The Founders of Juno Beach and Kagan Park

This park is named after Stanley Kagan, who was the highly-respected mayor of Juno Beach from 1956 to 1969. During his tenure, the town evolved from being a purely motel economy with fewer than a hundred residents to becoming a town of mostly condominiums and a population closer to a thousand. “Stan the Man” was a nature lover; he even had the state of Florida designate Pelican Lake as a bird sanctuary.

In the park, you may see people playing bocce or pétanque in the upper area by Ocean Drive with grapefruit-sized balls.

Just to the south of the park is the world-class Seminole Golf Club. This exclusive 18-hole private club opened in 1930 and is ranked as one of the top 100 in the world. It’s famous for having a very challenging course and for having amazing views of the ocean, which also brings gusts of wind that make the course more challenging.

If you had stood here in the 1960s and 1970s and looked across to the opposite side of Ocean Drive, you would have seen a famous landmark. The Juno Ball was a water tower that looked like a silver golf ball on a tee. This impressive water tower for the adjacent Golf Club was taller than the Jupiter Lighthouse.

The Juno Ball was not only a curiosity, it was a landmark for ocean fisherman. The Gulf Stream is only a few miles offshore here and offers amazing fishing grounds. Fishermen knew that when they were in sight of the Juno Ball, they were at a prime location.