Boca Raton, Florida
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Boca Raton ("bōkə rə-tōn") is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida incorporated in May 1925. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396.[9] The majority of population using the postal address of Boca Raton are not actual residents of Boca Raton, and thus 120,000 people who do not live within the incorporated city are not counted as population. The number of people using the postal address Boca Raton is about 200,000.[10] The city of Boca Raton estimates that on any given day, there are roughly 350,000 people in the city itself, [11]. Boca Raton is the largest city between West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach. On November 2, 2004, the voters of the Via Verde Association, Waterside, Deerhurst Association (Boca South), Marina Del Mar Association, Rio Del Mar Association, and Heatherwood of Boca Raton Condominium Association approved annexation into the Boca Raton city limits, increasing the city land area to 29.6 square miles (77 km²). According to the U.S. Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 86,629.[12]
HistoryListed on early maps as "Boca Ratones," many people assume the name is simply translated to "Rat's Mouth".[citation needed] The Spanish word boca (or mouth) was often used to describe an inlet, while ratón (literally mouse) was used by Spanish sailors to describe rocks that gnawed at a ship's cable, or as a term for a cowardly thief.[13][14] The name 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 to its current location on most maps and applied to Lake Boca Raton, whose inlet was closed at the time. The city's early history was as the site of Addison Mizner's Boca Raton Hotel. 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 originally established to 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 the Boca Raton Army Air Force Base, a major training facility for B-29 bomber crews. There was also a radar school and research facility there. 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. Image:Boca Raton Resort & Club Tower.jpg
The Boca Raton Resort & Club Tower stands 300 ft (91m), has 28 floors, and was completed in 1969. It is the tallest building in Boca Raton.[15]
Boca Raton was the site of two now vanished amusement parks, Africa U.S.A. (1953-1961) and Ancient America (1953-1959). Africa U.S.A. was a wild animal park in which the tourists rode a "Jeep Safari Train" through the park. There were no fences separating the animals from the tourists on the "Jeep Safari Train".[16] 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 Indian burial mound. Today, the mound is still visible within the Boca Marina & Yacht Club neighborhood on U.S. Route 1 near Yamato Road.[17] In the late 1960s, Boca Raton became the southern home to the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). 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 the IBM PC, which later evolved into the IBM Personal System/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. Image:T-Rex Technology Center Fountain.JPG
T-REX Corporate Center was originally one of IBM's research labs where the IBM PC was created. It is located on Yamato Rd (NW 51st St), and stands next to the Boca Raton Tri-Rail Station.
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 landscaped business/research park. What used to be IBM's Building 051, an annex 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 Don Estridge, whose team was responsible for developing the IBM PC. IBM later returned in 2001 opening the current software development laboratory off Congress Avenue in July of that year. In the 1980s, because of an explosion of development to the west of the historical center of the city, some eastern areas began to decay, including the downtown area. For instance, the old Boca Raton Mall, a shopping mall in the downtown area was beginning to experience higher vacancy, and occupancy by marginal tenants, due to the opening of Town Center at Boca Raton in a western area in 1979.
 In 1991, the new downtown outdoor shopping center, Mizner Park, was completed over the site of the older Boca Raton Mall. It has since become a cultural center for the city. Featuring a landscaped central park between the two main roads (collectively called Plaza Real) with stores only on the outside of the roads, Mizner Park resembles a Mediterranean suburban "town center" with a more contemporary look. It features many restaurants and is home to the Boca Raton Museum of Art which moved to the new facility in 2001.Boca Raton Museum of Art, <http://www.bocamuseum.org/index.php?submenu=about_us&src=gendocs&link=AboutUs&category=About%20Us> In 2002, a new amphitheater was built replacing a smaller one, providing a large-capacity outdoor venue.[18] Mizner Park has significantly aided downtown revitalization. Many new 8-10 story mixed-use buildings have been constructed, are under construction or are proposed for the downtown area. The surrounding areas to the downtown have benefited from the downtown redevelopment. The National Cartoon Museum (formally: the International Museum of Cartoon Art) built a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m²) facility on the southwest edge of Mizner Park in 1996. Open for 6 years, the museum closed in 2002 and the space has been empty since. The Museum has since relocated to its original home in New York City. The building is currently undergoing renovations for public uses, including the local public TV station, and private uses, such as locally-owned and operated bookstore. As development continued to focus to the west of the city in the 1980s and 1990s, the mall area, Town Center at Boca Raton, became the geographic center of what is referred to as Boca Raton, though this mall was not actually annexed into the city until 2004. The area referred to as Boca Raton, including the unincorporated area west of the city (and discussed below), is now almost entirely built out. In 1999, Simon Property Group bought Town Center at Boca Raton and renovated and expanded it. Nordstrom is the anchor department store of a new wing. Neiman Marcus is the newest department store tenant as of 2006. In late 2006, Simon began the construction stage of an outdoor lifestyle center near the new wing. Town Center Mall has become a tourist attraction and the largest indoor mall in Palm Beach County.[19] Boca Raton has a strict development code, including the size and types of commercial buildings, building signs and advertisements which may be erected within the city limits. No car dealerships are allowed in the city limits, according to the city zoning code. Additionally, no billboards are permitted in the city. The only billboard was grandfathered in during recent annexation. Corporations such as McDonald's have subdued their Golden Arches due to the code. The unincorporated areas still contain restaurants with the classic arches, but the heights of the signs have been reduced. Many buildings in the Boca Raton area have Mediterranean and Spanish architectural themes, initially inspired in the area by Addison Mizner. The strict development code has resulted in several major thoroughfares without large signs or advertisements in the traveler's view; significant landscaping is in its place. GeographyImage:BocaHotelfromafar.jpg
Even in fog, from nearly 5 miles (8.0 km) away, the Boca Hotel Tower (far right) stands out. Nothing in Boca Raton is nearly as tall.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 75.4 km² (29.1 mi²). 70.4 km² (27.2 mi²) of it is land and 5.0 km² (1.9 mi²) of it (6.63%) is water. Boca Raton is a 'principal city' (as defined by the Census Bureau) of the South Florida metropolitan area. Like most south Florida cities, Boca Raton has a water table that does not permit building basements, but there are several high points in the city, such as Bibletown located at 4th Avenue and the aptly named "High Street." The highest point in this area is the guard shack at Camino Gardens, which is 24 ft (7.3 m) above sea level. The Boca Raton Hotel's Beach Club rests at 23 ft (7.0 m) above sea level.[20] Several small tunnels run under roads in Boca, but the roads are built up several feet at these locations, or are located on dunes. Several of these tunnels are under State Road A1A at Spanish River Park, from the west side of the road where parking is available to beachgoers, to the east side of the road, which is where the beach is located. A1A is already higher than the surrounding land here due to sand dunes formed by erosion and other natural features.[21] PoliticsThe city council, including Mayor Steven L. Abrams, is nonpartisan, although all of its members are registered Republicans. As of 2007, Robert Wexler and Ron Klein, who represent different parts of the city in the United States Congress, are Democrats. DemographicsAs of the census[2] of 2000, there were 74,764 people, 31,848 households, and 20,000 families residing in the city.[23] The population density was 1,061.7/km² (2,749.8/mi²). There were 37,547 housing units at an average density of 533.2/km² (1,381.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 90.75% White (84.2% were Non-Hispanic White,)[24] 3.76% African American, 0.16% Native American, 1.99% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 1.39% from other races, and 1.90% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.51% of the population. 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 city, 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. According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $66,052, and the median income for a family was $90,725.[1] 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. According to Forbes, Boca Raton has 3 of the 10 most expensive gated communities in the U.S. The Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club holds the #1 spot, The Sanctuary takes #6, and Le Lac takes the #8 spot. [25] As of 2000, English was spoken by 79.89%, Spanish by 9.28%, French consisted of 1.46%, Portuguese was at 1.45%, French Creole at 1.29%, and Italian made up 1.05% of the population. Although there are a substantial number of Jewish people within the city, only 0.36% of the population spoke Hebrew at home, while only 0.27% of the population spoke Yiddish at home. [26] CultureBoca Raton is known for its affluent social community and high income demographic. Boca Raton has a large Jewish and South American influence. Boca Raton's Jewish population consists mostly of Jewish people from the northeast United States. Boca Raton's South American population includes a large demographic from Brazil. Areas outside of the Boca Raton city limitsA majority of "postal Boca Raton" lies outside of the actual city limits. This large unincorporated area to the west of the city limits is included in the Boca Raton mailing address and local telephone calling area. There are many large planned developments in the area, including gated communities, and a number of golf courses. This is a result in the later start of development in these areas, and the availability of large tracts of land. Several of the communities are large enough to be designated as census-designated places, including Boca Del Mar, Boca Pointe, Hamptons at Boca Raton, Mission Bay, Sandalfoot Cove, and Whisper Walk. West Boca continues west from the city limits to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. The area also has other large neighborhoods such as Avalon at Boca Raton, Boca Falls, Boca Winds, Boca West, and The Polo Club Boca Raton. "West Boca" is a common designator for the area west of Florida's Turnpike. Notable residents, past and present
EducationPublic schoolsPublic education is provided and managed by The School District of Palm Beach County. Boca Raton is also home to several notable private and religious schools. Less than 50% of the children in the City of Boca Raton attend public schools, the majority attend private school or are home schooled.[citation needed] As of 2007, Boca Raton is served by four public high schools. Within the city's limits, Boca Raton Community High School serves the eastern part of the city. Spanish River Community High School serves the western part of the city limits and parts of unincorporated Boca Raton. Olympic Heights Community High School serves the west-central unincorporated areas. Finally, West Boca Raton Community High School serves the far-west unincorporated areas. Spanish River and Olympic Heights also serve students from Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.[27] The area is served by five public middle schools:
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