Highlights From 5 Years Of ‘Post Time’
Readers: Neighborhood Post sections debuted five years ago this week, on Jan. 19, 2000. “Post Time” has been part of “NPost” from the beginning. There have been more than 250 columns carrying your questions, and my answers, about Palm Beach County history. Here are some highlights:
Q: Is Delray Beach’s name some variation of the Spanish words del rey, meaning “of the king?” (Jan. 19, 2000)
A: Delray Beach is named for the Detroit neighborhood of Delray.
Q: What’s the oldest structure in Palm Beach County? (Nov. 8, 2000)
A: The Jupiter Lighthouse was completed in 1860.
Q: Who was the Barefoot Mailman? (Jan. 10, 2001)
A: Some of the region’s most endearing figures are the legendary mail carriers who walked barefoot along the hard sand at the ocean’s edge from Palm Beach to Miami.
Q: What is the statue in Howard Park? (Oct. 3, 2001)
A: The 8-foot sculpture, near the Kravis Center and just south of Okeechobee Boulevard on Parker Avenue in West Palm Beach, honors the soldiers who served during the Spanish-American War.
Q: Were there prisoner of war camps for Germans in South Florida? (June 5, 2002)
A: During World War II, more than 9,000 went to 22 Florida camps, including facilities in Belle Glade and Clewiston.
Q: Is it true that the first commercial flight from PBIA crashed? (Oct. 15, 2003)
A: Indeed. Remarkably, all survived. The 14-passenger Pan American/Eastern Airlines DC-2, with eight passengers and a crew of three, left at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 19, 1936, the day Morrison Field – now Palm Beach International Airport – was dedicated. It went off course in bad weather and was forced down in heavy woods near Matamoras, Pa.
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