From Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade, 11 cities are celebrating their centennials in 2025 and 2026. WLRN News' series History We Call Home spotlights the moments, ideas and people that made these cities part of our community's fabric over the past century.
A row of pavilions along a beach dune, near the Jupiter Lighthouse in Palm Beach County, marks the spot where the Jupiter Inlet Life-Saving Station once stood — and where many lives were saved and lost.
Founded in 1885, it was among the first of a fledgling U.S. network of coastal search and rescue stations. Manned by brave 'surfmen' who — guided by the nearby lighthouse — would come to the aid of shipwrecked sailors, it played a key role in reducing deaths along Florida's perilous Atlantic coast.
And while historians even tie the station to the creation of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Spanish-American War efforts, this history simply isn't common knowledge to locals.
As the Town of Jupiter celebrates its centennial, the evolution from a quaint agricultural town to a thriving community in the northernmost part of Palm Beach County is bringing renewed attention to its 19th century roots.
In a community that honors its maritime heritage, the life-saving station remains a strong “link between our local history and broader national events," said Josh Liller, historian at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum.
The centennial celebrations this year serve as a window for residents and visitors not familiar with Florida's past beyond Disney World or the invention of the air conditioning, he added.
“We have a past here from early Native Americans, the pioneers, the military, oftentimes doing roles that people don't always think about,” Liller said. “They think more of the fighting, not the radio stations and the training stations or the navigation or rescue stations.
"And even the fact that we're celebrating Jupiter's centennial this year is an example of looking at the almost complicated history of Jupiter itself, because we were a community for three, four decades before we became an incorporated town.”
READ MORE: History We Call Home: How the Great Land Boom shaped South Florida 100 years ago
When Jupiter was first incorporated on February 9, 1925, there were fewer than 100 voters. And the 1950 census showed that the entire Jupiter-Tequesta area had fewer than 1,000 people, both inside and outside the town limits.
That pales in comparison to the more than 61,000 people that make up the town today, according to recent Census numbers.
Known for its small-town charm, Jupiter has a reputation for its laid-back atmosphere — a haven for nature lovers who engage in various recreational activities at scenic parks and waterfront locations.
Life-saving station and the houses of refuge
Today, the South Florida coastline is often known for overcrowded beaches and overdevelopment, but it wasn’t always that way.
In the 19th century, when maritime transportation was predominant in the region, its deserted beaches were prone to shipwrecks due to challenging coastal conditions, often caused by shallow waters and unpredictable storms.
The life-saving station in Jupiter was set up as part of a wider network that had sprung into action some decades prior.
Under the Newell Act in 1848, the U.S. government started funding unmanned life-saving stations to support rescue missions along the New Jersey coast south of New York Harbor, appropriating $10,000 to build eight "life-boat stations" — that's around $400,000 in today's dollars.
The initiative marked the start of federal participation in organized lifesaving efforts along the U.S. coastline. The U.S. Life-Saving Service (USLSS) became an official federal agency in 1878, under the U.S. Treasury Department's Revenue Marine Division.
More than a decade later, the Town of Jupiter, Florida, became part of the fully-fledged, national rescue operations. Its life-saving station was led by an early pioneer of Jupiter: Charles Robert Carlin, an English immigrant who had worked as assistant keeper at the lighthouse. In 1885 he became the first keeper of the Jupiter Inlet Life-Saving Station — and served until its closure in to 1896.
“We have a past here from early Native Americans, the pioneers, the military, oftentimes doing roles that people don't always think about."Josh Liller, historian at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & Museum
During the life-saving station’s operation, its crew — composed of a keeper and six 'surfmen' — actively directed ships in peril away from the beach or out of the inlet’s choppy waters. But they also rushed into the ocean, using small boats and outsized valor to rescue sailors. The unofficial motto of the surfmen was that “you had to go out, but you did not have to come back.”
Survivors would end up at one of ten houses of refuge, built by the U.S. Life-Saving Service from Miami Beach up to Flagler Beach. The houses of refuge provided shelter and were staffed by contractors and their families. Only one remains standing today: the Gilbert's Bar House of Refuge, now a museum in Stuart — 40min north of Jupiter — is the last of its kind.
“These survivors could recover at the refuge before being sent to larger cities like St. Augustine or Miami to continue their journey.” Liller said.
Liller described the station as a “little wrinkle of history, a very obscure part of our military history."
Through its connection with the U.S. Life-Saving Service, the Jupiter station played an indirect but significant role to the development of what would eventually become the U.S. Coast Guard as we know it today.
In 1915, the U.S. Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service, a federal agency that enforced custom laws and maritime safety, merged to form the U.S. Coast Guard under the Coast Guard Act, signed by President Woodrow Wilson.
The combined rescue operations and law enforcement duties established a more efficient maritime agency, with enhanced search-and-rescue capabilities.
Things eventually changed for life-saving stations by the turn of the century.
"A lot of the original reasons for having a life-saving station here had changed. The railroad had come through, so there was less shipping," Liller said. "There had been an intercoastal waterway predecessor built to connect Jupiter down to Lake Worth. So ships didn't have to go out the Jupiter Inlet and then come back in."
Coast Guard and the Spanish American War
As the Jupiter Life-Saving Station was closing, the Spanish-American War in 1898 prompted the U.S. military to develop the Coast Signal Service, which leveraged existing infrastructure to report enemy ship movements.
The life-saving station would eventually be used as a lookout — Naval Reserve members stationed at the station would spot enemy ships using semaphore flags, spyglasses and telegraph lines.
This small operation laid the groundwork for the military’s extensive lookout networks in World War I and World War II at lighthouses and Coast Guard stations across the country.
Today, no buildings remain at the Life-Saving Station site in Jupiter but a historical marker on the land now known as Carlin Park, named after Capt. Carlin, honors its pioneering legacy, highlighting the people who worked there.
The Jupiter site and the surviving life-saving station in Stuart were both part of the same operational network. And when the Jupiter Inlet Station closed, its responsibilities were absorbed in the Stuart station, which still serves as a reminder of the USLSS' lasting impact on maritime safety.
More than a 100 years later, this little-known story about community service all but encapsulates the endearing character of this small but gradually growing town.
"It's a chance to look at the past and see in some cases how rapidly things have happened and understand the changes over time," Josh Liller said. "And how we got to be how we are now and kind of use that information to help guide, you know, what we do in the future."
