Today Boca Raton is all about excitement, lifestyle and world-class ambiance. Miles of white sandy beaches invite you to relax. The "Red Reef Park" is a great place to snorkel! There are reefs just 10 feet from the shoreline. On a clear day you can expect to encounter sea turtles, eels, stingrays, many striped and spotted fish, puffer fish, and a wide variety of sea snails. This park provides picnic tables, pavilion grills and a playground. A lifeguard is on duty from 9:00am to 5pm. Changing-rooms and restrooms are located right next door to the Golf Course.
The pride of Boca Raton's Beaches is the Spanish River Park with ninety-five acres of land and 1,850 feet of ocean frontage. It offers five covered shelters, restrooms, volleyball courts, picnic tables and grills, a two-level 40 foot observation tower, nature trails, fitness trails, tennis courts and boat docks.
Boca Raton is a fisherman's dream. The reason is that the Atlantic Gulf Stream comes the closest to land at the coastline from Boca Raton to Palm Beach.
The current brings in fish, especially dolphins, wahoo and marlin. Deep water for sport fishing is just miles off shore. Anywhere else you'd have to go out at least 60 to 100 miles to find deep water.
Many turtles choose to nest on Boca Raton's beaches. One of the most popular summer family outings is the Turtle Walk, provided by the people at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center.
West of Boca Raton, in the Everglades you can enjoy airboat rides and alligator sightings.
Aside from the many private championship golf clubs such as Boca Raton Resort & Club, Polo Club, Boca Woods Country Club, Broken Sound Golf Club, Boca West, Boca Lago Country Club and Boca Point Country Club, the city of Boca Raton provides Golf courses that are available to the public as well. The most desired one is the "Red Reef Golf Park", which is located on A1A between the Ocean and the Intracoastal.
One sensational city block is Mizner Park. Experience shopping under palms from specialty boutiques and nationally known retailers to a concert under the stars at the "Count de Hoernle Amphitheater".
"Mizner Park" has become one of the hottest locations known for its fine dining, nightlife, the museum and movie-theater. |
The Boca story begins with its first residents, the Calusa Indians, for whom the Everglades and Boca Raton represented a bounty of natural resources. The name Boca Raton first was associated with Biscayne Bay inlet, then in 1838 it was attached to the present site.
In 1895 civil engineer Thomas Moore Rickards built the first house. With the completion of Henry Morrison Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway in 1896, families arrived from Georgia and South Carolina.
By the turn of the century, Jo Sakai, a Japanese businessman with a degree from New York University's School of Finance, got a glimpse of Boca Raton's potential and he sent word to his countrymen. Sakai named the Japanese colony Yamato - "large peaceful country". He and his people settled and farmed pineapples on land that is today occupied by Boca Raton's Airport and F.A.U. (Florida Atlantic University).
The colony was not particularly successful. There were disagreements between Sakai and the younger members of the colony. At this time one Japanese truck farmer, George Morikami, became a U.S. citizen at age 82 and bought 150 acres north and west of the city and settled there. Today this site is known as the "Morikami Museum and Japanese Garden" in Delray Beach.
Life for these early pioneers was hard work. The small community, which included several ethnic groups recruited by railroad magnate, Henry Flagler, tackled the backbreaking work of growing crops of oranges, pineapples and vegetables to ship to Northern markets.
The first settlers had no shortage of basic food supplies. They lived on deer, rabbit and fish, as well as the fruits of the native palmetto, guava, coco plum and sea grape trees.
They traded with their Seminole neighbors and also had the opportunity to shop at the grocery store, which was owned by Rickards' in nearby Delray Beach.
In 1920 the purchase of oceanfront property by a group of Palm Beach and Northern investors headed by society architect Addison Mizner; and the announcement of plans to build a giant, beachfront hotel complex changed the sleepy town of Boca Raton.
Mizner Development Corporation included stockholders such as Paris Singer, Irving Berlin, Elizabeth Arden, W.K. Vanderbilt II and T. Coleman du Pont.
At this time Mizner had already built 40 homes in the Palm Beach area.
Fresh from turning Palm Beach into a playground for the rich and famous, Mizner set out to transform Boca Raton into a dream city. The result: The 100 room, Spanish style Cloister Inn, today the famous Boca Raton Resort & Club, opened its doors in early 1926. This distinctive Mediterranean style set the standard for the local architecture.
Further he built twenty-nine homes in Floresta, (this historic area borders the Boca Raton Museum of Art), and at least 12 smaller homes in Spanish Village, (north of Singing Pines) and the Children's Museum.
In the mid-'1960s, Boca Raton's subtropical locale and business climate attracted such prestigious International Businesses as IBM and Florida Atlantic University. Other companies with an eye to the future soon followed. Between 1965 and 1980, newcomers in pursuit of the good life tripled Boca Raton's population. Now, greater Boca Raton's population accounts over 180,000. |
