Lake Park

Lake Park is a town located in Palm Beach County, Florida, situated along the northwestern shore of Lake Worth Lagoon just north of West Palm Beach. Founded in 1923, the town carries a layered civic history that stretches from its earliest days as a planned community under a single entrepreneur's vision to its current standing as a designated historic place recognized for its landscape design. Though modest in geographic footprint compared to neighboring municipalities, Lake Park has maintained a distinct identity shaped by its founding story, its relationship to the surrounding South Florida environment, and the cultural events that draw visitors to the broader Palm Beach region.

History and Founding

The Town of Lake Park was originally known as Kelsey City when it was established in 1923 by Harry Seymour Kelsey, the forty-year-old president of Waldorf Systems. Kelsey's venture into South Florida land development placed him among many entrepreneurs who recognized the speculative and residential potential of the Florida peninsula during the early 1920s, a period when the state was experiencing a dramatic land boom. The choice of the name Kelsey City reflected the common practice of the era, in which developers named newly platted towns after themselves or their financial backers in order to build brand recognition and attract prospective buyers and residents.

The community's identity shifted over time, and the town eventually adopted the name Lake Park, a designation that better captured its geographic and aesthetic character — namely, its proximity to the water and its emphasis on green, designed open spaces. That transition from Kelsey City to Lake Park marked not just a nominal change but also a gradual shift in civic governance and community self-determination, as residents sought to move beyond the original developer-driven identity toward a more lasting municipal character.

Lake Park's founding period coincided with broader patterns of settlement and development across South Florida, as cities and towns from Miami northward were being platted, incorporated, and marketed to buyers from across the United States and beyond. The speculative land boom of the early and mid-1920s would eventually give way to the bust of the late 1920s and the devastation of the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, but many communities that had been established during that formative decade, including Lake Park, survived and evolved into functioning municipalities with their own civic institutions.

Historic Designation and Landscape Design

Lake Park holds a place on the National Register of Historic Places, recognized for two primary reasons. First, it qualifies as a "designed historic landscape" attributed to the work of a master landscape architect whose planning shaped the town's spatial and visual organization. Second, the community's layout and physical character reflect a coherent design philosophy that was applied systematically during the town's development phase.

The concept of a "designed historic landscape" is significant in preservation terms. It means that the arrangement of streets, parks, trees, open spaces, and built structures is understood not merely as incidental development but as a deliberate artistic and functional composition. For a small town founded in the early 1920s to earn this designation, its original planners must have applied landscape principles that remained legible and intact well into the period when preservation authorities evaluated the site. This kind of recognition places Lake Park alongside other planned communities and designed environments that are valued not only for individual historic buildings but for the holistic relationship between land, vegetation, water, and human-made structures.

The organization Lake Park Friends has been active in documenting and interpreting the town's historic character, including maintaining resources that map key landmarks and explain the significance of the landscape design. Their work illustrates how community-based preservation efforts can complement official historic designation and keep civic memory alive for residents and visitors alike.

Geography and Physical Setting

Lake Park occupies a position on the western edge of Lake Worth Lagoon, a body of water that runs along the eastern coast of Palm Beach County and separates the barrier island communities — including Palm Beach — from the mainland municipalities. This waterfront orientation gives Lake Park both scenic and ecological significance, as the lagoon system supports a range of marine and coastal habitats. The town's relatively compact land area means that its relationship to the water is immediately apparent from many parts of the community.

The broader South Florida landscape in which Lake Park sits is characterized by flat terrain, subtropical vegetation, and a climate that brings warm temperatures year-round with a pronounced wet season from late spring through early fall. This climate has historically made Palm Beach County attractive to northern visitors and permanent residents seeking relief from colder winters, and Lake Park has participated in that pattern of seasonal and year-round population.

The town borders North Palm Beach to the north, Riviera Beach to the east, and the city of West Palm Beach to the south and west. This cluster of municipalities forms a dense urban zone along the northern reaches of the West Palm Beach metropolitan area, each with its own civic government and history but sharing infrastructure, services, and regional identity.

Civic Character and Community Life

As a municipality, Lake Park functions under a town government structure, operating with elected officials and administrative departments that manage local services, zoning, and planning. The town's relatively small population means that civic governance tends to be accessible to residents, with a town commission that oversees policy and a staff that handles day-to-day operations. The town maintains its own parks and recreational facilities, which contribute to the quality of life for residents and reflect the green-space orientation that has characterized Lake Park since its founding.

The cultural life of Lake Park and its surrounding region is enriched by events that draw visitors from across South Florida and beyond. The Florida Renaissance Festival, for instance, takes place annually at Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach, some distance to the south, featuring jousting, artisan markets, and medieval entertainment, and it draws audiences from communities throughout Palm Beach and Broward counties. While this event is not held in Lake Park itself, it exemplifies the regional festival culture that residents of the town participate in and that contributes to the broader cultural landscape of South Florida.

Local parks and waterfront access points serve as gathering places for Lake Park residents, reflecting the town's historical emphasis on designed outdoor spaces. The National Register designation for Lake Park's landscape reinforces the town's commitment to maintaining the character of its original design while adapting to the needs of a contemporary community.

Regional Context Within the West Palm Beach Area

Lake Park is part of the West Palm Beach metropolitan area and shares many of the economic and demographic characteristics of the surrounding region. The area has seen sustained population growth over recent decades, driven by migration from other states, a robust real estate market, and the expansion of service-sector employment. Healthcare, tourism, retail, and professional services constitute significant parts of the regional economy, and Lake Park's proximity to major commercial corridors and transportation routes places it within easy reach of employment centers throughout Palm Beach County.

The town's position just north of West Palm Beach means that residents have access to the cultural, educational, and commercial amenities of the larger city while retaining the distinct character of a smaller municipality. West Palm Beach itself offers institutions such as the Norton Museum of Art, the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, and a variety of dining and entertainment districts that Lake Park residents frequent. The regional transit network and highway infrastructure, including Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1, provide connectivity to the rest of the South Florida metropolitan region, which extends southward through Broward County to Miami-Dade County.

Preservation Efforts and Community Organizations

The preservation of Lake Park's historic character has been supported by community organizations that recognize the town's value as a designed landscape and early twentieth-century planned community. Lake Park Friends has played a role in this work by maintaining documentation of the town's landmarks and advocating for the protection of historically significant features. Such organizations serve an important function in municipalities where the scale of government may limit the resources available for dedicated historic preservation staff.

The National Register listing itself provides certain protections and opportunities, including eligibility for federal historic preservation tax credits when qualifying rehabilitation projects are undertaken on contributing properties. For a town like Lake Park, where the historic landscape is the primary basis for designation, the ongoing challenge is to manage development and change in ways that do not erode the design qualities that earned the recognition in the first place. Balancing growth, infrastructure investment, and preservation is a common tension in South Florida communities where development pressure is persistent and land values have increased substantially in recent years.

Community engagement in preservation is also an educational endeavor. When residents understand the history of how their town was founded — including the role of Harry Seymour Kelsey in establishing Kelsey City in 1923 — they are better equipped to make informed decisions about land use, redevelopment, and the stewardship of public spaces. This kind of civic literacy reinforces the connection between historical awareness and responsible local governance.

Transportation and Access

Lake Park is accessible via several major roadways that traverse Palm Beach County. U.S. Route 1, also known as Dixie Highway in this section, passes through or near the town and has historically served as the primary north-south commercial corridor along the eastern edge of Palm Beach County's mainland communities. Interstate 95 runs just to the west and provides regional and interstate connectivity. The Palm Beach International Airport lies a short drive to the south, facilitating air travel for residents and visitors.

Public transit options in the region are provided by Palm Tran, the Palm Beach County transit authority, which operates bus routes connecting Lake Park and its neighboring towns to employment centers, shopping areas, and transit hubs throughout the county. Water-based access to the lagoon and inland waterways is also available, reflecting the waterfront character of the community.

See Also

• West Palm Beach
• Palm Beach County
• Lake Worth Lagoon
• North Palm Beach
• Riviera Beach, Florida
• National Register of Historic Places