Editing Canal Point, Florida (section)

==History==
Archaeological evidence from [[Big Mound City]], located roughly {{convert|10|mi|km|abbr=on}} of Canal Point, suggests that the [[Calusa]] tribe inhabited the area between about 500&nbsp;BCE and 1650&nbsp;CE.<ref>{{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|access-date=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409112716/https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/archaeology-in-palm-beach-county-a-sampler|archivedate=April 9, 2023}}</ref> In 1909, Canal Point became the first White settlement on the eastern shore of Lake Okeechobee. The Southern States Land and Timber Company began planting [[sugarcane]] in the area in 1917. Around that time, the West Palm Beach Canal was completed. The canal connected Lake Okeechobee at Canal Point to West Palm Beach, allowing farms to sell crops to West Palm Beach or elsewhere in the United States via the [[Florida East Coast Railway]]. Transportation of crops by motor vehicle from the area to other destinations began in 1924 with the completion of [[U.S. Route 98 in Florida#Conners Highway|Conners Highway]], which mostly followed the path of the West Palm Beach Canal.<ref name="hspbc">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/canal-point|title=Canal Point|publisher=Historical Society of Palm Beach County|access-date=October 16, 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404140715/https://www.pbchistoryonline.org/page/canal-point|archivedate=April 4, 2023}}</ref>

Unlike other communities along the southeastern and eastern shores of Lake Okeechobee, Canal Point was relatively unscathed by the [[1928 Okeechobee hurricane|1928 hurricane]]. The community was likely inundated with {{convert|1.5|to|2.5|ft|m|abbr=on}} of water and one death occurred.<ref>{{cite book|author=Eliot Kleinberg|author-link=Eliot Kleinberg|title=Black Cloud: The Great Florida Storm of 1928|page=99|publisher=Carroll & Graf Publishers|year=2003|isbn=978-0-7867-1146-8}}</ref> However, the local economy suffered greatly and never recovered after construction of the [[Herbert Hoover Dike]] limited boat traffic in the 1930s. Residents saved the historic Canal Point School from demolition and hoped to convert it into an agricultural museum, but the building was destroyed by a fire in 2008. About three years earlier, [[Hurricane Wilma]] wrecked several other historic buildings in the community.<ref name="hspbc"/>