The DSBDA was founded in 1984, by a group of business owners led by Roberto Maldonado, who is now Alderman of the 26th Ward. The group saw the DSBDA as something more than a chamber of commerce, helping to develop West Division Street into something more than a token Puerto Rican enclave. They had in mind a cultural/ethnic district, with residents able to afford to stay and buy homes, and maintain generations of business and cultural ventures.
At the time DSBDA was founded, there was no organization on Division Street that was interested in nurturing, in a planned way, the growth of the area. In 1989, the neighborhood was quickly loosing ground to high-end development. (The original boundaries of The DSBDA extended from Ashland Avenue in the east to California Avenue in the West.) Due to the onset of gentrification, the boundaries have shifted west from Western Avenue to Central Park Ave. In the midst of rapid neighborhood changes the DSBDA board members made a decision to modify its bylaws in an effort to more directly address the issue of gentrification in Humboldt Park. Today, the board is still composed 99% of Paseo Boricua business owners.
In 1991, a portion of Division Street was given the honorary name, of "Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Street". The street was named after an articulate and vocal Puerto Rican independent advocate. The naming excited controversy as well as stirred community dialogue, and the idea began to emerge of making Division Street a permanent Puerto Rican cultural area with restaurants and other entertainment venues. In 1993 a community summit was held, convened by Billy Ocasio, to map out a plan of anchoring the community.
By 1995, Alderman Billy Ocasio, DSBDA, and other community leaders, persuaded the city to fund a large venture, putting up two 45 ton, colorful, steel Puerto Rican flags, circumscribing the center of the community, and naming that section of Division Street "Paseo Boricua". The area beneath the flags has been the focus of the struggles of the Puerto Rican people, including riots, marches, parades, fiestas, carnivals, conferences and workshops. The symbolism of the flags, and the cultural pride they ennoble has greatly inspired the vision of DSBDA and the Paseo Boricua neighborhood to enrich and re-create its rich heritage and continue developing itself as a community of self-determination, resource, and social capital. Since 1995, the DSBDA has actively sought to raise the visibility of the local community and business market, establishing a "brand presence" for The Paseo Boricua cultural enclave.