Boomtime Boca: Boca Raton in the 1920s
 Boca Raton, Florida was a tiny farming community on the southeastern coast of Florida when the Florida real estate boom of the 1920s grew into a national phenomenon. Investors and new residents were drawn to the state from all over the country, a time Floridians will forever know as “The Boom.” In April 1925, well known Palm Beach society architect Addison Mizner revealed his plans for an ambitious new development at Boca Raton. The small town was to be “the world’s premier resort” and “the dream city of the western world.” Mizner’s projects stimulated other developments in the south county area like George Harvey’s “Villa Rica,” and Frank Croissant’s “Croissantania.” The little town blossomed as well. Incorporated in 1925, town fathers established police and fire services and commissioned a new town hall from Delray architect William Alsmeyer in 1927. The population of the town grew from one hundred to several hundred residents.
By the fall of 1926, however, the Boom was near its end. Negative press and a rail embargo preceded two of the most destructive hurricanes in Florida’s history, the 1926 and 1928 storms, both of which hit Boca Raton. New residents left South Florida in droves. The Boom was Bust.
In the fall of 1927, Mizner Development Corporation investor Clarence Geist acquired the company’s holdings. He immediately laid plans for the expansion of the Cloister Inn, hiring famed New York architects Schultze and Weaver to more than double the size of the original hostelry. The new Boca Raton Club opened in 1930. Boca Raton returned, for the most part, to its small-town agricultural heritage by the end of the decade. With the outstanding exceptions of the Boca Raton Club and other boom-era construction, there were few signs of the glamorous resort community once envisioned by the great Addison Mizner.
Boomtime Boca will feature artifacts, artwork, and photographs from this glamorous and exciting era in our community’s past.
Boomtime Boca: Boca Raton in the 1920s is available in the Fire Bay Gift Shop or
through giftshop online.
Parking is free. |
A to Z is a traveling exhibition of twenty-eight 20”x 30” hanging panels designed as an accompaniment to the BRHS children’s publication, A Stroll Through Boca Raton’s History from A to Z, by Deborah Rothberger. Each panel graphically (and alphabetically) depicts some person, place, event, or concept in Boca Raton’s over 100 years history. Learning history can be fun! (Perfect for libraries, schools, etc.) A to Z is available for an up to three month rental for a $100.00 fee; rental fee scholarships are available on a limited basis from time to time. 
