West Palm Beach, Florida

West Palm Beach is a city located in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 82,103. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 95,344. It is the county seat of Palm Beach County.

The city was founded by Henry Flagler in 1894, as a community to house the servants working in the two grand hotels on the neighboring island of Palm Beach, across Lake Worth. During the 1920s, the city boomed and was a rival to Miami, leaving it with many historic structures and neighborhoods. The city quickly declined thereafter, however, due to hurricanes, the Great Depression and rampant suburbanization. In the past 10 years, however, the city had undergone a tremendous renaissance as newcomers have rediscovered the city's historic areas and a resurgent downtown entertainment and shopping district. Due to Florida's stringent annexation laws, the city's boundaries remain roughly at their 1920s position, giving the city a population much smaller than the large metropolitan area of nearly 1.2 million people that surrounds it.

In 2000, the city was the focal point of a controversy regarding voting irregularities that some claim may have affected the outcome of the 2000 Presidential Election.