The city of Boynton Beach bears the name of Major Nathan Smith Boynton who came to South Florida from Port Huron, Michigan in 1895. The Civil War veteran and newspaper owner purchased oceanfront land and began construction of the Boynton Hotel with workman recruited from Michigan.
Major Nathan S. Boynton
They brought their families and settled in the new town.
When Henry M. Flagler brought the Florida East Coast railroad into Florida, visitors
seeking the warm weather of the area began arriving for what was to become the winter tourist season. Even Boynton and his family, who spent their summers in Port Huron, came back to their Boynton Hotel for the winter.
Meanwhile, the area expanded rapidly as a farming community, growing vegetables for the hotel guests and opening up new sources of revenue through shipment of winter vegetables to other areas of the country.
Click here for a more complete history of the town’s founding.
Explore history by hovering on the history link above for specific subjects such as agriculture and the Boynton Hotel.
Publications Related to Boynton History:
- Boynton Beach: The First 100 Years, Boynton Beach Historical Society, 1995
- The History of Ocean Ridge, Gail Adams Aaskov, 1995, 2000
- Images of America: Boynton Beach, M. Randall Gill in Conjunction with the Boynton Beach City Library, 2005
- Postcard History Series: Around Boynton Beach, Janet DeVries, 2006
- Images of America: Sport Fishing in Palm Beach County, Janet DeVries in Conjunction with the Boynton Beach City Library, 2008
- Pioneering Palm Beach: The Deweys and the South Florida Frontier – Ginger L. Pedersen and Janet M. DeVries, 2012
- The American Jungle: The Adventures of Charlie Pierce – Harvey Oyer III, 2008
- The Last Egret: The Adventures of Charlie Pierce – Harvey Oyer III, 2010
- The Last Calusa: The Adventures of Charlie Pierce – Harvey Oyer III, 2012
- Pioneering Palm Beach: The Deweys and the South Florida Frontier – Ginger L. Pedersen & Janet DeVries, 2012