the land as a fishing retreat. However, Lake Clarke, which had stretched from Southern Boulevard (State Road 84) to the city of Lake Worth, was reduced to a marsh and fell about in height in 1917 upon completion of the West Palm Beach Canal. In the early 1930s, Zeb Vance Hooker and his family became the first settlers in modern-day Lake Clarke Shores by squatting in a wooden shack on land by the southeast side of Lake Clarke. In 1946, Patsy Renolds built a house where Antigua Road stands today and is the oldest home in Lake Clarke Shores. By the late 1940s, local attorney Walter Travers visited the area and bought the lakeshore properties from their respective owners. Travers then attempted to buy land which had been drained during the construction of the West Palm Beach Canal in the 1910s. The state of Florida initially denied his request. However, after meeting with the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund in Tallahassee, the board offered Travers the land for $300 per acre. Travers partially agreed but attempted to negotiate a lesser cost for land at lower elevations. The state then decided to auction the land. Travers was the only bidder and obtained of land on the northwest periphery of the lake for $10,000, which a friend loaned to him. After obtaining $5,000 for an unrelated lawsuit settlement, Travers invested that money into his project to transform the area into a waterfront community and brought in dredging equipment in 1949. The fledgling community initially grew very slowly, with just three homes built by 1952. One reason for the slow growth was the lack of a bridge across the West Palm Beach Canal. Palm Beach County Commissioner Lake Lytal convinced the county commission to approve the building of a bridge, knowing that Travers intended to contribute $10,000 to its construction. The bridge, completed in 1953, connected Selby Road and Forest Hill Boulevard (State Road 882) – with the entirety of the road becoming Forest Hill Boulevard – and resulted in a quicker increase in development and population. Rumors spread that West Palm Beach planned to annex the area, prompting 60 people to form the Lake Clarke Property Owners’ Association in 1955. The association first met at a private residence, before meeting regularly at Meadow Park Elementary School. After reaching consensus on the name Lake Clarke Shores, residents met there on April 10,