Boca Raton Guide » More About Boca Raton: Overview
Overview
Early explorers, cursing the dangerous rocks that shield its bay, equated this coastal locale with a rat's mouth. The colorful Spanish phrase, "boca de ratones," gave rise to the city's name. First populated by Calusa Indians, the area also attracted settlers from the Carolinas and Georgia, who hoped to build their futures on agriculture. In the 1920s, notable Palm Beach architect, Addison Mizner, bought thousands of acres here, intending to develop the area into a new Venice. Shortly after Mizner completed the Cloister Inn (a city landmark now known as the Boca Raton Resort and Club), several dozen homes in Old Floresta, and Camino Real (an expansive avenue with a gondola-strewn canal running down its center), the real estate market went bust, and his extensive plans with it. However, the hotel survived the decline, and in the 1960s, Florida Atlantic University and increased tourism infused the area with new life. As Boca grew, Mizner's style was replicated in construction, giving the town a unified aesthetic and a decidedly pink tint (it was Mizner's preferred color). Nowadays, various technology industries call Boca home, and its population runs towards the affluently style-conscious. Elaborate shopping venues, stunning beachfront parks, innovative restaurants, and an atmosphere of cultivated leisure appeals to locals, while visitors are enticed by the spectacle and realization that the good life exist indeed.
