Florida, Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach
![]()
Flagler Park, formerly known as City Park, has been an important public space in West Palm Beach since the founding of the community. The town site for West Palm Beach was laid out in 1893 as a grid pattern of streets running north - south and east - west. The only variation was at the eastern end of Clematis Street, where two angled, short streets branched off to create a triangular, public common area. Over the years, the site has seen a variety of uses. Downtown merchants organized impromptu ball games on the park-like grounds when business was slow. In 1900, a two-story, frame building was donated for use as a reading room and transported across Lake Worth from Palm Beach. It was placed on the southeastern portion of the parcel. The Woman´s Christian Temperance Union dedicated a drinking fountain in the Park in 1907. In 1915, a Woman´s Club was placed on the parcel. Other amenities were also added to the park, including a shuffleboard court and a bandstand for outdoor concerts. As the City´s population expanded during the 1920´s, the facilities of the Reading Room were outgrown and a library was built in 1923. It opened in January 1924, as the Memorial Library, named to honor the dead of World War I. It too was outgrown and was replaced by another library in 1962. In 1994, the library was remodeled and the plaza in front of the library was redesigned, incorporating a triangular, in-ground fountain. This forecourt has become the center of downtown activities, continuing the traditional use of this important civic space.
(Entertainment • Landmarks) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.
Flagler Park, formerly known as City Park, has been an important public space in West Palm Beach since the founding of the community. The town site for West Palm Beach was laid out in 1893 as a grid pattern of streets running north - south and east - west. The only variation was at the eastern end of Clematis Street, where two angled, short streets branched off to create a triangular, public common area. Over the years, the site has seen a variety of uses. Downtown merchants organized impromptu ball games on the park-like grounds when business was slow. In 1900, a two-story, frame building was donated for use as a reading room and transported across Lake Worth from Palm Beach. It was placed on the southeastern portion of the parcel. The Woman´s Christian Temperance Union dedicated a drinking fountain in the Park in 1907. In 1915, a Woman´s Club was placed on the parcel. Other amenities were also added to the park, including a shuffleboard court and a bandstand for outdoor concerts. As the City´s population expanded during the 1920´s, the facilities of the Reading Room were outgrown and a library was built in 1923. It opened in January 1924, as the Memorial Library, named to honor the dead of World War I. It too was outgrown and was replaced by another library in 1962. In 1994, the library was remodeled and the plaza in front of the library was redesigned, incorporating a triangular, in-ground fountain. This forecourt has become the center of downtown activities, continuing the traditional use of this important civic space.(Entertainment • Landmarks) Includes location, directions, 1 photo, GPS coordinates, map.
On June 15, 1864, Thomas Massey, William Pickett, and Frank Burroughs were arrested and were to be executed without trail by Union General E.A. Payne for the alleged charge of bushwhacking. Hearing of the order, John Massey, the older brother of Thomas Massey, of the First Tennessee Regiment went to Payne to tell him that Thomas Massey, his younger brother, had never been in the army and was a husband and father. He offered his blood instead of his brother’s. Payne released Thomas and arrested John. At 3:00 p.m. the three men were executed two blocks north of here where this original stone was first placed. Payne ordered that the bodies not be removed, but after dark, Miss Molly Goodrich had the bodies carried to a storehouse that she owned on the West Side of the square.
The land on which this library stands was given by Commodore Ralph Middleton Munroe, whose first wife lies buried on it.
In 1896 Paul C. Ransom first brought students from an Eastern preparatory school to this site, which he named Pine Knot Camp, for a winter term of study and outdoor life. In 1903 it became the Adirondack-Florida School with the fall and spring terms in the Adirondacks and the winter term in Coconut Grove. Closed in 1942 because of the war, it was reopened in 1947. In 1949, the trustees located the school here permanently and named it Ransom for the founder.
About 1/2 mile east Joseph Brown lived. Enroute to the Cumberland Settlements by river from North Carolina in 1788, he was captured by Indians from Nickajack Cave. He escaped and in 1792 led the Ore expedition back to destroy the town. Settling here, he was one of Maury Co.'s leading citizens. First County Court met here, 1807.
The first house here was built by Maj. Samuel Polk, who came here from North Carolina in 1806. In his family was the ten-year-old son, James Knox Polk, who was to become the 11th President of the United States. He spent his boyhood here.
This horse, which set a mile pacing record of 1:55 in 1938, was foaled here in 1931. His dam was Gay Forbes. His sire, Napoleon Direct (1:59 3/4), is buried here. Here, also, is buried Haynes' Peacock, champion Tennessee Walking Horse, 1940 and 1941. The farm is now a Thoroughbred nursery.
Designed in 1946 by New York City architect Walter Monroe Cory, the Canada Dry Bottling Plant is the most architecturally significant Streamline Moderne industrial structure in Montgomery County and a landmark in downtown Silver Spring. The extant two-story administrative section was connected to a one story manufacturing bottling facility and warehouse. This complex occupied 2.9-acres adjacent to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's "Metropolitan Branch" (est. 1873), allowing ease of delivery of raw materials for the production of carbonated beverages. The opening of the plant was part of the postwar commercial and retail expansion of Silver Spring and its rise to prominence in the D.C. metropolitan area.
The 1938 Silver Spring Shopping Center is a superb example of moderne architecture with art deco elements. Designed by noted architect John Eberson, it is a rare example of an early planned shopping center with parking forming Montgomery County's first real downtown.
To commemorate the bravery
Hyde Park began on February 13, 1886 when O.H. Platt of Hyde Park, Ill., subdivided 20 acres and named it after his hometown. By 1910 Hyde Park with it's Georgian and Mediterranean estates had become the most desirable and glamorous residential section of Tampa.
Of the many distinguished military men who came from abroad to fight for the independence of the American colonies, Kosciuszko was among the very first. In August 1776, only months after the Declaration of Independence has been signed, the thirty-year old military engineer arrived in Philadelphia from Poland. He offered his serves to the Continental Congress and served continuously until the British surrender seven years later. Since that time the memory of his dedication and contribution has forged strong bonds between the people of Poland and the United States. In keeping with that long standing tie, this monument is a gift from proud Americans of Polish descent to their fellow Americans.
It is believed that the residents of Town Line, NY met at the schoolhouse near this marker following the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 and voted 80-45 to secede from the Union. The story is undocumented and their reasons are unknown.
The signing of the 1851 treaty was the signal for settlers and speculators to rush into the new territory.
When Tennessee failed to secede from the Union on February 9, 1861, Franklin County residents met here at the courthouse. They listened to attorney Peter Turney’s forceful speech offering resolutions in favor of secession and reportedly adopted them unanimously. Turney raised a company in Winchester and recruited companies from surrounding communities to form the 1st Tennessee Infantry, which he offered to the Confederate government before April 9. The regiment assembled here at Mary Sharp College, elected Turney colonel on April 27, and soon marched to Decherd to board a train for Virginia, and it subsequently fought in that state and at Gettysburg. On June 8, Tennessee followed Franklin County’s lead and left the Union—the last state to do so.
From June 24th to June 27th, the Union Army of the Cumberland had moved flawlessly to maneuver the Confederate Army of Tennessee out of its position south of the Highland Rim. As Rosecrans would later say, only heavy rains had prevented a complete military conquest of the Confederate forces. Yet, once the northern commander reached Manchester his luck began to change. He approached Tullahoma cautiously, knowing the Confederates were behind solid entrenchments. Then, on June 30th, the Confederate General Braxton Bragg moved his army south of the Elk River, burning the major bridges in his rear. Union soldiers were held up long enough for the Army at Tennessee to escape across the Cumberland Plateau. Rosecrans made his headquarters here in Winchester, in the house directly across 1st Avenue, to contemplate his next move.
World War II began in September 1939 when Germany, under Adolph Hitler, invaded Poland. England and France declared war on Germany. Italy, led by Benito Mussolini, allied with Germany and most of Europe quickly came under the control of invading German troops. The Germans were unable to invade England because of the English Channel and England's superiority in the air. The United States entered the war after the Japanese attacked the US Navy fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. Japan, under Emperor Hirohito, had been expanding its empire since 1931 with an invasion of China. The United States sent forces to Europe and the Pacific. On June 6, 1944, American and British forces landed in Normandy, France and began to reclaim Europe. Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945. The Japanese did not surrender until August 14, 1945 after atomic bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 418,500 Americans died in World War II
To the memory of unnamed soldiers of the War of 1812 who died of camp disease and were buried here. Dedicated July 4, 1896
