Named for an early entrepreneur who arrived by boat in 1894, the tiny settlement of Boynton Beach emerged around the luxury hotel Maj. Nathan S. Boynton built on the beach. This enterprise brought carpenters, truck farmers, and railroad workers. Pineapple plantations, tomato fields, and citrus groves flourished. Shell shops, drift fishing, roadside fruit stands, and motor courts transformed the landscape. In Postcard History Series: Around Boynton Beach, author Janet DeVries uses more than 200 postcards from her own collection and others to show a carefree lifestyle long gone. Featured are picture postcards, some over 100 years old, of Boynton Beach and neighboring Briny Breezes, Ocean Ridge, Hypoluxo, and Gulf Stream.
Janet DeVries is archivist and curator of collections at the Boynton Beach City Library and a trustee for the Boynton Beach Historical Society. In 2005, DeVries coauthored Images of America: Boynton Beach with M. Randall Gill. A portion of the author's proceeds from this book will benefit the Schoolhouse Children's Museum.