Historical Society of Palm Beach County - News - The organization maintains an active research facility in the Paramount Building in Palm Beach. The collections relate to the heritage of all communities in Palm Beach County.

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PALM BEACH COUNTY’S 2005 – 2006 LECTURE SERIES CLOSES WITH DR. KELLY REYNOLDS

PALM BEACH, Fla. (May 25, 2006) — The Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s 2005 – 2006 lecture series came to a close recently with Dr. Kelly Reynolds, author of the historical biography, Henry Plant: Pioneer Empire Builder. The book chronicles the life of the man who brought the first railroad to Tampa in 1884, linking the Tampa Bay region with the Northeast and opening the lavish Tampa Bay Hotel.

Dr. Reynolds, costumed as Plant, presented an in-character monologue along with a backdrop of projected vintage photographs to a packed house at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach. Many of the photographs used featured Plant’s friend, rival and business partner, Henry Morrison Flagler. Guests of the lecture included George Greenberg, Marian Lewis, Kelly Barnes, Nan and Jim Gallagher, Justine Postal, Ruth Spector, Father David Kennedy, and LaRue and Don Dahlberg.

This season’s fascinating lineup of speakers has included Eliot Kleinberg, author of Weird Florida II: In a State of Shock;Susan Sully, author of Casa Florida; Lucia St. Clair Robson, author of Shadow Patriots: A Novel of the Revolution;Michael Grunwald, author of The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise;and Deborah Davis, author of Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and his Black and White Ball. The lectures are underwritten by Pioneer Linens and Northern Trust.

The Historical Society of Palm Beach County’s 2006-2007 lecture series will be announced in the fall. For more information, call the Historical Society of Palm Beach County at (561) 832-4164, or visit www.historicalsocietypbc.org.

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