Ethel Sterling Williams Archive & Learning Center

Locals and tourists alike can come learn the history of Delray Beach, "an historic village by the sea" at the Ethel Sterling Williams Archive & Learning Center. Named in honor of the matron of of one of South Florida's leading pioneer families, the Center tells the story of an area that had been home to Native peoples but was completely uninhabited until 1894. In that year, a small band of people of African and Seminole descent established the first settlement in the region. Speculators soon followed, purchasing land and creating a small farming village that would soon become a popular location for tourists and winter guests.