Railroad The Story Behind Street’s Name
Readers: Recently I declared myself and my colleagues in the local historical scholarly community stumped on the story behind Randolph Siding Road in the Jupiter Farms neighborhood. That brought a response from Graham Huls, a surveyor and historian from that area.
He points out the actual spelling is Randolf and said it refers to the Randolf Siding Railroad. That was a spur of the Seaboard Coastline Railroad built to accommodate logging and farming in Italian Farms, owned by the C.S. Mott company, of applesauce fame.
The narrow gauge railroad ran from what is now the Palm Beach Park of Commerce, up what is now the Beeline Highway, to near the current Riverbend Park.
The origin of the name: local surveyor Orin T. Randolf, who platted much of the western parts of Palm Beach County.
Cash Cashion, a retired Navy chemist, customs agent and Realtor who writes a column for the Post’s real estate advertising section, points out that the street signs don’t even agree; one end spells it Randolph, the other Randolf.
Loxahatchee River Historical Society: 747-6639. Web: www.lrhs.org
I met 2 of the loggers that worked here in the Italian Farms 1 was Jack Bailey sr. (Bailey -Jones irrigation co.) other was Homer Dalton whom lived east of the old Valmaron ranch abt 1/4 mile in a trailer with his dogs.
As in mid- teens they used to cut cypress for the PT boats WW1 & WW2 as well as the building industry. To escape the mosquitoes and snakes at night they would sleep in one of the boxcars. The Randolf railroad was a narrow guage temporary railroad much like the one by the Froelich ranch (West Lake Park road) which ran up through Sadie’s Slough to the SCL mainline in the 30’s 40’s.
Randolf Siding railway ran from the siding at the SCL, northeast and bisecting diagonally the ValMaron County park and thru the original Box F ranch headquarters past the old house south of present Spike Van Zant residence , continuing to almost the Riverbend Park there i lose any info. or traces on the ground.
Many say it didn’t exist ever ! Not so, the folks that say that, arrived much later after the tracks were pulled up. This was a mule drawn narrow guage with hand trucks verbatim from Jack Bailey 1976 , & Homer Dalton on the front porch of Valmaron store 1981.
-Graham Huls
Italian Farms