The Changing Geographic Face of Palm Beach County

By Bob Davidsson
        The borders of Palm Beach County have been fluid and ever-changing during the past 500 years of its geographical history. They ebb and flow, expand and contract, like the tides of the Atlantic Ocean that today forms the 40-mile eastern boundary of the county.
      The Atlantic connects the northern and southern waterways that form natural boundary landmarks at the Jupiter and Boca Raton Inlets. To the west, Lake Okeechobee and its southward flowing Everglades River of Grass has long been the western historical border for the Palm Beaches.
       At the time of European discovery of Florida in 1513, the land that is today called Palm Beach County was divided into four tribal areas of settlement by the native American Jeaga, Tequesta, Santaluces and Maymi Indians. Jeaga villages and mound sites were centered along the Rio Hobe (Jupiter Inlet and the Loxahatchee estuary) and extended north along Jupiter Island, and south on both shores of the Rio Jeaga (Lake Worth Lagoon) and the freshwater chain of lakes to the west.
        The Tequesta (Tekesta) were their coastal neighbors to the south. Their villages were centered near sources of fresh water at the Spanish and Hillsboro rivers, south of Highland Beach. The Santaluces tribe, and its Maymi neighbors to the southwest, shared the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee.
        The interior of Palm Beach County was an area of sawgrass, hammocks and swamps used jointly by the four tribes for hunting and gathering, but remained an unsettled wilderness. The Seminole tribe, which entered Palm Beach County in the 18th century, called the county's core - "The Hungry Land".
        Spanish administrators in St. Augustine divided the colony of Florida into "provincias"  (provinces) during the 16th century. They corresponded with territories controlled by native tribes. Small outposts, with military garrisons and Jesuit priests, were established in the provinces of Tekesta, Carlos (Calusa) and Ais during the brief period of South Florida settlement from 1565-72.
        The Province of Ais extended from Cape Canaveral to Jupiter Inlet. During the winter of 1565-66, a small military fort called "Santa Lucia" was hurriedly built north of the inlet. Captain Juan Velez de Medrano, its commander, also held the royal title of "Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Ais".
        The governor's Jeaga, Santaluces and Ais "subjects" revolted and went to war. The Santa Lucia outpost was besieged for nearly six months. The starving Spanish garrison mutinied, captured a supply ship and fled the Province of Ais in March 1566. Governor Velez sailed out of the Jupiter Inlet in chains.
        The Spanish learned their lesson well. Horror stories about the fate of Santa Lucia spread to Cuba and Spain, and no further efforts were made to establish a colony in the Palm Beaches.

'The British Are Coming' and Going
        Near the end of the "French and Indian War (1754-63)," the British captured the city of Havana, Cuba, from Spain. The Spanish valued the city so highly that they traded their entire colony of Florida to Great Britain to get it back during peace negotiations.
        The British ruled Florida for 20 years, from 1763 until the end of American Revolution in 1783, when it reverted to America's ally, Spain. Florida was divided into to two English colonies, with the panhandle forming West Florida, and the peninsula becoming East Florida.
        On Nov. 18, 1765, East Florida Gov. James Grant met with 50 chieftains of the Lower Creek (soon to be Seminole) nation for a two-day "Indian Congress" at Fort Picolata on the St. Johns River. The resulting "Treaty of Picolata" established the "Indian Boundary" extending from the west bank of the St. Johns River south to the east shore of Lake Okeechobee and ending at Cape Sable.
        The treaty opened eastern coastal areas to British settlement. The territory west of the "Indian Boundary" remained exclusively under native American control.
        The uninhabited Palm Beaches fell under the jurisdiction of East Florida, with its administrative capital of St. Augustine. To promote European settlement, large land grants were sold to wealthy British peers and merchant adventurers.
        Two wealthy land speculators were the brothers Grenville. Sir Richard Grenville, the eldest, held the title of the second Lord Temple. Younger brother George was a former British Prime Minister (of Stamp Act fame), a Tory Party politician and member of Parliament.
        The Grenville brothers purchased huge tracts of land along the St. Johns and Halifax rivers, using the Mosquito (Ponce de Leon) Inlet as a port. Lord Temple served as the front man, with his politician brother acting as a silent partner. Part of their land grant was used by their merchant partners to promote Greek and Minorcan immigration to Florida in the 1760s at the New Smyrna settlement.
        A brief side venture of the Grenville brothers was a land grant at Jupiter Inlet. In the late 1760s, a preliminary surveying party was sent to the north shore of the inlet to examine and explore the region as a future plantation site. The project was still-born when George Grenville died in November 1770, at the age of 58. His legacy was the name "Grenville Inlet" which appeared on English maps for the remainder of the British Colonial Period.
        The Grenville Land Grant was awarded to St. Augustine clerk and civil servant Eusebio Gomez for his service to the colony during the second Spanish Colonial Period (1783- 1821). The Jupiter Island grant would remain in the disputed control of his family for most of 19th century.

Welcome to Mosquito County
        After Florida was purchased from Spain for the bargain price of $5 million, a new U.S. territory was established in 1821. Similar to the division of East and West Florida during the period of British rule, the new territory was divided into two counties - Escambia in the panhandle, and St. Johns County for the remainder of the peninsula.
        The unsettled Palm Beaches remained part of St. Johns County, with St. Augustine as the county seat, until Dec. 29, 1824 when it became part of the newly created "Mosquito County".
         "Los Musquitos" was a common name given to the southeastern coastal region of Florida during the second Spanish Colonial Period. The Spanish name reappeared as Mosquito County from 1824-44.
        The Palm Beaches formed the southern border of Mosquito County for 20 years. The first county seat was "John Burch's House" near Ormond Beach. Later it was moved to New Smyrna from 1835-43.
        The 1830 U.S. Census reported a total of 733 resident living in Mosquito County. However, the 1840 Census, taken at the height of the Second Seminole War, noted no white inhabitants living outside of New Smyrna, with the exception of civilians within the military posts of Fort Jupiter and Fort Pierce.
        Concerned that a name like Mosquito County would discourage future settlement, the Florida Legislature passed a bill in 1841 to rebrand the region as "Leigh Reed County," in honor of one of its members. The governor opposed such political hubris and refused to sign the bill. Its name remained Mosquito County for three more years.

Within St. Lucia, Brevard and Dade Counties
        "St. Lucia County" was created on March 14, 1844, the same year Mosquito County disappeared from Florida maps. It was named for the 16th century outpost of Santa Lucia and the nearby St. Lucia (St. Lucie) River.
        St. Lucia predated modern St. Lucie County by 60 years and was three times its size, extending from Brevard County to southeastern Palm Beach County. Its first county seat was the rural community of "Susanna," located near the army post of Fort Pierce. It later moved to Titusville.
        On Jan. 6, 1855, St. Lucia joined Mosquito on the short list of ghost counties that disappeared without a trace from 19th century maps. St. Lucia was renamed Brevard County, and its borders advanced south to the Dade County line.
        The Palm Beaches were part of Brevard County during the Civil War. The Jupiter Lighthouse became the region's first permanent building a few years prior to the conflict. Although the lighthouse was deactivated during the war, Jupiter Inlet, like many other waterways in Brevard County, was used by Confederate blockade-running ships during most of the war.
        The county boundaries of southeastern Florida were realigned again by the Florida Legislature in 1874. Dade County advanced northward to the St Lucie Inlet, while the geographical jurisdiction of Brevard County was reduced.
        The Palm Beaches became part of this greater Dade County. It contained the future Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and Okeechobee counties. The huge size of the county, the second largest in Florida, created regional tensions in an era of poor transportation and communication services between its scattered coastal communities of settlers.
        A referendum was held Feb. 19, 1889 to determine the future county seat of Dade County. Northern settlers won the election and for the next 10 years the county seat was relocated from from Miami-Lemon City to Juno.

The Birth of Palm Beach County
        A year after the arrival of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway, the county seat of Dade County returned to Miami in 1899. The old regional north-south resentment returned as population growth and economic power in the Palm Beaches outpaced Miami.
       About 60 percent of tax revenue came from the northern half of the county, but infrastructure and government services did not keep pace. A committee of leading citizens met in West Palm Beach to consider the creation of a separate county.
        A lobbying team was sent to Tallahassee during the 1907 session of the Florida Legislature. A bill for "Division of Dade County" passed the Florida Senate, but failed in House of Representatives by a 39-21 vote.
        The Palm Beaches used its political power to elect a Legislative delegation that favored county division. The "Division of Dade County" bill passed both houses of the Florida Legislature, and was signed into law on April 30,1909. Palm Beach County was born on July 1, 1909, with West Palm Beach as the county seat.
        In addition to the Palm Beaches, the new county included the northern half of Broward County, Martin County and the southern third of Okeechobee County. Palm Beach County had a population of just 5,300, according to 1910 U.S. Census.
        As the population of South Florida grew, the Legislature approved petitions for creation of three new counties at the expense of Palm Beach County. Broward County was established on April 30, 1915 out of sections of Dade and Palm Beach counties.
        The Legislature approved the creation of Okeechobee County on May 8, 1917. It was carved out of lands formerly part of St. Lucie, Osceola and Palm Beach counties. Palm Beach County lost the northern coastal section of Lake Okeechobee.
        Martin County, named for a former governor, was established on May 30, 1925. With the creation of Broward and Martin counties, the Jupiter Inlet estuaries and the Hillsboro Canal formed Palm Beach County's northern and southern borders.

Palm Beach County Loses 'The Wedge'
        One final adjustment to the boundaries of Palm Beach County was the result of a political decision made by the Board of County Commissioners in 2009. "The Wedge" was an isolated 2,000-acre tract of county land south of the Hillsboro Canal, and served by Broward County's Loxahatchee Road.
        Residential development of "The Wedge" required new roads and services by Palm Beach County. The Commission majority opted to give up the land to Broward County with the approval of the Florida Legislature. The City of Parkland annexed most of "The Wedge" in 2015.
        The current boundaries of Palm Beach County are described and codified in geographical detail in the 2017 edition of the Florida Statutes (Chapter 7.50). The descriptions of the county's submerged lands (F.S. 258.39) and coastal reefs (F.S. 403.93345) also are recorded in the Statutes.
        As proven by its past, the future size and shape of Palm Beach County will be revised as needed  by the will of its citizens, its local elected officials and lawmakers in the Florida Legislature.
(c.) Davidsson. 2017.
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