Boca Raton, Florida
city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States
Boca Raton ( BOH-kə rə-TOHN; Spanish: Boca Ratón [ˈboka raˈton]) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 census, and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city also experiences significant daytime population increases. Boca Raton is 45 miles (72 km) north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area.
It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone", and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" on May 26, 1925. While the area had been inhabited by the Glades culture, as well as Spanish and later British colonial empires prior to its annexation by the United States, the city's present form was developed predominantly by American architect Addison Mizner starting in the 1920s. Mizner contributed to many buildings in the area having Mediterranean Revival or Spanish Colonial Revival architecture. Boca Raton also became a key city in the evolution of the digital computer industry. The city is the birthplace in the 1980s of IBM's first personal computer and various other technologies created by the company.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Boca Raton, Florida” is city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Boca, Raton and Florida, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29422. VIAF identifies the subject as 235865675. The Library of Congress control number is n79068667. Authority coordinates are 26.369, -80.100. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2022, 1924 and 1925.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Boca Raton, Florida”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Boca Raton, Florida primary sources, Boca Raton, Florida archive and Boca research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Boca Raton, Florida”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Boca Raton, Florida” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.