Development continued rapidly after Forest Hill Community High School opened just across the West Palm Beach Canal from Lake Clark Shores in 1958. The first census of the town occurred in 1960, which recorded a population of 1,297. In its early years, Lake Clarke Shores was almost entirely residential in nature. A 1962 description of the town in "The Palm Beach Post" noted that Forest Hill Baptist Church (now New Life Alliance Church) was the only non-residential building. However, the town council began passing ordinances later in the 1960s to allow commercial properties along Forest Hill Boulevard. The first commercial building, a gas station, opened at the corner of Forest Hill Boulevard and Florida Mango Road in June 1967. The town council, having long recognized the need for a town hall, finally authorized the construction of a town hall on Barbados Road in the 1970s, which opened in August 1974. The town hall would be dedicated on February 20, 1977. About 10 years later, in May 1987, a building headquartering the Lake Clarke Shores Police Department was completed.