Independence Day is near, and it’s a good time to reflect on the heritage of not only our nation, but our community.
For a decade, we’ve been privileged to answer your questions about historic people, places and events in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
But there’s been a pleasant side benefit we hadn’t envisioned when we started: Those 500-plus columns have generated a remarkable database.
Here’s more from staff researcher Michelle Quigley:
“Over the years, the Post Time column has told us how Delray Beach, Boca Raton, Hypoluxo and other places got their names.
“The columns were printed in Neighborhood Post, then compiled into a database, but we didn’t have a good way to store and display that information.
“Now we can share stories with you in a way that makes them easier to find, and more fun to browse. All the columns are on historicpalmbeach.com. Look for the “Place Names Map” link on the main menu. This feature lets you click on a map for links to place name origins. There are already 100, with more to come.
“For example, if you click on Lake Osborne you’ll find a short description of the connection to the Osborn (no ‘e’) family, among the first settlers to the area, and links to two columns with more detail about the family and how the lake had been called Metalkaoska by Native American residents.”
Tell us what you think!
Update: Our June 17 and June 24 columns on Chief Ho-Ti-Pi brought this from Jim Anderson of West Palm Beach:
“I once attended a performance of his, which was held (for lack of a better venue, I guess) at the old Lake Worth American Legion Arena on Lucerne Avenue. The arena was set up to hold boxing and/or wrestling matches as there was a ring in the center with seats on all four sides. The ‘chief’ arrived in full Indian regalia and sang to the accompaniment of an upright piano, which had been laboriously hauled up into the ring, for the performance. As I remember, Chief Ho did have a fine voice, but the event was sparsely attended. My recollection is that this took place in the late 1940s or very early ’50s. (No wrestlers attended.)”
Lake Osborne in May 1965 (Palm Beach Post file photo)
Tags: map, Native Americans, place names
On June 15, 1895, the settlement of Potsdam on the St. Lucie River changed its name to Stuart, in honor of landowner Homer Stuart. The change came in response to complaints that when railroad conductors announced the Potsdam stop, it sounded as though they were saying “Pots, dam pots!”
Flagler Avenue in Stuart, looking south, in May 1930. Stuart was known as Potsdam from 1893 to 1896. Early settlers Otto Stypman and his brother, Ernest, came to the area in 1892 from Potsdam, Germany. (Palm Beach Post file photo)
Tags: place names, This Week in History
Last week we honored our area’s military dead. That gives us a natural transition to this week’s column. David McCampbell, considered the top Navy fighter pilot ever, spent most of his life in Palm Beach County.
McCampbell died in 1996. The terminal at Palm Beach International Airport is named for him.
During seven months in 1944, he notched 34 kills and destroyed 24 planes on the ground in the battles of the Philippine Sea and Leyte Gulf.
His nine kills in 90 minutes at Leyte Gulf set a record in aerial warfare history for a single mission that is believed to stand today. He is the nation’s top Navy ace and fourth-leading ace, behind three Army Air Force pilots.
About a decade before his death, in July 1987, a staff historian for the Naval Institute came from Annapolis, to record a series of interviews covering his entire life and background.
The raw transcript runs 650 pages, according to Sue Sweeney, of the Naval Institute Foundation:
“McCampbell’s is one of nearly 70 histories currently in varying stages of completion. Our first priority is to record the interviews, capturing the story for posterity.
“In a perfect world, we would then be able to line up funding to finish all the labor-intensive follow-up work — transcribing, proofreading, footnoting, adding an annotated index, copying, and binding the volume — while the interviewee is still alive to see the completed history.
“To our regret, we were not able to accomplish this before we lost Captain McCampbell.
“If, as we hope, the Naval Institute can line up the necessary support in the next few months, we believe we can finish the work and release the McCampbell history by year’s end.
“Because the Naval Institute is a nonprofit organization, our 41-year-old history program must rely on gift income to accomplish projects.”
If you want to honor McCampbell by helping the Naval Institute finish the work of telling his story, contact Sweeney at ssweeney@usni.org or (410) 295-1054.
David McCampbell recorded 34 kills and destroyed 24 more planes on the ground in seven months in 1944. (Navy photo)
Tags: airports, place names, World War II
The Palm Beach County place names map now includes name origins for 37 cities, 12 parks, five streets, four places, three lakes, and one island. The map includes notes about the names, and links to Eliot Kleinberg’s Post Time columns and other sources that provide more background about the people and stories behind the names. Click on the image below to browse the map (and check back later for more as we update the map).
Tags: map, place names
On June 1, 1937, the town of Boynton Beach — a 3-mile-long coastal community east of what was then known as Boynton — changed its name to Ocean Ridge. Marion White Bird won $100 for suggesting the name in a contest declared by her father , Ocean Ridge Mayor Michael White. Boynton subsequently changed its name to Boynton Beach.
In 1928 the Boynton Beach Casino was built on the high ridge that’s now home to Oceanfront Park. The casino was intended not for gambling, but as a meeting place. It was torn down in 1967. (Palm Beach Post file photo)
Read more about the history of Ocean Ridge here and here.
Tags: place names, This Week in History
