CHOSEN

NAME: Chosen
COUNTY: Palm Beach
ROADS: 2WD
GRID: 4
CLIMATE: hot most of the year, mild to cold in winter
BEST TIME TO VISIT: anytime
COMMENTS: Located along the southeast edge of Lake Okeechobee, on the mainland north side of Canal Street at the Torry Island Bridge. No residents; townsite is now a sugarcane field.
REMAINS: possible Indian artifacts, nothing from Chosen
J.R. Leatherman, a preacher from Virginia, founded the town of Chosen along the southeast bank of Lake Okeechobbee. It was originally a Calusa Indian site with artifacts and burial mounds. The town name came from a Biblical reference to "this being the Chosen Place." It was a farming community and in 1921 had it's own school and Post Office. It met it's untimely end when the Hurricane of 1928 flooded and destroyed many of the small communities around the Lake. The muck dike on the south part of the Lake was breached by a 17 foot wave, sending a wall of black muddy water thru the town. The McCormick family who lived in Chosen at the time documented their experience during the storm, which ultimately killed over 2300 people. In the 1930's the Smithsonian Institute excavated the Calusa Indian settlement at the former town of Chosen, now referred to by many simply as "Indian Mound". Submitted by: Jim Pike


Chosen
Courtesy Jim Pike


Chosen - Nov 2007
Courtesy Jim Pike


Chosen, 1922.  Courtesy of the Florida Archives
Courtesy Jim Pike


Close-up of 1928 Hurricane map showing Chosen
Courtesy Jim Pike


Calusa Indian pottery from Chosen
Courtesy Jim Pike


Stein house at Chosen, photo undated
Courtesy Jim Pike


The West apartments and general store, rebuilt in 1934. Shown as builiding on right in 1922 Archive photo.
Courtesy Jim Pike


Site of the original 1921 Chosen Post Office
Courtesy Jim Pike

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