Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located approximately north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth Lagoon, which was named for General William J. Worth, who led United States Army forces during the last part of the Second Seminole War. Lake Worth Beach is situated south of West Palm Beach, southeast of Lake Clarke Shores, east of Palm Springs, and north of Lantana, while a small section of the city also partitions the town of Palm Beach. The 2010 census recorded a population of 34,910, which increased to 42,219 in the 2020 census. Lake Worth Beach is within the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,138,333 people in 2020.
While archaeological evidence indicates that the Jaega inhabited nearby areas thousands of years ago, Samuel and Fannie James, an African American couple, became the first known settlers in modern-day Lake Worth Beach in 1885, filing a homestead claim on . Fannie James operated the Jewell Post Office from 1889 to 1903 to serve the few residents who lived between Lantana and West Palm Beach. A land development scheme by Bryant & Greenwood in the 1910s allowed buyers to receive a parcel of land if they purchased a lot in present-day Greenacres. Consequently, the population increased from 38 in July 1912 to 308 only five months later. The town of Lake Worth was incorporated in June 1913. Its first elected mayor was James Love, a carpenter and member of the Socialist Party of America. Thereafter, Lake Worth grew rapidly during the 1920s land boom and in the decades following World War II. Residents voted to change the official name to Lake Worth Beach in 2019.
Today, Lake Worth Beach is a city featuring several historic neighborhoods, such as the National Register of Historic Places-listed College Park and Old Lucerne, while the downtown area also has dozens of buildings that are part of the Historic Old Town Commercial District. Lake Worth Beach is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse municipalities in Palm Beach County, with a large working class population compared to other coastal cities in Palm Beach County. Several cultural events are hosted annually in the city, including a street painting festival, several ethnic festivals, and Palm Beach Pride, one of the largest LGBTQIA+ pride festivals in Florida.
History
Prior to incorporation
Native Americans migrated into Florida beginning about 12,000 years ago. While evidence near the town of Jupiter indicates local inhabitation dating back to the Paleo-Indian period, the Jaega were the first known tribe to have resided along the Florida Atlantic coast in the areas of Martin and Palm Beach counties. The remains of shell mounds sites, mostly dating back to approximately 750–1500 CE, attest to pre-Columbian Jaega inhabitation near Lake Worth Beach, including in Boynton Beach, Palm Beach, and South Palm Beach.
Among the city's first non-indigenous settlers were Samuel and Fannie James. The Jameses were an African American couple reported to be ex-slaves, known as the Black Diamonds, who settled on the shores of the Lake Worth Lagoon near the current 5th Avenue South in 1885. A stone monument dedicated to Samuel and Fannie James at the northwest corner of Lucerne Avenue (State Road 802) and J Street inaccurately uses the date 1883, due to a transcription error. The couple made a claim for their land under the Homestead Act in 1885. Their holdings, originally , increased over time to more than , including of homestead land south of Lake Avenue (State Road 802) between M and F Streets; in modern-day College Park, acquired from the estate of William Stephan, where Fannie ran a pineapple farm; and to the south between the current Dixie and Federal highways (Route 1 and State Road 5), acquired from Swedish immigrants Olai and Sarah Gudmundsen.
The initial name of the area's first post office was Jewel (sometimes spelled Jewell), which served the few residences between Lantana and West Palm Beach. Between 1889 and 1903, Fannie James served as postmaster of the post office, located in a small dry goods shop, which the couple operated to serve the lake traffic that connected the small pioneer homesteads located along the banks of the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Beginning in the 1890s, the Jameses sold off most of their acreage in a number of parcels ranging in size from to new residents and investors. After Samuel's death in 1909, Fannie sold her remaining to the developer, Palm Beach Farms Company, keeping only a 1.25 acre (0.51 ha) farmette, which lay outside the new city limits as required by the segregation provisions of the 1913 town of Lake Worth charter.
After Henry Flagler extended the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) south from West Palm Beach to Miami in 1896, a land development scheme was created to plant a townsite between the railroad and the lake. Purchasers of agricultural lots, most of which were located in modern-day Greenacres, would also receive a small lot within the city of Lake Worth. The developer, Bryant & Greenwood, promoted the area to markets across the United States and Canada. They proposed to name the town Lucerne, but the United States Postal Service refused to accept the name because there already was a Lucerne post office, now a neighborhood in Miami Gardens. Therefore, the city founders changed the new town's name to Lake Worth.
In April 1911, "A solitary Indian mound surrounded by wild woods marked the spot where flourishing Lake Worth is now growing beyond the most vivid imagination", according to a promotional article published in the Lake Worth Herald. The population of the nascent city stood at 38 in July 1912.
During that year, the library, schoolhouse, newspaper, Women's Club, Chamber of Commerce, first church, and first railroad station (operated by the FEC at Lake Avenue) were established. The town's first census in December 1912 indicated that there were "308 residents, 125 houses, 10 wagons, seven automobiles, 36 bicycles and 876 fowls." Additionally, from 1911 to 1912, the Palm Beach Farms Company platted approximately 7,000 residential lots and constructed some of roads, including Lake Avenue, a major thoroughfare.
Incorporation to the Great Depression Lake Worth Beach was incorporated as the "town of Lake Worth" on June 14, 1913. Its first elected Mayor was James Love, a carpenter and member of the Socialist Party of America. The town grew rapidly enough that a new addition was platted in that inaugural year. The area along the Intracoastal Waterway from 5th Avenue South to 15th Avenue South still bears the name Addition 1. An advertisement in the Lake Worth Herald in 1913 noted: "In the new addition, the Lake front has been divided into large lots covered with palm and tropical growth, where we expect to see charming villas and winter homes spring up as by enchantment. It will be the fashionable part of town, where the wealthy of the earth can display their artistic taste and make ideal homes. These lots are selling so fast that but very few are left." Another section of the town was plotted in 1917, the Osborne Colored Addition, a small African American neighborhood along the south end of Lake Worth and west of the FEC. Some of the first African American families arrived in the addition in the early 1920s, when the Ku Klux Klan forced them out of western Lantana.
Two years after the addition was platted, a wooden automobile traffic bridge over Lake Worth was completed in 1919, the same year the Brelsford family of Palm Beach deeded a parcel of land on the barrier island to the town.
The town benefited with the rest of South Florida during the Florida land boom of the 1920s, with Lake Worth's population more than quintupling from 1,106 in 1920 to nearly 6,000 in 1930. Following the approval of a $100,000 bond issue in 1920, the Mediterranean Revival-style Lake Worth Casino and Baths was constructed. Opening two years later, the casino drew many tourists to the area.
Moreover, the 1920s saw the completion of the Gulf Stream Hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), as well as the construction of Lake Worth Community High School in 1922 and many commercial and industrial buildings and neighborhoods, including College Park and Lake Worth Heights in 1924. Lake Worth reincorporated as a city in 1925, while boundaries of the municipality expanded several times throughout the land boom. One year later, the Seaboard Air Line Railway constructed a freight and passenger depot in Lake Worth on 4th Avenue North.
William A. Boutwell arrived in the area in the 1920s. He established Boutwell Dairy in 1927 and managed the company until retiring in 1956. Boutwell is credited with inventing half & half creamer; the dairy later merged with Alfar Creamery and then T.G. Lee, who distributed the product more widely until it became an American diner staple. Boutwell also owned a grocery store and masonry supply store. Furthermore, he served as a Lake Worth city commissioner from 1924 to 1927 and briefly as vice mayor. During his tenure, the city constructed approximately of roads and two elementary schools, including the still active South Grade Elementary School.
The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane devastated Lake Worth. A survey indicated that the storm demolished about 600 homes and damaged 1,500 others, leaving about 700 people homeless. Fewer than 10% of homes escaped damage. Approximately 50 businesses were wrecked and 200 others received damage – roughly 75% of buildings in the business district. The storm demolished or severely damaged many buildings, including First Presbyterian Church, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, the Oakley Theater, the Gulf Stream Hotel, the Scottish Rites Cathedral, the Masonic Temple, the Florida Hotel, a car dealership, a sporting goods store, an investment company, the Old Lake Worth City Hall, and an auditorium at Lake Worth Community High School. Additionally, the bridge across the Intracoastal Waterway was virtually destroyed. The hurricane caused approximately $4 million worth of damages in Lake Worth, as well as three deaths.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the Gulf Stream Hotel was converted to a makeshift hospital. The devastation left Lake Worth without a functional center for city government, although records were mostly unscathed. Consequently, a temporary city hall was established at the Lauriston building. The storm, combined with the Great Depression led to a severe economic decline within the community. Construction projects primarily shifted to repairing damaged buildings. However, there were a few conservation, construction, and New Deal projects during the 1930s. This included when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration built the striking, Moorish-styled "city gymnasium" on the corner of Lake Avenue and Dixie Highway. The building today serves as the Lake Worth Beach City Hall.
World War II to present
Although no military installations were located in Lake Worth, the presence of military bases and repair facilities in nearby towns led to a significant increase in the city's population during World War II, from 7,406 in 1940 to 10,615 about five years later. Development started again after World War II, especially due to the approval of the G.I. Bill, allowing new homes to become affordable. Many veterans who trained in South Florida also returned to the area, leading to a population boom. The city also saw a wave of immigrants, especially from Finland. These Finnish immigrants established three churches in Lake Worth to preserve their heritage while also benefiting the local economy, which returned to a state of stability in the post-war years.