In the early days before KLAC existed, what is now our beautiful park was farmland.  From about 1912 to 1928, various owners of the land grew pumpkins and pineapples here to put on boats and sell on the mainland and in Key West.  In the 1930's the land became part of the exclusive "Florida Year Round Club" and at some point the current park land became a hydroponic garden growing vegetables for the restaurant in the clubhouse.   Later it became a flower garden.
 
 In 1965, Hurricane Betsy hit the club doing serious damage.  At that time, the park area was made into a 9-hole golf course.  A member who played the course back then recalled the fairways were mostly coral, so balls flew frighteningly in every direction.  There were no lakes at that time.  In the late 1980's a master plan to develop and sell home sites and build condominiums in what is now the park was undertaken to help the club's financial struggles.  The land was cleared, and the lakes were dug to enhance the beauty of the home sites. The first fish put in the lakes were mullet brought from Card Sound that grew to enormous sizes because they had no predators.  Lush tropical foliage and many orange, lemon, and kumquat trees were planted.  Paths, boardwalks and nature trails were added, and a 3 hole "executive" golf course was built in place of the old 9-hole course. There was an elevated tee box for the first hole near what is today the time capsule garden.  The course was challenging with shots across water on each hole.  It was quickly abandoned within a few years due to the challenges and costs of maintenance.  
 
After Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, many palms and gumbo limbos were added to beautify the park area. A flock of escapee green parrots took up residence.   By 1995 no one had opted to build on any of the lots that had been sold which was a bit of serendipitous luck for the future of the park.  Chris Everhart, who had taken over management of the club, began working on a plan to reduce the number of lots and to create open space for the park in order to preserve the old Florida Keys atmosphere that was the hallmark of KLAC. The new plan to reduce the home sites to only 12 lake front parcels and to create open space for the park was approved by 100% of the membership.  Soon, seedlings of native tree species began to crop up along the lake banks and two gardens were added.  The paths were gravel and the bridges wooden at that time.  As Chris describes it, the park was at first "a rough-cut gem" with a lot of potential to have a beautiful open space for all to enjoy.  
 
The Park remains a work in progress.  The beautiful coral bridges were added in 2000. The butterfly garden was restored in 2020.  With your support, the future of the park will continue to evolve.