<P> The area that was to become West Palm Beach was settled in the late 1870s and 1880s by a few hundred settlers who called the vicinity `` Lake Worth Country . '' These settlers were a diverse community from different parts of the United States and the world . They included founding families such at the Potters and the Lainharts , who would go on to become leading members of the business community in the fledgling city . The first white settlers in Palm Beach County lived around Lake Worth , then an enclosed freshwater lake , named for Colonel William Jenkins Worth , who had fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida in 1842 . Most settlers engaged in the growing of tropical fruits and vegetables for shipment the north via Lake Worth and the Indian River . By 1890 , the U.S. Census counted over 200 people settled along Lake Worth in the vicinity of what would become West Palm Beach . The area at this time also boasted a hotel , the `` Cocoanut House '' , a church , and a post office . The city was platted by Henry Flagler as a community to house the servants working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach , across Lake Worth in 1893 , coinciding with the arrival of the Florida East Coast railroad . Flagler paid two area settlers , Captain Porter and Louie Hillhouse , a combined sum of $45,000 for the original town site , stretching from Clear Lake to Lake Worth . </P>
<P> The area that was to become West Palm Beach was settled in the late 1870s and 1880s by a few hundred settlers who called the vicinity `` Lake Worth Country . '' These settlers were a diverse community from different parts of the United States and the world . They included founding families such at the Potters and the Lainharts , who would go on to become leading members of the business community in the fledgling city . The first white settlers in Palm Beach County lived around Lake Worth , then an enclosed freshwater lake , named for Colonel William Jenkins Worth , who had fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida in 1842 . Most settlers engaged in the growing of tropical fruits and vegetables for shipment the north via Lake Worth and the Indian River . By 1890 , the U.S. Census counted over 200 people settled along Lake Worth in the vicinity of what would become West Palm Beach . The area at this time also boasted a hotel , the `` Cocoanut House '' , a church , and a post office . The city was platted by Henry Flagler as a community to house the servants working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach , across Lake Worth in 1893 , coinciding with the arrival of the Florida East Coast railroad . Flagler paid two area settlers , Captain Porter and Louie Hillhouse , a combined sum of $45,000 for the original town site , stretching from Clear Lake to Lake Worth . </P>
is west palm beach on the east or west coast of florida
is west palm beach on the east or west coast of florida
East Coast
East Coast