Mango Promenade Historic District

In 1875, Benjamin Lanehart became one of the first non-indigenous residents along the western shore of the Lake Worth Lagoon, settling near the north end of the present-day El Cid Historic District. Lanehart's homestead, primary used for producing pineapples, extended from modern-day Okeechobee Boulevard southward to Belvedere Road by the following year.^[2] This land encompassed the Mango Promenade Historic District.^[3]: 17 However, local pioneer pineapple growers went out of business by the early 20th century due to pineapple diseases and increasing competition from Cuba.^[2] The oldest contributing and surviving structure – 318 Cranesnest Way – dates back to approximately 1910. Several other surviving homes in the district were built later in the 1910s.^{[3]: 11–15}

The initial platting of the Mango Promenade Historic District occurred in 1913, at which time "the area began to change from a collection of large parcels into a pedestrian oriented neighborhood of single-family homes.", according to the district's National Register of Historic Places (NRPH) nomination form.^[3]: 20 Bror J. Carlberg, a West Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce charter member, filed that plat on November 18, 1913, in an area stretching from Poinsettia Street (South Dixie Highway) and Olive Street (South Olive Avenue) along Vallette Way. Carlberg extended the plat on March 31, 1914, adding Wildermere Road, and again on August 31 of that year, expanding Vallette Way east of Olive Street.^[3]: 21 Frederick M. Delavan, Minnie Josephine Anderson, and Bertha Falkenstein followed suit on October 2, 1914, filing a plat that included Sophia Drive and Victoria Road. Another plat was filed on February 27, 1917 by William Kuehner and F. L. Crane and encompassed the vicinity of Cranesnest Way. Palm Beach Realty Service, Inc. filed a plat on October 29, 1919, which included Croton Way.^[3]: 22

Another plat was filed by the Matthams Park Corporation on May 15, 1924, which led to the development of Austin Lane and Tuxedo Lane, as well as a pedestrian walkway referred to as Orange Court. By 1926, about 89% of homes within the Mango Promenade Historic District had been built. Thereafter, the Great Depression almost completely halted further local construction, until President Franklin D. Roosevelt approved the Banking Act and Homeowners Refinancing Act.^[3]: 23 The Baldwin-Nichols Subdivision – Queens Court – became the final plat filed in the district in July 1936.^[3]: 24

The Palm Beach Post noted that by the 1980s, the neighborhood had "only a reputation for an abundance of rundown houses plagued by crime and owned by absentee landlords." However, significant revitalization had occurred by the mid-1990s.^[4] Consequently, city commissioners designated the neighborhood as a local historic district in 1995,^[5] while it was later listed in the NRHP on July 8, 1999.^[6]

A bungalow at 1605 South Olive Avenue, constructed in 1919, fell into disrepair. Its owner, Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA), obtained a permit from the city to demolish the dwelling and did so on January 21, 2008. An attorney for PBA claimed that full-scale preservation work would cost approximately $500,000. However, the West Palm Beach Historic Preservation Board accused PBA of making only superficial repairs on the structure while it was still standing and essentially neglected the home to justify its demolition. The board requested that a special magistrate investigate the demolition of the home, as PBA may have violated the "demolition by neglect" clause of West Palm Beach's preservation law, which includes a maximum fine of $15,000.^[5] In lieu of paying the fine, PBA agreed during negotiations with special magistrate Gary Brandenburg to spend the same amount to repaint the seven other historic residences in the district owned by the university.^[7] Residents of the Mango Promenade Historic District have also, at times, objected to the expansion of the Norton Museum of Art at least back to 2001, with the museum acquiring all homes on the north side of Cranesnest Way from 1992 until then.^[8]