7 things to know about Wellington, Florida: Swamplands turned stomping grounds
Rachida Harper Skinner
Editor's note: We're all in on covering Palm Beach County, which we've done for over 100 years. Journalism like ours takes time and resources. Please consider a subscription to The Palm Beach Post.
* * *
How much do you know about where you live? This story is part of a series diving into quirky histories and fun facts about cities across Palm Beach County. Click here to read more.
Wellington will celebrate its 26th year as an incorporated village this December, but its history dates to the 1950s and involves land speculators, acres of fruit, leaders of industry and visits from Britain's royal family.
Here are seven things you may not know about it.
1. Who was Wellington? And what's this about a flying cow?
In 1951, a New York businessman and investor named Charles Oliver Wellington purchased 18,000 acres of swampland at the edge of the Everglades on the advice of Arthur William "Bink" Glisson, an agent for the Bateman Real Estate Agency of Pompano Beach.
That land later became the Village of Wellington. The key change took place in the early 1970s. Investment Corp. of Florida in 1971 bought 7,400 acres from Wellington's estate for $5.9 million. Palm Beach County approved a plan for the area in 1972, with plans to house 37,000 people. 1974 saw the first homes occupied.
Charles Oliver Wellington also was a pilot and used a western section of his property as a landing strip for his plane. Today, that landing strip is known as Flying Cow Road, "COW" being Wellington's initials.
2. Who was Bink, and who named a forest after him?
The village may carry Wellington's name, but it was the man nicknamed "Bink" – Arthur William Glisson – who catalyzed its transformation from swampland to the mix of farmland, neighborhoods and equestrian areas it is today.
He was proudest of what he called the Big Blue, 91 acres of cypress he discovered and demanded that developers preserve when Palm Beach Polo and Country Club was under construction decades ago. Legend has it he pulled a gun on a Polo employee who drove a tractor too close to the preserve.
Although the village he helped create does not bear his name, a stretch of the village at Southern Boulevard and Flying Cow Road reminds visitors of his presence: Binks Forest Drive, Binks Forest Elementary School, and the Binks Forest residential community. Old-timers just referred to the area as Bink's woods.
3. The Acme Improvement District: Is this a Warner Brothers cartoon?
No. It's real, not something out of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, and it's still part of Wellington life today.
Two years after Wellington bought the property, the Florida Legislature created the Acme Improvement District to drain the land and control flooding in the area, and then four years later to build and maintain roads to prepare the area for development.
Bink served as the district's first employee and general manager, and Wellington was its first chairman.
Up until Dec. 31, 1995, the special district served as Wellington's local government.
Acme is now a dependent district of the village, and the two bodies share the same governing board. In addition to providing water, it still builds roadways and maintains equestrian trails.
4. Strawberry fields, for a while
After the Acme Improvement District was established, Wellington became a suitable location for agriculture, and portions of the land were sold to farmers for growing crops such as strawberries. In all, there were 2,000 acres of farmland growing them, making Wellington for a time the world's largest strawberry patch. A variety of citrus fruits thrived on the property as well.
Nowadays, strawberries can be found at local farmer's markets. The Lakeside Market at Wellington Town Center will open every Friday from 5-9 p.m. beginning Oct. 1 to offer a selection of fresh produce. There are other markets in the western communities as well.
5. Population of Wellington has grown larger and more diverse
At one point, the number of horses in Wellington today outnumbered the people living there in 1953, when fewer than 100 people called it home. By 1980, about 8,000 people lived there, and according to the 2020 Census, the village's total population is now 61,637, making it about equal in size to Jupiter.
The village has grown in both number and diversity over the years. Today, about 3-in-5 residents are white. In 2010, when the total population was 56,508, about 4-in-5 of the residents were white.
Over the past decade, Black, Hispanic, and Asian populations have grown in Wellington, with 6,718 Black residents, 3,245 Asian residents and 14,912 Hispanic residents now making up about 40% of the total population.
6. Wellington is the 'Winter Equestrian Capital of the World'
The village is deeply rooted in the equestrian lifestyle, so much so that a horse outline appears on its community emblem, and it has been deemed the Winter Equestrian Capital of the World.
During the height of the season, up to 20,000 horses can be found in Wellington at any given time.
Many of these horses compete at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center during the Winter Equestrian Festival, the longest-running equestrian event in the world. From January to April, thousands of athletes, some of them Olympians, demonstrate their skills in sports such as dressage and show jumping.
After the competition ended two weeks early due in 2020, and closed to spectators this year because of COVID-19, the Winter Equestrian Festival will make a full return Jan. 12.
To stay up to date with the festival, visit the equestrian center's website at Palm Beach International Equestrian Center or call the center at 561-793-JUMP (561-793-5867).
7. Prestigious polo players and million-dollar spectators
Wellington's prestigious polo grounds put the village on the map as a community fit for royalty.
William T. "Bill" Ylvisaker is largely credited with bringing the so-called sport of kings to Wellington in the late 1970s, when he opened Palm Beach Polo and Country Club, just west of the present-day homes of the Mall at Wellington Green and Wellington Regional Medical Center.
Prince Charles often visited the club to compete in the days before the village was incorporated. In 1985, he was joined by Princess Diana, where she presented the winning team with the Princess of Wales trophy.
Prince Harry, Diana and Charles' son, followed in 2016 when he played a charity match at Valiente Polo Farm.
Polo also helped raise Wellington's profile with people of wealth, many of whom have become part-time residents and the owners of multimillion-dollar homes.
They include former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose daughter Georgina competes in equestrian events; Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates; and rock star Bruce Springsteen, whose daughter, Jessica Springsteen, won an Olympic silver medal as an equestrian this summer in Tokyo.
rharper@pbpost.com