Pearl City (Boca Raton)

Last updated February 09, 2024

Pearl City is a historic African American neighborhood, and the oldest community, in Boca Raton, Florida. The establishment of Pearl City predates the official incorporation of Boca Raton.^[1] In December 2023, Pearl City was added to National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service.^[2] The neighborhood's name is thought to be derived from the Hawaiian Pearl, a variety of pineapple grown in the Boca Raton area at the time of Pearl City's inception. Pearl City is located directly south of Glades Road between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway in Boca Raton. During segregation, Pearl City developed a rich social, economic and cultural life which persists today.

History

Early History

According to sociological documentation in the form of voice recordings of early Pearl City residents, the majority of Black individuals that migrated to South Florida were predominantly from either the Bahamian archipelago or from southern states such as Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. Around 1911, only a small number of African American families had migrated south to the Boca Raton area from other established areas such as Boynton Beach, Delray Beach and Lake Worth to find more adequate economic conditions. The area directly south of Boca Raton, Deerfield Beach, had an established African American community at this point in time.

Influential developers such as Thomas Rickards, Frank H. Chesebro, and George A. Long, and associate of Henry Flagler, established the economic and agriculture infrastructure in the Boca Raton area that would serve as the basis for the development of Pearl City. When Rickards, Chesebro and Long established their businesses in Boca Raton, they employed laborers from Deerfield Beach and Delray Beach at the newly established farms in Boca Raton.^[3]

Pearl City was established in 1915 as a community for those agricultural workers in Boca Raton who lived in Deerfield Beach approximately 5 miles away. The community was initially proposed by George Long so workers would not have to travel back and forth from Deerfield Beach to Boca Raton on a daily basis. Eventually, small parcels of land began to be offered for a minimum downpayment of $5. The parcels offered were smaller and more expensive than those offered to white families.^[4] One of the earliest residents of Pearl City, Alex Hughes, purchased one of the first lots in Pearl City for $25, $10 down payment where he built his home.

In 1920, Hughes addressed the Board of Public Education in West Palm Beach for the establishment of a school for Black children in Pearl City. After recruiting eight school children, the Board of Public Education provided a teacher for the school. The school building itself was a former White school that was moved from its original location west of the FEC railroad tracks near Palmetto Park Road to its new site on Dixie Highway and Eleventh Street. The move took a total of eighteen days.

During the 1930s and into the 1950s, most residents of Pearl City were employed at August Butts' green bean farms, which encompassed what is now referred to as West Boca. During this time, the residents experienced a regular lack of running water and electricity.

Revitalization

The neighborhood was designated a historic district by the decree of the Boca Raton City Council in 2002 and in 2023 Pearl City was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service. In recent years there has been aesthetic improvements to the neighborhood including street resurfacing projects.

A Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial was dedicated in 2001. The memorial is set in a small park on the grounds of Ebenezer Baptist Church, at the northeast corner of the Pearl City neighborhood.^[5]

Related Research Articles

Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. However, many people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city also experiences significant daytime population increases. A part of South Florida, Boca Raton is 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,138,333 at the 2020 United States Census.

Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and Broward County and the 26th-most populous in the United States, with 1,492,191 residents as of the 2020 census. Its county seat and largest city is West Palm Beach, which had a population of 117,415 as of 2020. Named after one of its oldest settlements, Palm Beach, the county was established in 1909, after being split from Miami -Dade County. The county's modern-day boundaries were established in 1963.

Boynton Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is situated about 57 miles (92 km) north of Miami. The 2020 census recorded a population of 80,380. Boynton Beach is located in the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida, which was home to 6,138,333 people at the 2020 census. The city is named after Nathan Boynton, a Civil War major and Michigan politician who became one of the first settlers in the area in 1895. Boynton Beach is located north of Delray Beach, south of Hypoluxo and Lantana, and east of Golf, while the municipalities of Briny Breezes, Gulf Stream, Manalapan, and Ocean Ridge are situated to the east across the Intracoastal Waterway.

Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about 64 miles (103 km) north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth Lagoon, which was named for General William J. Worth, who led United States Army forces during the last part of the Second Seminole War. Lake Worth Beach is situated south of West Palm Beach, southeast of Lake Clarke Shores, east of Palm Springs, and north of Lantana, while a small section of the city also partitions the town of Palm Beach. The 2010 census recorded a population of 34,910, which increased to 42,219 in the 2020 census. Lake Worth Beach is within the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,138,333 people in 2020.

West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami metropolitan area</span> Metropolis in the U.S. state of Florida

The Miami metropolitan area, also known as South Florida, SoFlo, SoFla, the Gold Coast, the Tri-County Area, or Greater Miami, and officially the Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, is a coastal metropolitan area in southeastern Florida. It is the ninth-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States, and the largest metropolitan area in Florida. With a population of 6.14 million, its population exceeds 31 of the nation's 50 states as of 2022. It comprises the three most populated counties in the state, Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County, which rank as the first, second, and third-most populous counties in the state, respectively. Miami-Dade County, with 2,716,940 people in 2019, is the seventh-most populous county in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deerfield Beach station</span>

Deerfield Beach station, also known as the Old Deerfield Beach Seaboard Air Line Railway Station, is a train station in Deerfield Beach, Florida. It is served by Amtrak intercity rail and Tri-Rail commuter rail trains.

The Hillsboro Canal is located in the southeastern portion of Florida within the South Florida Water Management District, and for much of its length forms the border between Broward and Palm Beach counties; however, its western end was entirely in Palm Beach County, until being recently annexed to Broward County-Parkland, FL. It begins at Lake Okeechobee at the S-2 water control structure in South Bay west of Belle Glade, Florida. It passes within the southern border of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge and flows southeast from there along Loxahatchee Road in a rural, lightly populated area. When it reaches the more heavily built-up region further east, it bends to head due eastward, forming the county line. Near its eastern end at the Intracoastal Waterway, with Boca Raton to the north and Deerfield Beach to the south, it departs from its straight course to go around several curves, but the county boundary continues to follow it at this point. 10 miles of the canal is navigable, and it is popular for recreational boating and fishing.

The Yamato Colony was an attempt to create a community of Japanese farmers in what is now Boca Raton, Florida, early in the 20th century. With encouragement from Florida authorities, young Japanese men were recruited to farm in the colony. There were as many as 75 Japanese men, some with their families, at the peak. There was "a cluster of two-story frame houses, a general store..., some packing houses."

Dixie Highway in Palm Beach and Broward counties carries two segments of the State Road 811 designation by Florida Department of Transportation, as well as the local County Road 811 in southeast Florida. The entire road comprises a section of the Dixie Highway, a National Auto Trail which eventually became a former routing of U.S. Route 1 after the route was shifted east to Federal Highway. One segment of SR 811 is in Broward County and the other is in Palm Beach County, Florida. The segments of SR 811 are supplemented by three shorter segments of CR 811, one of which is unsigned.

Military Trail is a 46.2-mile (74.35 km) long six-lane north–south arterial road in Broward and Palm Beach counties in South Florida. A portion of the road is designated State Road 809 (SR 809), but most of the road within Palm Beach County is locally maintained and signed as County Road 809 (CR 809), while the Broward County section exists without either designation.

Glades Road is an 11.115-mile (17.888 km) long east–west arterial boulevard in southern Palm Beach County, Florida. The majority of the road is signed as State Road 808, but the westernmost 3.5 miles (5.63 km) is designated as County Road 808. SR 808 begins at an intersection with US 441–SR 7 in what was formerly Mission Bay (but is now unincorporated Boca Raton; its eastern terminus is an intersection with Federal Highway in Boca Raton. The county-maintained segment proceeds west from US 441 / SR 7 and bends south to end at the western terminus of Palmetto Park Road.

Yamato Road is a 9.38-mile (15.10 km) east–west arterial boulevard in incorporated and unincorporated Boca Raton, Florida. A portion of the road in incorporated Boca Raton is designated State Road 794, while most of the road to the west is designated, but not signed, as County Road 794. Yamato is located on North 51st Street in the Boca Raton street numbering grid.

The 1947 Fort Lauderdale hurricane had widespread impacts in Florida. It produced significant flooding, damage to vegetation, and beach erosion in the Miami metropolitan area. After forming off West Africa on September 2, the storm moved on a parabolic path that brought it through The Bahamas as a Category 3 hurricane on September 16, eventually striking the city of Fort Lauderdale in South Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane on the following day. The hurricane later crossed the state, entered the Gulf of Mexico near Naples less than 24 hours later, and went on to strike Louisiana before dissipating on September 21.

Coral Way is a neighborhood within Miami, Florida that is defined by Coral Way, a road established by Coral Gables founder George E. Merrick during the 1920s. It is located in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020 was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located in South Florida, 52 miles north of Miami, Delray Beach is in the Miami metropolitan area.

West Boca Raton, also known as West Boca, is an unincorporated community west of the city of Boca Raton, Florida. It is populated by numerous developments such as Boca Landings, The Hamptons, Mission Bay, Sandalfoot Cove, Century Village, and Loggers' Run.

Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. Its history dates back to about 12,000 years ago, shortly after when Native Americans migrated into Florida. Juan Ponce de León became the first European in the area, landing at the Jupiter Inlet in 1513. Diseases from Europe, enslavement, and warfare significantly diminished the indigenous population of Florida over the next few centuries. During the Second Seminole War, the Battles of the Loxahatchee occurred west of modern-day Jupiter in 1838. The Jupiter Lighthouse, the county's oldest surviving structure, was completed in 1860. The first homestead claims were filed around Lake Worth in 1873. The county's first hotel, schoolhouse, and railway, the Celestial Railroad, began operating in the 1880s, while the first settlers of modern-day Lake Worth Beach arrived in 1885. During the 1890s, Henry Flagler and his workers constructed the Royal Poinciana Hotel and The Breakers in Palm Beach and extended the Florida East Coast Railway southward to the area. They also developed a separate city for hotel workers, which in 1894 became West Palm Beach, the county's oldest incorporated municipality. Major Nathan Boynton, Congressman William S. Linton, and railroad surveyor Thomas Rickards also arrived in the 1890s and developed communities that became Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton, respectively.

Stone Creek Ranch is a gated community located in the western parts of Delray Beach, Florida, straddling the city's border with Boca Raton. The community of 37 homes, each with a minimum acreage of 2.5 acres, is often featured in luxury magazines and is known for the notability of its residents. The community is developed by Kenco Communities, a luxury real estate developer in South Florida.

References

↑ Arias, Gina (September 23, 2022). "Pearl City: An unexpected historic Black community".
↑ "Weekly List 2023 12 08".
↑ "The Spanish River Papers: A report to the membership of the Boca Raton Historical Society, Inc". The Spanish River Papers. XV: 3, 4. 1986–1987.
↑ Priester, Cameron (February 9, 2023). "Pearl City: 108 years of resilience".
↑ Marcus, Jonathan D. (January 25, 2009). "Boca Raton group leads historic walk". South Florida Sun-Sentinel . Retrieved October 28, 2020.

External links

Boca Raton Historical Society: Pearl City

26°21′38″N80°05′05″W / 26.360556°N 80.084686°W / 26.360556; -80.084686

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Arias, Gina (September 23, 2022). "Pearl City: An unexpected historic Black community".

[2] "Weekly List 2023 12 08".

[3] "The Spanish River Papers: A report to the membership of the Boca Raton Historical Society, Inc". The Spanish River Papers. XV: 3, 4. 1986–1987.

[4] Priester, Cameron (February 9, 2023). "Pearl City: 108 years of resilience".

[5] Marcus, Jonathan D. (January 25, 2009). "Boca Raton group leads historic walk". South Florida Sun-Sentinel . Retrieved October 28, 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]