Part I, Page 2 The Village of North Palm Beach Part I by James Knott (Sunday Brown Wrapper) (PBP) 7-1-84T w
Page 2—Supplement to The Post, Sunday, July 1, 1984
Itt name in this period was the Paris Singer, of the sewing
foresald Charles Branch, an en machine family, who financed
gi eer brought in by Kelsey as and owned the. Everglades Club
vie president and general man- in Palm. Beach in its early years,
ag r of hisproperties. From 1926 was starting a hotel on the ocean
on, he was a key balance -wheel in during the boom in the area now
the economic storm which was known as Singer Island. He want
starting to threaten Florida. At ed, a golf course for his guests and
this writing, Mr. Branch at the in late 1925 persuaded Kelsey to
age of 91 is very much alert and build an 18 -hole course and club -
able to provide an excellent re house, the Winter Club, which
cord of the early history of the was the beginning of the North
area. Palm` Beach Country Club. The
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golf course and the Winter Club
opened in January 1927. Golfers
were bused back and forth from
their hotels in Palm Beach.
Since the only road running
north and south was the Dixie
Highway alongside the F.E.C.
railroad tracks, a road was built
from Kelsey City to the club.
This later became part of the pre-
sent U.S. 1.
During the early '20's, Kel-
sey sold more than 20 square
miles of acreage to speculators.
The years had been good, but
real estate sales later started to
fall off. Kelsey started having
problems after the mid -twenties
boom, and obtained the legal ser-
vices of J. C. Bills, a lawyer of
wide experience then living in
Geneva, Florida, with a law office
in Sanford. The Bills family has
continued to be a leading factor
in local real estate and construc-
tion fields.
The economy continued to
deteriorate. In June of 1928, the
Kelsey City Bank faded, along
with banks in West Palm Beach.
There was economic despair, and
no market for real estate of any
kind. Then, on September 16,
1928, a bad hurricane delivered
the final blow. The devastation
was complete. Part of the Winter
Club roof was blown away. The
Kelsey City Hall was filled with
dazed people whose homes had
been destroyed. The national de-.
pression followed all this.
Thousands of people in Flor-
ida simply fled, walking away
from their properties. Taxes
went unpaid, and finally the
Murphy Law was put into effect
in 1937. This provided that when
taxes had become delinquent for
two years, the property was taken
by the State of Florida and sold
to the highest bidder. For exam-
ple, a house which had cost
$8,000 on a $1,000 lot might pos-
sibly be bought for, say, $300, the
amount due in taxes. Many peo-
ple followed this procedure and
thus profited from the depres-
sion.
Kelsey went back north in
1929, his empire crumbled. He
was remembered as a good man.
Paris Singer's Blue Heron
Hotel near the ocean fell victim
to the.., economy, was never fin-
ished, and was later torn down, a
haunting reminder of Florida's
boomtime overdevelopment.
Singer was reported to have lost
everything and was said to have
spent his last days on a house
boat on Egypt's Nile River.
Important contributions in
these years were made by Samuel
Blakely, who did extensive land-
scaping, barging trees over to the
Winter Club from Munyon Is-
land. He served as city commis-
sioner. His family still owns the
thriving Kelsey City Landscap-
ing and Nurseries. Edward New-
ell, who came to Kelsey City with
his bride in 1926, served as city
commissioner, city 'attorney and
judge of the Criminal Court of
Record. His son, Emery Newell,.
has been a circuit judge for Palm
Beach County for many years. A.
A. Poston was appointed post-
master in 1924, served as city
commissioner, and then county.
commissioner from 1933 to 1948.
His family is still important in
the area.,
Harry - Oakes picked up the
pieces in the 1930s, at a fraction
of their distress value. Through
his Tesdem, Inc., he became the
owner of the Kelsey City lots and
golf course, the Palm Beach Win-
ter Club, and most of the lands
now comprising North Palm
Beach.
Supplement to The Post, Sunday,
1, 1984—Page 3
Oakes was originally from
Maine. He went into gold mining
in Canada, struck it rich, and be-
came a Canadian citizen. After
becoming reputedly the largest
individual taxpayer in Canada,
he became disenchanted with
Canadian taxes, came to Florida,
and started buying property for
unpaid taxes. For a while, the
family lived in the Winter Club,
then moved to Palm Beach, leav-
ing the clubhouse and golf course
in poor condition. He later
moved his family to the Bahamas
for tax purposes and spent con-
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