical attention or are otherwise unable to operate at other facilities.[122] The total number of beds at the facility is 2,166. The South Tower can hold 1,285 inmates, the East Tower has 418 beds, and the West Tower has 404 beds.[122]
Since the founding of Palm Beach County in 1909, 16 people have served as county sheriff.[123]
As of 2023, the county has a slight Democratic plurality, with large Republican and independent minorities, respectively.[126] In gubernatorial races, the county had been a stronghold for Democrats, a trend that began in 1990 and continued up until 2022, when incumbent Republican governor Ron DeSantis won a majority of the vote in the county.[127]
Palm Beach County has supported the Democratic Party nominee for the presidency since 1992, though previously the county had been carried by the Republican Party nominee for every election from 1948 to 1988. Republicans have been gaining an increasing share of the votes in Palm Beach County since 2000. That year, Al Gore defeated George W. Bush in the county by a margin of approximately 27 percent, while Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump (who is a resident of the county) by less than 13 percentage points in 2020.[125] This trend continued in 2024, when Kamala Harris won the county with just under 50% of the vote, the worst performance in the county by a Democrat since 1992.
An advocacy group has criticized
Palm Beach County's roadways for being dangerous for non-motorized users.[129] Local municipalities are working to increase safety, but county and state authorities have been hesitant to modify designs.[130][131]
I-95 and Florida's Turnpike are controlled-access expressways that serve Palm Beach county. Southern Boulevard (signed SR 80/US 98), which runs east–west through central Palm Beach County, is a partial freeway from Interstate 95 in West Palm Beach to US 441/SR 7 in Wellington and Royal Palm Beach. In the late 1980s, there were plans to construct two additional expressways in Palm Beach County. One was to be an 11.5 miles (18.5 km) toll freeway from Royal Palm Beach to downtown West Palm Beach. It would have run between Belvedere Road and Okeechobee Boulevard; necessitating the destruction of several homes and churches along its path. The other proposed route was a northern extension of the Sawgrass Expressway which was to be called "University Parkway". The University Parkway would have snaked around suburban developments west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach; its path bordering the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.[132][133] Ultimately, both expressways were canceled due to opposition from county residents.[134][135][136]
Palm Beach County is served by the Palm Beach County Library System, established in 1967 through a Special Act of the Florida Legislature, and operates as a department of county government. It is currently made up of 17 library branches, as well as a bookmobile which travels to more than 40 stops each month. As Palm Beach County continues to see population growth, the library system will also need to plan for continued expansion.[142] Presently, the county is building a new 33,000-square-foot branch in the Canyon Town Center, located in western Boynton Beach.[143][144] This new branch is projected to be completed in 2024. The system's Main Library is located on Summit Boulevard in an unincorporated section of West Palm Beach. It is the largest provider of library services in the county, serving an area that is comparable to the size of the state of Delaware, with holdings of over 1.88 million items.[145]
Unlike many county library systems, including neighboring Broward and Miami-Dade counties, several municipalities continue to operate their own libraries. The county library systems works together in a cooperative system model which allows interoperation between the county system and the 13 city libraries in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, Highland Beach, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Lantana, Manalapan (J. Turner Moore Public Library), North Palm Beach, Palm Springs, Palm Beach (Society of the Four Arts), Riviera Beach, and West Palm Beach (Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach).[146]
The county's first library began as a Free Reading Room in 1895 in West Palm Beach's first church, the Union Congregational Church, when Reverend Asbury Caldwell began collecting books for a reading club he hoped would keep construction workers out of the city's many drinking establishments located along First Street, or "Thirst Street" as it was known.[147]: 53 The reading club floundered when Caldwell left West Palm Beach, but in 1899, the West Palm Beach Public Library got its official start, housed in a two-story former Palm Beach Yacht Club building donated by Commodore Charles John Clarke, a Palm Beach yachtsman, with the collection of books from the Reading Room and a $100 donation from Henry Flagler. A permanent building was constructed in 1924 in Flagler Park along the Intracoastal Waterway. Two additional buildings have also housed the library – one at 100 Clematis Street, a state-of-art building complete with a 250-seat auditorium that opened to much fanfare in 1964. The second, located at 411 Clematis Street, is a four-story building in the West Palm Beach City Center complex, which houses both city hall and the library, is two and one-half times the size of the previous building. In 2012, the West Palm Beach Public Library Foundation formally changed its name to the Mandel Public Library of West Palm Beach after receiving a $5 million grant from the Mandel Foundation.[147]: 62
The largest city and county seat is West Palm Beach, with a population of 117,415 as of the 2020 US Census. Boca Raton, is the southernmost and second-largest, bordering Broward County and having 97,422 people in 2020 within its city limits. Boynton Beach (between Boca Raton and West Palm Beach), is the third-largest city, with a 2020 population nearing 80,380 residents.[148]
The county has 39 municipalities in total.[149] The municipalities are numbered corresponding to the attached image, except for the newest municipality, Westlake. Municipality populations are based on the 2020 Census.[150]
Several unincorporated parts of Palm Beach County were listed as census-designated places for the 2000 census, but were not listed for the 2010 census:
Palm Beach County borders Martin County to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Broward County to the south, Hendry County to the west, and extends into Lake Okeechobee in the northwest, where it borders Okeechobee County and Glades County at one point in the center of the lake.
^Language spoken at home among residents at least five years old; only languages (or language groups) which at least 2% of residents have spoken at any time since 1980 are mentioned
^History(PDF) (Report). Jupiter, Florida: Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum. January 2011. Archived from the original(PDF) on June 10, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
^"Wilma". National Weather Service. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
^Richard J. Pasch; Eric S. Blake; Hugh D. Cobb III; David P. Roberts (September 9, 2014). Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Wilma(PDF). National Hurricane Center (Report). Miami, Florida: National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
^Jennifer Peltz; et al. (October 25, 2005). "Hammered". Sun-Sentinel. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2018.
^"Barrier Islands". Historical Society of Palm Beach County. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
^Lake Worth Lagoon Educators Guide(PDF) (Report). Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners' Department of Environmental Resources Management. January 2011. p. 8. Retrieved June 24, 2018.
^"Census Counts: 1830-2020". Florida County Population Census Counts: 1830 to 2020. Office of Economic and Demographic Research, The Florida Legislature. 2023. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
^ ab"Grace Announces Relocation To Columbia, MarylandArchived 2011-07-03 at the Wayback Machine." W. R. Grace and Company. Retrieved on June 29, 2011. "The restructuring will entail a relocation of approximately 40 people, including senior management, from Grace's Boca Raton, Florida office to its Columbia, Maryland site. A few positions will be relocated to another Grace office in Cambridge, Massachusetts." and "Following the relocation, Grace will close its headquarters office at 1750 Clint Moore Road in Boca Raton, which currently employs approximately 130 people."
.jpg)
.jpg)
