page_title: History of West Palm Beach, Florida
section_title: 1928–1939
hierarchical_section_title: History of West Palm Beach, Florida / 1928–1939
caption_attribution_description: English: Scene near Dixie Court Apartment in West Palm Beach in Florida. Aftermath of the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane
context_page_description: The history of West Palm Beach, Florida, began more than 5,000 years ago with the arrival of the first aboriginal natives. Native American tribes such as the Jaegas inhabited the area. Though control of Florida changed among Spain, England, the United States, and the Confederate States of America, the area remained largely undeveloped until the 20th century. By the 1870s and 1880s, non-Native American settlers had inhabited areas in the vicinity of West Palm Beach and referred to the settlement as "Lake Worth Country". However, the population remained very small until the arrival of Henry Flagler in the 1890s. Flagler constructed hotels and resorts in Palm Beach to create a travel destination for affluent tourists, who could travel there via his railroad beginning in 1894.
  Flagler originally intended for West Palm Beach to serve as a residential area for the workers at his hotels in Palm Beach. In 1893, George W. Potter surveyed and platted the original 48 blocks of the city. West Palm Beach would be incorporated as a town on November 5, 1894, before becoming a city in 1903.
context_section_description: The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane devastated West Palm Beach. The city observed at least 10 in (250 mm) of rainfall. Among the buildings destroyed included a furniture store, pharmacy, warehouse, hotel, school, and an ironworks, while many other structures were unroofed. All of the theaters in the city suffered severe damage or destruction. Skylights at the county courthouse shattered, flooding the Criminal Court of Record rooms. Similarly, winds shattered a skylight at city hall, damaging bookkeeper records. Wood-frame buildings fared poorly, while the few concrete-built structures remained standing. Only one business on Clematis Street escaped serious damage. Because the hospital was partially destroyed, a temporary hospital was set up in the Pennsylvania Hotel. However, the hotel itself was damaged; the chimney crashed through 14 floors, causing about $60,000 in damage. The fire station also collapsed, though the fire bell remained intact. At the city library, more than half of the books were destroyed and the floor was covered with about 2 ft (0.61 m) of water and mud.
  Banyan Boulevard (then known as First Street), considered the auto row of West Palm Beach, was reduced to "a mass of debris". Only two buildings remained standing on the north side of the street between Dixie Highway and Olive Avenue, owing to the frail construction of the business buildings in that section of the city. The buildings used by The Palm Beach Post and the Palm Beach Times suffered severe damage, though both companies were able to publish newspapers with little interruption. The Central Farmers Trust Company, the only bank in the city, was deroofed and flooded. The Comeau Building suffered severe damage to its roof tiles. Prior to the storm, the American Legion building was designated as the headquarters for the Red Cross, but the building was severely damaged, forcing the Red Cross to set up its relief post at another building. At Palm Beach High School, then located where the Dreyfoos School of the Arts stands today, the clock tower collapsed. The storm deroofed most buildings at Saint Ann's Catholic Church, while Bradley Hall Towers suffered total destruction. At Flamingo Park, one of the worst hit areas of the city, many homes suffered "untold damage", while a shopping center on Lake Avenue experienced near complete destruction. In contrast, the El Cid and Northwood neighborhoods generally experienced only superficial impact. Fallen pine trees blocked many streets in Vedado. At Bacon Park, the area west of Parker Avenue was desolate. The storm also destroyed the L. Van Son House, proclaimed as "one of the most unusual landmarks".
  Many homes also experienced damage in the African-American section of the city, where most dwellings were built of discarded material. On one street, only two houses did not lose either their walls or roof. Strong winds tossed cars and walls down the streets. During the storm, about 100 people ran to a trash incinerator, a concrete-reinforced building. The local Black churches suffered significant damage. Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church lost many bricks on its front facade, much of the metal grillwork around the entrances, and its roof. Payne Chapel AME Church was destroyed by the storm, while St. Patrick's Catholic Church received about $40,000 in damage. Waves washed up mounds of sand and debris across Banyan Boulevard, Clematis Street, and Datura Street, to Olive Avenue. According to county coroner T. M. Rickards, the streets were "shoulder-deep in debris. The suffering throughout was beyond words." Throughout the city, the storm destroyed 1,711 homes and damaged 6,369 others, leaving about 2,100 families homeless. Additionally, the hurricane demolished 268 businesses and impacted 490 others. In all, damage totaled approximately $13.8 million and 11 deaths occurred.
  Farther inland, the hurricane is believed to have killed at least 2,500 people in cities just southeast of Lake Okeechobee, particularly in Bean City, Belle Glade, Chosen, Pahokee, and South Bay. After the storm, at least 743 bodies were brough
caption: Damage at the Dixie Court Apartments
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