Lantana, Florida Facts for Kids

The first settlers came to the area after Congress passed the Armed Occupation Act of 1842 at the end of the Seminole Wars during the Administration of President John Tyler. The M.B. Lyman family is credited with founding the town. Lyman arrived with his family in 1888 and within a year started several enterprises including a general store, Indian Trading Post and a post office. As postmaster, Lyman named the post office – Lantana Point – for the wild Lantana plants that grew in abundance in the area. The word Point was later dropped.

One of the other Lyman businesses was the Lantana Fish Company. In the early 1900s the gathering and marketing of oysters became the town's leading industry. The Town of Lantana was incorporated in 1921 with 22 residents voting in the first election. At the time of incorporation, the area of Lantana was one square mile with a population of 100 residents.

After World War II, Lantana, like the rest of South Florida experienced a tremendous building boom which continues to this day. Interstate 95, which was completed through Lantana in the mid-1970s, brought a surge of commercial development to the town.

Since 1950, the town was the home of the A. G. Holley Hospital, the last of the old state-run sanitariums for patients with tuberculosis. The facility treated about fifty patients at a time, those with the most obdurate forms of the disease. The facility was demolished in November 2014.

From 1974 until 1988, Lantana was home to the tradition of hosting the largest decorated Christmas Tree in the world. Every year, a huge tree would be shipped from the Pacific Northwest to Lantana by rail to the grounds of the National Enquirer, adjacent to the Florida East Coast Railway tracks. The event would attract thousands of visitors every night, and grew to be one of the most spectacular and celebrated holiday events in South Florida. This annual festivity ended in 1989 due to the sale of the National Enquirer following the death of founder Generoso Pope Jr. at age of 61 in October 1988.

Today, Lantana covers 2.25 square miles (5.8 km²) and boasts a year-round population of about 10,000 residents. During the winter, the population swells to around 14,000 residents.

Geography

Lantana is located at 26°34′58″N 80°3′27″W / 26.58278°N 80.05750°W / 26.58278; -80.05750 (26.582797, -80.057587).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km²), of which 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²) is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²) (21.31%) is water.

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1930	188	—
1940	234	24.5%
1950	773	230.3%
1960	5,021	549.5%
1970	7,126	41.9%
1980	8,048	12.9%
1990	8,392	4.3%
2000	9,437	12.5%
2010	10,423	10.4%
2020	11,504	10.4%
U.S. Decennial Census

2020 census

**Lantana racial composition**
(Hispanics excluded from racial categories)
(*NH = Non-Hispanic*)
Race	Number	Percentage
White (NH)	5,701	49.56%
Black or African American (NH)	2,755	23.95%
Native American or Alaska Native (NH)	18	0.16%
Asian (NH)	192	1.67%
Pacific Islander (NH)	6	0.05%
Some Other Race (NH)	95	0.83%
Mixed/Multi-Racial (NH)	377	3.28%
Hispanic or Latino	2,360	20.51%
Total	11,504

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 11,504 people, 4,529 households, and 2,492 families residing in the town.

2010 census

Lantana Demographics
2010 Census	Lantana	Palm Beach County	Florida
Total population	10,423	1,320,134	18,801,310
Population, percent change, 2000 to 2010	+10.4%	+16.7%	+17.6%
Population density	4,547.8/sq mi	670.2/sq mi	350.6/sq mi
White or Caucasian (including White Hispanic)	69.3%	73.5%	75.0%
(Non-Hispanic White or Caucasian)	56.3%	60.1%	57.9%
Black or African-American	22.0%	17.3%	16.0%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race)	18.6%	19.0%	22.5%
Asian	1.5%	2.4%	2.4%
Native American or Native Alaskan	0.4%	0.5%	0.4%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races (Multiracial)	2.8%	2.3%	2.5%
Some Other Race	1.9%	3.9%	3.6%

As of the census of 2010, there were 5,186 households, out of which 18.8% were vacant. In 2000, the population 6.1% was under the age of 5, 21.4% was under the age of 18, and 13.8% were 65 years of age or older. The median income for a household in the town was $41,624. About 17.4% of the population was below the poverty line.

Culture

Lantana has a public library, with a collection of 19,376 volumes, as of 2005. In the same year, the library circulated 16,920 items, and it served a population of 9,574 residents.

Lantana was the publishing headquarters of the National Enquirer tabloid newspaper during the 1970s and much of the 1980s.

Sister cities

Lapua, Finland

Education

Public Elementary Schools

Lantana Elementary School
Starlight Cove Elementary
Barton elementary

Public Middle Schools

Lantana Community Middle School

Public High School

Santaluces Community High School

Public Charter School

Special Needs School

Notable people

Artine Artinian, literature scholar
Lori Berman, member of the Florida State Senate
Clifford L. Linedecker, author
Kathleen Ridder, philanthropist, educator, writer, equality for women activist
Paul Shannon, radio announcer

Lantana, Florida facts for kids

Contents

History