This week in history: British steamer sinks off the coast of Delray Beach

On Sept. 11, 1903, before hurricanes were named and tracked by forecasters, a powerful storm made landfall near Fort Lauderdale as the 386-foot Inchulva was steaming off the coast of Delray Beach, then a settlement of about 150 people. Nine crew members drowned when the ship ran aground 200 yards offshore. The ship broke into five distinct pieces that make up a popular snorkeling and dive site 25 feet below the surface off the south end of the municipal beach. Because of constantly shifting sand, different parts are exposed at different times. A map showing the location of the pieces of the wreck is here.

The Delray Beach Historical Society commemorated the 100th year anniversary of the Inchulva wreck in 2003, with an exhibit of photographs, paperwork, and pieces of the wreckage. Items from the exhibit are shown here: a photo of the ship’s engineer, William Smith, and a section of the ship that had been used to lower life boats into the water. (2003 Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

The Delray Wreck historical marker

Tags: Delray Beach, shipwrecks, This Week in History

Delray incorporation meeting 100 years ago this week

Delray Beach will mark its centennial Oct. 9, the official incorporation date. Look for plenty of fun events next month.

A meeting “for the purpose of discussing the advisability of incorporating” occurred a century ago, Sept. 4, 1911. It was at the Ladies Improvement Association Hall in what then was the settlement of Linton.

A month later, on Oct. 9, 57 “qualified electors” voted almost unanimously — one ballot was tossed — to create the new municipality of “Delray,” west of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Maj. Nathan Smith Boynton, U.S. Congressman William Seelyn Linton and David Swinton had come from Michigan in 1895.

Boynton was a retired Civil War major and former mayor of Port Huron, Mich.; Linton, postmaster of Saginaw, Mich., and a congressman; and Swinton, a Saginaw bookstore owner.

In West Palm Beach, they heard of land for sale to the south. By 1895, Linton had brought down 10 settlers. After they were hit by a freeze and Linton defaulted on land payments, settlers decided Linton reminded them of struggle and chose a different namesake.

Delray was a neighborhood in Detroit that was itself named for the Mexican town of Del Rey, translated as “of the king.” At the October 1911 meeting, John S. Sundy (pictured above) was elected mayor with 53 votes. He served seven terms.

A construction superintendent for the Florida East Coast Railway, he had stepped off a southbound train in 1898. When Henry Flagler told him, “There’s nothing here,” he replied, “There will be.”

Also at the incorporation meeting was George H. Green (pictured above), one of 10 people nominated for five aldermen’s positions, coming in seventh. Notable about that was that Green was black, in Florida, where in the early 20th century, few blacks even were allowed to vote. In fact, 11 of Delray’s 57 electors were African-American.

In 1923, the town of Delray Beach, encompassing residents on the barrier island east of the Intracoastal, was incorporated. Four years later, on May 11, 1927, the two towns merged.

The Delray Beach centennial web page is delray100.com.

Read the minutes of Delray Beach’s incorporation meeting here.  

Miller and Son’s First Bicycle and Barber Shop in Delray, circa 1912. Left to right: two unknown customers, Albert L. Miller, Mary (Clutter) Miller and Albert F. Miller. The photo was taken near the location of the old Arcade Tap Room, now Gol! The Taste of Brazil on Atlantic Avenue. (Photo courtesy of Delray Beach Historical Society)

Tags: Delray Beach, incorporated, place names

Florida still restricts land ownership by immigrants ineligible for citizenship

The catastrophic earthquake in March has brought focus on Japan and its grieving compatriots here in America, and South Florida. In February, this reporter took his in-laws, visiting from Indiana, to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens near Delray Beach.

The Yamato-kan, the original museum building, which had opened in 1977, now includes an exhibit about the colony. It mentions that a 1926 constitutional amendment, which would give the legislature the right to ban land ownership by aliens ineligible for citizenship, “is still in effect today.”

Well, didn’t a 2008 constitutional amendment take care of that? Whoops. No. Amendment 1 failed, 48 to 52 percent.

Here are excerpts of a piece our Tallahassee colleague, Dara Kam, wrote in advance of the 2008 vote:

The Florida legislature added the “alien land law” to the state constitution in 1926, restricting the ownership of property by immigrants ineligible for citizenship. Florida is the only state with such a constitutional provision.

Federal law then granted naturalized citizenship only to whites and to blacks of African descent.

The legislature never passed any laws under the provision and could not anyway, experts said, because it violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating by race.

Sponsors said taking the 23 words out of the state constitution would be symbolic similar to removing laws allowing slavery.

Proponents feared confused voters would think the question covers illegal aliens or terrorists. Asian-American civil rights organizations were mum on the amendment, and even national experts on the topic of alien land laws were unaware that it was on the ballot, fueling worries that it might not pass — which it didn’t.

Morikami, of course, had its start in the short-lived Yamato Colony, founded at the turn of the 20th century in Boca Raton. Starting in 1974, former colonist and naturalized U.S. citizen George Morikami (pictured above) donated nearly 200 acres to Palm Beach County for the museum that bears his name.

Special thanks to Morikami cultural director Tom Gregerson.

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens near Delray Beach has an exhibit about the short-lived Yamato Colony. It was founded at the turn of the 20th century in Boca Raton. Starting in 1974, former colonist George Morikami donated nearly 200 acres to Palm Beach County for the museum that bears his name. (Courtesy of the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens)

Readers: Our April 14 column said Cap Dimick misspelled the Palm Beach road as Chilian Avenue “and it’s still spelled that way.” Post staff researcher Michelle Quigley reminds us the town council voted in 2003 to change it to the proper Chilean.

Tags: Delray Beach, immigrants, museums

This week in history: Delray Beach Library founded

On April 11, 1913, the Delray Ladies’ Improvement Association created the town’s first library. The Delray Progress reported on the meeting: “A number of ladies met at the Booster Hall . . . each bringing one or more books as a beginning for the Delray Library. Forty books were brought, besides a few that will be used for reference. They were soon neatly covered, as many hands make light work. This is only a beginning and we hope and expect much from it.” The Ladies’ Improvement Association, later known as the Woman’s Club of Delray Beach, ran the library until 1938, when the Delray Beach Public Library Association was formed, and since 1950, the Delray Beach Public Library has been a partnership between the library association and the City of Delray Beach.

The Booster Hall was located at the southeast corner of Atlantic Avenue and S.E. 4th Avenue, near the old site of the Delray Beach Public Library. The two-story building behind the hall is the rear of the Cromer building, also known as the Club House. (Palm Beach Post file photo submitted by John E. Miller of Delray Beach)

The Ladies’ Improvement Association on July 4, 1913. (Courtesy of the Delray Beach Public Library archives)

This building was the home of the Woman’s Club and the Delray Beach Library. It was also known as the Ladies’ Improvement Association building. (Courtesy of the Delray Beach Historical Society)

Summer story hour at the Delray Beach Library in 1949. (Palm Beach Post file photo courtesy of Mildred M. George)

Tags: Delray Beach, libraries, This Week in History

Delray’s Old School Square restored to its former glory

On March 9, 1991, the restored 1926 gymnasium at the Old School Square Cultural Arts Center made its debut with a 1950s-themed prom. The opening of the gymnasium marked the halfway point of the restoration of the four-acre site. The 1913 Delray Elementary building reopened in 1990 as the Cornell Museum of Art and American Culture, and the Crest Theatre in the former Delray High School opened in 1993.

This undated Palm Beach Post file photo shows the old Delray Elementary School in its early days.

Another 1920s shot of the school and all the entire student body is here.

Students file out of the main building in 1986. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

Some of the names inscribed on the rafters of the school gym date back to the 1930s. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

Dorothy Dull, a kindergarten teacher who had been at the school for 19 years, quiets her students as they exit her classroom in 1986. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

Bert Fashaw shines the wood floors before the start of the 1981 school year. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo).

Students run on the field behind the school in June 1983. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

The 1925 high school building on Swinton Avenue in 1986. (Palm Beach Post staff file photo)

Tags: buildings, Delray Beach, schools, This Week in History