John Prince Memorial Park facts for kids

John Prince Memorial Park is a large park located in Lake Worth, Florida. It covers about 726 acres, which is like 550 football fields! A big part of the park, about 338 acres, is actually Lake Osborne. The Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation Department takes care of the park.

Most of John Prince Park is along the western and northern edges of Lake Osborne. It has lots of cool things to do, like:

• A big dog park called Lake Woof, with five different sections for dogs.
• Pavilions for picnics and gatherings.
• Playgrounds for kids.
• Courts for tennis, basketball, and volleyball.
• A place to launch boats, canoes, and kayaks.
• An outdoor fitness area.
• A campground where you can stay overnight.

The park is named after John Prince, who was a county commissioner for 18 years. A county commissioner is like a local leader who helps manage the county. Mr. Prince worked hard in the 1930s and 1940s to get people and the state to donate over 1,000 acres of land. This land became the park, the Lake Worth campus of Palm Beach State College, and the Lantana Airport.

John Prince Park is thought to be the second oldest county park in all of Florida!

Park History

The land that became John Prince Memorial Park was once a huge area of wetlands and lakes. John Prince, who was a Palm Beach County commissioner from 1934 to 1948, started trying to get this land in the mid-1930s. He wanted to turn the undeveloped land near Lake Osborne into a park.

Mr. Prince was very good at convincing people. Even after the Governor told him that much of the land was privately owned, he talked to each owner and got them to sell their property. After the land was bought, the county started to prepare it for a park. They cleared and filled the land by digging around Lake Osborne. Today, only about 6 acres of the original wetlands remain in the park.

A part of the land was set aside to build the Palm Beach County Park Airport, which opened in 1941. More land was also given to create camps for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

In its early days, the park was known as Lake Osborne Park. But after John Prince passed away in June 1952, the park was renamed in his honor. It was officially dedicated as John Prince Memorial Park on November 11, 1952. In the mid-1950s, the county donated 114 acres of land in the park's northwest corner to Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach State College). This land was used to build a permanent campus, which opened in 1956.

Campground Fun

The campground at John Prince Park covers 48 acres of the park's total 726 acres. The office is open from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The campground has about 277 spots where you can set up tents or park your RV.

The campground started in 1956. This happened after the Gulf Stream Council (which is the local Boy Scouts of America group) gave their Camp Osborne to Palm Beach County. Even today, some scouting activities still take place in a small area of the campground called Scout Hill.