Gulf Stream, a town in Palm Beach County, was founded in 1925 by Bessemer Properties as a planned golf community beside Gulf Stream Golf Club, which was itself established in 1924. The Town and the golf club took their name from the Florida Coast's Gulf Stream current. 

Initially, the company planned to name the golf community “Phipps Beach,” but more people remembered Gulf Stream better. Slowly, a cluster of seasonal homes began to be built along the oceanfront. Most were designed by renowned Palm Beach architects, including Maurice Fatio, John Volk, and Howard Major. Several of these original golf homes still exist and have not changed their appearance from the 1920s. 

Over the next few decades, the Town of Gulf Stream continued to grow while still adhering to the original Phipps vision of providing a place where residents and visitors can enjoy understated, yet elegant living. Continued renovation occurred on the golf course throughout the years and a new Town Hall was erected on a corner of the old Polo Fields. The old “cottages” of post-World War II were replaced by larger golf estate homes that showed the changing tastes and lifestyles of the area's golf home residents. 

Today, the Gulf Stream Golf Club neighborhood has approximately 1,000 residents with a median age of 58. The community has approximately 525 golf housing units and 360 households. Eighty-eight percent of these golf homes are owner-occupied. In 2011, the Town annexed 16.6 acres of land, adding 102 additional golf properties to the golf community. 

The children in the Gulf Stream community attend Gulf Stream Schools, a private institution founded in 1938, which offers quality education to up to 250 students from pre-Kindergarten to Grade 8.