The
history of this sleepy beach town is rich, complex, and diverse. Settlers had started trickling into the area after the
1842 Armed Occupation Act. Lantana’s founder, Captain Morris Benson Lyman, came to the area around 1884. Soon after, he moved his family from Canada to Lantana in 1887. The Lyman’s original 1889 Dade County pine home still stands today as the
Old Key Lime House waterfront restaurant. Lyman established the Lantana post office in 1892, a stop on the 3-day 136-mile journey of the legendary
Barefoot Mailman. Soon after, in 1894, the first public school came about. The site of the school moved a couple of times before 1929 when it settled into the current location, now a portion of
Lantana Elementary School property.
Shortly after the 19th amendment passed, allowing women the legal right to vote, in 1921, Lantana became a real city. Lantana’s first two mayors were women, Ellen Anderson and Mary Paddock. In 1925 the first bridge over the Intracoastal to the beach was erected, drastically improving transportation to the beach. The Southeast Tuberculosis Hospital, A.G. Holley State Hospital, opened in Lantana in 1950, surging new residents to the area. Frank Sinatra was said to have done a
private concert for patients at the hospital on March 16th, 1959. In the centuries to follow, cases of tuberculosis continued to decline due to advanced treatment. In 2012, the building closed, then demolished in 2014.
Flash to June 11th during “
the Summer of Love” in 1967. Lantana hosts approximately 1,500 people for
Florida’s First Love-in. The event promised a relaxed atmosphere with music and poetry. From motorcycle gangs to retirees, the event attracted a diverse crowd and more exposure to the area.
In 1971, Generoso Pope moved the headquarters of the tabloid National Enquirer from New York to Lantana. He began a tradition that brought thousands of visitors, each year, they’d create the “
Worlds Largest Christmas Tree“. This tradition stopped in 1988 when Pope passed away.
