Lake Clarke Shores, FL USDA Eligibility

Lake Clarke Shores is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The town is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The 2020 census recorded a population of 3,564.

The town was named after John Newton Clarke, who first filed a homestead claim in the area in 1897. Clarke intended to capitalize on the business of growing pineapples, but his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. Very few people lived in the area until local attorney Walter Travers created a plan to develop a community around Lake Clarke and purchased 250 acres (100 ha) of land for $10,000 in the late 1940s. The completion of a bridge across the West Palm Beach Canal in 1953 spurred a further growth in population. With rumors spreading that West Palm Beach intended to annex the community, residents voted by a wide margin to support the incorporation of Lake Clarke Shores as a town on April 10, 1956, which the Florida Legislature officially approved in July 1, 1957.

Today, Lake Clarke Shores maintains a small population. The town is primarily a bedroom community, with most of its businesses and other commercial buildings located along Forest Hill Boulevard (State Road 882).

The town of Lake Clarke Shores was named after John Newton Clarke, a general store grocer, postmaster in Lake Worth (now known as Lake Worth Beach), and Royal Poinciana Hotel employee who filed a homestead claim in 1897 for a 139 acre (56 hectare) area of land on the eastern shore of a lake situated just west of West Palm Beach. Clarke would later name the lake after himself. He also purchased 5 acres (2.0 ha) of land in West Palm Beach near where Hillcrest Cemetery and Parker Avenue stand today. Attempting to capitalize on the promising pineapple growing business, Clarke used the property for growing pineapples and operating a packinghouse. However, the thriving pineapple business in South Florida suffered extensive losses in 1910, and the completion Henry Flagler’s railway to Key West in 1912 allowed pineapples from Cuba to be shipped to the northern United States more cost-effectively than from Florida. Clarke and many others in South Florida abandoned the pineapple industry by 1915. Thereafter, Clarke used the land as a fishing retreat. However, Lake Clarke, which had stretched from Southern Boulevard (State Road 84) to the city of Lake Worth, was reduced to a marsh and fell about 8 ft (2.4 m) in height in 1917 upon completion of the West Palm Beach Canal.

In the early 1930s, Zeb Vance Hooker and his family became the first settlers in modern-day Lake Clarke Shores by squatting in a wooden shack on land by the southeast side of Lake Clarke. In 1946, Patsy Renolds built a house where Antigua Road stands today and is the oldest home in Lake Clarke Shores. By the late 1940s, local attorney Walter Travers visited the area and bought the lakeshore properties from their respective owners. Travers then attempted to buy land which had been drained during the construction of the West Palm Beach Canal in the 1910s. The state of Florida initially denied his request. However, after meeting with the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Fund in Tallahassee, the board offered Travers the land for $300 per acre. Travers partially agreed but attempted to negotiate a lesser cost for land at lower elevations. The state then decided to auction the land. Travers was the only bidder and obtained 250 acres (100 ha) of land on the northwest periphery of the lake for $10,000, which a friend loaned to him. After obtaining $5,000 for an unrelated lawsuit settlement, Travers invested that money into his project to transform the area into a waterfront community and brought in dredging equipment in 1949. The fledgling community initially grew very slowly, with just three homes built by 1952. One reason for the slow growth was the lack of a bridge across the West Palm Beach Canal. Palm Beach County Commissioner Lake Lytal convinced the county commission to approve the building of a bridge, knowing that Travers intended to contribute $10,000 to its construction. The bridge, completed in 1953, connected Selby Road and Forest Hill Boulevard (State Road 882) – with the entirety of the road becoming Forest Hill Boulevard – and resulted in a quicker increase in development and population.