Believe it or not, Boca Raton isn’t the only municipality celebrating its centennial in 2025; our friends in Deerfield Beach, Jupiter and Coral Gables are also blowing out 100 candles this year.
But what else happened in 1925? Keep reading.
The Addison
Addison Mizner opened the doors to the Administration Building, which served as the headquarters for his Mizner Development Corp as his team worked to open the Cloister Inn, now known as The Boca Raton. Within the Administration Building, Mizner had his apartment, Boca Raton got its first restaurant, and the staff for the nearby resort lived in dorms on the premises. Today, the Administration Building is better known as The Addison, a place that has hosted countless weddings, holiday parties, Mother’s Day brunches, and countdowns to the New Year.
Boca Raton Police Department
Left, Town Marshal Charles Raulerson. At right, Boca Raton Police Chief Michele Miuccio
With the incorporation of Boca Raton, there was a need for its very own police department. Chief Charles Raulerson was the first police chief (or town marshal, as he was called) from 1925 to 1926 and he was paid $175 per month. The itemized equipment for the police department: five revolvers, two motorcycles, one car, and three pairs of handcuffs. It’s safe to say that the department has grown quite a bit since then, with more than 200 officers in blue. A notable bust for Raulerson: In 1926, his force uncovered a stash of bootleg liquor under a building. In 2013, the Boca Raton Police Foundation was founded to provide financial support to the police department.
Florida Power & Light
Electricity was able to make its way to 58 communities across South Florida thanks to the incorporation of Florida Power & Light in December 1925—that meant power for 76,000 customers, 230 miles of transmission lines, and 1,149 miles of distribution lines. That next year, Boca Raton would enjoy its own source of electricity when FP&L came to town. Altogether, the electric company produced 70 megawatts of power. As we’re all well aware, today FP&L is the largest power company in Florida and provides service to 12 million customers and has more than 73,000 miles of distribution and transmission lines and a capacity of 22,000 megawatts.
This Web Extra is from the May/June 2025 issue of Boca magazine. For more like this, click here to subscribe to the magazine.
