Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad Line reached Palm Beach in 1894. The Seaboard Airline Railroad Line laid tracks to Palm Beach as late as 1921-1924. It was after 1921 that the Seaboard Airline tracks reached West Palm Beach. Reference to the Seaboard Airline Railroad Station appears in a book printed in 1926.
S. Davis Warfield was president of Seaboard Air Line and in 1924 Warfield built a cross-state line that serviced West Palm Beach and Miami and Homestead in 1926, making a direct rail connection from one coast to the other, across the state. In 1938 the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Airline Railroad Line formed a network over Florida. Trains were air-conditioned and streamlined, and power was generated by Diesel-electric locomotives.
Stockholders in the railroad were important Palm Beach residents, and this station combined their taste in architecture, and their desire for service and convenience, for the community related to their vacation and retirement residences.
L. Phillips Clarke, who designed all of the Seaboard Railroad stations, built his first station at Auburndale. The West Palm Beach station appeared in 1924-1925.
The north-south dimension, paralleling the tracks, is approximately 178 feet. It is 43 feet deep, not including (at the sides) a 13-foot platform on the west. The building is mainly one story high, with a single office on a two-story level near the center and a three-stage tower on the south corner of the east or entrance facade on Tamarind Avenue.
The plan is rectangular, divided essentially in half, with express room and baggage room to the left or south, and behind the loggia the two waiting rooms, now one, separated on the east by restrooms and on the west by the ticket office. The loggia surrounds most of the front and ends, and the shed—roofed passenger platform on the rear or trackside.
The City of West Palm Beach, following a purchase of the building in 1988, tapped local architecture firm Oliver Glidden & Partners to head a $4.3 million restoration of the structure. The project was completed and the station rededicated in a ceremony attended by the Florida Governor in April 1991. Architect Robert D. Brown directed the restoration of ornamental cast stone elements, exterior masonry, doors, windows, and iron and tile work. The red clay tile roof was replaced, as were the electrical, lighting, plumbing and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. Abatement of lead and asbestos was further required to bring the historic structure up to modern building code standards. The restoration effort earned the Florida Trust Award for Historic Preservation in 1994.
In summer 2012, the city finished an improvement project that included the installation of new sidewalks and more than five dozen trees around the building. The improvements were funded with a $750,000 Transportation Enhancement grant from the Federal Highway Administration, to which the city provided a $150,000 local match.
The station has two side platforms, with access to the station on both sides. West of the southbound platform is a long loop of bus bays serving Palm Tran routes. East of the northbound platform is the station house, a small parking lot, and bus stops for Greyhound Lines buses and Tri-Rail shuttles.
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Palm_Beach_Seaboard_Coastline_...
historic-structures.com/fl/west_palm_beach/seaboard_railr....
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
