Early 20th Century Colony Paved Way For Yamato Road
Q: What is Yamato Road named for?
A: Two dozen Japanese bachelor farmers developed the Yamato Colony between Boca Raton and Delray Beach soon after the turn of the century. Yamato is an old name for Japan which means large, beautiful land. Frontier Florida welcomed anyone willing to work the scrub and swamp that could be cleared only by hand. Soon the population was up to 50, and the colony had a post office, railroad station and acres of pineapples, peppers and tomatoes. But the colony lasted barely a generation before disease, shifting economic conditions and a lack of women scattered its residents. One, George Morikami, had come as an
indentured laborer, paying $150 to a Japanese silk merchant in Miami. He had to work three years to pay it back and earn a bonus. But his sponsor died, and Morikami never returned to Japan. He kept planting, long after the colony disbanded. He eventually donated 200 acres to Palm Beach County, which built the Morikami Museum.
Read more: Southeast Florida Pioneers: The Palm and Treasure Coasts, by William E. McGoun
Morikami Museum and Park: (561) 495-0233.
Tags: immigrants, place names
