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]

Residential street in Pearl City
Martin Luther King memorial

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.

There is a memorial dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. on the neighborhood outskirts.

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. Streets had also been resurfaced with asphalt after decades of neglect and deterioration.

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References
  1. Evans and Lee, (1990). Pearl City, Florida: A Black Community Remembers. Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic UP/UP of Florida.
  2. Sallah, Michael. "2 crack houses targeted in Boca", Boca Raton News, 1986-12-10. Retrieved on 2009-07-20.

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