Upcoming Events
This Month’s Calendar
Town Hall Talks: Boomtime Boca
Join The Boca Raton Historical Society for the latest Town Hall Talk: “Boomtime Boca: Boca Raton in the 1920s,” featuring Susan Gillis on May 14, 2025!
The Town Hall Talks series, generously sponsored by the Charles and Elsie Gols Charitable Foundation, invites attendees to enjoy thought-provoking presentations by leading historians, curators, and experts in Boca Raton’s original Town Hall.
Join BRHS curator Susan Gillis, author of “Boomtime Boca,” as she shares the ups and downs of Boca Raton in the glamorous 1920s, when architect Addison Mizner put the little farming town on the map. Learn about the Boom, the Bust, and Boca’s incorporation one hundred years ago.
Doors open at 6:00 PM for check-in and refreshments. Lecture begin at 6:30 PM.
BRHS Members: Free / Non-Members: $10
Learn more and RSVP here!
Town Hall Talks: Boca Raton Fire Engine No. 1
Join The Boca Raton Historical Society for the latest Town Hall Talk: “Boca Raton Fire Engine No. 1 “Old Betsy”: The First 100 Years,” featuring Thomas R. Wood on June 11, 2025!
The Town Hall Talks series, generously sponsored by the Charles and Elsie Gols Charitable Foundation, invites attendees to enjoy thought-provoking presentations by leading historians, curators, and experts in Boca Raton’s original Town Hall.
This Power Point presentation chronologically details the history of Boca Raton’s very first fire engine “Old Betsy,” from when it was manufactured in 1925, until now, 100 years later. The sequence of the story mirrors the Boca Raton Fire Chiefs, during each of those eras. Old Betsy earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, and the State of Florida Historic Marker Council approved a Historic Marker for “Old Betsy” in July 2024. “Old Betsy,” along with Town Hall are symbols of the humble beginnings of Boca Raton.
Doors open at 6:00pm for check-in and refreshments. Lecture begin at 6:30pm.
BRHS Members: Free / Non-Members: $10
Learn more and RSVP here!
Town Hall Talks: Boca de Ratones
Join The Boca Raton Historical Society for the latest Town Hall Talk: “Boca de Ratones: A True Etymological Reassessment,” featuring historian Humberto Ruiz on April 24, 2025!
The Town Hall Talks series, generously sponsored by the Charles and Elsie Gols Charitable Foundation, invites attendees to enjoy thought-provoking presentations by leading historians, curators, and experts in Boca Raton’s original Town Hall.
The second in our “America 250” series will take us back to the days of Spanish Florida. Do you think “Boca Raton” means “rat’s mouth?” Think again! Learn about the real meaning behind our place name from longtime Boca resident Humberto Ruiz, who combed the historic archives of Seville to answer the question “What is the meaning of Boca Raton?
Doors open at 6:00 PM for check-in and refreshments. Lecture begin at 6:30 PM.
BRHS Members: Free / Non-Members: $10
Learn more and RSVP here!
Town Hall Talks: The Florida Land Boom a Century Later
Join The Boca Raton Historical Society for the latest Town Hall Talk: “Speculating on Sunshine: The Florida Land Boom a Century Later,” featuring Dr. Evan P. Bennett on March 12, 2025!
The Town Hall Talks series, generously sponsored by the Charles and Elsie Gols Charitable Foundation, invites attendees to enjoy thought-provoking presentations by leading historians, curators, and experts in Boca Raton’s original Town Hall.
In this talk, FAU History Professor Evan Bennett will look back on the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s to examine its legacies a century later. The Land Boom established, for good or ill, the image of Florida in the minds of many. While a failure in the short-run, its legacies shape how Floridians live today.
Doors open at 6:00 PM for check-in and refreshments. Lecture begin at 6:30 PM.
BRHS Members: Free / Non-Members: $10
Learn more and RSVP today!
Town Hall Talks: Addison Mizner
Boca Raton Historical Society is proud to present Town Hall Talks, an evening lecture program hosted in Boca Raton's original Town Hall! On January 8, 2025, Augustus Mayhew will present “Double Take: Reflections on Addison Mizner's Life, Legend, and Legacy.”
Architectural detective and social historian Augustus Mayhew explores the one-in-a-million life of Addison Mizner who despite his extraordinary accomplishments remains best known as the subject of anecdotal fictional abstracts. Mayhew is the guest curator for our exhibit “Boca Raton 1925-2025: Addison Mizner’s Legacy.
Doors open at 6:00pm for check-in and refreshments. Lecture begins at 6:30pm.
BRHS Members: Free / Non-Members: $10
RSVP to this event here!
Town Hall Talks: Artificial Intelligence
Boca Raton Historical Society is proud to present Town Hall Talks, an evening lecture program hosted in Boca Raton's original Town Hall! On December 5, 2024, Pete Martinez will present “Artificial Intelligence: Amazing, Scary, and Our Future.”
Join former IBM Vice President and Senior Executive Pete Martinez for a discussion about the current status of AI in our world today. Martinez is chairman and CEO of the SIVOTEC family of companies working with Artificial Intelligence and providing discoveries in the areas of Genomics and Brain Health. Did you know that AI projects in Boca Raton go back to the 1980s? Hear the history and future of AI from someone who has lived it all and is creating the most advanced AI applications here in Boca. Get ready to have your mind explode!
The Town Hall Talks are generously sponsored by The Charles and Elsie Gols Charitable Foundation. Foundation President: Jim Ballerano
Doors open at 6:00pm for check-in and refreshments. Lecture begin at 6:30pm.
BRHS Members: Free / Non-Members: $10
Learn more and RSVP here!
Town Hall Talks: The Spies Next Door
The Boca Raton Historical Society is proud to present a Town Hall Talk featuring Dr. Peter Barrett on May 16, 2024!
Town Hall Talks is an evening lecture program given in Boca Raton's original "Town Hall". The 2023 - 2024 season consists of five (5) special speakers who will present interesting topics from their area of expertise.
Dr. Peter Barrett, a Boca Raton native, will share thrilling tales of espionage during World War II. Growing up in a family that owned the Boca Raton Villas, Barrett’s stories include witnessing evidence of German submarines attacking merchant shipping off the shores in 1942 and probable espionage activities next door.
Doors open at 6 PM for check-in and refreshments.
Lectures begin at 6:30 PM in the Council Chambers.
Registration:
BRHS Members: Free
Non-Members: $10
Kindly RSVP by calling 561.392.6766 x100
RSVP to this event here!