Overview
Boca
Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida and was incorporated in
May of 1925. As of the 2000 census, the incorporated area had a total
population of 74,764, the 2004 population recorded by the U.S. Census
Bureau is 78,069[1]. It is the largest city between West Palm Beach and
Pompano Beach. However, on November 2, 2004, the voters of the Via Verde
Association and the residents of the Waterside community approved
annexation into the incorporated area of Boca Raton, increasing the city
population to 83,960 and land area to a total of 29.6 square miles.
Geography
Boca Raton is located at 26�22′N 80�6′W (26.37, -80.10) GR1. Boca
Raton is the second most populous and southernmost city in Palm Beach
County. It is located on the East coast of Florida between Delray Beach
to the north and Deerfield Beach, in Broward County, to the south.
Demographics
There were 31,848 households out of which 24.1% had children under the
age of 18 living with them, 53.1% were married couples living together,
7.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.2% were
non-families. 29.5% of all households were made up of individuals and
11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The
average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.81.
In the incorporated area, the population was spread out with 18.9% under
the age of 18, 8.1% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 26.7% from 45 to
64, and 19.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43
years. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males. For every 100
females age 18 and over, there were 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the incorporated area was $60,248,
and the median income for a family was $77,861. Males had a median
income of $52,287 versus $33,347 for females. The per capita income for
the city was $45,628. About 4.1% of families and 6.7% of the population
were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and
4.9% of those age 65 or over.
The unincorporated area of the city is known for being more affulent
than the incorporated area. Unincorporated Boca Raton consists of many
census-designated places, including Boca Del Mar, Boca Pointe, Mission
Bay, Sandalfoot Cove, and Hamptons at Boca Raton.
Boca Raton and its neighboring communities in south Palm Beach County
have a strong Jewish presence which has added immeasurably to the local
culture and economy.
History
Listed on early maps as "Boca Ratones," many people wrongly assume
the name is simply translated to "Rat’s Mouth." The Spanish word boca
(or mouth) was often used to describe an inlet, while raton (literally
mouse) was used as a term for a cowardly thief. But the “Thieves Inlet,”
Boca Ratones, originally appeared on eighteenth century maps associated
with an inlet in the Biscayne Bay area of Miami. By the beginning of the
nineteenth century, the term was mistakenly moved north on most maps and
applied to Lake Boca Raton, whose inlet was closed at the time. The
Spanish language pronunciation has been retained by locals; "Boca Raton"
rhymes with "tone" and "alone" (not with "baton").
The Boca Raton Resort & Club Tower.The city's early history was as the
site of Addison Mizner's Boca Raton Hotel, its most prominent building.
The "pink hotel" today is visible from miles away as a towering building
on the Intracoastal Waterway. The Pearl City neighborhood of Boca Raton
was established to originally house the service personnel for the hotel.
Japanese farmers of the Yamato Colony converted the land west of the
city into pineapple plantations beginning in 1904. During World War II
much of their land was confiscated and used as the site of a major
training facility for B-29 bomber crews. Much of the airbase was later
donated to become the grounds of Florida Atlantic University, many of
whose parking lots are former runways of the airbase, while part of the
airbase is now used as Boca Raton Airport. The Japanese heritage of the
Yamato Colony survives in the name of Yamato Road (NW 51st Street) just
north of the airport and at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
northwest of the city.
Boca Raton was the site of two now vanished amusement parks, the Africa
U.S.A. park (1953-1961) and Ancient America (1953-1959). Africa U.S.A.
was a wild animal park in which the tourists drove through the park and
could view the animals outside their cars. It is now the Camino Gardens
subdivision one mile (1.6 km) west of the Boca Raton Hotel. Ancient
America was built surrounding a real Calusa Indian burial mound. Today,
the mound is still visible within the Boca Marina & Yacht Club
neighborhood on U.S. Route 1, just north of Yamato Road.
In the late 1960s, Boca Raton became the southern home to International
Business Machines. In 1965, well before the extension of I-95 into
Southern Florida, IBM purchased several hundred acres of real estate
just west of the CSX rail line, just northwest of Florida Atlantic
University. Construction of IBM's main complex began in earnest in 1967,
and the mammoth manufacturing and office complex was dedicated in March
1970. The campus was designed with self-sufficiency in mind, and to that
end sported its own electrical substation, water pumping station, and
rail-spur. Among other very noteworthy IT accomplishments, such as the
mass manufacture of the System/360 and development of the Series/1
mainframe computers, IBM's main complex was the birthplace of what we
know today as the IBM PC, which later evolved into the IBM PS/2. In
1987, IBM relocated their manufacturing for what became the IBM PC
Company to Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, and
converted the cavernous manufacturing facilities into offices and
laboratories, later producing ground-breaking products such as the OS/2
operating system and VoiceType Dictation, known today as ViaVoice
voice-recognition software.
T-REX Corporate Center was originally one of IBM's research labs where
the IBM PC was created.IBM maintained its facilities at Boca Raton until
1996, when the facility was closed and was sold to Blue Lake Real
Estate, who in turn sold it to the T-REX Management Consortium. Today,
T-REX has revitalized the facility and its surrounding real estate into
a highly-successful and beautifully landscaped business/research park.
What used to be IBM's Building 051, a highly robust, secure, and
secretive complex, separated from the former main IBM campus by Spanish
River Boulevard was donated to the Palm Beach County School District and
converted into Don Estridge High-Tech Middle School. It is named for the
late Don Estridge, whose team was responsible for giving the world the
first IBM PC.
Due to Boca Raton's population explosion, many areas began to decay,
including the downtown area. During the crisis, the only places that
were popular were the Bank and Trust Tower (now the Bank of America
Tower) and Royal Palm Plaza (now Royal Palm Place). The Boca Raton Mall,
a popular icon of shopping in the 1970s was going vaccant, due to the
opening of Town Center at Boca Raton in 1979. Many buildings were also
being boarded up from the lack of customers and high traffic from cars
going to the beach.
However, in the late 1980s, the city came up with a master plan to
revitalize the decaying area that included mass landscaping, expansion
of the downtown park, Sanborn Square, restoration of the old city hall
to become a museum (The city council completely moved out in the late
80s), and a large outdoor mall to replace the dead Boca Raton one.
To do this, Boca Raton then passed a city ordinance banning the further
development of multi-family housing within the city limits and for
special zoning that limits the size and types of commercial buildings
and advertisement signs which may be erected within the city limits.
There are no traditional car dealerships in Boca Raton because of these
limits on roadside use, but a luxury car dealer did showcase a few cars
inside a roadside building having glass walls. Corporations such as
McDonald's had to redesign their classic "golden arches" restaurant to
conform to Boca Raton's sign zoning restrictions. The unincorparated
part of Boca Raton still feature the classic arches, but the heights of
the signs were reduced. The effects can be seen in the city in which a
number of buildings were constructed with classic Addison Mizner
architecture and in the subdued roadside advertising.
Mizner Park is a downtown attraction in Boca Raton's thriving financial
district.In 1991, a new downtown shopping center, Mizner Park, was
completed over the site of the Boca Raton Mall. It has since become a
cultural center for the city. Featuring a landscaped central park
between two cobblestone roads (collectively called Plaza Real) with
stores only on the outside of the roads, Mizner Park resembles a
Mediterranean suburb with a more contemporary look. It features many
fine restaurants and is home to the Boca Raton Museum of Art. In 2002, a
new amphitheater was built replacing a smaller one, providing a
large-capacity outdoor venue.
However, despite Mizner Park's success, crime and racism occurred. In
the mid 1990s, the Ku Klux Klan marched down Plaza Real; there were also
several shootings, stick-ups, and a minor crime causing fountain damage
from liquid soap. It was fixed many months after and was eased from
Hurricane Frances washing it away. The faux bell tower was however
severely damaged. These harsh crimes and natural problems didn't stop
the downtown remodeling project. Six new high-rise buildings were built
downtown. The historical Bank of America building built in the 1960s was
renovated and Charles Schwab moved in on the east side. It is the only
building above the height limit that is allowed to be and is a symbol of
Boca Raton's skyline.
In the early 21st century, Simon Malls bought out Town Center at Boca
Raton and rebuilt the mall with an extension. Originally, it was feeling
doomed since Mervyn's closed its store as well as another in the city.
Saks Fifth Avenue then took and renovated the space and the old Saks was
demolished and the lot was extended with a new anchor Nordstrom. The
finished product was unveiled in late 2000 with over 25 new stores to
shop in. It has now become a tourist attraction and one of the largest
Simon malls in South Florida.
Other projects, such as the renovation and expansion of Boca Raton's
YMCA facility will expand the incorporated area's limits.