‘A great honor’: A Boca Raton community is one step closer to a national historic status

Pearl City, located just north of Boca Raton’s downtown, received approval for historic designation from the state, and community advocates are hoping federal officials follow suit.

Named after its former use as a site for pineapple packing, including the Hawaiian Pearl pineapple, the city was established more than 100 years ago primarily for Black farmers. It’s the oldest remaining community in Boca Raton, and efforts to turn it into a historic site have long been in the works.

“It’s been a hope for the past several years,” said Susan Gillis, the Boca Raton Historical Society curator. “Everyone’s very, very excited.”

In the early 2000s, the Boca Raton City Council at the time granted the area a local historic district designation.

“They didn’t want to see some great big developer with deep pockets come in and buy everybody out and destroy their community,” Gillis said. “This is a tool to help them fight that because that’s prime real estate.”

If Pearl City succeeds in becoming nationally designated, it will become the first nationally registered historic district in Boca Raton, Gillis said.

“It’s, from my point of view, incredible bragging rights,” she said. “From a history perspective, it’s a great honor.”

During a recent workshop, Boca Raton Historic Preservation Board member Charles Graves went before City Council members and asked them to consider passing a resolution that would make Pearl City a certified local government, which, according to the National Park Service, is a municipality that has demonstrated “a commitment to local preservation and saving the past for future generations.”

Certified local government designations provide additional benefits to the area, such as funding and assistance with building assessments and surveys.

“We need to move forward with this,” Graves told the council. “We have more work to do for the future.”

While the recent state approval is being celebrated, people such as Graves and Gillis hope for more protection because a national historic designation would not provide much protection against any future development plans.

“It’s (Pearl City) a real survivor in terms of historic communities,” Gillis said.

And many people want to keep it that way.