A Glimpse of Jupiter in 1890: The DuBois Family at Home

JUPITER, Fla. — Long before busy roads, waterfront restaurants and modern neighborhoods defined Jupiter, a family gathered on the porch of their home and posed for a photograph.

The image, titled “DuBois family on the porch of their home — Jupiter, Florida,” is dated circa 1890 by the State Archives of Florida.

Preserved today through Florida Memory, the black-and-white photograph is a striking window into an earlier Jupiter.

The archival record provides few details about the moment itself. There are no names identifying each person on the porch and no story explaining why the photograph was taken. What remains is the image: a Jupiter family, their home and a moment preserved from more than a century ago.

The DuBois Family and Early Jupiter

The DuBois name is closely connected with Jupiter’s pioneer history.

Other photographs preserved by Florida Memory show Henry “Harry” DuBois and his family aboard sailboats in Jupiter around 1890. Harry DuBois, who lived from 1871 to 1924, also appears in a photograph of the Jupiter Inlet Life-Saving Station crew and their families from roughly the same period.

That station opened in 1886 and operated until 1896, according to Florida Memory. Its crew was part of the small community living and working around Jupiter Inlet during an era when boats, the lighthouse and the surrounding waterways played an essential role in local life.

A History Still Visible Today

The DuBois family’s connection to Jupiter can still be seen at DuBois Park.

The DuBois Pioneer Home overlooking Jupiter Inlet was built in 1898 and is considered one of the last surviving historic homesteads of its type in northern Palm Beach County.

The site represents history extending much further back than Jupiter’s pioneer era. The home stands atop a monumental shell mound constructed by the Jeaga people, who inhabited the Jupiter Inlet area at the time of European contact.

Together, the DuBois Pioneer Home and Jupiter Inlet Mound are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Jupiter Inlet Historic and Archeological Site.

It is important to note that the surviving Pioneer Home dates to 1898, several years after the circa-1890 porch photograph. The Florida Memory record identifies the building in the photograph simply as the DuBois family’s home in Jupiter.

Jupiter, Frozen in Time

For residents accustomed to Jupiter today, the photograph is a reminder of just how dramatically the community has changed.

There are no recognizable intersections or modern landmarks in the frame. Instead, the photograph preserves something more personal: a family standing outside its home in a small Florida community at the end of the 19th century.

More than 130 years later, their name remains on Jupiter’s map — from DuBois Park to the historic home overlooking the inlet.

And thanks to Florida Memory, one quiet moment on a Jupiter porch has survived with it.

Photo: DuBois family on the porch of their home — Jupiter, Florida, circa 1890. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Image No. RC09637.