A CENTURY of PROGRESS The Delray Beach Chamber has been fostering the city’s culture, mystique and economy since 1912
IT HAS SURVIVED, under one name or another, for nearly 110 years—through the Great Depression, a World War, multiple recessions and hurricanes, and a global pandemic. Through it all, the Greater Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce has remained committed to its mission of unifying and bolstering Delray Beach’s business community for the betterment of the city and its residents. The Chamber’s history begins in parallel with the United States’ own national Chamber of Commerce, established in 1912 by President Taft. That same year, Delray hatched its own Boosters Club, the forerunner of today’s Delray Beach Chamber. In fact, records indicate that as early as 1902, Delray Beach had launched a civic organization fighting for the interest of its residents; that’s when the Ladies Improvement Organization formed to “promote the building of homes instead of tents,” according to documents from the Delray Beach Historical Society. “The visionaries and entrepreneurs of Delray Beach at the time most likely experienced typical concerns and challenges of building and growing a town, especially a farming town that was carved out of a wilderness,” says Winnie Diggans Edwards, executive
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director of the Delray Beach Historical Society. “Their vision was to oversee the building and progress of the town and community. The early days of the Booster’s Club and the Board of Trade, as it became known, worked to incentivize and support newcomers. They wanted to build a community to which residents, visitors and investors were attracted. World wars, the Florida Land Bust of the 1920s and devastating weather happenings certainly contributed to impede the town’s growth at certain times. The Chamber of Commerce met every challenge.” In 1925, Delray Beach’s Board of Trade officially changed its name to the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, with Leroy Diggans—grandfather of the Historical Society’s Winnie Diggans Edwards—serving as its first president, a position which he held intermittently for seven years. Early Chamber dues were $1, and every citizen was a member. The Chamber leadership’s most visible accomplishment during its inaugural year was the building and promotion of what it called “The World’s Biggest Mailbox,” part post office box and part roadside attraction. The 12-foot high letter receptacle, constructed to advertise the “Ocean City” to the rest of the world, received
