Curator’s note: Pearl City was established in 1915 for black workers who had to make the long walk from Deerfield to work on area farms.
Alex Hughes came to Deerfield from Monticello, Florida, with his wife Florence in the 1910s. He found work on Frank Chesebro’s farm located in what is now southeastern Boca Raton. Hughes bought one of the first lots in the new Pearl City for $25, with $10 down, in 1915. He recalled, “All that was here when I first came was a lot of palmettos, spruce pines and mosquitoes.” There he built a small wooden house with his own hands. Widowed in 1917, he later met and married a widow with six children—Annie Dolphus Spain. Despite his small income his strong faith helped him shelter, feed, and raise the six boys as if they were his own. Annie worked cleaning peoples’ homes and served as a local midwife and healer. In their garden they raised greens, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables. They also kept hogs, chickens, and a cow for milk. Huckleberries and grapes were used to make pies and preserves. Squirrels, rabbits, and all sorts of fish provided additional sources of protein.
Alex quickly became a leader in his community. As soon as Pearl City had enough residents, he started a Sunday School at his home. He was instrumental in the founding of the first two churches in town: Macedonia A.M.E. and Ebenezer Baptist in 1918. These churches served as the center for social as well as religious activities in Pearl City. He also convinced the School Board to establish a school for the Pearl City students in 1920.
Long after most of Mr. Chesebro’s original farmland had been sold off and developed, Alex Hughes continued to work as caretaker on the last surviving acre, located south of Palmetto Park Road near Dixie Highway. There he tended the tropical fruit trees, banyans, and a large patch of Amaryllis lilies, grown from seeds planted in 1932. An avid gardener, Alex maintained the site, selling blooms and bouquets for the property owners for over sixty years.
In 1972, the City of Boca Raton named a park in Pearl City after Alex Hughes, of which he was quite proud. He continued to work until two months before his death at age 92 in 1977. His neighbor Mrs. Fannie Mae Albury, also a long-time resident of Pearl City, remembered Alex as “kind and soft-spoken. Everybody loved Mr. Hughes, white and black.”
To be continued…
Missed the last Tales from the Archives? Check it out here.
Now on display at The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum…
BLACK PEARLS: The Story of Pearl City, Boca Raton’s Historic Black Community, July 19 to Dec. 15, 2023
The Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum is pleased to announce a new temporary exhibition entitled Black Pearls: The Story of Pearl City, Boca Raton’s Historic Black Community, on display through December 15, 2023. This exhibit features photographs created by artist Reginald Cunningham on loan from the Boca Raton Museum of Art that document the current and past residents of Pearl City, Boca Raton’s historic black community platted in 1915. These images are supplemented with historic maps, photos, documents, and artifacts from the Schmidt’s Pearl City collection as well as items on loan from a Pearl City pioneer family.
For more information about the Boca Raton Historical Society and Schmidt Boca Raton History Museum, visit their website here.
