Editing Lantana, Florida (section)

==History==

The first settlers came to the area after Congress passed the ''[[Armed Occupation Act]] of 1842'' at the end of the [[Seminole Wars]] during the administration of President [[John Tyler]]. The M.B. Lyman family is credited with founding the town. Lyman arrived with his family in 1888, and within a year, started several enterprises including a general store, Indian trading post, and post office. As postmaster, Lyman named the post office &ndash; Lantana Point &ndash; for the wild [[lantana]] plants that grew in abundance in the area. The word Point was later dropped.<ref name=LantHist/><ref name=LL/><ref name=VivaFL500/><ref name=LH/>

One of the other Lyman businesses was the Lantana Fish Company. In the early 1900s, the gathering and marketing of [[oyster]]s became the town's leading industry. The Town of Lantana was incorporated on July 20, 1921, with 22 residents voting in the first election. At the time of incorporation, the area of Lantana was one square mile with a population of 100 residents.<ref name=LantHist/><ref name=LL/><ref name=VivaFL500/><ref name=LH/><ref name=LanMunInc/><ref name=LIH/>

After [[World War II]], Lantana, like the rest of South Florida, experienced a tremendous building boom, which continues to this day. [[Interstate 95 in Florida|Interstate 95]], which was completed through Lantana in the mid-1970s, brought a surge of commercial development to the town.

Since 1950, the town was the home of the [[A. G. Holley Hospital]], the last of the old, state-run [[Sanatorium|sanitarium]]s for patients with [[tuberculosis]]. The facility treated about 50 patients at a time, those with the most [[Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis|obdurate]] forms of the disease.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/health/13tuberculosis.html?scp=1&sq=Lantana&st=cse | work=The New York Times | title=In Florida, a Lifeline to Patients With TB | first=Damien | last=Cave | date=June 12, 2010}}</ref> The facility was demolished in November 2014.<ref>[https://www.palmbeachpost.com/article/20141118/NEWS/812053595 A.G. Holley hospital demolition begins]</ref>

From 1974 until 1988, Lantana was home to the tradition of hosting the largest decorated [[Christmas tree]] in the world. Every year, a huge tree was shipped from the [[Pacific Northwest]] to Lantana by rail to the grounds of the ''[[National Enquirer]]'', adjacent to the [[Florida East Coast Railway]] tracks. The event would attract many visitors every night, and grew to be one of the most spectacular and celebrated holiday events in South Florida. This annual festivity ended in 1989 due to the sale of the ''National Enquirer'' following the death of its founder, [[Generoso Pope Jr.]], at age of 61 in October 1988.<ref>{{cite news|title=''Flashback Blog'' 'The World's Largest Decorated Christmas Tree|newspaper=Palm Beach Post|date=December 3, 2009|url=http://www.historicpalmbeach.com/flashback/2009/12/the-worlds-largest-decorated-christmas-tree|access-date=March 4, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205193345/http://www.historicpalmbeach.com/flashback/2009/12/the-worlds-largest-decorated-christmas-tree/|archive-date=December 5, 2009}}</ref>