The palm-tree lined beach promenade is named after Mr. Arnold Schad. He served as mayor of Swakopmund in German South-West Africa from 1915 until 1918, and again from 1920 until 1931 in then South-West Africa.

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Arnold Schad was born in Berlin, had first moved to SWA / Namibia as a merchant trader in 1888, worked in Otjimbingwe, Lüderitz and later moved to Swakopmund at the Atlantic coast fo the country. From 1908 he was a shareholder of trading company "Von Tippelskirch & Co".
Schad was a manager of Tippelskirch until 1931.

He was very active in social circles and in public life. He played various instruments, but mainly the violin in musical ensembles, and was member of the "Männergesangverein Swakopmund".

He also served as regional representative of the first "Landesrat für Südwest-Afrika" from 1910.
Towards the end of his second tenure as mayor of Swakopmund, in 1929, Arnold Schad initiated the layout and planting of the beach promenade park.
Local palm species like the Makalani palm would not thrive at the coast, because of very salty air. Palm trees were brought from the Canary Islands. The Phoenix canariensis Canary island palm tree copes much better with the climate and the salt content of air and sandy soil.

There is a series of historical photographs, spanning from 1929 until present. All of these happen to be from a similar angle. The palm trees that grow along the beach promenade, in the central business area of Swakopmund and also line the entrance roads from Windhoek and Walvis Bay direction nowadays, aren't an indigenous palm species.

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They had been introduced from the Canary Islands since the late 1920's. This particular species Phoenix canariensis can tolerate the salt content of the fog precipitation without ill effects.

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