What’s with Flagler? Nearly everything in West Palm Beach traces back to one man. Henry Flagler — Standard Oil partner, railroad magnate — came down the Florida coast in the 1890s laying his Florida East Coast Railway, and decided the barrier island across the lagoon would make a glittering winter resort for wealthy Northerners. But a resort needs a workforce, a depot, a downtown. So in 1893 Flagler laid out a working town on the mainland to serve the island, paid two settlers $45,000 for the site, ran his rails in, and named it for exactly where it sat: West Palm Beach. The city has been Flagler’s ever since.
Look at a downtown map and you’ll find the streets named, in alphabetical order, for native plants: Althea, Banyan, Clematis, Datura, Evernia, Fern. Flagler’s planners laid the grid that way in 1893, and Clematis became the main drag — storefronts and theaters — while a block over, Banyan Street filled with saloons so rowdy that the temperance crusader Carry Nation came to town in 1904 to set it straight. Clematis faded mid-century, then came roaring back in the 1990s as the city’s nightlife and festival heart. The plant names are still there, in order, if you know to look.
Why People Visit West Palm Beach
West Palm Beach rewards visitors who want culture with their coastline: a serious arts scene, a lively downtown, historic neighborhoods under the palms, and the Intracoastal at the center of it all. Add the island just across the water and the year-round South Florida sun, and Flagler’s mainland city makes an easy case for itself.
