The City of Deerfield Beach Is Born

GE Butler Jr. First Mayor

Originally named the Town of Deerfield, our city was incorporated on June 11, 1925. George Emory Butler, Jr. was elected as the first mayor.

In the early 1920‘s, the town of Boca Raton was threatening to swallow up the little settlement of Deerfield. In 1925 , a group of the 500 residents in the area united to form a mayor-council form of government. After some research it was decided that a small group including J.D. and G.E. Butler would drive to Tallahassee to petition the state for Articles of Incorporation for the Town of Deerfield and got approval on June 11th.

The other members elected were J.D. Butler, O.E. Charlton, J.H. Juvenal, W.A. Scott and W.M. Johnson, who served as the first president of  the council. The city limits  extended from the Hillsboro Canal to the north and the Hillsboro Lighthouse to the south.

Little did our “Founders” know in 1925 that the devastating hurricane of 1926 was right around the corner.