Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,437 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,389.Lantana is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 9,437 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 10,389.
The first settlers came to the area after Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 at the end of the Seminole Wars during the Administration of President John Tyler. The M.B. Lyman family is credited with founding the Town. Lyman arrived with his family in 1888 and within a year started several enterprises including a general store, Indian Trading Post and a post office. As postmaster, Lyman named the post office – Lantana Point – for the wild Lantana plant that grew in abundance in the area. The word Point was later dropped.[4]
One of the other Lyman businesses was the Lantana Fish Company. In the early 1900s the gathering and marketing of oysters became the Town's leading industry. The Town of Lantana was incorporated in 1921 with 22 residents voting in the first election. At the time of incorporation, the area of Lantana was one square mile with a population of 100 residents.[4]
After World War II, Lantana, like the rest of South Florida experienced a tremendous building boom which continues to this day. Interstate Highway 95, which was completed through Lantana in the mid-1970s, brought a surge of commercial development to the Town.
For most of the 1970s and 1980s, Lantana was home to the tradition of hosting the largest Christmas Tree in the World. Every year, a huge tree would be shipped from the Pacific Northwest to Lantana by rail to the property of the National Enquirer, adjacent to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The event would attract thousands of visitors every night, and grew to be one of Palm Beach Counties most spectacular and celebrated events. The torch went out for this annual festivity with the death, at the age of 61, of National Enquirer founder Generoso Pope Jr. in the late 1980s.
Today, the Town of Lantana covers 2.25 square miles and boasts a year round population of about 10,000 residents. During the winter, the population swells to around 14,000 residents.
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