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Pahokee is a city located on the shore of Lake Okeechobee in
Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...
, United States. The population was 5,649 in the 2010 census. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 57% of the residents of Pahokee were African American and 33% were Hispanic or Latino. In 2018, the Mayor, Kenneth W. Babb, as well as the four members of the City Commission were all African American.


History

Pahokee was incorporated in 1922. The name "Pahokee" means "grassy waters" in the Creek language. Local residents refer to Pahokee as "The Muck", which signifies the mineral-rich dark soil in which sugar cane, citrus fruits, and
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
are grown by agribusinesses. In the 1930s, it was known as the "Winter Vegetable Capital of the World". The city was severely affected, as were the other communities to the south of the lake, by the
1928 Okeechobee hurricane The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the recorded history of the North Atlantic basin, and the fourth deadliest hurricane in the United States, only behind the ...
. Hurricane Wilma, in 2005, destroyed a newly built marina.


Economy

Pahokee was founded on the produce grown in the muck, the fertile bottom of the
Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical climate, tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orland ...
after part of it was drained in the early 20th century. In 1939, the
Federal Writers' Project The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was a federal government project in the United States created to provide jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. It was part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal program. It ...
guide said of Pahokee: "From Christmas until April, Pahokee is a 24-hour town; long trains of refrigerated cars roll out for northern markets day and night." "The streets are noisy and crowded; bars, restaurants and gambling places are never closed." In 1963, with access to Cuban sugar restricted, a sugar plant was built, and agriculture shifted to the mechanized crop of sugar cane. The plant closed in 2009. As a result, it is one of two Palm Beach County cities—the other is South Bay—on a list of 13 Florida municipalities in "a state of financial emergency." Records suggest it has been on the list continually since 1994. Unemployment exceeds 25%. Taxable property values dropped from about $99 million in 2007 to $66 million in 2014. A fifth of the population has migrated in the past 15 years. Dissolution of the city has been proposed. On November 15, 1996, the old Pahokee High School building, built in 1928, was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.


Everglades Regional Medical Center

Everglades Regional Medical Center, at 200 S. Barfield Highway was founded in 1936 as Everglades General Hospital; the current building opened in 1950. The 63-bed general hospital, financially nonviable, closed in 1998 after years of contention, a change from public to private ownership, and three lawsuits.


Glades Health Care Center

Adjacent to the former hospital, at 230 S. Barfield Highway, is Glades Health Care Center, a 120-bed skilled nursing facility, with about 70 full-time employees.


Schools


Public

Pahokee belongs to the School District of Palm Beach County. * Pahokee Elementary School, 560 East Main Place (grades pre-K–5). Enrollment: 375 (2015). Pahokee Elementary School is an IB ( International Baccalaureate) school. Enrollment is 63% black, 35% Hispanic, 1% white, 1% other. 96% are from low-income families. * K. E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary School, 37000 Main Street, Canal Point (grades K–5). Enrollment: 329. The racial makeup of the student body is 69% black, 29% Hispanic, 2% white. 99% of the students are from low-income families. * Pahokee Middle–High School, 900 Larrimore Rd. (grades 6–12). Enrollment: 857 (2015). Enrollment is 68% black, 39% Hispanic, 2% white, 1% other. 93% are from low-income families. :Pahokee High School is best known for its football program that consistently ranks among the state's best. Pahokee, together with nearby rival Belle Glade, with whom it competes each year in the "Muck Bowl", has "sent at least 60 players to the National Football League". "In Muck City, football is salvation, an escape from the likelihood of prison or early death." "Football is the chief subject taught at Pahokee High," a town historian wrote in 1963. In 2014 five former Blue Devils were in the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
, the second most from any high school in the country.


Public charter

* Glades Academy, 7368 State Road 15 (grades K–8). Enrollment: 195 (2015). Enrollment is 72% black, 18% Hispanic, 9% white, 1% other. 97% are from low-income families.


Private

* Everglades Preparatory Academy, 380 East Main St. (grades 9–12). Enrollment: 106 (2016). (There is another, unrelated Everglades Preparatory Academy in Homestead, Florida.) Enrollment is 92% black, 6% Hispanic, 2% white. 90% are from low-income families. * The Shepherd's School, 1800 Bacom Point Road, a Christian school (grades K–12). Enrollment: 71 (2016). * G.A.P Christian Academy, 183 S Lake Ave. (K–12 Education)


Miracle Village

Miracle Village Miracle Village (officially City of Refuge since 2014) is a community on Muck City Road, about east of Pahokee, Florida, that serves as a haven for registered sex offenders. It is located within one of the most isolated and poorest parts of Palm B ...
, founded by a minister, offers a small residential community for registered sex offenders, who sometimes have great difficulty in finding housing, or are homeless (see Julia Tuttle Causeway sex offender colony), because of Florida's strict regulations limiting where sex offenders can live. It is located about three miles east of Pahokee, on Muck City Road, in a former migrant worker facility, surrounded by sugar cane fields. This helps the offenders better integrate into society and not be a burden or commit further crimes in order to survive after serving their time mandated by the state and being released with little or no assistance from the Department of Corrections.


Pahokee in the media

On December 18, 2009, Damien Cave, Miami Bureau Chief of the New York Times, wrote an article describing Pahokee's economic plight and the town's hopes that a new marina project might help rejuvenate business. There has been a significant move towards regeneration with the re-opening of the Pahokee Marina Tiki Bar and Restaurant now known as 'Pahokee Mo's' and new
Dollar General Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of variety stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of April 11, 2022, Dollar General operates 18,216 stores in the continental United States. The company began in 1939 as a family-own ...
store. Governor
Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. Scott ...
also pledged $1.3 million towards the restoration of Pahokee's infrastructure in late 2014. This is in addition to $200,000 pledged by Senator Abruzzo in 2014.


Creative arts about Pahokee


Movies


''Chasing Rabbits'' (2008)

A short by Aaron Kyle. Rabbit hunting as running training for would-be football players. Famous Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden makes a cameo appearance. Days after its release it was shown on ESPN, and an Adidas commercial was made using footage from it.


''Murder of a Small Town'' (2015)

* "James Patterson headed west to ask 'What the hell happened here?' in the PBS documentary that examines unemployment, crime, drugs and high school football in “Murder of a Small Town." The documentary deals with Belle Glade as well as Pahokee.


''The Send-Off'' (2016)

* ''The Send-Off'', a 12-minute short by
Patrick Bresnan Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name *Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick or ...
and Yvette Lucas, called an "intimate portrait" of Pahokee, was shown at the 2016
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. "Emboldened by a giant block party on the evening of their high school prom, a group of students enter the night with the hope of transcending their rural town and the industrial landscape that surrounds them." Along with others it was nominated for, it won three awards in 2016: the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Short at the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Grand Jury Prize – Special Mention, Live Action Short at the
American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...
's AFI Fest, and the Grand Jury Award at the
South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...
.


''The Rabbit Hunt'' (2017)

* ''The Rabbit Hunt'', another short by Patrick Bresnan and Yvette Lucas. It differs from ''Chasing Rabbits'' in its approach to the topic, although the action scenes are similar. The rabbits are driven out of the sugar cane fields by the harvesting machinery, or by smoky, slow-moving fires (humidity is high) deliberately set after harvest to clean up leaves and other waste. The emerging rabbits are killed with clubs, gutted, skinned, cooked, and eaten, or sold to others as meat. Rabbits are a food source for a very poor community; the atmosphere has been called "primitive". "In the Florida Everglades rabbit hunting is a rite of passage for young men, practiced since the early 1900s. The Rabbit Hunt follows a family as they hunt in the fields of an industrial sugar farm." Everyone who appears in the film is African-American. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017, and won the award of Outstanding Non-fiction Short in the Cinema Eye awards of the Museum of the Moving Image.


''Pahokee'' (2019)

* ''Pahokee'' is a full-length (110 min.) feature from Bresnan and Lucas. It was shown at the 2019
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
. The description of its content is: "In the rural town of Pahokee, four teenagers experience the joys and heartbreaks of their last year in high school. This tightly knit community in the Florida everglades struggles with financial insecurity and pin their hopes for the future on their graduating seniors." ** The film was shown on PBS on February 16, 2021, in the series ''America ReFramed''.


Local media

Pahokee's most recent local newspaper was ''A Better Pahokee'', a free digital e-newspaper, founded in 2013 by Jessie Tsang and Minister Freddie Lee Peterkin. It ceased issuing new material in 2016.


Geography

Pahokee is located at (26.824717, –80.659660). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.


Demographics


2020 census

As of the
2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
, there were 5,524 people, 1,860 households, and 1,291 families residing in the city.


2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 5,985 people, 1,710 households, and 1,328 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,936 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 25.21% White 56.06% African American, 0.10% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 15.20% from other races, and 2.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 29.46% of the population. Whites not of Hispanic origin made up 13.6% of the populace. There were 1,710 households, out of which 44.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 22.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.3% were non-families. 18.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.35 and the average family size was 3.79. In the city, 38.4% of the population were under the age of 18, 10.3% were aged 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.2% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males. The median income for a household in the city was $26,731, and the median income for a family was $26,265. Males had a median income of $28,859 versus $20,066 for females. The per capita income for the city was $10,346. About 29.4% of families and 32.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 39.9% of those under age 18 and 32.0% of those age 65 or over. In 2000, 72.78% of the population spoke only English at home, while those who spoke Spanish made up 26.65%, and those who spoke French Creole made up 0.56%.


Notable people

* Reidel Anthony, NFL wide receiver,
1996 Florida Gators football team The 1996 Florida Gators football team represented the University of Florida in the sport of American football during the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 1996 season was the team's seventh under head coach Steve Spurrier. The Gators co ...
, Tampa Bay Buccaneers * Bill Bentley, NFL cornerback, Louisiana-Lafayette,
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
*
Anquan Boldin Anquan Kenmile Boldin Sr. (; born October 3, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver who played 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida State University and was drafted by the Arizona Ca ...
, NFL wide receiver,
Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...
, Baltimore Ravens * Kevin Bouie, NFL running back,
Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...
*
Zabian Dowdell Zabian Dowdell (born September 10, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for Rasta Vechta of the German Basketball Bundesliga. Born in Pahokee, Florida, he played basketball for his hometown's high school. He played college bas ...
, basketball player for
Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...
* Rickey Jackson, NFL linebacker, New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers, NFL Hall Of Fame * Janoris Jenkins, NFL cornerback, St. Louis Rams,
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...
, New Orleans Saints * Pernell McPhee, linebacker, Baltimore Ravens * Eric Moore, NFL Defensive End,
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
*
Jorge Labarga Jorge Labarga (born 1952) is a justice of the Florida Supreme Court, taking office on January 6, 2009. On June 30, 2014, he was sworn in as Florida's 56th Chief Justice and the first Cuban-American to hold the post. He was succeeded on July 1, 2 ...
, Florida Supreme Court Justice *
Freddie Lee Peterkin Freddie Lee Peterkin, also known as Freddie Lee, is a published author, singer–songwriter, actor and ordained interdenominational Minister, born in Pahokee, Florida. He is known for his gritty power soul vocals reminiscent of Bobby Womack. He ...
, minister, soul and gospel singer and actor He now resides in London. He noted in a recent BBC interview that despite living in Europe for many years, he considers his hometown to be Pahokee * Alphonso Smith, NFL cornerback,
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...
* Antone Smith, NFL running back, Florida State and
Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...
* Vincent Smith, running back, University of Michigan * Fred Taylor,
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
running back, Jacksonville Jaguars * Mel Tillis, country musician, born in
Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
, raised in Pahokee * Andre Waters,
defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...
, Philadelphia Eagles *
Riquna Williams Riquna "Bay Bay" Williams (born May 28, 1990) is an American basketball player for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She played collegiately for the Miami Hurricanes of the University of Miami, where s ...
, basketball player, University of Miami and WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks


References


External links


City of Pahokee"Pahokee" 2019 documentary
{{authority control Cities in Palm Beach County, Florida Cities in Florida Populated places on Lake Okeechobee 1922 establishments in Florida Populated places established in 1922