West Palm Beach City Map Poster

About West Palm Beach

The beginning of the historic period in south Florida is marked by Juan Ponce de León's first contact with native people in 1513. The area that was to become West Palm Beach was originally inhabited by the Ais, a Native American tribe closely related to the Timucua. European colonization began when Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed at what is now known as Pedro Menéndez Park on September 18, 1513, during his second voyage to Florida. Spanish soldiers led by Father Francisco Villarreal built Fort San Salvador (now Saint Anne's) near the water’s edge next to Lake Worth and established a mission community they named "La Purísima Concepción" (The Most Pure Conception). In 1632 they established another mission across Lake Worth called Mission of Santa María la Redonda which served both Indians and Spaniards who lived nearby.