Palm Beach County's Hypoluxo - surrounded by water, no way out

 

Hypoluxo peninsula,
State Archives of  Florida

By Jane Feehan

Those driving by I-95 exit signs for Hypoluxo may be more curious about that name than its history.

More on that name to come, but first its story. It's similar to those of other South Florida settlements of the 1800s. A few paragraphs, if not chapters, set it apart.

One differentiator is its location on a small peninsula off the Lake Worth Lagoon and on a small section of the adjoining mainland. The beauty of the area  beckoned Captain W. H. Moore of Chicago during his mail steamer routes to this new frontier. On a return trip to Chicago, he convinced his brother-in-law, Hannibal Dillingham Pierce (1834-1898), to travel with him to Florida with Pierce’s wife, Margretta and their child, Charles.

Pierce settled in Jupiter where he worked as assistant to the lighthouse keeper from October 1872 to October 1873. The family moved to Hypoluxo Island in 1873 where Pierce grew tomatoes and eggplants. He acquired 50 acres with a federal Homestead Grant in 1883. He also served with the government overseeing several houses of refuge along the coast and serving as postmaster.

Genesis of the name, Hypoluxo, is not clear. One story indicates Pierce asked a Seminole how to pronounce the name they called the area. From that, he fashioned its spelling. Local Indians reportedly said it meant “surrounded by water, can’t get out.” Other accounts say the word meant “round hill or mound.” The name Hypoluxo first appeared on War Department maps in 1841.

Hypoluxo sign 1986
State Archives of Florida

Of note—and amusement— is the story of the first election held in what became Palm Beach County. A Dade County election was conducted in 1874 in Hypoluxo (the Palm Beach area was part of Dade County then). According to news accounts, the voting precinct was the home of Hannibal Pierce; his old palmetto hat served as the ballot box. One man voted as well as four members of the election board. Only three other residents lived on the island. According to news of that day, they probably didn’t vote in that election because they didn’t know about it.

Another interesting story is the Barefoot Mailmen connection. Three men in their early 20s from Kentucky ventured to Hypoluxo in 1885: Andrew Garnett, James Porter and James Edward Hamilton. Together, they purchased 16 acres. Garnett and Hamilton also signed up with the United States government to work the recently re-opened Star Route 6451 deactivated in 1867.

Andrew Garnett was tapped as postmaster. Ed Hamilton signed up as courier in 1887. His route ran south past Jupiter (southern terminus of route 6451) to Miami. 

A few months after joining the postal service he disappeared at Hillsboro Inlet where it is thought he tried to swim across the inlet to retrieve a lost boat. His clothes were found along the shore, but he was not. He may have drowned or was attacked by alligators that frequented the area.

Hypoluxo, 14 miles south of Palm Beach and just west of Lantana, grew slowly after Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad was extended south. The picturesque area caught the attention of developers—as much of the area did—after Palm Beach gained popularity.

Advertisements for Hypoluxo in The Palm Beach Post touted its beauty, location and prospects in 1920:  He who gives his family a home on Hypoluxo Island gives them the best. There will only be 196 men in this world who can give as much. 

The 196 probably referred to available lots.

One of the fortunate residents was Charles Myers, a winter resident of Hypoluxo who spent summers in Illinois. In 1920 he notified The Palm Beach Post to change newspaper delivery from Wheatfield, Il. back to Hypoluxo.

It’s too hot up here and I want some fine air off the ocean. My vacation slogan is: See tropical Florida: if you don’t like it you can go back.

Mr. Myers might say that today or he could be one of those to go back. The town is home to about 2,800 residents.

Hypoluxo was incorporated as a town in 1955. 

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

Sources:

The Palm Beach Post, July 13, 1918

The Palm Beach Post, July 1, 1916

The Palm Beach Post, Aug. 18, 1920

The Palm Beach Post, Jan. 9, 1923

The Palm Beach Post, Jan. 18, 1923

The Palm Beach Post, Nov. 17, 1940

The Palm Beach Post, April 26, 1953

The Palm Beach Post, May 19, 1954

The Palm Beach Post, July 3, 1955

Jupiter Lighthouse

WestPalmBeach.com

Tags: 

Hypoluxo, Palm Beach County history, Lake Worth Lagoon

Paris Singer, Singer Island and the failed Blue Heron Hotel

 

Singer Island - mid-century
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan             

Paris Singer (d. 1932), of the sewing machine family and fortune, was a key player in the early days of Palm Beach. He and friend Addison Mizner collaborated on the Everglades Club in 1918.   Boom times eventually beckoned both to separate projects. Mizner’s next phase awaited him in Boca Raton. Singer set his eyes on a piece of land north of Palm Beach, known to us today as Singer Island. 

Singer, once paramour of American dancer Isadora Duncan, had big plans for his new development. “He was destined to make the north end of Palm Beach another Coney Island,” newspaper accounts claimed in 1925. “Eventually he will present to Palm Beach and the world a popular playground where the common folk may enjoy the advantages offered by Coney Island, Brighton Beach and other watering places throughout the country.”

Work began on a $2.5 million hotel, the Blue Heron. It was half-finished when the bottom dropped out of the land market in the late 1920s.  A skeleton of a developer’s dream-turned-nightmare, the Blue Heron, which was to include an 18-hole golf course, stood as mournful reminder of the collapse until it was finally demolished during World War II.

Paris Singer
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

A bridge from the mainland to Singer Island was completed in 1926. A second one replaced it in 1949. By 1976, the Blue Heron Bridge, named for the long-gone Singer hotel, opened. A taller, grander one than its predecessors, this bridge (and boulevard of the same name) serves as a salute to Singer Island, a somewhat different version of the original Paris Singer dream.

___________ 

Sources:

Palm Beach Post, Dec. 11, 1925

Palm Beach Post,  March 17, 1925

Tuckwood, Jan, ed. Palm Beach County at 100.  Jupiter: Palm Beach Post, 2009.

Tags: history of Florida, Palm Beach County history, Singer Island history