The City of Palm Beach Gardens boasts exclusive residential communities, world-class public art, an award-winning parks and recreation department, year-round leisure activities, a thriving bio-tech industry, and some of the best year round temperatures in the Sunshine State.

Not only does Palm Beach Gardens hold a Tree City USA designation, but half the city’s 56 square miles are dedicated to green space. Palm Beach Gardens offers it’s residents a great balance of metropolitan ambiance alongside natural parks and preserves. Corporate headquarters, Fortune 500 companies, small and mid-sized business all co-mingle in this hub for highly educated workers. A variety of public and private schools can also be found in Palm Beach Gardens through the university level.

Palm Beach Gardens is home to headquarters for many sporting organizations including the Professional Golf Association of America, the World Croquet Association, and the Women’s Professional Tennis Association. These associations and many others have not only created international awareness for the city but major athletic tournaments as well. Known as the “Golf Capital of Florida”, Palm Beach Gardens is home to 15 golf courses including PGA National Resort, home of the famous Honda Classic. The city’s departments received the “National Gold Medal Winner” in Recreation as one of its many accreditations, while the police and fire departments have also received the highest ratings from their certifying authorities.

The city of Palm Beach Gardens was incorporated on June 20, 1959. John D. MacArthur planned to develop his city with a balance on three functions: upscale homes, excellent recreational facilities, and an environment for well-paying jobs. His plan for the city started with one unique aspect. Because he believed he had assembled 4,000+ acres with no inhabitants, MacArthur was not committed or constrained by preconceived plans for his new city. But in fact, there was one inhabitant in Palm Beach Gardens. A squatter by the name of Charlie Cooper in a dilapidated house trailer was the city’s one inhabitant in MacArthur’s way, so he quickly moved Cooper to a home in Lake Park with electricity and running water, leaving his land clear for progress.

Now MacArthur was able to continue with his idea and began blocking out areas of the city for specific usage. According to his strategy, expensive homes were to be established in the PGA Estates area, while moderately prices homes could be found in the Lake Catherine area. He appointed five councilmen for the first five years of development. These original councilmen are represented by five gold stars within the red diagonal on the City Shield. The other four sections that make up the shield represent the picturesque beaches, the family values of the city, the MacArthur tartan and the Banyan Tree, which is the city’s hallmark.

Next, MacArthur needed to facilitate his plan for exceptional recreational facilities in his city. He sent Jerry Kelly, his real-estate representative to the Professional Golf Association of America to negotiate a move to Palm Beach Gardens from Dunedin, FL. They were convinced to move at the price of one new golf course and MacArthur’s promise to loan funds for their clubhouse build.

In order to fulfill MacArthur’s final piece of his three-part plan for the city, he knew that sources of desirable jobs were integral to the city’s growth. According to local history, MacArthur was instrumental in Pratt and Whitney’s plant in Palm Beach Gardens as well as convincing the transition of the RCA computer plant to what is today’s NorthCorp area. The story goes that the RCA plant was to be built in Southern Georgia due to a bid that was one million dollars less than the bid received for the building in Palm Beach Gardens. MacArthur contacted the local contractor, told him to lower his bid by a million dollars and ensured that he would make up the difference for the contractor. Because of this, the RCA plant was built in Palm Beach Gardens.

Today Palm Beach Gardens continues that tradition of technology with a flourishing bio-tech industry. Scripps Florida, a biomedical research facility opened in 2009 on the Palm Beach Gardens-Jupiter border creating new jobs in the area.

Palm Beach Gardens continues to offer its residents an incomparable lifestyle based on the principles of its founder’s vision. A city sponsored green market, stunning estate home communities throughout the city, upscale dining and shopping destinations, and cultural arts at the Eissey Theater, are just a few of the many reasons residents love Palm Beach Gardens.