Upon its opening in 1949, LaFrance Hotel became the first hotel in Delray Beach that allowed African Americans the opportunity to rent a room. Like most hotels that catered to African Americans in the South, the hotel was owned by an African American businessman. Charles Patrick operated the hotel which provided the only hotel for vacationing families and Black workers between Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The significance of the hotel becomes clear when one looks at the history of the area as a place of seasonal employment, offering Black laborers a place to stay while seeking long-term accommodations. Today, the building is used as housing for senior citizens.
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.
Operated by the Delray Beach Historical Society, the Cason Cottage Museum offers exhibits about South Florida history and culture in a historic house that features furnishings from the 1920s and 1930s. Guests will also enjoy the home's garden which includes a variety of local plants. The Society operates a small gift shop on site that offers a variety of books on South Florida history. Docents offer guided tours at this location, as well as the nearby Ethel Sterling Williams Archive & Learning Center.
Martin Luther Hampton designed and built the Colony Hotel in 1926. The hotel was inspired by classic Florida Mediterranean architecture which has been preserved in nearly every detail of the hotel from its lobby to its dining rooms and guest rooms. In 1935, George and Agnes Boughton purchased the hotel in 1935 and their descendents continue to own and care for the historic property. Visitors to Delray Beach who want to learn or simply soak in the history of Atlantic Avenue and the "Village by the Sea" will want to spend a few hours enjoying cocktails in the hotel bar and its patio which offers some of the best views of the downtown entertainment district.
One of five life-saving stations and temporary houses of refuge built by the federal government in 1876 along Florida’s east coast, the Orange Grove House of Refuge operated between 1876 and 1896. The government employed keepers at each of the five houses. These men scoured the beaches in search of possible shipwreck survivors and operate each of the houses of refuge. The keeper of this station and his family occupied the four rooms on the first floor and the second floor held a large dormitory and supplies for shipwrecked sailors or other survivors. The government built four additional houses of refuge in the 1880s. Only one of these nine stations remain-a historic building that serves as a museum in Stuart, Florida. Click the links below for more information about this House of Refuge and the museum.
Constructed between 1926 and 1927, this historic railroad depot served as a passenger station for Delray Beach until 1995. Seaboard Air Line Railroad was formed in 1900 as a combination of over a dozen railroad companies that operated from Virginia and the Carolina to Georgia and Florida. The company operated between 1900 and 1967 when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. In the early decades of the 1900s (before commercial air travel) the term "air-line" was a derivative of the phrase "as the crow flies" and meant the shortest distance between two points. Railroad companies used the term to connote efficiency--a way of suggesting that their lines connected destinations more directly than other rail lines.
This historic marker commemorates the victims of a storm that caused the sinking of the S.S. Inchulva on September 11, 1903. Nineteen crew members were able to reach the shore by using parts f the wrecked ship as a makeshift raft. The remaining nine seamen lost their lives.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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This tour includes several historical landmarks, buildings, and markers, as well as a few historic places and events that have been largely lost to time. The tour covers several beautiful miles of the city and coast and passes by numerous cafes and shops. Enjoy the history of our city!
