The Beginning – 19th Century

Pre-history: The Glades Native American Tribes build a ceremonial center with mounds near where 441 is today. Coastal tribes leave behind mounds on the barrier islands near Boynton Inlet.

1840s – First settlers arrive during the Armed Occupation Act but leave before land deeds can be issued.

1870s – Squatters arrive and use the area for fishing and farming.

1871 – Marcellus A. Williams and his survey party walk through the area and produce the first detailed maps for the government land office so that settlers can make claims.

1877 –  Dexter Hubel and family arrive from Michigan and claims lands along the beach.

1881 – Hubel abandons claim and moves to the Florida Keys.

1882 – Stephen Andrews, the house of refuge keeper at what would become Delray Beach, claims the beachfront land for 90 cents an acre.

1890 – State of Florida grants most of the property along the coastal ridge west of the barrier islands to the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Company.

1891 – George H. K. Charter buys land in what would become Boynton from the Florida Coast Line Canal and Transportation Companyon the west side of the Florida East Coast Canal (Intracoastal Waterway)

1892 – Byrd Spilman Dewey buys 160 acres from George H.K. Charter for 700.00. Area is referred to as the “Hypoluxo Garden Lands.”

1895 – William S. Linton and Major Nathan S. Boynton travel to the area, being escorted by Fred Voss in his boat the Victor.

1895 – William S. Linton and Nathan S. Boynton begin buying lands – Boynton buys the oceanfront land from Stephen Andrews, while Linton buys Mrs. Dewey’s lands under a contract.

1896 – Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway is extended through Boynton.

1896 – First post office opens in Boynton.

1897 – Boynton begins construction on his oceanfront hotel, recruiting workers from Michigan.

1897 – William S. Linton defaults on his payments to the Deweys; the Deweys file a foreclosure suit. In October, the matter is settled and the Deweys regain all their lands on the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway.

1898 – On September 26, the Deweys file the town plat for Boynton in the Dade County courthouse at Juno, in addition to the Dewey’s subdivision plat.

1898 – The Norwegian barque The Lofthus sinks north of where the Boynton Inlet is located today.

1899 – The Deweys sell 5 acre farming plots along the canal  in Dewey’s Subdivision for tomato farming. Pineapples are planted along the coastal ridge further inland.

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