NPB history sounds like tabloid lore (PBP) 7-17-94CHE PALM BEACH POST
SuNo/vy &&.Y 17
ACCESSION #
North Palmea ch history
sounds like tabloid lore
It seems ironic that a boorish, bellig-
erent gold -seeking, hot-tempered man,
bereft of manners and charm, who was
murdered in his bed had anything to do
with affluent, quiet, graceful North
Palm Beach with its refined country
club atmosphere.
But the story of Sir Harry Oakes,
whose murder was never solved, is a
pulp fiction story that would fit right on
any of today's daytime television talk
shows..
Sir Harry Oakes was born in 1874 to
a middle-class surveyor and his wife in
Sangerville, Maine. He was educated at
Maine's Bowdoin College but had no
social graces. He ate with only a knife
and used language that was not. heard in
the circles in which he wanted to travel.
Soon after graduation, Oakes left
Maine to search for gold. He traveled to.
the Yukon hoping to catch the last of the
Klondike gold rush, but he was too late.
Following any one's rumor of gold being
found, Oakes traveled to the Phillipines,
New Zealand, Australia, South America,
West Africa and other continents, but
he was always too late to find the big
vein to strike it rich. The itinerant
prospector would work to earn money
to live and to buy equipment, and then
he would search for gold.
In 1903, while he was in Australia,
his money ran out, and he couldn't find
work to get more. The landlady at his
rooming house had carried him for
some time, but she finally evicted him.
But according to one story, Oakes
had met a young waitress who, and why
anyone would be charmed by this churl-
ish man is not recorded, nevertheless
gave him enough money to pay his bills
and to purchase a ticket back to Ameri-
ca. Oakes told her he'd never forget her
and promised to pay her back.
Then he heard another rumor.
There was gold in Ontario. Oakes
hopped a train to go to the mine fields,
but, when the conductor called for his
ticket, Oakes was unable to bluff his
way through. He was thrown off the
train in the middle of nowhere and
walked several miles to a town near
Kirkland Lake.
Finally, Oakes' persistence was
matched with extraordinary good luck.
Gold was found at Kirkland Lake.
Oakes begged a local hardware store
owner to stake him so he could search,
but the owner threw him out of the
store. He asked a Chinese laundry
owner to help him up. He agreed.
Almost overnight, Oakes became a
rich man and mined about $300,000
worth of gold. It was payback time. He
struck more gold at Lake Shore. His
claim turned out to be the second
largest gold vein in the western hemi-
sphere. He promptly asked the Chinese
fellow what he wanted in his wildest
dreams, and the man replied,"a movie
theater." So Oakes had a movie theater
built and gave it to him.
He then starteda hardware store a
few doors down from the hardware
store whose owner wouldn't give him
supplies, and he sold everything below
cost. It took only three months for the
other hardware store owner to go
broke.
Oakes retired the train conductor
with a pension for life, as a thank -you
for booting him off the train where he
found gold.
Oakes, 48 years old by this time,
was a very rich man. It had been 20
years since he had seen Eunice Macln-
tyre, his Australian waitress. True to
his promise, he went back and paid her
back by marrying her. Another less -
romantic tale says that Oakes met the
young lady who was a 24 -year-old sec-
retary on a cruise.
Oakes continued his varied and in-
teresting life, making friends with the
Duke and Duchess of Windsor and
seeking entry into Canadian Parlia-
ment. In the late 1930s, through his
friendship with the Duke and Duchess
of Windsor, Oakes donated $500,000 to
St. George's Hospital in London and
was knighted by King George VI.
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One of Oakes's corporations, Tes-
dem, bought the land now known as
Lake Park and North Palm Beach from
Harry Kelsey when his plans failed.
Included was the huge mansion and the
18 -hole golf course Kelsey built called
the winter Club. He constructed it
during his land boom at the behest of
Paris Singer who wanted a golf course
for the tourists he thought would stay at
his hotels on Singer Island.
Oakes was murdered in his Nassau
home in June 1943. The man who was
tried, but found not guilty of the crime,
was his son-in-law, a charming, semi-
official "count" and impoverished plav-
boy, Alfred Fouquereaux de Marigny.
The 4 -square -mile swamp land that
is now North Palm Beach remained
fallow for many years under the owner-
ship of John D. MacArthur. It is one of
the youngest municipalities in the
northern Palm Beach County area and
was incorporated August 1956. A
planned municipality termed "Planned
Paradise," its town manager, Albin R.
Olson, and council were appointed be-
fore one house had even been built.
A large controversy surfaced in
1979 when a "Save the winter Club"
referendum ended in' an absolute tie;
1,103 votes to 1,103 votes.
The debate continued for five years,
but, in 1984, the village council voted
that it was in the best interest of North
Palm Beach to demolish the building.
Population: 11 7 782. Area: 4.85
square miles. Median household in-
come: $38,464. Mayor: V.A. Marks.
Council members: Jerry Atwater, Judy
Pierman, Tom Valente, Gail Vastola. Of-
ficials: Village Manager Dennis Kelly,
Village Attorney George Baldwin, Village
Clerk Kathleen Kelly, Building Official
Charles O'Meilia. Meetings: Council
meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second and
fourth Thursday at village hall, 501 U.S.
1. Phone: 848-3475. Police: Chief
Bruce Sekeres; 37 sworn officers; 10
non-sworn personnel; non-emergency
number: 848-2525. Fire: Chief J.D. Arm-
strong, two firefighters/emergency medi-
cal technicians, eight police/firefighters,
three police/firefighter/emergency medi-
cal technicians, five police/firefighter/
paramedics, 20 volunteer firefighters;
non-emergency number, 848-2525. Fun
Facts: Incorporated in 1956, the city
was awarded the "Planned Community
in the U.S." designation in 1957 by the
National Association of Homebuilders.
,The golf course at North Palm Beach
Country Club is one of two municipally
owned public courses in the north county
area. The village contains John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Beach State
Park, which has 1.8 miles of oceanfront.
The city's motto is, "The Best Place to
Live Under the Sun. W7