Florida was a wilderness, inhabited by the Seminole Indians from the 1700’s. Juan Ponce de Leon of Spain arrived in 1513 searching for the Fountain of Youth. Then the French came in 1564. Britain gained control of Florida during the American Revolution, but Spain, allied with France, regained Florida in 1784. In 1821 the United States re-acquired all of Florida and made it a territory. White settlers succeeded in cattle ranching or farming. The three Seminole Wars (1817 -1858) were also a source of conflict between the Indians and white settlements.
After the Civil War until the stock market crash in 1929, there was unparalleled growth in American technology and industrial expansion with railroads, automobiles, and oil production, creating a social class of enormous wealth and an era called the “Gilded Age. New York railroad baron Henry Flagler visited Florida and loved its temperate climate. In 1894, he opened The Royal Poinciana Hotel on Lake Worth. Two years later, he built the Port of Palm Beach with a 1,000-foot pier for steamships traveling to Nassau, Havana, and Key West. The population of Palm Beach grew and all was well until the hurricanes in 1926 and 1928, and the stock market crash in 1929, reducing property values in half. World War II brought the military. During the 1950’s, war veterans returned, creating new communities. Mansions of the 1920’s are now museums. Worth Avenue is an exclusive shopping boulevard with restaurants, art galleries, and boutiques. It’s a great place to visit.
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