WPBFD History

Suitable appliances will be bought for fighting fire, if the businessmen and owners of buildings will only give the boys reasonable encourage- ment to equip themselves. No more useful or- ganization could well be thought of just at this time, when the town is without the slightest fire protection of any kind. The Town of West Palm Beach incorporated No- vember 5, 1894. At the time there were more than 1,000 residents, a post office, town hall, school, newspaper, stores, and an ice factory. Seventy-eight voting citizens elected John S. Earman as the first mayor. Elected to the first board of aldermen were George Potter, J. M. Gar- land, J. F. Lamond, George Zapf, H. T. Grant, E. H. Dimick, and H. J. Burkhardt. Burkhardt had gained local notoriety as the "naked mailman." Working as one of the famous barefoot mail- men, he had taken to walking the isolated stretches of beaches without any clothes so that he could obtain the beneficial rays of the sun over his entire body. He was always careful to dress as he neared populated areas. One of the first orders of business for the new city officials was the consideration of forming a fire company. The volunteer fire company had the support of J. E. Ingra- ham, one of Flagler's most able assistants who saw forma- tion of fire protection forces an important necessity due to the large number of wood buildings in the area. Even a small fire posed extreme danger to Flagler investments. Flagler himself was well aware of the potential threat to his empire. His first Florida hotel, the Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, was constructed with twin towers that held 16,000 gallons of water for fire protection. Similar meas- ures were not taken at the Royal Poinciana because the water plant at Fresh Water Lake provided ample re- sources. Much had happened in only a few short years to make the swamps habitable. Without Flagler's invest- ments and foresight, the area most likely would have re- mained wild well into the twentieth century.

in the area for anyone who operated a boat. The irony was that Cap Dimick disliked boats. Early West Palm Beach had the appearance of a tent city with sometimes two or three families living in a sin- gle tent. George W. Lainhart and George W. Potter opened the first lumber yard. Building materials pro- duced and sold by this partnership provided the basic needs for construction of wood buildings in the rapidly growing town. West Palm Beach began to look more re- spectable as new structures were completed. During the summer of 1894, certain streets were paved with shell rock at Flagler's expense. Clematis, the main street, was shelled from Lake Worth westward to Fresh Water Lake (today known as Clear Lake). The de- velopment of West Palm Beach was progressing faster than the island resort to the east. The citizens built their first church in 1894. The Union Congregational Church, located on the corner of Datura and Olive, was of typical wood frame construction with a metal clad roof. On August 25, 1894, the church was officially organized with the Reverend Elbridge Gale presiding. This church served the community until Octo- ber 18, 1954, when fire destroyed the building. As the population increased the town required other services. The first wooden school house in West Palm Beach was built at a cost of $1,500 on the corner of Clematis and Poinsettia (now known as Dixie Highway). The school accommodated 229 pupils. Flagler needed a source of fresh water for his new hotel and water supply for fire protection. He made plans to pump water from Fresh Water Lake. The single steam- driven pump for the waterworks arrived September 29, 1894, and installation commenced on November 5. The principle main, an eight inch line, started at the water plant located at the west end of Banyan Street and ex- tended through West Palm Beach across Lake Worth to the Royal Poinciana Hotel. The $45,000 system was a small affair to begin with, but the visionary Flagler saw that growth would continue. He purchased several hun- dred acres around Fresh Water Lake and present day Lake Mangonia for future expansion of the water plant. As the founder of West Palm Beach, Flagler often used his influence in the affairs of the day. He had an associate approach a local saloon owner in an attempt to stop the prostitution that operated out of the establish- ment. Flagler also blocked construction of a proposed road along the lakefront. Ironically, the road was later built and named Flagler Drive. The concentration of wood buildings in the mid- 1890s made West Palm Beach a likely target for the rav- ages of fire. In 1894 citizens made plans for organizing a fire company. On November 1, 1894, The Tropical Sun carried an article stating:

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