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The city's first hotel, a six-story, 126-room Holiday Inn, opened for business in 1970 on PGA Boulevard. For a brief time, as seen in this brochure, the hotel was referred to as MacArthur's Holiday Inn, after John D. MacArthur, the city's founder.

An eight-foot statue of John D. MacArthur, sculpted by Pennsylvania artist Zenos Frudakis, was installed, after some debate over its location, within the municipal complex of North Military Trail.

Financier-developer John D. MacArthur announces on Thursday, April 5, 1973, that he will sell all his holdings in Palm Beach County and Florida and return to Illinois. The first sale was WEAT-TV (Channel 12) in West Palm Beach to Photo Electronics…

In the early 1960s, Walt Disney was looking to open a theme park on the East Coast. MacArthur (pictured) saw this as an opportunity for his new city and proposed land west of the Florida Turnpike, along PGA Boulevard. An agreement was reached, but…

MacArthur and his second wife, Catherine, pose in 1965 with their poodle, Lulu Belle. Catherine became MacArthur's business partner and helped him in his upward climb.

John D. MacArthur, founder of the city of Palm Beach Gardens, seen here with his dog Zeck in the mid-1960s, was born poor, the son of a Scottish preacher in rural Pennsylvania. After dropping out of high school, he became a self-made…

Early residents of Palm Beach Gardens, including John D. MacArthur, break ground on the PGA National Golf Course. Eventually, the name was changed from PGA to JDM, but the final name to which the site is known today is Ballen Isles.

John D. MacArthur stands with a sign indicating his intention to make golf a catalyst for turning scrubland into prime residential property. Curiously, MacArthur knew very little about golf and did not play the game. However, he recognized a good…

John D. MacArthur, founder of the City of Palm Beach Gardens, took great strides to uphold the "garden theme" and the beauty of his new community. He envisioned winding streets without sidewalks named after flowers and trees and lush native and…

In 1959, the main entrance to Palm Beach Gardens was north of Northlake and Garden (now MacArthur) Boulevards. In 1961, MacArthur transplanted a banyan tree to that site, and the tree became the city's symbol. MacArthur had heard about a resident in…