The history of West Palm Beach, Florida, began more than 5,000 years ago with the arrival of the first aboriginal natives. Native American tribes such as the Jaegas inhabited the area. Though control of Florida changed among Spain, England, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, the area remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century. By the 1870s and 1880s, non-Native American settlers had inhabited areas in the vicinity of West Palm Beach and referred to the settlement as "Lake Worth Country". However, the population remained very small until the arrival of Henry Flagler in the 1890s. Flagler constructed hotels and resorts in Palm Beach to create a travel destination for affluent tourists, who could travel there via his railroad beginning in 1894.
Flagler originally intended for West Palm Beach to serve as a residential area for the workers at his hotels in Palm Beach. In 1893, George W. Potter surveyed and platted the original 48 blocks of the city. West Palm Beach would be incorporated as a town on November 5, 1894, before becoming a city in 1903. Upon the establishment of Palm Beach County in 1909, West Palm Beach received the designation of county seat. The city developed much more rapidly during the 1920s land boom, which saw a nearly four-fold increase in population between 1920 and 1927 and the construction of many of the city's historical buildings and neighborhoods. However, the 1928 hurricane – which devastated the city – and end of the land boom ushered the area into an era of economic decline just prior to the onset of the Great Depression.
West Palm Beach experienced an economic rebound in the post-World War II years, as veterans who trained at Morrison Field vacationed or relocated to the area. The city also markedly expanded westward in the 1950s and 1960s, with thousands of acres of wetlands drained and filled. In the latter decade, a municipal stadium, auditorium, and mall were built on the newly drained and filled land. Commercial development west of the original city boundaries led to urban decay in downtown by the 1980s. However, the beautification of Clematis Street beginning in the early 1990s, and the opening of CityPlace in 2000 led to a revitalized downtown area. In 2018, the United States Census Bureau estimated that the city had a population of 111,398.
Prior to incorporation (before November 1894)
Archaeological evidence suggests that the Jaegas settled in modern-day Palm Beach County as many as 5,000 years ago. The first contact between Native Americans in the area and Europeans occurred in 1513 upon Juan Ponce de León's landfall at the Jupiter Inlet. Europeans encountered a thriving native population, the Mayaimi in the Lake Okeechobee Basin, while the Jaegas and Ais resided east of Lake Okeechobee and along the east coast north of the Tequestas. When the Spanish arrived, there were perhaps about 20,000 Native Americans in South Florida. The native peoples had all but been wiped out through war, enslavement, or European diseases, by the time the English gained control of Florida in 1763. Other native people from Alabama and Georgia moved into Florida in the early 18th century. They were of varied ancestry, but Europeans called them all Creeks. In Florida, they were known as the Seminole and Miccosukee Indians. American settlers and Seminoles fought against each other due to land and escaped slaves, who were granted protection by the Seminoles. They resisted the government's efforts to move them to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. The Seminoles and the United States government fought with each other in three wars between 1818 and 1858. By the end of the third war, very few Seminoles remained in Florida.
The area that was to become West Palm Beach was settled in the late 1870s and 1880s by a few hundred settlers who called the vicinity "Lake Worth Country". These settlers were a diverse community from different parts of the United States and the world. They included founding families such as the Potters and the Lainharts, who would go on to become leading members of the business community in the fledgling city. Irving R. Henry filed the first homestead claim in 1880, claiming . Henry would later sell the land to Captain O. S. Porter. The first non-Native American settlers in Palm Beach County resided around Lake Worth, – an enclosed freshwater lake at the time – named after Colonel William Jenkins Worth, who served in the Second Seminole War in 1842. Reverend Elbridge Gale and his son are believed to have constructed the first log cabin on the western shore of Lake Worth, located near where the intersection of 29th Street and Poinsettia Avenue stands today. Most settlers engaged in the growing of tropical fruits and vegetables for shipment to the north via Lake Worth and the Indian River.
In 1890, the United States Census counted over 200 people settled along Lake Worth in the vicinity of what would become West Palm Beach. The area at this time also boasted a hotel, the "Cocoanut House", a church, and a post office. Henry Flagler, who was instrumental to Palm Beach County's development in the late 19th century and early 20th century, first visited in 1892, describing the area as a "veritable paradise". The first newspaper in the area, The Gazetteer, began publication in 1893, but the paper ceased printing issues after burning in a downtown fire in 1896. Additionally, West Palm Beach's first business, Lainhart and Potter Lumber Company, and the first bank, Dade County State Bank, were both established in 1893. That year, Flagler began planning a city to house the employees working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach.
Flagler paid two area settlers, Porter and Louie Hillhouse, a combined sum of $45,000 for the original town site. Flagler hired George W. Potter, Dade County's first surveyor, to set aside 48 blocks for development stretching from Clear Lake to Lake Worth, an area that would later become West Palm Beach. The east-to-west oriented streets were named alphabetically from north to south – Althea, Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia, Fern – while some of the north-to-south roads were called Lantana, Narcissus, Olive, Poinsettia, Rosemary, and Tamarind. Most of these names are still used today. Over in Palm Beach, construction began on the Royal Poinciana Hotel on May 1, 1893. The lots in West Palm Beach were auctioned off in the ballroom of the Royal Poinciana on February 4, 1894, one week before the hotel opened for business. In late March, Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway reached West Palm Beach.
Incorporation and early years (November 1894 to 1909)
On November 5, 1894, residents met at the "Calaboose", which served as the first jail and police station. The building formerly stood at Clematis Street and Poinsettia, now Dixie Highway. The 78 people there voted on a motion to incorporate, with 77 in favor and 1 against. They also decided to name the municipality "West Palm Beach", originally a town. This made West Palm Beach the first incorporated municipality in the county and in Southeast Florida. On the following day, 78 people also met to vote on the new town officers. Voters elected John S. Earman as the first mayor, while Henry J. Burkhardt, E. H. Dimick, J. M. Garland, H. T. Grant, J. F. Lamond, and George Zapf became the town's first aldermen. Eli Sims and W. L. Tolbert were chosen to be town clerk and town marshal, respectively. Later in November 1894, the Flagler Alerts, an all-volunteer fire department, was established as the first fire department in the city.
Although Flagler intended for the West Palm Beach area to be the southern terminus of his railroad, the track was extended farther southward to Miami after two severe freezes in the winter of 1894–95. The Weather Bureau office, then located in Jupiter, recorded temperatures of on December 29, 1894, and February 9, 1895, respectively. Though the railroad continued southward to Miami and eventually to Key West, Flagler and his workers continued building structures in the early years of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Completion of a railroad bridge across Lake Worth in 1895 allowed passengers to directly reach Palm Beach from West Palm Beach. A census conducted that year reported a population of 1,192 people. However, the town's population decreased by more than half during the second half of the 1890s due to damage to the citrus industry caused by the aforementioned freezes, a brief cessation in construction activity, and national recessions.
At the V-shaped split at the east end of Clematis Street, "City Park" (later known as Flagler Park) was constructed, which contained a bandstand, a field for impromptu baseball games, and by 1896, a free "reading room". Two large fires devastated downtown West Palm Beach in early 1896. On January 2, an overheated stove at Midway Plaisance Saloon and Restaurant resulted in a fire that spread across all of Banyan Street. The next fire occurred on February 20, ignited after a man accidentally knocked over an oil lamp. Much of Narcissus Street burned, including the building housing The Gazetteer, which never resumed publication. The fire led to stricter building codes, with structures required to be made of bricks. Wilmon Whilldin, who served as mayor from 1898 to 1899, led a transition away from tents and shanty homes. He also emphasized the importance of more dwellings, parks, shade trees, and sanitation.
By the turn of the century, West Palm Beach had electrical and telephone service, a library, a sewer system, a pumping station, and paved roads. The 1900 Census indicated a population of 564. The library was established that year. Charles John Clarke, owner of the Palm Beach Yacht Club, donated the two-story building to be used as the library. Other donations allowed the building to be transported across the Lake Worth Lagoon via barge. The building replaced the reading room at City Park. By 1903, the town council submitted a city charter to the Florida Legislature, which was approved on July 21.
In September, a hurricane made landfall near Fort Lauderdale. As inclement weather conditions began arriving in West Palm Beach, businesses suspended their normal operations and people boarded up buildings, even as strong winds arrived. Many buildings lost their roofs, and much debris, including roofing materials, branches, paper, and driftwood, littered the streets. As northeast winds reached their peak late on September 11 and early on September 12, parts of buildings blew away. In the African-American section of the city, several buildings were destroyed. Just one of the four churches stood after the hurricane. Despite the hurricane, the city continued to grow, with newer businesses and more people arriving.
Banyan Street, originally the only location where alcohol was sold, gained an infamous reputation for its brothels, gambling halls, and saloons, which included an incident in 1895 in which Mayor Earman was arrested and charged with public intoxication while accompanying a prostitute. He was acquitted of the charges. By 1904, some local women called Carrie Nation, a radical temperance movement member notorious for attacking alcohol-serving establishments with a hatchet. However, there is no indication of her ravaging the saloons on Banyan Street. During the following years, the road's continuously poor reputation resulted in it being renamed First Street in 1925, which was reverted to Banyan Street in 1989. The city's first fire department building and city hall opened in 1905 at the northeast corner of Datura Street and Poinsetta Street (modern day U.S. Route 1, also known as Dixie Highway). In 1909, Palm Beach County was formed by the Florida State Legislature, carved out of the northern portion of Dade County. West Palm Beach became the county seat. That same year, the West