Porte Francis Quinn (1881-1945) was born in Vinton, Iowa, to Sabina Smythe and Richard H. Quinn. He was married there in 1899 to Helene Elizabeth Salisbury (1878-1956), born in Chicago, and became an automobile dealer.
The Quinns began visiting the Palm Beaches in 1915 with their daughters ñMargaret, Catharine, and Josephine ñ and moved to the area in 1918, renting a house at 419 Jessamine Street, West Palm Beach. They purchased their first home at the corner of Lakeview and Olive avenues, which became Clark Oldsmobile, and in 1926 moved to El Brillo Way in Palm Beach. Quinn sold real estate from offices in the First National Bank Building and the Citizens Bank Building in West Palm Beach.
During a visit to New York in the 1930s, Quinn extolled the virtues of South Florida for a New York paper, one of the ways he remained successful during the lean years of the Depression. He advertised ocean frontage and upscale subdivisions and was well acquainted with architect Addison Mizner and publishers Bobo Dean and Oscar Davies. Quinn sold Florida Power & Light the land for its Riviera Beach power plant, and owned part of what became Galt Ocean Mile in Broward County.
Josephine Quinn married Frederick Guenther and lived in Palm Beach most of her life. Margaret married William Parker and moved to Georgia. Catharine married Richard Green Johnson, Jr. (see bio) and remained in Palm Beach.