NPB History Predates Palm Beach CountyNPB History Predates Pal'Be- ch County
Highway marker less than a mile Photo By ,lack Walrad
from NPB Country Club reveals
early history,
By Jack Walrad
"What's Past Is Prologue! "
These immortal words of
Ralph Waldo Emerson embla-
zon the majestic marble por-
tals of the National Archives
in Washington, D.C.
And, by a strange quirk of
circumstances, t h o s e same
hallowed words prophetically
apply now to the Village of
North Palm Beach. For it was
here between 1890 and 1900 that
south Florida, all of which was
then gigantic i)ade County,
found it's roots.
The acreage on which now
stands the classic North Palm
Beach Country Club, with the
fabled estate of Sir Harry
Oakes was once a thriving part
of Juno, then the proud county
seat of old Dade.
As the captioned photo of
the roadside marker reveals,
Dade's first courthouse was
built in Juno, just a mile or
so north of the Country Club!
And only a few dozen feet from
the new office of this writer.
Palm Beach County, the
land of today and all of the
tomorrows, yet with a history
indelible in S o u t h Florida
lore, was hewn out of the wil-
derness while the nation was
"w i n n i n g the west." Our
county has a proud heritage,
one upon which to reflect and
admire the courage of its pio-
neers.
Although little more than
a fledgling among the counti-
es of Florida, its history is
old, and modern and made
up of all the tomorrows yet
to unfold. Some of the na-
tion's giants of industry have
located plants in Palm Beach
County, and the tempo of life
is ever growing.
International figures in golf
and other sports make our
communities t h e i r winter
headquarters. Major industry
has become a powerful con-
tributing factor in the coun-
ty's progress.
So it is that the past is indeea
prologue. That the uniquely
colorful village should now be
celebrating its tenth anniversa-
ry, on the very same spot from
which emerged all of south
Florida, many times ten years
earlier, is perhaps a fulfillment
of destiny.