Credit Nathan Boynton, a Civil War major, who was also one of the original snowbirds. Boynton came from Michigan in 1894 in his 60s looking for warmer weather and a place to build a hotel. He found both along the beachfront, building a two-story wooden hotel. The Boynton Hotel, boasting a wrap-around porch and five guest cottages, was open until 1925. It took up 500 acres on the shoreline — near what is now Ocean Avenue — and cost the major $25 per acre. The town was incorporated in 1920 as the Town of Boynton.
The name Boynton Beach was first used in 1931 by a group of residents who splintered from the town. That breakaway community changed its name to Ocean Ridge in 1939 while the Town of Boynton took on the name Boynton Beach in 1941.