In 1916, an association was formed and a one-acre site was developed as a cemetery. This one-acre was located on the site of the present Boca Raton Resort and Club. Originally, the area was selected because of the nice view and the fact that this land was worthless for farming. It appeared to early settlers that land not adjacent to the F.E.C. Railway was of very little value and would make a good
graveyard. During the nineteen twenties there was a tremendous boom in land speculation in south Florida. It was the roaring twenties and developer and architect Addison Mizner decided that Boca Raton would have a resort to match those in Palm Beach or Miami. He decided on a very elaborate and posh resort to be built on the Intracoastal Waterway so he started building the world famous Boca Raton Resort. Mizner was the fact that a cemetery was located in the center of the proposed building site. In an agreement with the cemetery association and the newly incorporated City of Boca Raton, the graves of those buried on the beach were moved, at Mr. Mizner’s expense, to a ten-acre parcel of land located at the northeast corner of 2nd Ave and 16th street just north of what is today Glades Road. Due to a downturn in the stock market and the great depression Boca Raton was slow to develop during the nineteen thirties. It was during World War II that the Mayor of Boca Raton (J.C. Mitchell) invited the military to build a training base in Boca Raton. Much to everyone’s surprise, Boca was selected as the site for a top-secret Air Force base. Almost overnight the population of Boca jumped from 1,500 to 23,000. The Boca Raton Air Base covered all of what is now Florida Atlantic University and Bibletown. It also covered the Cemetery. The heavily guarded, top-secret radar training installation, presented a problem for mourners, funeral homes, and others that wished to visit. To solve this problem the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was ordered to find a suitable site for a cemetery and to disinter the remains from the area just south of Glades Road. Arnold MacSpadden, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers selected the highest point in town for the new cemetery. It seems almost poetic that the name of this high point was called Sunset Hill. In the fall of 1942 to the spring of 1943, all the remains were transferred to the present site. In 1948, the operation of the Cemetery was turned over to the City and the Fire Chief was the first cemetery sexton. He sold, marked, and measured the graves. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Boca Raton slowly became a popular resort town and many visitors returned to call Boca Raton their home. In the 1980’s, the growth of Boca Raton and south Palm Beach County was phenomenal. At this time, extra land for burials was purchased and the first of many mausoleum buildings was erected. Presently the Cemetery consists of fifteen acres of developed land, five and a half acres of land for future Cemetery expansion, three and a half acres that have been set aside for 27 mausoleum buildings, and expansion area for a total of 32 Buildings of crypts, niches, columbaria, and sarcophagi.
