At 1 p.m. on July 31, 1936, WJNO-AM 1230 went on the air. Originally a CBS affiliate, WJNO played everything from classical music to Steve Allen. The station would survive the Depression, World War II and the advent of television and computers. WJNO-TV, Channel 5 (NBC), signed on Aug. 22, 1954; it became WPTV in 1956 and was bought by Scripps-Howard in December 1961.
Tags: radio, This Week in History
On July 19, 1971, the National Enquirer moved its 57 employees and their families from Englewood Cliffs, N.J., to Lantana to “be free of metropolitan New York’s many problems.” The Enquirer hosted a lavish Christmas display at its Lantana location until the 1988 death of owner Generoso Pope. The tabloid moved its offices to Boca Raton in 2000.
From the May 31, 1971, Palm Beach Post help wanted ads
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The 1962 poisoning deaths of two Boca Raton children — Debra Ann Drummond, 9, and her brother James Randall Drummond, 3, who died en route to Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach — spurred the community to raise money for its own hospital. One of every three city residents is said to have contributed to the Debbie-Rand Foundation that funded the hospital. The hospital opened on July 15, 1967.
This photo ran in the Palm Beach Post on the July 18, 1968, with the caption: “Boca Raton Community Hospital celebrated its first birthday Wednesday with the traditional cake, handshaking formalities and the untraditional lighting of the candle a la finger. The finger belongs to Richard Murray, personnel and development director. Doing the lighting honors is Mrs. Gloria Drummond, first president of the Debbie-Rand Memorial Service League. The birthday gathering was held in the hospital visitor’s lounge.” (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)
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On July 4, 1889, a 7-1/2 mile railway from Jupiter to Juno opened. It was officially known as the Jupiter and Lake Worth Railway, but after an 1893 Harper’s Magazine article whimsically called it the Celestial Railway — because it started at Jupiter and passed through stations called Juno and Mars — the Celestial name stuck.
The 1887 construction of the Jupiter Inlet railway dock made it possible for steamships to reach the Celestial Railroad. Note the Jupiter Lighthouse in the background at left. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County)
Dora Doster stands on the cow catcher of Celestial Railroad’s No. 1 locomotive. The railroad opened on July 4, 1889, and was the only game in town until Henry Flagler started Florida East Coast Railway, spurring the demise of the Celestial. (Photo courtesy of the Historical Society of Palm Beach County)
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On July 3, 1976, Interstate 95 from Miami to Palm Beach Gardens was opened. The first part of I-95 in Palm Beach County was built in 1966, a 3.6-mile stretch from Okeechobee Boulevard to 45th Street in West Palm Beach, followed by the segment reaching north to Palm Beach Gardens in 1969, and then portions between Lake Worth and Hypoluxo and from Miami to Boynton Beach in 1975. It wasn’t until 1987 that the “missing link” between Palm Beach Gardens and Fort Pierce was completed.
Tags: roads, This Week in History
