Belle Glade, Florida | |
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| City of Belle Glade | |
.jpg) Main Street in Belle Glade | |
 Seal | |
| Nickname: | |
| Motto: Her Soil is Her Fortune | |
 Location of Belle Glade inFlorida | |
  Belle Glade Location in the United States | |
| Coordinates:26°41′07″N80°40′17″W / 26.68528°N 80.67139°W /26.68528; -80.67139 | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  Florida |
| County |  Palm Beach |
| Settled (Hillsboro Settlement) | c. 1912–April 8, 1928[3][4][5][6][7][8] |
| Incorporated (Town of Belle Glade) | April 9, 1928[3][4][5][6][7][8] |
| Incorporated (City of Belle Glade) | September 11, 1945[3][4][5][6][7][8] |
| Government | |
| • Type | Commissioner-Manager |
| • Mayor | Steve B. Wilson |
| • Vice Mayor | Joaquin Almazan |
| • Commissioners | Mary Ross Wilkerson, Andrew L. Berry, and City Treasurer Zayteck D. Marin |
| • City Manager | Diana Hughes |
| • City Clerk | Jessica Figueroa |
| Area | |
• Total | 7.03 sq mi (18.21 km2) |
| • Land | 6.97 sq mi (18.06 km2) |
| • Water | 0.058 sq mi (0.15 km2) |
| Elevation | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 16,698 |
| • Density | 2,394.9/sq mi (924.66/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 (Eastern (EST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
| ZIP code | 33430 |
| Area codes | 561,728 |
| FIPS code | 12-05200[11] |
| GNIS feature ID | 0278445[10] |
| Website | http://www.bellegladegov.com/ |
Belle Glade is a city in south-central Florida in the far western part ofPalm Beach County, Florida, United States, on the southeastern shore ofLake Okeechobee. It is part of theMiami metropolitan area ofSouth Florida. According to the2020 U.S. census, the city had a population of 16,698, down from 17,467 in the 2010 census.
Belle Glade (and the surrounding area) is sometimes referred to as "Muck City" due to the large quantity ofmuck, in whichsugarcane grows, found in the area.[1] Despite being located in theSouth Florida region of the state, Belle Glade is culturally more associated with theFlorida Heartland.
For a time during the early to mid 1980s, the city had the highest rate ofAIDS infection per capita (37 cases in a population of roughly 19,000) in the United States.[12] According to theFBI, in 2003, the city had the second highest violent crime rate in the country at 298 per 10,000 residents.[citation needed] In 2010, the Palm Beach County sheriff's office estimated that half of the young men in Belle Glade between the ages of 18 and 25 had felony convictions.[13]
TheBelle Glade or Okeechobee culture was anarchaeological culture that extended around Lake Okeechobee and included the lowerKissimmee River valley. It existed from as early as 1000BCE until about 1700CE. The culture is named for the Belle Glade site, which was excavated in the mid-1930s as part of aCivil Works Administration project. The Belle Glade site included amidden and aburial mound.[14][15]
The town of Belle Glade was founded during theFlorida land boom of the 1920s.[16] During that period, there were a series of efforts made to put in place drainage systems to reclaim dry land from the Everglades, including land aroundLake Okeechobee. It was hoped that the reclaimed acreage could be put to better use, including agriculture. In 1921 the Florida legislature established an agricultural research station at Belle Glade to study methods of growing crops on reclaimed Everglades land. At that time, there were already 16 settlements on and around Lake Okeechobee, inhabited by around 2,000 people.[17]
A settlement, originally named Hillsboro, was built at what is now Belle Glade in 1925.[18] In 1926 the Florida East Coast Railway extended its system to Belle Glade, which helped the town's development.[19][20]
Apowerful hurricane struck the area on September 16, 1928. The storm winds caused Lake Okeechobee to overflow its banks, inundating towns around the lake and causing widespread damage in Belle Glade. According to figures compiled by the Florida Department of Health, the storm killed 611 people in Belle Glade alone, and a total of over 1,800 statewide. Contemporary accounts stated that most of the dead were Black migrant farmworkers, a "large percentage" of whom were believed to be from theBahamas.[21] Belle Glade was rebuilt, anda large dike was erected to protect towns around the lake from storm-driven overflows.
German prisoners of war were confined in camps located at Belle Glade and nearbyClewiston duringWorld War II.[22]
In the early 1980s, researchers began to notice a large number of people with AIDS in Belle Glade. The disease had first been identified by doctors in New York and California in 1981, and it was largely associated with communities of gay men in and around large cities. In Belle Glade, however, people with AIDS mainly identified as heterosexual, and around half were women. Some researchers, and notably Dr. Mark Whiteside and Dr. Carolyn MacLeod of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, in Miami, hypothesized that AIDS in Belle Glade might be connected to poverty and poor living conditions in the city's "colored town," where many people diagnosed with the disease also lived. Their theory, along with the very high per capita AIDS rate in Belle Glade, brought notoriety to the town as the "AIDS capital of the world." Whiteside and MacLeod's theory turned out to be incorrect, but subsequent research conducted in Belle Glade shaped scientific knowledge about the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, through heterosexual sex.[23]
Today, the area around Lake Okeechobee is fertile and farming is an important industry. Sugar cane and vegetables are grown.[24]
Migrantfarmworkers are an important part of the labor force. Belle Glade received national attention when a 1960 CBS television documentary,Harvest of Shame, graphically depicted the local migrant farmerworkers' daily existence and working conditions.[25][26]
Men and women still gather around 5 a.m. in the same lot you see at the beginning ofHarvest of Shame, waiting for buses to take them to the fields. The "loading ramp," as it's called, is a bleak, empty lot, surrounded by some small buildings with bars on the windows and a boarded up storefront.[27]
As of May 2014 the city has plans "to demolish the loading ramp and turn it into a park."[27]
The town is known for itsfootball tradition, and together with nearbyPahokee has "sent at least 60 players to theNational Football League".[2]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.7 square miles (12 km2), of which 4.7 square miles (12 km2) are land and 0.21% is water.
| Climate data for Belle Glade, Florida, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1924–2006 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 90 (32) | 92 (33) | 93 (34) | 95 (35) | 99 (37) | 98 (37) | 100 (38) | 99 (37) | 97 (36) | 96 (36) | 91 (33) | 89 (32) | 100 (38) |
| Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 75.9 (24.4) | 78.7 (25.9) | 81.7 (27.6) | 86.0 (30.0) | 89.2 (31.8) | 91.1 (32.8) | 92.3 (33.5) | 92.3 (33.5) | 90.8 (32.7) | 87.3 (30.7) | 81.4 (27.4) | 77.9 (25.5) | 85.4 (29.7) |
| Daily mean °F (°C) | 63.9 (17.7) | 65.9 (18.8) | 69.3 (20.7) | 73.2 (22.9) | 77.5 (25.3) | 80.9 (27.2) | 82.4 (28.0) | 82.5 (28.1) | 81.4 (27.4) | 77.3 (25.2) | 70.8 (21.6) | 66.7 (19.3) | 74.3 (23.5) |
| Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 51.8 (11.0) | 53.1 (11.7) | 56.9 (13.8) | 60.5 (15.8) | 65.9 (18.8) | 70.7 (21.5) | 72.4 (22.4) | 72.7 (22.6) | 72.0 (22.2) | 67.3 (19.6) | 60.1 (15.6) | 55.6 (13.1) | 63.3 (17.4) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 21 (−6) | 27 (−3) | 27 (−3) | 33 (1) | 44 (7) | 54 (12) | 62 (17) | 61 (16) | 60 (16) | 39 (4) | 32 (0) | 24 (−4) | 21 (−6) |
| Averageprecipitation inches (mm) | 2.27 (58) | 1.90 (48) | 3.03 (77) | 2.14 (54) | 4.55 (116) | 9.49 (241) | 7.01 (178) | 8.63 (219) | 7.29 (185) | 4.26 (108) | 2.55 (65) | 2.10 (53) | 55.22 (1,402) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.01 in) | 9.1 | 7.3 | 7.6 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 16.2 | 17.0 | 17.1 | 17.5 | 11.7 | 7.7 | 7.8 | 135.2 |
| Source 1: NOAA[28] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: XMACIS2[29] | |||||||||||||
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 926 | — | |
| 1940 | 3,806 | 311.0% | |
| 1950 | 7,219 | 89.7% | |
| 1960 | 11,273 | 56.2% | |
| 1970 | 15,949 | 41.5% | |
| 1980 | 16,535 | 3.7% | |
| 1990 | 16,177 | −2.2% | |
| 2000 | 14,906 | −7.9% | |
| 2010 | 17,467 | 17.2% | |
| 2020 | 16,698 | −4.4% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[30] | |||
| Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000[31] | Pop 2010[32] | Pop 2020[33] | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 2,058 | 1,540 | 1,091 | 13.81% | 8.82% | 6.53% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 7,471 | 9,716 | 9,432 | 50.12% | 55.62% | 56.49% |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 23 | 9 | 3 | 0.15% | 0.05% | 0.02% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 27 | 79 | 77 | 0.18% | 0.45% | 0.46% |
| Native Hawaiian orPacific Islander alone (NH) | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0.04% | 0.01% | 0.02% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 30 | 10 | 31 | 0.20% | 0.06% | 0.19% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 1,181 | 133 | 259 | 7.92% | 0.76% | 1.55% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4,110 | 5,979 | 5,802 | 27.57% | 34.23% | 34.75% |
| Total | 14,906 | 17,467 | 16,698 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
As of the2020 United States census, there were 16,698 people, 6,324 households, and 4,052 families residing in the city.[34]
As of the2010 United States census, there were 17,467 people, 5,832 households, and 3,879 families residing in the city.[35]
In 2000, 39.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.9% weremarried couples living together, 22.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.3% were non-families. 23.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.04 and the average family size was 3.62.
In 2000, the population was spread out, with 33.5% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 20.7% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.6 males.
In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $22,715, and the median income for a family was $26,756. Males had a median income of $26,232 versus $21,410 for females. Theper capita income for the city was $11,159. About 28.5% of families and 32.9% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 41.1% of those under age 18 and 21.4% of those age 65 or over.
As of 2000, speakers ofEnglish as afirst language accounted for 61.03% of all residents, whileSpanish as amother tongue consisted of 26.87%,Haitian Creole comprised 11.00%, andFrench made up 1.07% of the population.[36]
As of 2000, Belle Glade had the tenth highest percentage ofHaitian residents in the United States, at 11.50% of the populace.[37] It also had the sixtieth highest percentage ofCuban residents nationally, at 5.98% of the population.[38]
Thecane sugar mill of the "Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative" (SCGC) is located at Belle Glade. During the crop season the factory employs 550 people.[39]
As of Feb. 2013, the official unemployment rate was about 15%; however, the town's mayor suggested the actual unemployment rate was closer to 40%. The number of jobs available locally dropped as local agriculture shifted fromvegetables tosugarcane, a more highly mechanized crop.[13]
TheUnited States Postal Service operates the Belle Glade Post Office.[40]
TheFlorida Department of Corrections operated theGlades Correctional Institution in anunincorporated area inPalm Beach County near Belle Glade.[41] It was founded in 1932, employed about 350, had a capacity of 918 inmates[41] and was scheduled for closure in December 2011.[42]
TheLake Okeechobee Scenic Trail runs through Belle Glade.
School District of Palm Beach County operates public schools.
In CBS Reports' 1960 programHarvest of Shame, Belle Glade plays a prominent role as a source of migrant agricultural labor.
The final scenes of the crime novelPretty Little Things byJilliane Hoffman take place in asugarcane plantation near Belle Glade.
The high school football culture of Belle Glade is the subject of the non-fiction book,Muck City: Winning and Losing in Football's Forgotten Town by author Bryan Mealer.
The psychedelic pop bandof Montreal released a track titled, "Belle Glade Missionaries" on their 2013 album,Lousy with Sylvianbriar.
InZora Neale Hurston's novelTheir Eyes Were Watching God, characters Janie and Tea Cake join other African American migrant workers in picking beans in Belle Glade.
The refinery scenes fromEmpire of the Ants (1977) were shot in Belle Glade.[54]
In Muck City, football is salvation, an escape from the likelihood of prison or early death.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)High School: Glades Central (Belle Glade, FL)
High School: Glades Central (Belle Glade, FL)
Municipalities and communities ofPalm Beach County, Florida,United States | ||
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