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West palm Beach History: 

In 1880, Irving R. Henry from North Carolina, homesteaded 130 acres of land which he purchased for $1.00 an acre. Captain O. S. Porter purchased the land from Henry and then sold it to Henry Morrison Flagler, the founder of Standard Oil and the Florida East Coast Railroad, for $30,000 dollars. Flagler desired to keep his resort of Palm Beach free from commercialism. On February 4, 1894, he moved the businesses which dealt with his railroad operation from the Royal Poinciana Hotel in Palm Beach to the 48 block area he had purchased on the west side of the lake.

The town to the west was to be the living quarters for his beach employees, the commercial center for the area, and the terminus of his railway. Canvas tents and shanties were erected for the workers. Because these structures caught fire easily, the first public service organization developed in the area was the "Flagler Alerts," a group of volunteer fireman under the direction of J. E. Phillips, President. The pumping station and the few fire hydrants installed did little for fires a month apart which burned down the buildings on the south sides of Banyan and Clematis Streets.

 
On November 5, 1894, 78 people met at the "Calaboose" (the first jail and police station located at Clematis St. and Poinsettia, now Dixie Hwy.) and passed the motion to incorporate the Town of West Palm Beach in what was then Dade County. The town council quickly addressed the building codes and the tents and shanties were replaced by brick, brick veneer, and stone buildings.
On incorporating the town, the council provided for an elected Town Marshall who was charged with keeping the peace and acting as tax collector. At the incorporation meeting, W. L. Torbert was elected Town Marshall over J. D. Ross, with a salary of $60.00 a month, an upper income for the times.