A 94-year-old Boca Raton home, rich with history, could be demolished. Here’s the plan to try to save it.

BOCA RATON — This Boca Raton home is plain, but its history rich.

A demolition could be in store for this residence — one of the city’s oldest — that has endured for 94 years, featuring a wood frame, a white-and-teal exterior and purple bougainvillea plants in front. The owner of this 1929 home in the Black section of pre-Boca Raton has considered tearing down this modest house to build something a little more modern.

History buffs are rushing to save the house at 156 NE 11th St., just southwest of Glades Road and Federal Highway. To passers-by, it may look like any other home in the neighborhood. “It’s not real special architecturally,” said Sue Gillis, the curator of the Boca Raton Historical Society.

But it’s a precious part of the city’s history that shouldn’t be destroyed and forgotten, she said. It “represents the history of African-Americans here,” she said. The cottage, “once so common here,” is now considered the oldest original house left in the Pearl City historic district.

The other original homes are “all gone,” Gillis said.

Susan Gillis, of the Boca Raton Historical Society, stands in front of a 94-year-old home in Boca Raton on Thursday. The Historical Society hopes to physically move the home to preserve it. (Carline Jean / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

In the days of segregation, Pearl City was established for Black residents in 1915, in between what is now Dixie and Federal Highway, a decade before the city was incorporated.

The idea was so that workers on local farms did not have to make the long walk from Deerfield, history experts say. Gillis said is was likely named Pearl City for the Hawaiian Pearl pineapple which was grown in that area and once the site of a pineapple-packing shed to get the fruit shipped to northern states.

The current owner of this home on Northeast 11th Street, also known as Pearl Street, lives in Atlanta and wants to build a brand new house but would rather not give up the location.

“It’s just not feasible for her to restore the building and get what she wants,” Gillis said. “She really needs to have it removed or demolished.”

The owner of the Pearl City house, Sherry Randall, said this house is full of meaning.

Her grandfather built the house, one of just 26 lots for sale at the time, after moving here from Georgia “for better living and better wages.” He was a farm laborer picking beans, the product then loaded on the railroad to go north.

Randall said her mother was born there, and she grew up there, too.

But now it’s time for something more suitable. She said there is no air conditioning and no walls, rather it’s the original pine boards, and there was no insulation. The plumbing needs to be brought up to date too, she said.

Contractors told her “you’re really building a whole new house” and that it would be less expensive to tear down the house and start anew rather than restoration.

But because of what this house means to her, she hopes the historical society can find a new home. “I don’t want the history to be erased,” Randall said.

Historical Society officials think they could raise the estimated $250,000 to have the house — which was assessed at $110,936 last year — hoisted up on a truck and moved to another location, similar to the journey other historical homes have taken in South Florida.

The only problem is where to put it.

The Boca Raton Historical Society has made its plea public, posting on Facebook that the house is “endangered” and asking for help finding a new site.

[ RELATED: Graduates of Life: Deerfield's segregated Braithwaite School ]

The neighbors on Pearl Street back the idea of saving this house.

Marie Hester lives across the street on the land where her grandparents built their home in 1915. Her grandfather worked as a farm laborer, she believes picking beans and tomatoes. Her grandmother washed and ironed clothes as a home business. Hester grew up in her grandparents’ house and several years ago tore it down to build a spacious and modern home.

Because original homes like hers is gone, she appreciates the historical significance of what remains behind.

“I’m glad they’re trying to save the house,” she said. “It is the last one and I want the legacy of homes in Pearl City to be there for everyone to know. Everyone who lives in that area should know about the history.”

Stevette Richardson, 55, also lives on Pearl Street. She has lived there all her life. The house that her aunt’s parents built has since been replaced by something modern. Richardson said Pearl City has always had a sense of community.

“People who moved out still come back to go to the churches in the neighborhood,” she said. “If people move away they still consider themselves Pearl City people.”

Gillis calls Pearl City “a survivor.” In addition to homes, there was once mom-and-pop “juke joints to go to dance and get something to drink.”

An entrance into Pearl city in Boca Raton. The Boca Raton Historical Society hope to physically move a historical home and then build on the land located in Pearl City, the Black section of town in Boca Raton. (Carline Jean / South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Soon after the first homes were built, a church soon followed. When World War II started, many Blacks who lived west of the railroad were “pushed” into Pearl City by the Army Air Corps, which established a base on what is now Florida Atlantic University, according to news accounts.

Black soldiers stayed in barracks just north of Pearl City, while white soldiers were in barracks closer to downtown, where white people lived. The barracks for the Black soldiers stayed, and today it is the Dixie Manor public housing apartments.

Today, Pearl City is generally defined as south of Glades Road, between Dixie Highway and Federal Highway.

Although sandwiched between two major highways, Pearl Street is quiet, with only the sound of new home construction buzzes in the air.

A 1915 advertisement for lots of land in Pearl City. The city was established for African American residents south of what is today Glades Road between Dixie and Federal Highway so that workers on local farms did not have to make the long walk from Deerfield. (Boca Raton Historical Society/Courtesy)

The house today is basic. It’s a 2-bedroom, one-bathroom home. Tires and a bowling ball and crushed beer cans litter the dirt front yard.

Gillis has big plans if she can pull off a relocation effort.

She wants to restore it as both a museum and a useful community center. Visitors can watch interactive oral histories. Historical photos will adorn the walls.

“It will be a landmark,” Gillis said. “That’s our dream.”

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash