Welcome to the Jupiter Inlet District
Jupiter Inlet & the Loxahatchee River
History
Local History
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In 1696, the barkentine Resolution, with passengers including Philadelphia Quaker Jonathan Dickinson, his wife, and his infant son, ran aground in a storm on the beach of Jupiter Island, about five miles north of the inlet. In his diary, Dickinson recorded an account of the wreck, encounters of the survivors with the native Jeaga Indians, and their eventual rescue following an arduous trek north to Spanish St. Augustine. Convinced the party’s salvation resulted from divine intervention, Dickinson published an account of the journey in 1699. Usually called simply Jonathan Dickinson’s Journal, the volume became an immediate success and has been reprinted many times. The Loxahatchee River Historical Society’s collection includes a seventh edition of Jonathan Dickinson’s journal, published in 1791. |
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The Loxahatchee River Historical Society collection includes a framed Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Map of Florida, evidently printed ca. 1822. The map labels a feature “Grenvil Inlet” at the location of Jupiter Inlet. Who was Grenvil? Perhaps the name was a misspelled tribute to British statesman George Grenville (1712–1770). |
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This postcard image, taken from the lighthouse, looks east to Jupiter Inlet, with the U.S. Weather Bureau meteorological station in the foreground. |
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By the early 1930s, the jetty on the north side of the inlet provided stability. The rock ballast is visible near the left side of the photograph. |
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By the mid-1940s, a bridge for U.S. 1 spanned the inlet. Part of the bridge remains today as a fishing pier. The more distant road and railroad bridges cross the lower Loxahatchee River. The Central Embayment is visible in the background. |
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A German submarine torpedoed this ship off Jupiter Inlet—one of the 111 ships lost to U-boats in the Gulf Stream, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean during World War II. |
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Dr. James A. Henshall, author of the guide Camping and Cruising in Florida, caught this 360-pound jewfish (Goliath Grouper) off the Jupiter Lighthouse dock during a visit in 1884. Anglers, including lighthouse tenders Capt. James A. Armour and his son-in-law, Capt. Joseph Wells, caught many jewfish and sawfish in the area during the late 1800's. (Courtesy of Loxahatchee River Historical Society) |
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Looking west from the Jupiter lighthouse, this is one of the earliest known photographs of the Loxahatchee River and its Central Embayment, with Pennock Point the far shore. Known as West Jupiter—and sparsely settled until Flagler brought his Florida East Coast Railroad through in 1894—this was a strategic area during the second and third Seminole Wars and the War Between the States. (Date and photographer unknown; courtesy of Lynn L. Drake Collection) |
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Frank McGinnis, a well known fisherman and charter boat captain in Jupiter kept a dock on the NW side of the original U.S. Highway 1 Bridge behind Shuey's Inn. Shuey's had a restaurant, heated cottages, gas station, and fishing pier where "Everything for the fisherman may be bought or rented." (Courtesy of Lynn L. Drake Collection) |
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The school boat Maine, perhaps named in honor of the USS Maine, is said to be a lifeboat from the historic battleship. The Maine provided area children with transportation to and from school before the days of bridges. Dr. Charles Jackson, a teacher, began operating the Maine in 1903. The school boat was perhaps military surplus, as the USS Maine blew up in Havana Harbor in 1898, precipitating the Spanish–American War. No source has suggested how a lifeboat from a battleship that exploded became a school transport five years later. (Courtesy of William Carlin White Collection |
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Men on the pier beside ship Salvor, Jupiter Inlet. Between 1920 and 1939 (?) Rocks on the pier are ballast for construction of a jetty in Jupiter Inlet. Construction of the jetties began in 1922. The tug Salvor was a workboat for the jetty project. |
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Steamboat Ibis on the Loxahatchee River, before 1902. The sidewheel steamer Ibis was among the steamboats and sailing craft engaged in commerce on the Indian River Lagoon and coastal rivers in the late 19th Century. Here, she navigates the Loxahatchee River, some time before 1902. |
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Captain Armour and Captain Wells 1890s L-R: Mr. Heiser and Captains Armour and Wells were keepers of the Jupiter Inlet lighthouse. This photograph was made around 1895. |
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RR Trestle ca. 1890-95. The Celestial Railroad pier was under construction on the south shore of Jupiter Inlet in the early 1890s. The railroad moved passengers and cargo from coastal steamers and sailing vessels south to booming Palm Beach. |