Two Banyan trees with a combined limb spread encompassing one-half acre form the entrance to the City of Palm Beach Gardens. Palm Beach Gardens was developed by insurance magnate and philanthropist John D. MacArthur, who envisioned his 4,000-acre development as a garden city for 55,000 people and chose the name Palm Beach Gardens after his initial choice, Palm Beach City, was denied by the Florida Legislature because of its similarity to nearby Palm Beach. The city was incorporated on June 20, 1959, as a paper town, meaning that at that point it existed only on paper. To showcase his new community, MacArthur purchased an 80-year-old Banyan tree in nearby Lake Park in 1960 after it was threatened with destruction, and moved it to Palm Beach Gardens. The tree weighed 75 tons, had a limb spread of 125 feet, and required 1,008 hours of labor and $30,000 to move. The following year, MacArthur moved a second, smaller Banyan tree weighing 40 tons from Lake Park after it was also threatened with destruction. The trees are featured on the Palm Beach Gardens city shield and stand at the city’s entrance today.