Kravis Center

Fun Facts

Visitors to Palm Beach County’s premier performing arts venue, the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, often wonder about the man for whom the magnificent building is named.

Raymond F. Kravis was the Chairman of Raymond F. Kravis & Associates, Inc. and was one of the country’s leading oil and gas consultants. A major philanthropist in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma and in Palm Beach where he and his wife, Bessie, wintered for more than 30 years, Mr. Kravis served as an officer and director of numerous civic organizations. Because of his outstanding philanthropy and generosity, a consortium of his friends, spearheaded by Kravis Center Founding Chairman Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr., donated more than $7 million to the fledgling arts center in Mr. Kravis’ name in 1985. In 1987, Palm Beach County’s performing arts center was officially named for him.

The highest point in Palm Beach County, the downtown site of the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts has long been a spot where people have gathered for entertainment. For more than 60 years, the Kravis Center property was home to Connie Mack Field (formerly Wright Field), a baseball facility named after Mack, a Hall of Famer and baseball manager for over 50 years. Spring training camp for the Philadelphia Athletics and the St. Louis Browns, Connie Mack Field saw action from some of the greatest names in baseball: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle among them. Today, a commemorative plaque on the grounds of the Kravis Center marks the spot of home plate of Connie Mack Field.