By Bob Davidsson
Waveland was Palm Beach County's northernmost border town from 1909 to 1925. Today, it is a ghost town from the past, but one with a history worth remembering.
The riverfront community, built on 100 acres of land between the Indian and St. Lucie rivers, was purchased by pioneer Henry William Racey in 1855. His land tract was located southwest of Jensen Beach, east of the community of Rio, and extended south onto Sewell's Point.
The history of Waveland predates the establishment of its first post office in 1880 by nearly 4,500 years. The region's first inhabitants were the ancestors of the Ais Indians. Mount Elizabeth, the native tribe's southernmost ceremonial site, rose 60 feet above the 19th century pioneer community.
During the Second Spanish Colonial Period (from 1785 - 1821), Waveland was the terminus of two Spanish Land Grants. The Kingdom of Spain awarded sections of land along the Treasure Coast to James Hutchinson, Samuel Miles and Eusebio Gomez as payment for their services to its struggling Florida colony.
The Waveland community made its topographical debut on the A.J. Johnson and Company "Map of Florida" in 1878. Its first appearance on a Dade County map was documented two years later. For the next 45 years confused mapmakers alternately placed the border town in Dade County, St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County after 1909.
Martin County, created out of the northern third of Palm Beach County in 1925, ended the conflicting border affiliations in 1925 by replacing the Waveland place name with Jensen Beach.
The Hanson-Miles Land Grant
John M. Hanson petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in 1842 to confirm a "Florida Land Claim" for five square miles or 16,000 acres of land, originally granted to Samuel Miles by the governor of Spanish East Florida in 1813. He purchased the land from Miles in August 1823. The huge tract of land became known as the Hanson-Miles Land Grant.
In his court petition, Hanson wrote, "Samuel Miles, a new settler, admitted (to Florida) under the protection of the King of Spain, on July 18, 1813 presented a petition to Governor Sebastian Kindelan y O'Regan of East Florida (1812-15) setting forth the great services performed by him for the supply of troops of Spain in the province, and severe loses and suffering sustained by him in the service of the crown, and considering himself entitled to some favor, asked for a grant of five miles square of land for the construction of a water saw mill at a place fit for this purpose."
Hanson described the site as "vacant, situated at the mouth of the River Santaluces". Although the saw mill was never built, the land grant included the future site of Waveland, and extended as far south as Tequesta, west of the Gomez Jupiter Island Grant.*
The Supreme Court withheld its final decision in the land grant case entitled "U.S. vs. Hanson and Others" and ordered a new survey. It would not be accepted until 1889. Meanwhile, the land grant remained an unsettled wilderness.
William Racey Discovers His 'Land of Waves'
In 1855, novice explorer William Henry Racey of New York sailed to Jacksonville in search of adventure and a future homestead for his family in Florida. His timing couldn't have been worse. He arrived at the start of the Third Seminole War (1855-58).
Racey purchased a section of land 35 miles south of Jacksonville called "Racey Point" on the St. Johns River, then sailed south into a war zone between the U.S. Army and the Seminole tribe. Good fortune was with him and he experienced no hostile encounters during his travels.
He entered the Indian River and examined the land granted to James Hutchinson of Georgia and his heirs in 1803 by Spanish East Florida Governor Enrique White (1796 - 1811). The Hutchinsons acquired 2,000 acres of land on what is today called the North and South Hutchinson barrier islands, as well as an original mainland section north of the Hanson-Miles Land Grant.
The Spanish land grantee homesteaded a section north of Waveland on the west shore of the Indian River until fear of Indian attacks forced him to relocate his family to the barrier island bearing his name in April 1807. His bad luck continued with trespassing vessels and pirates plaguing his seaside plantation.
Hutchinson drowned at sea when his ship encountered a storm in September 1808 while sailing from St. Augustine to his island plantation during the peak of hurricane season. His land grant remained with the Hutchinson family throughout most of the 19th century.
South of the Hutchinson Land Grant, Racey noted a large wooded mound looming above the western shoreline of the Indian River. He christened it "Mount Elizabeth" in honor of his mother, Elizabeth Hiscox Racey. Its original name in the Ais Indian dialect is unknown.
Continuing south along the Indian River, Racey reached the site where Samuel Miles once planned to build a saw mill, the point of land where the Indian and St. Lucie rivers merged as one. Racey discovered his Florida paradise at this land of waves and purchased a 100-acre tract on May 1, 1855.
Racey returned to New York with the intent of relocating his family to the Indian River property. He never made the journey. The Civil War and family responsibilities delayed his return. He died in 1874 with his Florida retirement dream unfulfilled.
During the absence of the Racey family, a Waveland post office was established at the home of Dr. William M. Baker on Sept. 2, 1880. Waveland maintained a post office, with a brief relocation of service in 1891, until U.S. mail deliveries were moved to Jensen Beach on Aug. 31, 1918.
Charles Henry Racey (1861 - 1933), William Racey's son and an optician by trade, lived in New York City until he received word in 1890 that settlers were attempting to obtain his Florida inheritance through the purchasing of delinquent property taxes.
To defend his property rights, Charles Racey relocated his family in Waveland. They arrived on an Indian River Steamship Company transport vessel and stayed at the home of the postmaster, Dr. Baker, until construction of the Racey estate on Mount Elizabeth was completed in 1891.
The Racey estate's mansion was a three-story wooden structure, with a 40-by-50 foot ballroom, observation tower, and boathouse with a 400-foot dock extending into the Indian River. During the construction, the top of the ancient Ais Indian mound was leveled, reducing the height of Mount Elizabeth from 60 to 40 feet.
To promote settlement in Waveland, Racey subdivided his property in 1891, christening the homesteaded site as Arbela. He donated five acres of land for an Episcopalian church and cemetery located at the Crossroads Hill in Waveland.
The "All Saints Church" was built in 1898 and opened its doors to a congregation of 42 settlers in Waveland. Today, the historic "All Saints Church" remains the oldest continuous religious site in Martin County. The church was added to the Martin County Historic Register during its 120th anniversary on March 12, 2018.
Fields of pineapples were planted at the base of Mount Elizabeth. Racey recorded his occupation as a "fruit grower" in both the 1900 U.S. Census and in the 1916-18 City Directories.
Racey was named president of the "East Coast Good Roads League" in 1898. Through his initiative, the first road was built connecting Waveland to Ft. Pierce. He also co-founded the "South Florida Navigation Company" in 1907 to keep inlets and coastal waterways open.
On Jan. 21, 1921, a kitchen fire quickly spread throughout Racey's estate, destroying the 30-year-old wooden buildings. Charles Racey moved with his family to property he owned in Dade County. The Waveland pioneer resided in Miami until his death in December 1933.
The Mount Elizabeth Archaeological Site
After the departure of Charles Racey's family, the Mount Elizabeth estate changed ownership several times. Willaford Leach of Chicago, and his wife, Ann, a Coca-Cola company heiress, purchased Mount Elizabeth and surrounding property in 1936. They built a Mediterranean Revival-style mansion named "Tuckahoe" (welcome). It remains at the site today.
When the Leach family moved to Palm Beach in 1950, their 54-acre property was sold to the Catholic Church. It was the site of St. Joseph's College in the 1970s, and later used for the Florida Institute of Technology which closed in 1987.
Martin County obtained the Mount Elizabeth property in 1997 and created the "Indian RiverSide Park" for public use. It includes both the ancient mound site and the adjacent "Tuckahoe" mansion.
The home of Capt. Henry Sewell, built at Sewell's Point in 1889, was relocated by barge from Port Sewell to Indian Riverside Park in 2007-08. Captain Sewell served as a postmaster and legislative representative for Dade County's northern district in the 1890s.
The archaeological importance of Mount Elizabeth as a native American "East Okeechobee Culture" religious ceremonial center and village site during the Late Archaic Period was acknowledged by the federal government in 2002 by placing it on the Federal Register of Historic Places.
Archaeologists discovered the mound itself consists of shells and marine life residue from the Indian River and nearby Atlantic Ocean. Mount Elizabeth, the highest remaining Indian mound in South Florida, also contains village pottery fragments and those of neighboring tribes obtained in trade.
As for Waveland, most of the former community is now county park land or included within the borders of Jensen Beach. The "All Saints Church" and "Waveland Avenue" remain reminders of its history.
(c.) Davidsson, 2020.
*NOTE: A related article by the author titled "Eusebio Maria Gomez and the Jupiter Land Grant" was published in the August 2010 edition of The Florida Genealogist. Read additional articles posted below and archived in Older Posts.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Lake Osborne: The 'Shining Spirit of Fresh Water'
By Bob Davidsson
Lake Osborne is the center of a popular Palm Beach County recreational area for fishing, boating and camping with a hiking trail encircling most of its extent. .
The inland lake, located west of the cities of Lake Worth Beach and Lantana, was introduced to the nation by the name "Osborn" on the 1882 "Map of Dade County," distributed by the C.B. Colton and Company of New York. The Palm Beaches were part of Dade County between the 1860s and 1909.
Subsequent maps and pioneer documents would continue to refer to it as "Lake Osborn" until 1917, when the "Lake Osborne Addition" plat became the first to use the alternate common spelling of "Osborne". Originally called the "Osborne Colored Addition," the plat was changed to the less derogatory name of Osborne Addition in 1994.
Two families shared the same surname with the lake in the 19th century. Florida Sen. Thomas Ward Osborn (1868-73), and his older brother, The Rev. Abraham Coles Osborn, president of the Great Southern Railway Company, planned a railroad passing through Palm Beach County in the 1870s. The proposed route of the failed business venture was west of Lake Osborne.
The first known legal deed-holders on the lake belonged to a second New Jersey family, Ezra Asher Osborn (1823-95) of Monmouth County, and his son Frank. The father-son team headed a business syndicate in the 1880s that sought to enrich its investors by planting coconut groves on unoccupied coastal land purchased from Biscayne Bay to the Jupiter Inlet. A plague of rabbits led to its bankruptcy.
Early History of Lake Osborne
To the Seminole Indians, who hunted and fished along its shores, the lake was known by the poetic name of "Matal-ka-oska" or shining spirit of fresh water. Geologically, Lake Osborne is part of a 30-mile interconnected chain of lakes and sloughs located west of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge in Palm Beach County.
The nearest Seminole village, known as "Cha-Chi's Town," was located about five miles north of Lake Osborne, near the chain-of-lakes site today called Clear Lake in West Palm Beach. During the Second Seminole War, Capt. Richard Wade, leading a force of 60 men in 12 canoes, sacked Cha-chi's Town on Nov. 8, 1841, capturing 27 villagers in the raid.
He returned to the abandoned village one month later during a reconnaissance patrol of the Lake Worth Lagoon. Wade's engineer and topographer, Lt. Andrew A. Humphreys, made the following observation of the chain of lakes including Lake Osborne in his "Memoirs" on Dec. 19, 1841.
"Lagoons of deep water, covered by spatterdocks, are here and there met with, he wrote. "In many places, canoes have to be pushed and hauled, but at others the water expands into grassy lakes, a quarter of a mile in extent and generally one to two miles apart."
Spatterdocks (Nuphur Lutea) is a term used for a common aquatic plant found along the edges of the chain of lakes. The Seminoles used spatterdocks to stop bleeding and as a pain killer. It is edible and also is used as a natural tea.
The journal of early Palm Beach County pioneer Charles Pierce credits German emigrant Michael Merkel of Alsace-Lorraine as the first settler to homestead along the eastern shore of Lake Osborne. He sailed to the Palm Beaches in November 1878. The first pioneer to farm on the west shore of the lake was Benjamin "Uncle Ben" Lanehart.
Pierce wrote, "He (Merkel) built a very small palmetto shack on the south side of a large bay running eastward from the main body of the lake." Merkel lived most of his austere life as a hermit, living on fish, game and palm berries gathered along the shores of Lake Osborne. Neighbors to the east in the pioneering community of Jewell (Lake Worth) often heard him chanting in Latin, leading to the popular belief that he was a defrocked priest who had fled Europe.
The development of Lake Osborne began after the arrival of Morris Benson Lyman in 1884. Lyman served as the postmaster of the fledgling community of Lantana in 1889, and was appointed the first treasurer of Palm Beach County by Gov. Albert Gilchrist when it separated from Dade County in 1909.
Lyman became president of the "Lake Osborne Development Company," with his wife, Mary, working as vice president. The corporation acquired 770 acres of land between Lantana and Lake Osborne valued at about $75,000. The property was divided into tracts for the sale of homes and farming sites.
Lantana's founding father also served as one of the first supervisors appointed to the Lake Worth Drainage District (LWDD). Beginning in 1916 and continuing through the 1930s, the LWDD sponsored a series of projects lowering the water levels in the chain of freshwater lakes to clear their adjacent wetlands for agriculture and development.
Lakes Webster, Jackson, Bessie and Boynton vanished. The water levels in Lake Osborne were reduced by the completion of the E-4 canal in the 1930s. Today, the lake covers 378 acres, with an average depth of 6 to 8 feet.
Most of the western shore of Lake Osborne was acquired by Palm Beach County in the 1940s through the Florida Lands Acquisition Act and the lobbying efforts of Commissioner John Prince. Lake Osborne is utilized as both the John Prince Park recreational area, created in 1952, and as a reservoir within the C-16 drainage district.
(c.) Davidsson. 2020.
*NOTE: Read additional articles below and archived in Older Posts
Thursday, February 27, 2020
The 'WPB Canal' and the City's Inland Port: 1917-25
By Bob Davidsson
The peaceful tranquility of Howard Park in downtown West Palm Beach today belies the site's history 100 years ago as the city's center of commerce and the hub of Palm Beach County's agricultural export industry.
It was the vision of the city's business leaders that transformed an Everglades drainage canal into a commercial transportation network connecting the agricultural communities of Lake Okeechobee to the heart of West Palm Beach between the years 1917-25.
The completion of the West Palm Beach Canal in 1917, connecting Lake Okeechobee at Canal Point with the Lake Worth Lagoon, provided farmers with a direct route to the coastal city, where they could ship their produce to northern markets via Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway.
The City of West Palm Beach enhanced the transportation waterway on May 17, 1918 with the opening of a canal extension or "stub" leading north to a ship turning basin in the city's business district.
The city's inland port featured docks for steamships and barges, boat slips and an agricultural produce market. An FEC railroad spur connected the basin to the main rail line for rapid shipment of produce.
It was reported on the opening day of the city's turning basin (today a small pond in Howard Park) that 5,000 crates of agricultural products were loaded onto 10 railroad freight cars for transport to northern cities.
Origin of the West Palm Beach Canal
In the year 1907, the Florida Legislature created the Everglades Drainage District (EDD) with a mission of increasing agricultural production in South Florida by draining submerged marsh lands through a series of canals leading to the coast.
Between the years 1915-28, the Hillsboro, New and Miami rivers became drainage outlets to the sea through interconnecting canals originating in Lake Okeechobee and the northern Everglades.
In 1911, West Palm Beach attorney and developer George Currie (1858-1926) successfully petitioned Florida Gov. Albert Gilchrist on the behalf of the chamber of commerce to include a canal from Lake Okeechobee to the Lake Worth Lagoon as part of the Everglades Drainage District.
Currie served two terms as mayor of West Palm Beach in 1903-05, and was the treasurer of Dade County prior to the creation of Palm Beach County in 1909. He later donated a strip of land along the Lake Worth Lagoon to the City of West Palm Beach in 1920 known today as "Currie Park".
The dredging of the West Palm Beach Canal was approved by the State of Florida in 1913. The engineering project was awarded to the firm of Johnson & Company of Miami.
The July 1914 edition of the "Water Chronicle" (Vol. 4) entitled "Inland Navigation" reported, "Johnson & Co., engineers and contractors of Miami, are progressing with their contract to complete the West Palm Beach Canal, extending from Lake Worth to Lake Okeechobee."
"They soon will install two additional dredges, a dipper and a suction," the report continues. "This equipment will complete the canal to 42 miles long and require 7 million cubic yards of excavation. The first half is to be completed within two and a half years, and the entire work within four years."
Soon after the completion of the West Palm Beach Canal in 1917, the West Palm Beach City Commission approved $14,000 in construction bonds to finance the dredging of the northern extension (stub) and ship turning basin.
The stub canal (today located parallel to Parker Avenue) was dredged to a depth of 20 feet and was 50 feet in width when it opened in May 1918. The depth of the stub canal and turning basin was adequate for use by passenger steamships and motorized barges making the journey from Canal Point to West Palm Beach.
The passage of vessels from Lake Okeechobee into the West Palm Beach Canal required the deepening of the lake's channel in 1921, and the construction of a lock to maintain uniform water levels for shipping. The Florida Legislature approved funds for the construction of "Lock #1" at Canal Point on June 2, 1919. Work on the project began in September of that year.
As recorded in the 1919 Laws of Florida, the authorizing legislation reads, "The Board of Drainage Commissioners of the Everglades Drainage District out of funds coming into their hands as such are hereby authorized, empowered and directed to build, erect and construct in the West Palm Beach Canal...a suitable lock so as to furnish safe, convenient and practical means of transportation for vessels navigating Lake Worth and the West Palm Beach Canal between Lake Worth and Lake Okeechobee."
To help pay the salaries of the lock tenders, the state allowed the collection of tolls ranging from two to five cents per linear foot for passenger boats entering the canals. Local farmers shipping produce to market usually paid half that rate.
On Jan. 1, 1914, one year after the opening of the Hillsboro Canal in southern Palm Beach County, the first speed limits were enforced by the State of Florida to reduce erosion in the canals. Craft traveling "upriver" toward Lake Okeechobee had a speed limit of 5 mph, while "downriver" ship traffic could power up to 6 mph.
The Years of Prosperity: 1920-24
By the year 1920, the population of Palm Beach County increased to 18,154. West Palm Beach was the county seat and largest city with 8,659 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
New farming communities such as Belle Glade, Chosen, Ritta, Utopia and Port Mayaca dotted the shores of Lake Okeechobee. The Florida Department of Agriculture reported in 1920 that Palm Beach County led the state in truck farming.
The West Palm Beach Canal, dredged to a depth of 12 feet and with a new lock in operation, was open for both passenger service and the barging of agricultural products between Lake Okeechobee and West Palm Beach.
In the comprehensive "History of Florida Past and Present, Historical and Biographical," published in 1923, author Harry Gardner Cutlers reported, "During the year 1921, there were unloaded at the canal dock in West Palm Beach for shipment to northern cities, 191,796 hampers or crates of vegetables including cabbage, string beans, tomatoes, egg plants and peppers."
"In the month of December 1921," he reported, "16,088 crates or hampers of vegetables were shipped from the city, as compared to 16,824 during the same month of the preceding year (1920); which is a fair illustration of the practical value of development in the district."
The developers of the Palm Beach Loxahatchee Company purchased 6,500 acres of land adjacent to the West Palm Beach Canal to create an accessible farming community called "Loxahatchee Farms". Today the township is incorporated as Loxahatchee Groves.
The completion of the Everglades Drainage District canal system in South Florida formed a new inland transportation network connecting the Lake Okeechobee communities to West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers. During the early 1920s, more than 150 commercial vessels - including passenger steamships, barges and fishing tenders - plied Lake Okeechobee and its outlets to coastal cities.
The annual "Report of the Chief Engineer, U.S. Army (Part 2)" recorded a total of 1,612 passengers boarded ships for transport in the West Palm Beach Canal during the year 1924.
Brothers Bill and Ben McCoy of West Palm Beach operated a nautical transport service for passengers commuting between Moore Haven, located on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee, and their home port. The Menge Brothers Steamboat Company, based in Fort Myers, operated a flotilla of eight steamships and three barges on Lake Okeechobee and its canals.
For a brief period, the Holland and Butterworth Company of Miami promoted a passenger service up the Hillsboro Canal from Deerfield to Lake Okeechobee. The company charged $3 for a three-day cruise that left Deerfield on Saturdays and returned on Mondays.
Beginning in 2019, the "Foreverglades," a 41-foot replica of a 1920s-era freight steamboat, was displayed by artist Sofia Valiente in Howard Park, site of the former West Palm Beach turning basin and inland port.
The "Foreverglades" replica used the steamboat "La Roseada" as its design model. The "La Roseada" was a typical stern-wheeled, steam-powered freight vessel that cruised the West Palm Beach Canal and the waters of Lake Okeechobee in the 1920s.
Side-wheeled steamships were too wide to navigate the narrow drainage canals of South Florida. The stern-wheelers were more maneuverable and could reverse from obstacles in the waterways.
The End of the Canal Era
The age of inland commercial navigation along the West Palm Beach Canal entered a period of steep decline beginning in 1925. By the time the Hurricane of 1928 destroyed the docks at the West Palm Beach turning basin, its downtown agricultural market was already deserted.
The West Palm Beach Canal could not compete as a transportation network with the first cross-county highway and a new railroad extension linking the coastal city to the Glades and Lake Okeechobee farm communities.
On July 4, 1924, William J."Fingy" Conners' new toll highway opened to traffic between West Palm Beach and the City of Okeechobee. The highway followed the route to Canal Point blazed by the West Palm Beach Canal.*
One year after the opening of the Conners Toll Highway, the Seaboard Coast Line railroad completed an extension from West Palm Beach to Okeechobee City in 1925. Growers began shipping their produce by truck and on the new rail line.
With the building of the Herbert Hoover Dike in the 1930s, access to the West Palm Beach Canal from Lake Okeechobee was further restricted for boat traffic. The waterway became the drainage ditch as it is known today - the C-51 canal.
Fortunately, in its second century, the West Palm Beach Canal may once again become part of a transportation network. A public-private partnership called the "Palm Beach County Blueway Trail" is working on a plan to connect the canal to the county's inland chain of freshwater lakes as well as the Lake Worth Lagoon via a boat lift.
(c.) Davidsson. 2020.
*NOTE: Read related article below. Additional articles are indexed and archived below in "Older Posts".
The peaceful tranquility of Howard Park in downtown West Palm Beach today belies the site's history 100 years ago as the city's center of commerce and the hub of Palm Beach County's agricultural export industry.
It was the vision of the city's business leaders that transformed an Everglades drainage canal into a commercial transportation network connecting the agricultural communities of Lake Okeechobee to the heart of West Palm Beach between the years 1917-25.
The completion of the West Palm Beach Canal in 1917, connecting Lake Okeechobee at Canal Point with the Lake Worth Lagoon, provided farmers with a direct route to the coastal city, where they could ship their produce to northern markets via Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast (FEC) Railway.
The City of West Palm Beach enhanced the transportation waterway on May 17, 1918 with the opening of a canal extension or "stub" leading north to a ship turning basin in the city's business district.
The city's inland port featured docks for steamships and barges, boat slips and an agricultural produce market. An FEC railroad spur connected the basin to the main rail line for rapid shipment of produce.
It was reported on the opening day of the city's turning basin (today a small pond in Howard Park) that 5,000 crates of agricultural products were loaded onto 10 railroad freight cars for transport to northern cities.
Origin of the West Palm Beach Canal
In the year 1907, the Florida Legislature created the Everglades Drainage District (EDD) with a mission of increasing agricultural production in South Florida by draining submerged marsh lands through a series of canals leading to the coast.
Between the years 1915-28, the Hillsboro, New and Miami rivers became drainage outlets to the sea through interconnecting canals originating in Lake Okeechobee and the northern Everglades.
In 1911, West Palm Beach attorney and developer George Currie (1858-1926) successfully petitioned Florida Gov. Albert Gilchrist on the behalf of the chamber of commerce to include a canal from Lake Okeechobee to the Lake Worth Lagoon as part of the Everglades Drainage District.
Currie served two terms as mayor of West Palm Beach in 1903-05, and was the treasurer of Dade County prior to the creation of Palm Beach County in 1909. He later donated a strip of land along the Lake Worth Lagoon to the City of West Palm Beach in 1920 known today as "Currie Park".
The dredging of the West Palm Beach Canal was approved by the State of Florida in 1913. The engineering project was awarded to the firm of Johnson & Company of Miami.
The July 1914 edition of the "Water Chronicle" (Vol. 4) entitled "Inland Navigation" reported, "Johnson & Co., engineers and contractors of Miami, are progressing with their contract to complete the West Palm Beach Canal, extending from Lake Worth to Lake Okeechobee."
"They soon will install two additional dredges, a dipper and a suction," the report continues. "This equipment will complete the canal to 42 miles long and require 7 million cubic yards of excavation. The first half is to be completed within two and a half years, and the entire work within four years."
Soon after the completion of the West Palm Beach Canal in 1917, the West Palm Beach City Commission approved $14,000 in construction bonds to finance the dredging of the northern extension (stub) and ship turning basin.
The stub canal (today located parallel to Parker Avenue) was dredged to a depth of 20 feet and was 50 feet in width when it opened in May 1918. The depth of the stub canal and turning basin was adequate for use by passenger steamships and motorized barges making the journey from Canal Point to West Palm Beach.
The passage of vessels from Lake Okeechobee into the West Palm Beach Canal required the deepening of the lake's channel in 1921, and the construction of a lock to maintain uniform water levels for shipping. The Florida Legislature approved funds for the construction of "Lock #1" at Canal Point on June 2, 1919. Work on the project began in September of that year.
As recorded in the 1919 Laws of Florida, the authorizing legislation reads, "The Board of Drainage Commissioners of the Everglades Drainage District out of funds coming into their hands as such are hereby authorized, empowered and directed to build, erect and construct in the West Palm Beach Canal...a suitable lock so as to furnish safe, convenient and practical means of transportation for vessels navigating Lake Worth and the West Palm Beach Canal between Lake Worth and Lake Okeechobee."
To help pay the salaries of the lock tenders, the state allowed the collection of tolls ranging from two to five cents per linear foot for passenger boats entering the canals. Local farmers shipping produce to market usually paid half that rate.
On Jan. 1, 1914, one year after the opening of the Hillsboro Canal in southern Palm Beach County, the first speed limits were enforced by the State of Florida to reduce erosion in the canals. Craft traveling "upriver" toward Lake Okeechobee had a speed limit of 5 mph, while "downriver" ship traffic could power up to 6 mph.
The Years of Prosperity: 1920-24
By the year 1920, the population of Palm Beach County increased to 18,154. West Palm Beach was the county seat and largest city with 8,659 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
New farming communities such as Belle Glade, Chosen, Ritta, Utopia and Port Mayaca dotted the shores of Lake Okeechobee. The Florida Department of Agriculture reported in 1920 that Palm Beach County led the state in truck farming.
The West Palm Beach Canal, dredged to a depth of 12 feet and with a new lock in operation, was open for both passenger service and the barging of agricultural products between Lake Okeechobee and West Palm Beach.
In the comprehensive "History of Florida Past and Present, Historical and Biographical," published in 1923, author Harry Gardner Cutlers reported, "During the year 1921, there were unloaded at the canal dock in West Palm Beach for shipment to northern cities, 191,796 hampers or crates of vegetables including cabbage, string beans, tomatoes, egg plants and peppers."
"In the month of December 1921," he reported, "16,088 crates or hampers of vegetables were shipped from the city, as compared to 16,824 during the same month of the preceding year (1920); which is a fair illustration of the practical value of development in the district."
The developers of the Palm Beach Loxahatchee Company purchased 6,500 acres of land adjacent to the West Palm Beach Canal to create an accessible farming community called "Loxahatchee Farms". Today the township is incorporated as Loxahatchee Groves.
The completion of the Everglades Drainage District canal system in South Florida formed a new inland transportation network connecting the Lake Okeechobee communities to West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers. During the early 1920s, more than 150 commercial vessels - including passenger steamships, barges and fishing tenders - plied Lake Okeechobee and its outlets to coastal cities.
The annual "Report of the Chief Engineer, U.S. Army (Part 2)" recorded a total of 1,612 passengers boarded ships for transport in the West Palm Beach Canal during the year 1924.
Brothers Bill and Ben McCoy of West Palm Beach operated a nautical transport service for passengers commuting between Moore Haven, located on the western shore of Lake Okeechobee, and their home port. The Menge Brothers Steamboat Company, based in Fort Myers, operated a flotilla of eight steamships and three barges on Lake Okeechobee and its canals.
For a brief period, the Holland and Butterworth Company of Miami promoted a passenger service up the Hillsboro Canal from Deerfield to Lake Okeechobee. The company charged $3 for a three-day cruise that left Deerfield on Saturdays and returned on Mondays.
Beginning in 2019, the "Foreverglades," a 41-foot replica of a 1920s-era freight steamboat, was displayed by artist Sofia Valiente in Howard Park, site of the former West Palm Beach turning basin and inland port.
The "Foreverglades" replica used the steamboat "La Roseada" as its design model. The "La Roseada" was a typical stern-wheeled, steam-powered freight vessel that cruised the West Palm Beach Canal and the waters of Lake Okeechobee in the 1920s.
Side-wheeled steamships were too wide to navigate the narrow drainage canals of South Florida. The stern-wheelers were more maneuverable and could reverse from obstacles in the waterways.
The End of the Canal Era
The age of inland commercial navigation along the West Palm Beach Canal entered a period of steep decline beginning in 1925. By the time the Hurricane of 1928 destroyed the docks at the West Palm Beach turning basin, its downtown agricultural market was already deserted.
The West Palm Beach Canal could not compete as a transportation network with the first cross-county highway and a new railroad extension linking the coastal city to the Glades and Lake Okeechobee farm communities.
On July 4, 1924, William J."Fingy" Conners' new toll highway opened to traffic between West Palm Beach and the City of Okeechobee. The highway followed the route to Canal Point blazed by the West Palm Beach Canal.*
One year after the opening of the Conners Toll Highway, the Seaboard Coast Line railroad completed an extension from West Palm Beach to Okeechobee City in 1925. Growers began shipping their produce by truck and on the new rail line.
With the building of the Herbert Hoover Dike in the 1930s, access to the West Palm Beach Canal from Lake Okeechobee was further restricted for boat traffic. The waterway became the drainage ditch as it is known today - the C-51 canal.
Fortunately, in its second century, the West Palm Beach Canal may once again become part of a transportation network. A public-private partnership called the "Palm Beach County Blueway Trail" is working on a plan to connect the canal to the county's inland chain of freshwater lakes as well as the Lake Worth Lagoon via a boat lift.
(c.) Davidsson. 2020.
*NOTE: Read related article below. Additional articles are indexed and archived below in "Older Posts".
Saturday, February 8, 2020
The 'Flagler of Okeechobee' Connects WPB, Glades
By Bob Davidsson
An estimated 20,000 residents of Palm Beach, Okeechobee and the future Martin counties gathered in the City of Okeechobee on July 4, 1924 to celebrate the grand opening of a new highway connecting their Everglades farming communities to the coastal city of West Palm Beach.
Amid the Fourth of July parade, fireworks and political speeches, one man above all was honored at the event - the guiding force and financier of the new Okeechobee-to-West Palm Beach toll road, William James "Fingy" Conners Sr.
Okeechobee City Mayor T.W. Conley boasted, "What Henry Morrison Flagler is to the East Coast of Florida, Conners is to Lake Okeechobee."
Present at the milestone celebration were Florida Governor Cary Hardee (1921-25), who signed Conners' private toll road franchise into law, and Governor-elect John Martin (1925-28), the namesake of the new county that would soon be carved out of the northern third of the Palm Beaches.
Both governors concurred that the "William J. Conners Toll Highway" was a "great work of engineering" uniting the Glades communities with the coast.
The June 22, 1924 edition of the New York Times announced the importance of the new highway to the State of Florida and the nation.
"What a pioneer from New York State has done and is doing for Florida," the Times reported, "will be rewarded in the form of a public celebration on July 4 when Okeechobee City will take official notice of the opening of traffic of the Conners Florida Highway, connecting the West and East Coasts and affording a straight route from Miami or Tampa to Palm Beach for automobiles, horses or pedestrians."
William James 'Fingy' Conners Sr.
Fingy Conners was an unlikely pioneer in the transportation history of Florida. He was born Jan. 3, 1857 to Irish-Canadian immigrant parents in the poor blue-collar First Ward of Buffalo, N.Y. By the time he was 19, both of his parents and his sister were dead.
As a youth, Conners worked as a stevedore, unloading the grain ships that carried their products from throughout the Great Lakes to the mills and storage facilities in Buffalo. He formed a gang of young toughs like himself along the waterfront.
According to the urban legend, Conners' left thumb was cut off during a gang ceremony. He reportedly shouted, "I lost my fingy!" Thus, he earned his nickname for life - "Fingy Conners".
Conners first business venture was the opening of a saloon catering to the dock and mill workers. He soon expanded it to a "Labor Contracting Office" supplying (and exploiting) immigrant laborers from New York City for projects in Buffalo.
Fingy became a force to reckon with among the city's political and business leadership. He was known as the "uncrowned king of the docks." However, when his efforts to organize Buffalo's dock workers into a private monopoly failed in the 1890s, he invested in real estate and purchased two of Buffalo's daily newspapers.
After the turn of the 20th century, Conners made his fortune as chairman of the Great Lakes Transit Corporation, which controlled 85 percent of the packaged freight trade by ship and rail along the Great Lakes. His company also was one of the largest employers in the State of New York.
Conners and his wife visited Palm Beach in 1917 and thereafter became seasonal residents of the Palm Beaches until his death in 1929. He purchased 4,000 acres of undeveloped muck land east of Canal Point as part of Everglades land boom.
There were no roads connecting the Glades agricultural communities to coastal Palm Beach County. Produce was barged from Lake Okeechobee to the City of West Palm Beach via the West Palm Beach Canal (today known as the C-51).
Conners decided to build a highway extending along the east shore of Lake Okeechobee from Okeechobee City to Canal Point (today U.S. 98), then continuing southeast across Palm Beach County to the 20-Mile Bend where a rough unpaved road existed along the West Palm Beach Canal.
To pay for the project, Conners successfully lobbied the Florida Legislature for the approval of his private toll road in less than three hours.
The Conners Toll Highway
The 1924 edition of the Engineers News-Record (v. 93) reported, "A private toll road is being built through the Everglades and along the shore of Lake Okeechobee to afford a cross-state connection for lower Florida. Tampa and Miami are remote from each other simply for lack of a direct connection."
Conners' vision was to upgrade the existing 19-miles of rutted unpaved road (the future S.R. 80) with a new 33-mile toll highway starting at 20-Mile Bend with Canal Point and Okeechobee City as its destinations. He established the "Conners Toll Highway Company" to manage the project.
Conners hired engineer R.Y. Patterson to build the highway. Constructing a paved roadway through the Everglades marshes required the use of a dredge and temporary rail system to transport shell-rock fill for the 24-foot-wide road bed.
To complete the project, Conners purchased of 72,000-acres of land along the east shore of Lake Okeechobee for $700,000. He cut his expenses by selling farm property along the new route. The total cost of the project surpassed $1.8 million.
Work on the highway began on Oct. 16, 1923. Conners hard-driving engineer completed the first leg of the highway to Okeechobee City in just eight months, in time for the July 4, 1924 grand opening celebration.
In 1925, Conners received a contract from the State of Florida to continue building a paved highway extension from Okeechobee City to Sebring. This included the replacement of a ferry crossing with the construction of the "Hardee Memorial Bridge" spanning the Kissimmee River.
For the first time, a direct cross-state roadway existed between Tampa and Southeast Florida. The estimated drive from West Palm Beach to Tampa, via the existing central Florida route, was reduced from 11 hours to four hours.
Three toll booths were set up at the 20-Mile Bend and Canal Point in Palm Beach County and south of Okeechobee City. The fees were $1.50 per car and 50 cents per passenger on the state's private toll highway. For agricultural haulers, the toll averaged .03 cents per mile.
It didn't take long for local pride in the new Glades-to-East Coast highway to turn to resentment over the issue of tolls. An average of $2,000 per day filled the private coffers of Fingy Conners. Commissioners began fielding complaints in both Palm Beach and Okeechobee counties. Local politicians lobbied their legislators to remove the tolls.
However, Fingy Conners continued to profit from his toll highway until his death on Oct. 5, 1929. Following the stock market crash, the Conners Toll Highway Company sold its investment to the State of Florida for $660,000. The tolls were permanently removed on June 10, 1930.
An official "Conners Toll Highway Historical Marker" was erected in 1986 by the Glades Historical Society, in cooperation with Florida Department of State, along U.S. 98, north of Third Street, in the community of Canal Point.
*NOTE: Read additional articles below or archived in Older Posts.
(c.) Davidsson. 2020.
An estimated 20,000 residents of Palm Beach, Okeechobee and the future Martin counties gathered in the City of Okeechobee on July 4, 1924 to celebrate the grand opening of a new highway connecting their Everglades farming communities to the coastal city of West Palm Beach.
Amid the Fourth of July parade, fireworks and political speeches, one man above all was honored at the event - the guiding force and financier of the new Okeechobee-to-West Palm Beach toll road, William James "Fingy" Conners Sr.
Okeechobee City Mayor T.W. Conley boasted, "What Henry Morrison Flagler is to the East Coast of Florida, Conners is to Lake Okeechobee."
Present at the milestone celebration were Florida Governor Cary Hardee (1921-25), who signed Conners' private toll road franchise into law, and Governor-elect John Martin (1925-28), the namesake of the new county that would soon be carved out of the northern third of the Palm Beaches.
Both governors concurred that the "William J. Conners Toll Highway" was a "great work of engineering" uniting the Glades communities with the coast.
The June 22, 1924 edition of the New York Times announced the importance of the new highway to the State of Florida and the nation.
"What a pioneer from New York State has done and is doing for Florida," the Times reported, "will be rewarded in the form of a public celebration on July 4 when Okeechobee City will take official notice of the opening of traffic of the Conners Florida Highway, connecting the West and East Coasts and affording a straight route from Miami or Tampa to Palm Beach for automobiles, horses or pedestrians."
William James 'Fingy' Conners Sr.
Fingy Conners was an unlikely pioneer in the transportation history of Florida. He was born Jan. 3, 1857 to Irish-Canadian immigrant parents in the poor blue-collar First Ward of Buffalo, N.Y. By the time he was 19, both of his parents and his sister were dead.
As a youth, Conners worked as a stevedore, unloading the grain ships that carried their products from throughout the Great Lakes to the mills and storage facilities in Buffalo. He formed a gang of young toughs like himself along the waterfront.
According to the urban legend, Conners' left thumb was cut off during a gang ceremony. He reportedly shouted, "I lost my fingy!" Thus, he earned his nickname for life - "Fingy Conners".
Conners first business venture was the opening of a saloon catering to the dock and mill workers. He soon expanded it to a "Labor Contracting Office" supplying (and exploiting) immigrant laborers from New York City for projects in Buffalo.
Fingy became a force to reckon with among the city's political and business leadership. He was known as the "uncrowned king of the docks." However, when his efforts to organize Buffalo's dock workers into a private monopoly failed in the 1890s, he invested in real estate and purchased two of Buffalo's daily newspapers.
After the turn of the 20th century, Conners made his fortune as chairman of the Great Lakes Transit Corporation, which controlled 85 percent of the packaged freight trade by ship and rail along the Great Lakes. His company also was one of the largest employers in the State of New York.
Conners and his wife visited Palm Beach in 1917 and thereafter became seasonal residents of the Palm Beaches until his death in 1929. He purchased 4,000 acres of undeveloped muck land east of Canal Point as part of Everglades land boom.
There were no roads connecting the Glades agricultural communities to coastal Palm Beach County. Produce was barged from Lake Okeechobee to the City of West Palm Beach via the West Palm Beach Canal (today known as the C-51).
Conners decided to build a highway extending along the east shore of Lake Okeechobee from Okeechobee City to Canal Point (today U.S. 98), then continuing southeast across Palm Beach County to the 20-Mile Bend where a rough unpaved road existed along the West Palm Beach Canal.
To pay for the project, Conners successfully lobbied the Florida Legislature for the approval of his private toll road in less than three hours.
The Conners Toll Highway
The 1924 edition of the Engineers News-Record (v. 93) reported, "A private toll road is being built through the Everglades and along the shore of Lake Okeechobee to afford a cross-state connection for lower Florida. Tampa and Miami are remote from each other simply for lack of a direct connection."
Conners' vision was to upgrade the existing 19-miles of rutted unpaved road (the future S.R. 80) with a new 33-mile toll highway starting at 20-Mile Bend with Canal Point and Okeechobee City as its destinations. He established the "Conners Toll Highway Company" to manage the project.
Conners hired engineer R.Y. Patterson to build the highway. Constructing a paved roadway through the Everglades marshes required the use of a dredge and temporary rail system to transport shell-rock fill for the 24-foot-wide road bed.
To complete the project, Conners purchased of 72,000-acres of land along the east shore of Lake Okeechobee for $700,000. He cut his expenses by selling farm property along the new route. The total cost of the project surpassed $1.8 million.
Work on the highway began on Oct. 16, 1923. Conners hard-driving engineer completed the first leg of the highway to Okeechobee City in just eight months, in time for the July 4, 1924 grand opening celebration.
In 1925, Conners received a contract from the State of Florida to continue building a paved highway extension from Okeechobee City to Sebring. This included the replacement of a ferry crossing with the construction of the "Hardee Memorial Bridge" spanning the Kissimmee River.
For the first time, a direct cross-state roadway existed between Tampa and Southeast Florida. The estimated drive from West Palm Beach to Tampa, via the existing central Florida route, was reduced from 11 hours to four hours.
Three toll booths were set up at the 20-Mile Bend and Canal Point in Palm Beach County and south of Okeechobee City. The fees were $1.50 per car and 50 cents per passenger on the state's private toll highway. For agricultural haulers, the toll averaged .03 cents per mile.
It didn't take long for local pride in the new Glades-to-East Coast highway to turn to resentment over the issue of tolls. An average of $2,000 per day filled the private coffers of Fingy Conners. Commissioners began fielding complaints in both Palm Beach and Okeechobee counties. Local politicians lobbied their legislators to remove the tolls.
However, Fingy Conners continued to profit from his toll highway until his death on Oct. 5, 1929. Following the stock market crash, the Conners Toll Highway Company sold its investment to the State of Florida for $660,000. The tolls were permanently removed on June 10, 1930.
An official "Conners Toll Highway Historical Marker" was erected in 1986 by the Glades Historical Society, in cooperation with Florida Department of State, along U.S. 98, north of Third Street, in the community of Canal Point.
*NOTE: Read additional articles below or archived in Older Posts.
(c.) Davidsson. 2020.
Wednesday, January 1, 2020
A1A, Sloan's Curve and the 'Hurricane of 1947'
By Bob Davidsson
Each month thousands of resident and visiting drivers choose to escape the high-speed anxiety of I-95 by motoring at a more leisurely pace along the oceanfront highway known as A1A.
A1A is Florida's 375-mile coastal state road extending from Key West to Amelia Island near the Georgia border. It is a highway that evolved with many name and route changes during its 73-year history.
Sections of A1A opened in 1927 as "Atlantic Avenue". It was designated "State Road 1 (S.R. 1)" in 1945 as part of a state highway renumbering system. As the easternmost road in Florida, the highway became S.R. 1.
The enumeration caused confusion for motorists. A few miles west of S.R. 1 on the mainland, the federal government identified its Florida-to-Maine highway as "U.S. 1". To end future wrong turns by drivers, the State of Florida changed its coastal road's identifier from S.R. 1 to A1A in November 1946.
A1A also has acquired many local street names. At its place of origin in Key West, the state road is South Roosevelt Blvd. The coastal highway is known as South Ocean Blvd. in the Town of Palm Beach.
A1A is firmly imbedded in Florida's popular literature and folklore. It is the theme of mystery writers and musicians. Jimmy Buffett, South Florida's unofficial musical poet laureate, was inspired to record an album entitled "A1A" in 1974.
The highway is mentioned in the lyrics of a song written by Buffett, "Trying to Reason in Hurricane Season." The composer wrote:
"Strollin' down the avenue that's known as A1A,
Feelin' tired, then I get inspired,
I know it won't last long;
So all alone I walked back home,
Sat on the beach
And then I wrote this song..."
Jimmy Buffett recorded "A1A" while living in Key West between 1971 and 1998. The musician and author later became a Town of Palm Beach resident, purchasing local properties in 2002, 2011 and 2015.
Sloan's Curve and the 1947 Hurricane
Hurricanes have often impacted the history of A1A, temporarily closing the highway and even forcing permanent route changes. One of the most noteworthy is the deadly twist-and-turn known as "Sloan's Curve" in the Town of Palm Beach.
There are many local legends and theories about the Sloan's Curve name origin. The consensus is its named for a nearby "Billionaires Row" property owner, Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (1875 - 1966), the former chairman and CEO of General Motors and the foundation that bears his name today.
Although the primary residence of Alfred and Irene Sloan was in New York, they also owned an estate on South Ocean Blvd., according to the 1948 Palm Beach City Directory. The 1936 Palm Beach Street Atlas, updated by the publisher in 1948, confirms Sloan's Curve was built on a State of Florida right-of-way adjacent to property (Section 108) listed under the name Irene Jackson Sloan.
Prior to 1947, A1A rested on the crest of the dune line extending from Palm Beach to the Town of Manalapan. The oceanfront route south of Sloan's Curve permanently closed on Sept. 20 when the highway was washed out to sea by a hurricane.
The Category 4 tropical cyclone commonly called the "Fort Lauderdale Hurricane of 1947," but classified by the U.S. Weather Bureau as "Hurricane 4 - George," slammed into the city with 145 mph winds. It spiraled northwest across the state before entering the Gulf of Mexico between Naples and Fort Myers.
North of the hurricane's eye wall, tropical winds destroyed the Boca Raton Army Air Field's hangars, barracks and aircraft, resulting in $4.5 million in damages. Following an assessment of the destruction, the military base was closed in December 1947.
As the storm passed south of Lake Okeechobee, 15,000 Glades residents were evacuated. Storm surge reached 21 feet in the big lake, but the new Herbert Hoover Dike held back the flood waters.
A concerned Florida Legislature created the "Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District" in response to the 1947 hurricane to prevent future storm-related flooding. It became the "South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)" in 1972, with its headquarters in West Palm Beach.
A1A was not spared the wrath of the 1947 hurricane in central Palm Beach County. Storm tides surpassed 11 feet along the coastal Palm Beaches, destroying large sections of A1A between Palm Beach and Boynton Beach. A five-mile segment of coastal A1A north of the Lake Worth Casino vanished "as if no road existed," according to one news report.
Category 2 sustained winds tore the roof off of the historic 1922 casino building. The Lake Worth Beach landmark was rebuilt minus many of the original architectural features on the casino's exterior. The last remaining stretch of the original coastal beach road, between Lantana Beach and Manalapan, succumbed to Hurricane Cleo in 1964.
A1A was closed to traffic in September 1947 until a new highway could be built at a location less exposed to ocean tides and surf on the barrier island.
The December 1919 Palm Beach Sanborn Map traced a pathway along the Lake Worth Lagoon called the "Lake Trail". The Lake Trail was infilled and expanded in width to become the new route for A1A. The highway passed west of the Phipps Family property (Phipps Ocean Park), and cut through the future Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course, built by Michael Phipps in 1961.
To realign the new section of A1A with South Ocean Blvd. required a 90-degree turn in the replacement highway. This became "Sloan's Curve".
The 'Condominium Row'
Today, it is hard to believe that 70 years ago the prime coastal property between Sloan's Curve and Lake Worth Beach was nearly uninhabited and considered of little value. Much of the property was held in the John and Annie Phipps Family's "Bessemer Properties Trust," according to the Palm Beach Real Estate Atlas.
The poor assessment of barrier island land values was shared by the City of Lake Worth. The city decided to retain its profitable casino complex, pier and public beach. The remainder of its barrier island jurisdiction was ceded to the Town of Palm Beach.
The first condominium project south of Sloan's Curve in Palm Beach was not built until the 1960s. Eight developments were platted between 1967-69. The current "Condominium Row" extending from the Town of South Palm Beach north to Sloan's Curve would eventually expand to 40 condominium and townhouse developments.
The Town of Palm Beach belatedly approved building height limits of five stories in 1970 to reduce high-rise canyon impacts. With the completion of the Sloan's Curve luxury complex, between 1980 and 2006, the last undeveloped section of Palm Beach would reach "build out".
(c.) R.I. Davidsson, 2020.
*NOTE: Read additional articles archived below and indexed by dates in Older Posts.
Each month thousands of resident and visiting drivers choose to escape the high-speed anxiety of I-95 by motoring at a more leisurely pace along the oceanfront highway known as A1A.
A1A is Florida's 375-mile coastal state road extending from Key West to Amelia Island near the Georgia border. It is a highway that evolved with many name and route changes during its 73-year history.
Sections of A1A opened in 1927 as "Atlantic Avenue". It was designated "State Road 1 (S.R. 1)" in 1945 as part of a state highway renumbering system. As the easternmost road in Florida, the highway became S.R. 1.
The enumeration caused confusion for motorists. A few miles west of S.R. 1 on the mainland, the federal government identified its Florida-to-Maine highway as "U.S. 1". To end future wrong turns by drivers, the State of Florida changed its coastal road's identifier from S.R. 1 to A1A in November 1946.
A1A also has acquired many local street names. At its place of origin in Key West, the state road is South Roosevelt Blvd. The coastal highway is known as South Ocean Blvd. in the Town of Palm Beach.
A1A is firmly imbedded in Florida's popular literature and folklore. It is the theme of mystery writers and musicians. Jimmy Buffett, South Florida's unofficial musical poet laureate, was inspired to record an album entitled "A1A" in 1974.
The highway is mentioned in the lyrics of a song written by Buffett, "Trying to Reason in Hurricane Season." The composer wrote:
"Strollin' down the avenue that's known as A1A,
Feelin' tired, then I get inspired,
I know it won't last long;
So all alone I walked back home,
Sat on the beach
And then I wrote this song..."
Jimmy Buffett recorded "A1A" while living in Key West between 1971 and 1998. The musician and author later became a Town of Palm Beach resident, purchasing local properties in 2002, 2011 and 2015.
Sloan's Curve and the 1947 Hurricane
Hurricanes have often impacted the history of A1A, temporarily closing the highway and even forcing permanent route changes. One of the most noteworthy is the deadly twist-and-turn known as "Sloan's Curve" in the Town of Palm Beach.
There are many local legends and theories about the Sloan's Curve name origin. The consensus is its named for a nearby "Billionaires Row" property owner, Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (1875 - 1966), the former chairman and CEO of General Motors and the foundation that bears his name today.
Although the primary residence of Alfred and Irene Sloan was in New York, they also owned an estate on South Ocean Blvd., according to the 1948 Palm Beach City Directory. The 1936 Palm Beach Street Atlas, updated by the publisher in 1948, confirms Sloan's Curve was built on a State of Florida right-of-way adjacent to property (Section 108) listed under the name Irene Jackson Sloan.
Prior to 1947, A1A rested on the crest of the dune line extending from Palm Beach to the Town of Manalapan. The oceanfront route south of Sloan's Curve permanently closed on Sept. 20 when the highway was washed out to sea by a hurricane.
The Category 4 tropical cyclone commonly called the "Fort Lauderdale Hurricane of 1947," but classified by the U.S. Weather Bureau as "Hurricane 4 - George," slammed into the city with 145 mph winds. It spiraled northwest across the state before entering the Gulf of Mexico between Naples and Fort Myers.
North of the hurricane's eye wall, tropical winds destroyed the Boca Raton Army Air Field's hangars, barracks and aircraft, resulting in $4.5 million in damages. Following an assessment of the destruction, the military base was closed in December 1947.
As the storm passed south of Lake Okeechobee, 15,000 Glades residents were evacuated. Storm surge reached 21 feet in the big lake, but the new Herbert Hoover Dike held back the flood waters.
A concerned Florida Legislature created the "Central and Southern Florida Flood Control District" in response to the 1947 hurricane to prevent future storm-related flooding. It became the "South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD)" in 1972, with its headquarters in West Palm Beach.
A1A was not spared the wrath of the 1947 hurricane in central Palm Beach County. Storm tides surpassed 11 feet along the coastal Palm Beaches, destroying large sections of A1A between Palm Beach and Boynton Beach. A five-mile segment of coastal A1A north of the Lake Worth Casino vanished "as if no road existed," according to one news report.
Category 2 sustained winds tore the roof off of the historic 1922 casino building. The Lake Worth Beach landmark was rebuilt minus many of the original architectural features on the casino's exterior. The last remaining stretch of the original coastal beach road, between Lantana Beach and Manalapan, succumbed to Hurricane Cleo in 1964.
A1A was closed to traffic in September 1947 until a new highway could be built at a location less exposed to ocean tides and surf on the barrier island.
The December 1919 Palm Beach Sanborn Map traced a pathway along the Lake Worth Lagoon called the "Lake Trail". The Lake Trail was infilled and expanded in width to become the new route for A1A. The highway passed west of the Phipps Family property (Phipps Ocean Park), and cut through the future Palm Beach Par 3 Golf Course, built by Michael Phipps in 1961.
To realign the new section of A1A with South Ocean Blvd. required a 90-degree turn in the replacement highway. This became "Sloan's Curve".
The 'Condominium Row'
Today, it is hard to believe that 70 years ago the prime coastal property between Sloan's Curve and Lake Worth Beach was nearly uninhabited and considered of little value. Much of the property was held in the John and Annie Phipps Family's "Bessemer Properties Trust," according to the Palm Beach Real Estate Atlas.
The poor assessment of barrier island land values was shared by the City of Lake Worth. The city decided to retain its profitable casino complex, pier and public beach. The remainder of its barrier island jurisdiction was ceded to the Town of Palm Beach.
The first condominium project south of Sloan's Curve in Palm Beach was not built until the 1960s. Eight developments were platted between 1967-69. The current "Condominium Row" extending from the Town of South Palm Beach north to Sloan's Curve would eventually expand to 40 condominium and townhouse developments.
The Town of Palm Beach belatedly approved building height limits of five stories in 1970 to reduce high-rise canyon impacts. With the completion of the Sloan's Curve luxury complex, between 1980 and 2006, the last undeveloped section of Palm Beach would reach "build out".
(c.) R.I. Davidsson, 2020.
*NOTE: Read additional articles archived below and indexed by dates in Older Posts.
Thursday, December 12, 2019
Neoclassical Church Becomes WPB Landmark
By Bob Davidsson
The West Palm Beach City Commission unanimously approved a local landmark designation Dec. 2 for the First Church of Christ, Scientist, placing the unique neoclassical house of worship on the city's Register of Historic Places.
Located in the heart of West Palm Beach at the intersection of Okeechobee Blvd. and Flagler Drive, the Greek revival-style landmark graces the city's waterfront like a 21st century Parthenon rising above the Lake Worth Lagoon.
The historic building has served as an anchor to the west side of the city's Royal Palm Bridge since the 1920's. The church is thus a visual landmark marking the entrance and departure point for West Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach across the lagoon.
In their recommendation to approve the church as an official historic site, city staff reported, "It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction."
"It possesses a singular physical characteristic that makes it an established or familiar visual feature," the Dec. 2 West Palm Beach staff report concludes.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was built between 1927-29 on land originally donated by Anne Phipps, the wife of steel magnate Henry Phipps of Palm Beach. The Phipps family acquired extensive land holdings in both Palm Beach and West Palm Beach during the 1920's.
One longtime seasonal congregant and supporter of the church was General Foods cereal heiress and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post of Palm Beach. Her Mar-a-lago mansion was built the same year as the church on the island of Palm Beach.
Christian Science is a religion founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 19th century. It is based on the Bible and the tenets explained in Eddy's "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
The First Church of Christ, Scientist qualified for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in December 1998. However, since the building was still a functioning church, the owners decided the designation was inappropriate at that time.
Architects of Distinction
The Philadelphia-based architectural firm headed by Horace Trumbauer was contracted by the local Christian Science congregation to design their new church in 1927. The builder was F.W. Blandford.
Trumbauer (1868-1938) was a self-trained architect who became prominent during the "Gilded Age" at the turn of 20th century. His firm designed more than 400 mansions, cultural centers and government buildings.
In 1906 Trumbauer hired African-American architect Julian Abele (1881-1950) of Philadelphia as his chief designer. After Trumbauer's death in 1938, Abele would continue managing the "Office of Horace Trumbauer" architectural firm until 1950.
Among his many projects, Abele was belatedly credited as the designer of several buildings on the campus of Duke University, including the Duke University Chapel in 1934.
He also designed the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University. Tragically, the library would later serve as a family memorial to Trumbauer's son, Henry, a Harvard alumni and bibliophile who died while aboard the "HMS Titanic" on its maiden voyage.
The neoclassical design for the First Church of Christ, Scientist in West Palm Beach was Abele's inspiration. He was an admirer and scholar of classical Greek and Roman architectural techniques.
The east entrance to the church is supported by eight fluted Ionic columns. The name of the church is inscribed in the pediment. Behind the columns, three 10-foot doors at the main entrance open into the sanctuary.
Acroterions, winged architectural ornaments commonly placed on Greek temples and early Christian churches, are mounted on the four corners of the building's pediments.
Four Ionic columns also are posted on the south entrance to the church. The structure's use of blue tiles was inspired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an earlier Trumbauer-Abele architectural design.
The Price of Preservation
An agreement was made between the church and the Related Cos. in 2016 for the purchase of the west parking lot by the development company for a future "One Flagler" high-rise office building.
In exchange for the property, Related agreed to provide a church reading room and parking for the congregation within the "One Flagler" garage. The historic church will be preserved and maintained at its current site.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist Building Fund was established in 2019 to finance the maintenance of the building. The special preservation fund was created through the Community Foundation of Palm Beach ad Martin Counties.
The landmark church will be preserved in perpetuity, but it may soon be under the shadow of a 25-story office building.
(c.) Davidsson. 2019.
*NOTE: See additional articles posted below and archived in Older Posts.
The West Palm Beach City Commission unanimously approved a local landmark designation Dec. 2 for the First Church of Christ, Scientist, placing the unique neoclassical house of worship on the city's Register of Historic Places.
Located in the heart of West Palm Beach at the intersection of Okeechobee Blvd. and Flagler Drive, the Greek revival-style landmark graces the city's waterfront like a 21st century Parthenon rising above the Lake Worth Lagoon.
The historic building has served as an anchor to the west side of the city's Royal Palm Bridge since the 1920's. The church is thus a visual landmark marking the entrance and departure point for West Palm Beach and the Town of Palm Beach across the lagoon.
In their recommendation to approve the church as an official historic site, city staff reported, "It embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction."
"It possesses a singular physical characteristic that makes it an established or familiar visual feature," the Dec. 2 West Palm Beach staff report concludes.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was built between 1927-29 on land originally donated by Anne Phipps, the wife of steel magnate Henry Phipps of Palm Beach. The Phipps family acquired extensive land holdings in both Palm Beach and West Palm Beach during the 1920's.
One longtime seasonal congregant and supporter of the church was General Foods cereal heiress and socialite Marjorie Merriweather Post of Palm Beach. Her Mar-a-lago mansion was built the same year as the church on the island of Palm Beach.
Christian Science is a religion founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the late 19th century. It is based on the Bible and the tenets explained in Eddy's "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures."
The First Church of Christ, Scientist qualified for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in December 1998. However, since the building was still a functioning church, the owners decided the designation was inappropriate at that time.
Architects of Distinction
The Philadelphia-based architectural firm headed by Horace Trumbauer was contracted by the local Christian Science congregation to design their new church in 1927. The builder was F.W. Blandford.
Trumbauer (1868-1938) was a self-trained architect who became prominent during the "Gilded Age" at the turn of 20th century. His firm designed more than 400 mansions, cultural centers and government buildings.
In 1906 Trumbauer hired African-American architect Julian Abele (1881-1950) of Philadelphia as his chief designer. After Trumbauer's death in 1938, Abele would continue managing the "Office of Horace Trumbauer" architectural firm until 1950.
Among his many projects, Abele was belatedly credited as the designer of several buildings on the campus of Duke University, including the Duke University Chapel in 1934.
He also designed the Widener Memorial Library at Harvard University. Tragically, the library would later serve as a family memorial to Trumbauer's son, Henry, a Harvard alumni and bibliophile who died while aboard the "HMS Titanic" on its maiden voyage.
The neoclassical design for the First Church of Christ, Scientist in West Palm Beach was Abele's inspiration. He was an admirer and scholar of classical Greek and Roman architectural techniques.
The east entrance to the church is supported by eight fluted Ionic columns. The name of the church is inscribed in the pediment. Behind the columns, three 10-foot doors at the main entrance open into the sanctuary.
Acroterions, winged architectural ornaments commonly placed on Greek temples and early Christian churches, are mounted on the four corners of the building's pediments.
Four Ionic columns also are posted on the south entrance to the church. The structure's use of blue tiles was inspired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an earlier Trumbauer-Abele architectural design.
The Price of Preservation
An agreement was made between the church and the Related Cos. in 2016 for the purchase of the west parking lot by the development company for a future "One Flagler" high-rise office building.
In exchange for the property, Related agreed to provide a church reading room and parking for the congregation within the "One Flagler" garage. The historic church will be preserved and maintained at its current site.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist Building Fund was established in 2019 to finance the maintenance of the building. The special preservation fund was created through the Community Foundation of Palm Beach ad Martin Counties.
The landmark church will be preserved in perpetuity, but it may soon be under the shadow of a 25-story office building.
(c.) Davidsson. 2019.
*NOTE: See additional articles posted below and archived in Older Posts.
Monday, November 25, 2019
'Napoleon of Finance' Swindled Local Pioneers
Richard Johnson "Dicky" Bolles was an infamous larger-than-life land speculator who played a major role in the early development of Dade and Palm Beach counties. In fact, some believe his life story continues beyond the grave today in a supernatural afterlife.
Dicky Bolles was born Aug. 1, 1843, the son of Dr. Richard M. and Henrietta Bolles of New York City. Bolles had an innate talent for investments and real estate marketing which at the youthful age of 23 earned him a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
His aggressive business enterprises and short physical stature (just 5 feet, 6 inches) won Dicky Bolles the title from both critics and admirers as the "Napoleon of Finance" on Wall Street.
In 1906 his real estate business acumen was brought to the attention Florida's own political "Napoleon" - Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (1905-09), a former ship captain and Cuban gun-runner from Jacksonville. Broward needed someone with Bolles' skill in land development to fulfill his vision of Everglades "reclamation".
Governor Broward's reclamation plan was the polar opposite of today's restoration projects in the Glades. He favored the draining and settlement of Everglades marshlands with new farms and townships to increase the state's tax base.
The target of Broward's ambition was Dade County, the vast thinly settled geographical area extending from the Florida Keys north to the St. Lucie River and west to the mouth of Kissimmee River on Lake Okeechobee at the turn of the 20th century.
On Dec. 26, 1908, trustees of the Florida Internal Improvement Fund signed a contract with Dicky Bolles, conveying 500,000 acres in "overflowed" (submerged) state lands to the developer for $2 an acre.
Bolles formed the Florida Fruit Lands Company to develop 180,000 acres of land within Dade and the newly created Palm Beach County (established in 1909). His plan was to divide the land into sections for farms and township units.
He later established the Okeechobee Fruit Lands Company to dispose of the remaining 240,000 acres of property available for development along the shores of Lake Okeechobee. Bolles and his affiliated developers would eventually sell more than 20,000 parcels of land.
Dicky Bolles' primary residence during his stay in Florida from 1910-17 was the exclusive "Seminole Club" in Jacksonville, a private men's-only institution hosting the city's leading business movers and shakers. He listed his occupation as a "Capitalist," according to the U.S. City Directories 1832-1998 archive.
Bolles promoted Everglades properties held by his development companies through a nationwide advertising campaign touting the marshes as the "Promised Land," a "Tropical Paradise" and even as a new "Garden of Eden".
The "Bolles Hotel," once located on the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee in the community of Ritta, was built by the developer in 1910-11 to house prospective Everglades land buyers. The landmark hotel was damaged by the 1928 hurricane and burned to the ground in 1929, according to the Florida Division of Archives.
During a four-day tour of the Everglades sponsored by the Florida Internal Improvement Fund, Dicky Bolles hosted a visit in April 1912 by Florida Governors William Sherman Jennings (1901-05) and Albert Gilchrist (1909-13) at the Bolles Hotel. The governors would later acquire property through his land company.
Dicky Bolles' most ambitious development scheme, which also marked the beginning of his misfortunes, was the infamous "Progresso Land Auction" of March 11, 1911. More than 3,000 land hungry settlers and investors descended on the unincorporated village of Fort Lauderdale for a chance to obtain property in a lottery drawing.
However, lotteries were illegal in Florida and the random drawing was canceled. The crowd was told they could purchase deeds to the plotted land tracks for $240 - sites unseen. The promised town of "Progresso" was never established.
After inspecting the swampland purchased during the Progresso auction, one Iowa investor reported, "I have bought land by the acre, and I have bought land by the foot, but by God I have never before bought land by the gallon."
An estimated 4,805 Everglades land buyers attended a similar 1912 "convention" held in West Palm Beach. Most of the prospective buyers traveled to Palm Beach County from the Midwest, according to a 2002 study appearing in the Florida Geographer.
An editorial published in the March 1912 edition of the Miami Metropolis lamented, "Florida has so much good rich land that requires no draining...that the state and its people have undoubtedly suffered great injury through attempts to unload upon unwary customers land that has no condition to produce at this time."
Dicky Bolles' final years in Florida were spent in state and federal courts, fending off criminal fraud charges and lawsuits from angry customers whose promised "Garden of Eden" was swampland.
Bolles was arrested in 1913 with his case going before a state court in March of that year.
Amazingly, the jury decided Dicky Bolles was an "honest man" and he was judged innocent by the court. He was later awarded $1.4 million by the State of Florida for his past land sales in November 1913.
However, Dicky Bolles legal problems were not over. A federal prosecutor in Kansas City presented a 122-page indictment against Bolles for mail fraud with more than 100 witnesses testifying against him.
Legal defense fees and a lavish lifestyle reduced his real estate fortune. What remained of his land grant in 1915 reverted to trustees of the Florida Internal Improvement Fund for nonpayment.
Dicky Bolles died March 25, 1917, soon after boarding a F.E.C. Railway train in West Palm Beach bound for Jacksonville. He was buried within the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.
Upon his death, Bolles' estate passed on to his secretary in Jacksonville, Agnes Cain Painter. She established a not-for-profit foundation which was used to finance "The Bolles School" in Jacksonville.
Justice from Beyond the Grave?
Dicky Bolles successfully avoided a prison sentence during his lifetime, but at least one South Florida family is convinced he is facing a worse fate in the afterlife.
The story of Dicky Bolles' ghostly visitations at a suburban home in Davie, FL, is the topic of an episode entitled "Deadly Force" (Season 11, Episode 193) of "The Dead Files" cable television series featured on the Travel Channel.
The episode first aired Oct. 3, 2019. During their investigation, psychic medium Amy Allan and retired New York City detective Steve DiSchiavi revealed to a terrified Broward County couple that their property was once part of Bolles' Florida Fruit Lands Company.
Dicky Bolles is described by Allan as an unhappy spirit trapped in their home. He is being eternally tormented by his deceased common-law "wife," who is preternaturally angry about her small estate settlement, and pursues both the living and the dead.
Perhaps this is a final judgment for the Napoleon of Finance.
(c.) Davidsson. 2019.
*NOTE: Read additional articles below and archived in Older Posts.
Dicky Bolles was born Aug. 1, 1843, the son of Dr. Richard M. and Henrietta Bolles of New York City. Bolles had an innate talent for investments and real estate marketing which at the youthful age of 23 earned him a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.
His aggressive business enterprises and short physical stature (just 5 feet, 6 inches) won Dicky Bolles the title from both critics and admirers as the "Napoleon of Finance" on Wall Street.
In 1906 his real estate business acumen was brought to the attention Florida's own political "Napoleon" - Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (1905-09), a former ship captain and Cuban gun-runner from Jacksonville. Broward needed someone with Bolles' skill in land development to fulfill his vision of Everglades "reclamation".
Governor Broward's reclamation plan was the polar opposite of today's restoration projects in the Glades. He favored the draining and settlement of Everglades marshlands with new farms and townships to increase the state's tax base.
The target of Broward's ambition was Dade County, the vast thinly settled geographical area extending from the Florida Keys north to the St. Lucie River and west to the mouth of Kissimmee River on Lake Okeechobee at the turn of the 20th century.
On Dec. 26, 1908, trustees of the Florida Internal Improvement Fund signed a contract with Dicky Bolles, conveying 500,000 acres in "overflowed" (submerged) state lands to the developer for $2 an acre.
Bolles formed the Florida Fruit Lands Company to develop 180,000 acres of land within Dade and the newly created Palm Beach County (established in 1909). His plan was to divide the land into sections for farms and township units.
He later established the Okeechobee Fruit Lands Company to dispose of the remaining 240,000 acres of property available for development along the shores of Lake Okeechobee. Bolles and his affiliated developers would eventually sell more than 20,000 parcels of land.
Dicky Bolles' primary residence during his stay in Florida from 1910-17 was the exclusive "Seminole Club" in Jacksonville, a private men's-only institution hosting the city's leading business movers and shakers. He listed his occupation as a "Capitalist," according to the U.S. City Directories 1832-1998 archive.
Bolles promoted Everglades properties held by his development companies through a nationwide advertising campaign touting the marshes as the "Promised Land," a "Tropical Paradise" and even as a new "Garden of Eden".
The "Bolles Hotel," once located on the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee in the community of Ritta, was built by the developer in 1910-11 to house prospective Everglades land buyers. The landmark hotel was damaged by the 1928 hurricane and burned to the ground in 1929, according to the Florida Division of Archives.
During a four-day tour of the Everglades sponsored by the Florida Internal Improvement Fund, Dicky Bolles hosted a visit in April 1912 by Florida Governors William Sherman Jennings (1901-05) and Albert Gilchrist (1909-13) at the Bolles Hotel. The governors would later acquire property through his land company.
Dicky Bolles' most ambitious development scheme, which also marked the beginning of his misfortunes, was the infamous "Progresso Land Auction" of March 11, 1911. More than 3,000 land hungry settlers and investors descended on the unincorporated village of Fort Lauderdale for a chance to obtain property in a lottery drawing.
However, lotteries were illegal in Florida and the random drawing was canceled. The crowd was told they could purchase deeds to the plotted land tracks for $240 - sites unseen. The promised town of "Progresso" was never established.
After inspecting the swampland purchased during the Progresso auction, one Iowa investor reported, "I have bought land by the acre, and I have bought land by the foot, but by God I have never before bought land by the gallon."
An estimated 4,805 Everglades land buyers attended a similar 1912 "convention" held in West Palm Beach. Most of the prospective buyers traveled to Palm Beach County from the Midwest, according to a 2002 study appearing in the Florida Geographer.
An editorial published in the March 1912 edition of the Miami Metropolis lamented, "Florida has so much good rich land that requires no draining...that the state and its people have undoubtedly suffered great injury through attempts to unload upon unwary customers land that has no condition to produce at this time."
Dicky Bolles' final years in Florida were spent in state and federal courts, fending off criminal fraud charges and lawsuits from angry customers whose promised "Garden of Eden" was swampland.
Bolles was arrested in 1913 with his case going before a state court in March of that year.
Amazingly, the jury decided Dicky Bolles was an "honest man" and he was judged innocent by the court. He was later awarded $1.4 million by the State of Florida for his past land sales in November 1913.
However, Dicky Bolles legal problems were not over. A federal prosecutor in Kansas City presented a 122-page indictment against Bolles for mail fraud with more than 100 witnesses testifying against him.
Legal defense fees and a lavish lifestyle reduced his real estate fortune. What remained of his land grant in 1915 reverted to trustees of the Florida Internal Improvement Fund for nonpayment.
Dicky Bolles died March 25, 1917, soon after boarding a F.E.C. Railway train in West Palm Beach bound for Jacksonville. He was buried within the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.
Upon his death, Bolles' estate passed on to his secretary in Jacksonville, Agnes Cain Painter. She established a not-for-profit foundation which was used to finance "The Bolles School" in Jacksonville.
Justice from Beyond the Grave?
Dicky Bolles successfully avoided a prison sentence during his lifetime, but at least one South Florida family is convinced he is facing a worse fate in the afterlife.
The story of Dicky Bolles' ghostly visitations at a suburban home in Davie, FL, is the topic of an episode entitled "Deadly Force" (Season 11, Episode 193) of "The Dead Files" cable television series featured on the Travel Channel.
The episode first aired Oct. 3, 2019. During their investigation, psychic medium Amy Allan and retired New York City detective Steve DiSchiavi revealed to a terrified Broward County couple that their property was once part of Bolles' Florida Fruit Lands Company.
Dicky Bolles is described by Allan as an unhappy spirit trapped in their home. He is being eternally tormented by his deceased common-law "wife," who is preternaturally angry about her small estate settlement, and pursues both the living and the dead.
Perhaps this is a final judgment for the Napoleon of Finance.
(c.) Davidsson. 2019.
*NOTE: Read additional articles below and archived in Older Posts.
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