West Palm Beach Disney Travel Agents Near Me

Overview

Introduction

West Palm Beach, Florida, was supposed to be the final stop on tycoon Henry Flagler's railroad through the state in 1893 and the commercial center for Palm Beach. West Palm has turned into its own city, however, where historic homes mingle with ultramodern high-rises, and the downtown area segues into suburbia.

Palm Beach, West Palm's sister island, is just across the Intracoastal Waterway, so visitors have seemingly endless options when it comes to fine dining, upscale hotels, sandy beaches and shopping.

In and around the area are theaters, restaurants, hotels, museums, historic sites, zoos, golf courses, tennis courts, parks and preserves, and watersports activities.

Clematis Street, the historical heart of downtown, is a popular area for concerts, films and street parties. There are activities there year-round.

Must See or Do

Sights—Clematis Street downtown.

Museums—Norton Museum of Art.

Memorable Meals—Chateaubriand at Okeechobee Steakhouse.

Late Night—Copper Blues Rock Pub & Kitchen.

Walks—Strolling along the waterfront on Flagler Drive.

Especially for Kids—Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee; Palm Beach Zoo; Rapids Water Park; South Florida Science Center and Aquarium; Yesteryear Village.

Geography

Streets in West Palm Beach run north to south and east to west, and are named in alphabetical order for native plants. The exceptions are Highway 1, which runs from Maine to Key West, Florida, and Flagler Drive, which parallels the Intracoastal Waterway.

Palm Beach is just across the Intracoastal Waterway, and it is known for its upscale shopping and dining, beaches, luxury accommodations (such as the famed Breakers Hotel) and posh estates, including the family home of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago and Henry Flagler's Whitehall. The island is accessed by the Flagler Memorial, Royal Park or Southern Boulevard drawbridges.

West Palm Beach is also within an hour's drive of several destinations in Palm Beach County—Boca Raton and Delray Beach are both at the county's southern boundary, and Jupiter and Tequesta are municipalities to the north. To the west is the polo capital of Wellington, as well as the more rural communities of Loxahatchee and the Acreage.

History

The Palm Beach wilderness was transformed into a posh resort destination after industrialist Henry Morrison Flagler visited the island in 1892. Although Europeans had settled in Palm Beach in the 1870s, cultivating fruits and vegetables, tourists spurred growth there after finding their way to Flagler's elaborate Breakers Hotel by way of his Florida East Coast Railway.

Flagler launched a construction boom in the area. By 1910, Palm Beach County had been created, with West Palm Beach as its county seat. The next decade saw high-rises and homes, from modest to grand, sprout on the landscape. However, real estate scams and hurricanes in 1926 and 1928 stifled further development.

Then in the 1950s and '60s, city residents began abandoning West Palm Beach for the suburbs. It was not until the 1990s that the city experienced a rebirth, with the revitalization of historic buildings, the development of Rosemary Square and major renovations along Clematis Street.

Potpourri

At one time construction workers outnumbered the general population in West Palm Beach. The workers who built Henry Flagler's two magnificent hotels in Lake Worth (The Royal Poinciana) and Palm Beach (The Breakers) were housed in West Palm.

West Palm Beach is the largest of 37 municipalities in Palm Beach County, both in population and area.

Because of the Palm Beach County "butterfly ballot" and the infamous "hanging chad," the county and West Palm became the center of the controversy over whether Al Gore or George Bush had won the 2000 presidential election.

Society architect Addison Mizner is credited with creating the old-world style of Florida's Gold Coast. He used untrained workmen to lay the roof tiles crooked on The Everglades Club and was known to spray condensed milk onto walkways to create grime.