 On July 15 , 1961 , to meet the burgeoning educational demands of South Florida , the state legislature passed an act authorizing the establishment of a new university in the City of Boca Raton . Florida Atlantic University was built on Boca Raton Army Airfield , a 1940s @-@ era army airbase . During World War II , the airfield served as the Army Air Corps ' sole radar training facility . The base was built on the existing Boca Raton Airport and on 5 @,@ 860 acres ( 23 @.@ 7 km ² ) of adjacent land . A majority of the land was acquired from Japanese @-@ American farmers from the failing Yamato Colony . The land was seized through eminent domain , leaving many Japanese @-@ Americans little recourse in the early days of World War II . 
