Boca Today & Our Geography
Boca Raton was incorporated as a town in 1925 and since that time has experienced steady and substantial growth. Today the City has 74,764 residents. Boca Raton is the 24th most populous city in the State of Florida, and United States Census statistics from 2000 show Boca Raton to be the second largest city in Palm Beach County.
Geographically the City encompasses 27.14 square miles (17,372 acres). The City has five miles of ocean frontage and the park system covers approximately 1,080 acres. The last piece of available vacant beachfront property was purchased in 1994. This acquisition of the Ocean Strand parcel by the Greater Boca Raton Beach Tax District completed the purchase of more than five miles of publicly owned beachfront property.
The City provides police services, fire-rescue services, municipal services (sanitation, roads, and traffic and animal control), recreation services (parks, beaches, golf courses, tennis courts, a library and a municipal swimming pool), and utility services (water, wastewater, stormwater and reclaimed water). Boca Raton is known nationally and internationally as an originator in the area of comprehensive zoning. Both the low density, i.e. dwelling units per acre, character of the City and the innovative Park of Commerce Industrial Park have influenced development around the country. The sign code, which was initiated in the late 1960s, gives the City a unique look with minimal commercial intrusion into landscaping and streetscapes.
Our City is enjoying the results of the economic expansion of the 1990s. After weathering the economic storms of the 1980s and the loss of a major employer, the City has seen a steady increase in its industrial base. Boca Raton has become a Mecca for innovative computer development, using a well-educated, computer literate community as its base. Because of its initiative, the City has reaped the benefits of effective land use planning -- a stable tax base with increasing property values.
Boca Raton History
The earliest known inhabitants of the Boca Raton area were the Tekesta Indians, who lived along the shores of what is now the Intracoastal Waterway. Spanish explorers and buccaneers were sailing off our shores in the 1500s and found the natural harbor of Lake Boca Raton to be a safe refuge in times of trouble. The Spanish are responsible for giving the City its name -- Boca de Ratones. The "de" and the "es" in Ratones were dropped over the years.
By the early 1900s Boca Raton was a tiny agricultural community, and many planters specialized in pineapple cultivation, the brainchild of a young Japanese student from New York. Joseph Sakai, with promises of land and the approval of the United States Commissioner of Immigration, traveled to Japan to recruit farmers for his Florida project. They named their community Yamato, an ancient name for Japan. One of those early immigrants from Japan was George Sukeji Morikami, who donated the land for the Morikami Park and Museum of Japanese Culture which is located in Delray Beach.
In May of 1925 the Town of Boca Raton was created by Florida chapter 10348. Also in the 1920s, an architect named Addison Mizner decided to build a dream city of his own. He bought 17,000 acres of land and designed what was to be a new world resort, a utopia of architectural beauty, centering around an exclusive resort hotel. Boca Raton became a playground for the wealthy who enjoyed staying at The Boca Raton Resort and Club, then known as The Cloisters. It remains one of our City's landmarks, and Mizner's influence is evidenced today in much of the City's architecture.
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