Editing Lake Worth Beach, Florida (section)

===Prior to incorporation===

Native Americans migrated into Florida beginning about 12,000&nbsp;years ago.<ref name="native"/> While evidence near the town of [[Jupiter, Florida|Jupiter]] indicates local inhabitation dating back to the [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian period]],<ref name="sampler">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/archaeology-in-palm-beach-county-a-sampler|title=Archaeology in Palm Beach County|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409112716/http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/archaeology-in-palm-beach-county-a-sampler|archivedate=April 9, 2023}}</ref> the [[Jaega]] were the first known tribe to have resided along the Florida Atlantic coast in the areas of [[Martin County, Florida|Martin]] and [[Palm Beach County, Florida|Palm Beach]] counties.<ref name="native">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/native-americans|title=Native Americans|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407002037/http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/native-americans|archivedate=April 7, 2023}}</ref> The remains of shell mounds sites, mostly dating back to approximately 750–1500&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]], attest to [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian]] Jaega inhabitation near Lake Worth Beach, including in [[Boynton Beach, Florida|Boynton Beach]], [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]], and [[South Palm Beach, Florida|South Palm Beach]].<ref name="sampler"/>

Among the city's first non-indigenous settlers were Samuel and Fannie James. The Jameses were an [[African American]] couple reported to be ex-[[slaves]], known as the Black Diamonds, who settled on the shores of the [[Lake Worth Lagoon]] near the current 5th Avenue South in 1885. A stone monument dedicated to Samuel and Fannie James at the northwest corner of Lucerne Avenue ([[Florida State Road 802|State Road 802]]) and J Street inaccurately uses the date 1883, due to a transcription error.<ref name="case study"/>{{rp|29}} The couple made a claim for their land under the [[Homestead Act]] in 1885.<ref name="case study">{{cite journal|url=http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/uploads/file/Fannie%20and%20Samuel%20James.pdf|title=Social Status and Race in the Pioneer Lake Worth Community - A Case Study of Fannie and Samuel James|author=Ted Brownstein|journal=The Tustenegee|date=Fall 2013|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=November 16, 2021}}</ref>{{rp|25}} Their holdings, originally {{convert|187|acres|abbr=on}}, increased over time to more than {{convert|700|acres|abbr=on}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicalsocietyoflakeworth.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/oldesthousebrochure-final-less-picture.pdf|title=Lake Worth's Oldest Houses|publisher=Historical Society of Lake Worth Beach|accessdate=November 16, 2021}}</ref>{{rp|1}} including {{convert|160|acres|abbr=on}} of homestead land south of Lake Avenue (State Road 802) between M and F Streets;<ref name="brownstein">{{Cite book|title=Pioneers of Jewell|author=Ted Brownstein|publisher=Lake Worth Herald Publications|year=2013|isbn=978-0-9832609-4-3|location=Lake Worth, Florida}}</ref>{{rp|82}} {{convert|163.3|acres|abbr=on}} in modern-day [[College Park Historic District (Lake Worth, Florida)|College Park]], acquired from the estate of William Stephan, where Fannie ran a pineapple farm;<ref name="brownstein"/>{{rp|33–34}} and {{convert|160|acres|abbr=on}} to the south between the current [[Dixie Highway (Broward–Palm Beach)|Dixie]] and Federal highways ([[U.S. Route 1|Route 1]] and [[Florida State Road 5|State Road 5]]), acquired from Swedish immigrants Olai and Sarah Gudmundsen.<ref name="brownstein"/>{{rp|56–57}}

The initial name of the area's first post office was Jewel (sometimes spelled Jewell),<ref name="koontz">{{cite book|title=Lake Worth: Jewel of the Gold Coast|author=Jonathan W. Koontz|publisher=The Greater Lake Worth Chamber of Commerce|date=1997}}</ref>{{rp|20}} which served the few residences between [[Lantana, Florida|Lantana]] and [[West Palm Beach, Florida|West Palm Beach]]. Between 1889 and 1903, Fannie James served as postmaster of the post office, located in a small dry goods shop, which the couple operated to serve the lake traffic that connected the small [[Settler|pioneer]] homesteads located along the banks of the Lake Worth Lagoon.<ref name="hspbc">{{cite web|url=https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/city-of-lake-worth|title=Lake Worth Beach, Florida|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404154413/https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/city-of-lake-worth|archivedate=April 4, 2023}}</ref> Area pioneers also reported that Jewell was included as a stop on the route of the [[barefoot mailman]] via the [[Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway|Celestial Railroad]] by July 1889.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Barefoot Mail Route|publisher=Lake Worth Pioneer Association|url=http://www.lwpa.org/barefoot_mail_route.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218185102/http://www.lwpa.org/barefoot_mail_route.html|accessdate=November 4, 2021|archivedate=February 18, 2012}}</ref>
[[File:Bryant_and_Greenwood_office.jpg|thumb|right|The office of Bryant & Greenwood along Lake Avenue ({{c.|1912|lk=no}})]]
Beginning in the 1890s, the Jameses sold off most of their acreage in a number of parcels ranging in size from {{convert|5|to|20|acres|abbr=on}} to new residents and investors.<ref name="case study"/>{{rp|28}} After Samuel's death in 1909, Fannie sold her remaining {{convert|156|acres|abbr=on}} to the developer, Palm Beach Farms Company, keeping only a 1.25&nbsp;acre (0.51&nbsp;ha) farmette,<ref name="brownstein"/>{{rp|117}} which lay outside the new city limits as required by the segregation provisions of the 1913 town of Lake Worth charter.<ref name="brownstein"/>{{rp|119}}

After [[Henry Flagler]] extended the [[Florida East Coast Railway]] (FEC) south from West Palm Beach to [[Miami]] in 1896, a land development scheme was created to plant a [[townsite]] between the railroad and the lake.<ref name="koontz"/>{{rp|74}} Purchasers of agricultural lots, most of which were located in modern-day [[Greenacres, Florida|Greenacres]], would also receive a small {{convert|25|by|25|ft|m|abbr=on}} lot within the city of Lake Worth.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/greenacres|title=Greenacres|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404154409/https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/greenacres|archivedate=April 4, 2023}}</ref> The developer, Bryant & Greenwood, promoted the area to markets across the United States and Canada.<ref name="old town"/>{{rp|17}} They proposed to name the town Lucerne,<ref>{{cite news|title=Lucerne – The City Beautiful|newspaper=Lucerne Herald|url=http://archive.boyntonlibrary.org/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=7ca4f3f1-544c-490b-bb0f-898bb02763ff%2fboyntonb%2f20180507%2f00000543|date=May 23, 1912|page=1|accessdate=November 4, 2021}}</ref> but the [[United States Postal Service]] refused to accept the name because there already was a [[Lake Lucerne, Florida|Lucerne]] post office, now a [[neighborhood]] in [[Miami Gardens, Florida|Miami Gardens]]. Therefore, the city founders changed the new town's name to Lake Worth.<ref name="old lucerne"/>{{rp|29}}

In April 1911, "A solitary Indian mound surrounded by wild woods marked the spot where flourishing Lake Worth is now growing beyond the most vivid imagination", according to a promotional article published in the ''Lake Worth Herald''.<ref name="eyes">{{cite news|newspaper=Lake Worth Herald|date=August 28, 1913|url=http://archive.boyntonlibrary.org/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=de29bdcb-c0d8-44da-aa34-4213f7cd747c/boyntonb/20180314/00000028&pg_seq=7&search_doc=|title=The Eyes of the World are Turned Toward Lake Worth|page=7|accessdate=September 7, 2022}}</ref> The population of the nascent city stood at 38 in July 1912.<ref name="timeline1862-1913">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89081577/the-palm-beach-post/|title=Lake Worth: Growth of a Beach Town|author=J.D. Vivian|date=June 27, 2013|page=S3|newspaper=The Palm Beach Post|via=[[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate=November 3, 2021}}</ref>

During that year, the library, schoolhouse, newspaper, Women's Club, Chamber of Commerce, first church,<ref name="old lucerne"/>{{rp|28}} and first railroad station (operated by the FEC at Lake Avenue) were established.<ref name="mustaine"/>{{rp|53}} The town's first census in December&nbsp;1912 indicated that there were "308&nbsp;residents, 125&nbsp;houses, 10&nbsp;wagons, seven automobiles, 36&nbsp;bicycles and 876&nbsp;fowls."<ref name="hspbc"/> Additionally, from 1911 to 1912, the Palm Beach Farms Company platted approximately 7,000&nbsp;residential lots and constructed some {{convert|55|mi|km|abbr=on}} of roads, including Lake Avenue, a major thoroughfare.<ref name="DYK">{{cite journal|url=https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/uploads/file/Did%20You%20Know-%20Lake%20Worth.pdf|title=Did You Know...|journal=The Tustenegee|date=April 2012|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|accessdate=November 17, 2021}}</ref>