Palm Beach Shores |
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Address
247 Edwards Lane
Palm Beach Shores, FL 33404-5792
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Phone
(561) 844-3457 |
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Palm Beach Shores is located on the southern tip of Singer Island in Palm Beach County, Florida. It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Lake Worth on the west and Lake Worth Inlet on the south. When the first permanent settlers to the Lake Worth area began to settle around its shores, what is known as Singer Island today, was then an extension of Palm Beach. A series of inlets to Lake Worth were hand dug and maintained by these pioneer families.
In 1915 the task of maintaining an inlet to Lake Worth was assumed by the United States Government and the present inlet was dredged in 1918. Lake Worth Inlet permanently separated what later became known as Singer Island from Palm Beach. The first available record of a settlement on Singer Island dates back to 1906 with Inlet City.
Inlet City was a spontaneous community of fishermen and squatters, most of whom came from Riviera Beach and the Bahamas. The settlement developed on both sides of the inlet, in use at the turn of the century. This inlet was located approximately opposite the filled area of land in Riviera Beach now known as Yacht Harbor Manor. As it was, married families settled on the north side of the inlet and single men settled on the south side. Fishermen were attracted to it as a place to dry the cotton nets that they used in those days, and for its proximity to the Gulf Stream. Because of the lack of government and local ordinances, squatters were content to build wherever and whatever they liked.
Inlet City's three main streets were named Fiddler's Green, Goose Hollow, and Broadway. The community boasted of a store and a church which also served as a school. The school teacher was picked up at Currie Park, in West Palm Beach, on Monday morning and returned Friday afternoon burdened with all the fish that she could carry. Until 1925 Singer Island was isolated from the mainland. In that year the county built the wooden "Sherman Point" bridge from Riviera Beach to Singer Island to accommodate Paris Singer's proposed Blue Heron Hotel. This bridge from Sherman Point was destroyed in the hurricane of 1928 and was not rebuilt until 1935. Singer Island remained desolate after the 1928 hurricane and the following years of depression.
Fishermen continued to take advantage of the abundance of crabs, clams, and many varieties of fish about the island's shores. High school students were attracted to the island's beaches on their days off; but further attempts at development would have to wait until World War II had ended. When the second wooden bridge burned, the concrete and steel Blue Heron lift span was constructed in 1949. The eastern half of this bridge remains as a fishing pier today. Finally, because of the problems created by ever increasing automobile and boat traffic, the lift span was replaced by the present high-rise bridge in 1976.
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