Briny Breezes Timeline

By Lynn Thomas

Personal and Historical Timelines of the Briny Breezes Oceanfront Park

Personal Briny Breezes Timeline

Historical Timeline for BrinyBreezes

• 1885 Barefoot mailman walks the beach for 8 years.
• 1894 East Coast Railroad reaches West Palm Beach.
• 1905 Ward B Miller retired from lumber business in Michigan and buys property south of Delray Beach.
• 1911 First Ocean Avenue Bridgeis built.
• 1916 A-1-A is built along coast.
• 1919 Ward Miller buys the current 43 acres of land and builds a large, two and half story Spanish style home made of cinder block covered with stucco on an ocean site across from the corner of Briny Breezes Blvd. and Old Ocean Blvd. He calls the area Shore Acres, and operates Shore Acres Dairy with a 500 head herd.
• 1925 Ward Miller changes the name of Shore Acres Dairy to Briny Breezes and subdivides the land into 15’ to 30’ lots. He sells it for nearly $2,000,000.
• 1926 Boynton Inlet opens. The Florida real estate bubble bursts and the property goes back to the Miller family lot by lot.
• 1927 With most of their money gone into the development of the property, the Millers begin a large garden and raise turkeys west of A-1-A. They cover Ruthmary Avenue with dirt, turning the entire street into a strawberry patch.
• 1930 Ward Miller welcomes “tin can tourists” to camp and fish if they buy his strawberries and milk.
• 1934 Ellene and Glen Mann come to Briny and open a Cities Service gas station, located on the ocean just north of the current ocean clubhouse. It’s the only gas station between Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.
• 1936 Briny expands to include plans for a community hall and shuffleboard courts. An open-air laundry room is added.
• 1937 Second Ocean Avenue Bridge is built.
• 1937 Briny Breezes separates from Boynton Beach.
• 1939 – 1945 The W.W.II Years – German submarines torpedo ships off the coast.  Campers are asked to keep blinds closed at night.
• 1940s During these years more than 50 children wintering in Briny ride the public school bus every day to attend school in Boynton Beach.
• 1943 Sixty-nine children attend the first Sunday school class.
• 1947 A hurricane destroys the Miller Mansion, rental cottages, & washes out A-1-A along the beach.
• 1952 Briny Breezes logo is designed.
• 1955 The Briny Bugle is started.
• 1956 A fire burns the old community hall. Construction begins on a new auditorium with a capacity for 500 people.
• 1958 Residents buy Briny Breezes from The Miller Family for $1,500,000.
• 1959 The annual charity auction begins.
• 1961 Mortgage burning party –over 2,000 people attend a fish fry on the beach and watch an effigy of $350,000 mortgage being burned.
• 1963 Briny Breezes becomes a town.
• 1964 A tornado hits the western districts of the park. Twenty-seven mobile homes have to be replaced.
• 1967 The swimming pool is installed.
• The Woolbright Road Bridge is opened.
• 1967 Briny resident Walter Scott flies a kite for 168 hours, making the Guinness Book of World Records.
• 1972 The sound system is installed at Briny to play chimes and music in memory of past residents.
• 1973 The Blue Book (park directory) is organized.
• 1974 The Seascape restaurant is closed, and becomes the park’s ocean clubhouse.
• 1975 A traffic light installed on A-1-A.
• 1976 President Ford visits Briny Breezes. The new community building along A-1-A is built for approximately $100,000.
• 1985 A lift station is installed to begin sending sewage to Boynton Beach.
• 1988 A cable system is installed throughout park.
• 1989 The park’s cable channel: BBC8 goes live. Trailers remove antennas.
• 1991 A new Ocean Club House is built for $485,000.00
• 1991 The movie “Folks” is filmed in Briny starring Tom Selleck and Don Ameche.
• 1993 A swimming pool cabana is added.
• 1994 A parade honoring original stockholders is held.
• 1998 40th Anniversary celebration is held. Includes a parade, beach party, swim extravaganza, a choral concert, and Curtain Raiser program.
• 1998 The third Ocean Avenue bridge construction is started.
• 2002 An exercise room is opened.
• 2004 The movie “In Her Shoes” is filmed at the ocean clubhouse starring Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine. Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne cause minor damage.
• 2005 Hurricane Wilma causes damage in the park.
• 2006 Developers make an offer to purchase Briny Breezes property.
• 2007 Briny Breezes stockholders vote to sell the park to Ocean Land Development $510,000,000.
• 2007 Ocean Land deal falls through (target date was set for March 2009)
• 2008 Briny celebrate its 50th Anniversary

Comment | Share Your Memories