~EL CID HISTORIC DISTRICT HISTORY~
Benjamin Lanehart became the first permanent resident of the western shore of Lake Worth in 1875, and built a cabin near Barcelona Road with help from his cousin, William Lanehart. For thousands of years, the Everglades had isolated the area from the rest of Florida. There is no evidence of permanent settlements here by the indigenous Jeaga or Tequesta, the Spani
sh or the Seminoles. In 1876, Lanehart homesteaded land that includes the entire historic district north of Belvedere Road. Soon afterward, Elizabeth Wilder (Moore) settled on the Lake just to the south of Lanehart. In 1883, she officially homesteaded land that includes the entire historic district south of Belvedere Road. Arriving pioneers purchased pieces of the Lanehart and Wilder homesteads, and divided the two properties into 22 parcels by 1910. Lanehart started the first commercial pineapple operation in the area, and pineapples soon dominated local agriculture. By the turn of the century, George Matham's Florida Pineapple Company covered most of the historic district north of Sunset Road with pineapple fields. Competition from Cuba and disease ruined the pineapple business early in the new century. In 1894, Henry Flagler's railroad arrived, and the Town of West Palm Beach incorporated. The town's population doubled in the 1900's, and quadrupled again during the 1910's. El Cid was a product of the 1920s Land Boom, when the population doubled again. In the 1920s, Pittsburgh socialite Jay Phipps, the son of Andrew Carnegie's partner in U.S. Steel, assembled old pineapple fields and other property to develop the three largest subdivisions in the historic district under the El Cid name. Between 1923 and 1926, independent builders sold expensive Mediterranean Revival and Mission-style homes on most available lots. Ten subdivisions of predominantly Spanish-style homes around Phipps' original subdivisions came to be known locally as El Cid. Phipps named his development El Cid after the celebrated Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (1040-1099), who led Castilans and Iberian Moors to conquer Valencia in 1094. Moors called him "Cid," an Arabic term meaning "lord." Today, the location of El Cid on the west shore of Lake Worth near downtown, combined with its concentration of outstanding period architecture, attracts professionals and business owners who are proud to call the historic district home. The El Cid Historic District is listed on the local, State and National Register of Historic Places. The district is bounded by Flamingo Drive, South Flagler Drive, Dyer Road and South Dixie Highway. It contains 281 historic buildings.
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