About the Author

The seven authors of Images of America: Palm Beach Gardens are founding members of the Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society, established in 2008 in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the city. They amassed information and photographs from longtime residents, the City of Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Park Historical Society, Palm Beach County Historical Society, Nyack College, and their own organization to paint a colorful picture of this impressive community.

Reviews

Photographs of prosperity farms along the Intracoastal Waterway and city founder John D. MacArthur sitting alongside his dog Zeck are part of a 128-page book about the city's history scheduled for release July 23 in local bookstores.
We wanted to capture the early years. Tracing the city's history showed us how eras have come and gone, said Linda Smith, a former Pratt & Whitney employee who is one of the seven local authors of the book to be released by Arcadia Publishing.
Incorporated in 1959, the city by 1970 had a population of about 7,000 people. The population boomed with the arrival of Pratt & Whitney and RCA. Gardens now has about 50,000 residents and covers about 55 square miles, stretching west into the Loxahatchee Slough.
The book shows many firsts, including the 1962 opening of the Palm Beach Gardens Elementary School, the city's first public school building, on Riverside Drive. An overhead view of the Gardens Mall shows the 1.4-million-square-foot PGA Boulevard shopping center when it was opened by the Forbes Co. in 1988 as what was then the largest indoor mall in Florida.
Recreation was always a major focus for city leaders, said Don Kiselewski, a former mayor who was on the council for a dozen years starting in 1982. The city council worked with developers to set aside property that is now PGA National Park and the ballfields off MacArthur Boulevard.
Many people opposed setting aside the property for recreation because it didn't make any money. But that's part of the city's life, said Kiselewski, who is pictured on page 84 judging a 1982 Junior Miss Palm Beach Gardens beauty contest at Palm Beach Gardens High School.
Finding and organizing the photographs took the help of residents and city officials, said Maria Mamlouk, another one of the authors. The Lake Park Historical Society provided the photos of the prosperity farms, which were dairy and vegetable gardens along the Intracoastal Waterway owned by local farmers who sold to nearby grocery stores and hotels.
Researching the book confirmed how MacArthur's vision of keeping Palm Beach Gardens a business- and family-oriented community has remained.
(MacArthur's) influence has been as strong here as Henry Flagler's in Palm Beach, Mamlouk said. Copyright 2012 Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc. Palm Beach Post, Bill DiPaolo