Pearl City (Boca Raton)
Pearl City is a neighborhood in Boca Raton, Florida, immediately north of downtown. The neighborhood was originally platted on May 30, 1915 for the blue-collar African Americans employed at the Boca Raton Resort and similar establishments, on area farms, in construction, and various other jobs.[1]
There is little evidence on the origin of the name, but it is often theorized that Pearl City was named after the Hawaiian pearl pineapple, a major crop grown in the area at the time.
Crime[]
Pearl City, and the adjourning community of Lincoln Court, as well as the Dixie Manor housing projects (a property of the Boca Raton Housing Authority), are classified as low-income because of the high levels of poverty. The Boca Raton Police Department held an investigation in the 1980s, after identifying the area as a place of communal crack cocaine use.[2]
Revitalization[]
The neighborhood was designated a historic district by the decree of the Boca Raton City Council in 2002. [1] Streets had also been resurfaced with asphalt after decades of neglect and deterioration.
There is a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, set in a small park on the grounds of Ebenezer Baptist Church, at the northeast corner of the Pearl City neighborhood.[3]
References[]
- ^ Evans and Lee, (1990). Pearl City, Florida: A Black Community Remembers. Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic UP/UP of Florida.
- ^ Sallah, Michael. "2 crack houses targeted in Boca", Boca Raton News, 1986-12-10. Retrieved on 2009-07-20.
- ^ Marcus, Jonathan D. (2009-01-25). "Boca Raton group leads historic walk". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
External links[]
Coordinates: 26°21′38″N 80°05′05″W / 26.360556°N 80.084686°W
- Boca Raton, Florida
- Neighborhoods in Florida
- Populated places established in 1915
- African-American history of Florida