Vero Beach History
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Information Sources:
Courtesy of the Archive Center at the Indian river County main Library
Initial Meanings:
SMI- Bruce Smith Collection
IRCHS - Indian River County Historical Society Collection
YOUNG - Antonio (Tony) Young Collection
SEX - Sexton Family Collection
VBNAS - Vero Beach Naval Air Station Collection
1919 - 1929
Sources: SMI-00094, St. Lucie County Tribune, June13, 1919, Page6
IRCHS-3294, IRCHS-00417, IRCHS-1316-001, SMI-00058, IRCHS-01058,
YOUNG-025, Florida Memory project ca 1903 Florida east Coast Railway
employee controlling for mosquitoes-Cape Sable, Fl. , George Nelson Glass Slide
collection IRCHS-GS-011
1930 - 1939
Sources: IRCHS-01226-001, Pam Cooper, IRCHS-00920, IRCHS-01936, SEX-044,
IRCHS-01543, IRCHS-01216, VBNAS-163, VBNAS-214, IRCHS-00216,
IRCHS-00143, SMI-00131
1940 - 1949
Sources: VBPJ - September 20, 1940 Page 8A, SMI-00134, VBNAS-50, VBNAS-56,
The Buccaneer May 3, 1945, World War II At The U.S. Naval Air Station Vero Beach
Florida by George Gross, Buccaneer, MSS-MIS09-001, VBNAS- 237, VBNAS-2212
,
Pam Cooper, FHS/Wilson-20369538..1262, Florida Historical Society, SMI-00245
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1919 - 1929
April 1919 - The Vero Chamber of
Commerce, formerly the Vero Commercial
Club, is organized and addresses important
local issues, including the bridge campaign
and the town incorporation project.
June 10, 1919 - The City of Vero is incorporated as a
municipality by the Florida legislature. The first five
members of the City Council are: 1) Joseph A. Frere,
lumber-man, who was born in Belgium and spoke
Walloon; 2) Friend C. Gifford, son of Henry Gifford, the
first settler of Vero; 3) William J. Maher who moved to
Vero in 1915 from Illinois and opened the first
department store in 1916; 4) Charles G.
Redstone who was born in Canada and was in the lumber
business when he arrived in 1918. He is the first President
of the city council; 5) Ottaway Roach moved to Vero in
1901 and is the first fire chief. The first mayor is Anthony
W. Young.
September 13, 1919 - Editor Paul Nisle
publishes the first edition of the Vero Press.
It merges in 1927 with the Vero Beach Journal
and becomes the Vero Beach Press Journal with
John Schumann as editor.
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1919 - 1929
September 6, 1920 - The dedication of
the first Vero toll bridge across the Indian
River is on Labor Day, 1920. This is the
second bridge across the Indian River, the
first being at Cocoa. It is a wooden swing
bridge that crosses from present-day
Royal Palm Pointe to the barrier island.
Over 300 automobiles cross the bridge to the
ocean on the opening day.
July 14, 1921 - The Vero Volunteer Fire
Department forms as a result of the loss
by fire of the entire business block of Vero on
November 16, 1919. The fire destroys the
Twitchell Building, Maher’s Department store,
the Toole Barbershop, the Pool Room, and the
Victory Restaurant, with the total property
loss of $73,000. Approval of the volunteer
fire department takes over a year, and
another major fire occurs in October 1921,
one month before the fire truck is delivered
to the Volunteer Fire department.
The Vero Theatre opens on 14
th
Avenue.
There is room for 850 seats including
two boxes on either side and a full-size
orchestra pit. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is
the first movie shown in the theatre. From
October 24-26, 1991, the newly restored
Theatre Plaza, site of the old Florida Theatre, is
unveiled, with apartments upstairs and retail
space downstairs.
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1919 - 1929
May 19, 1925 - The municipality of the City
of Vero is abolished, and a new municipality to
be known as City of Vero Beach is created,
established, and granted a new charter, with the
approval of Governor John W. Martin.
June 29, 1925 - Indian River County is created
from the northern half of St. Lucie County.
Governor John W. Martin
approves the legislative bill on May 30,
1925 and language in the bill itself creates and
establishes Indian River County thirty days from
the Governor’s approval. On
June 29, 1925 the newly-formed county
celebrates with inauguration festivities.
William Jennings Bryan speaks at the ceremony
and assists with the ribbon cutting. The City of
Vero Beach is selected to be the county seat in
November of 1925.
June 25, 1925 - The first mosquito control
district in the state is created in conjunction with
the formation of Indian River County.
The Indian River Mosquito Control District
declares in the local newspaper: “Vigorous
Warfare against Pests in Indian River County.”
Twenty years later during World War II, DDT is
introduced and tested at McKee Jungle Gardens
to eradicate those annoying pests.
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1919 - 1929
July 1926 - Vero Beach Municipal (Light) Plant, newly expanded and upgraded to a 750 HP diesel
engine, opens in the summer of 1926. This expansion is necessitated by an increasing need for
power in a growing city, documented as early as November 1919. It services 950 patrons and
150 electric cooking and heating stoves. Power is furnished to the ice plant, the Vero Beach
Journal and the Vero Beach Press, the water works, the planning mill, laundry, the Novelty
Works (a windows & doors company), the cement products company, and two packing houses.
March 3 - 4, 1930 - After two years of discussion and construction, the dedication of Vero Beach
“Silvertown” Municipal Airport is a two-day event. James Tew, President of the Goodrich Rubber
Company and a resident of Riomar, gives the address at the initial ceremony. Mr. Tew helps to
make the airport possible through his financial contribution,
and the airport is named “Silvertown” in his honour. Over 1500 “air mail first flight envelopes” are
sent to individuals throughout the United States.
January 31, 1931 - Indian River Citrus Growers’
League is organized. The main purpose of the League is the
protection of the reputation of the citrus fruit grown in the
area. Delegates from Volusia, Brevard, St. Lucie, Martin and
Indian River Counties propose a charter with bylaws to the
state. It is reorganized in 1948 and later renamed Indian
River Citrus League.
January 1, 1932 - With very little fanfare, McKee Jungle Gardens
opens to the public as an 80-acre tropical hammock.
At that time, Garden clubs become its biggest visitors. In the first
four months, the Gardens have over 900 visitors.
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1919 - 1929
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1930 - 1939
May 23, 1932 - Mrs. Garnett Radin purchases a
former hotel on Old Dixie Highway and 10
th
Lane. On that site, she opens the first Indian
River Hospital on “National Hospital Day” and on the
anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.
Until 1940, it is a 21-bed private hospital charging
$4.50 per day for a semi-private room and $5.00
for a private room.
March 1935 - Direct airmail service is established at
Vero Beach, the smallest city to have such service in
the United States.
April 10, 1935 - The Community Building, that later became the Heritage Center, is completed,
and the first event held there is the Seventh Annual Flower Show sponsored by the Indian River
Garden Club. It is used as a Servicemen’s Centre during World War II.
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December 1, 1935 - A military record is set by the Army Air Force in Vero Beach by the Seventh
Provisional Bombardment Group. The Group flies into Vero Beach twenty-six Martin B-10 Bombers
on a dawn to dusk history-making single-day record flight from the March and Hamilton Air Force
Base near Riverside, California. The flight takes 21 hours and 15 minutes to complete, and includes
three stops. National radio broadcasts announce the progress of the flight.
March 1937 - The construction of the Indian River County Courthouse is completed, and the
County officials move into the new courthouse. The City of Vero Beach had donated the land on
14
th
Avenue opposite Pocahontas Park in July 1935 and construction began in April of 1936. The
architect is William H. Garns and Son of Vero Beach, with funding through the Public Works
Administration.
1930 - 1939
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1940 - 1949
July 1940 - The first air-conditioned store in Vero Beach is
installed at Coke-Ley Speciality Company owned by John
Coke, dealer for Philco-York. Florida Motor Lines and its
brand new Zephyr bus offers air-conditioning. The Florida East Coast Railway also offers
air-conditioned coaches and excursions to Asheville, North Carolina. In October,
The Vero Del Mar Hotel, located on the corner of 14
th
Avenue and 23
rd
Street, has the
formal opening of its air-conditioned dining room.
November 24, 1942 - Six weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Army and Navy inspect the
Vero Beach Municipal Airport for wartime use. The U.S. Naval Air Station at Vero Beach, constructed
at a cost of $5,000,000.00, is formally commissioned with ceremonies, and placed in operation.
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1940 - 1949
March 20, 1945- The Navy experiments with a new and
controversial method of eradicating mosquitoes by
spraying DDT on a salt marsh just south of the Vero Bridge. Navy officials observe that
personnel are losing 60 to 70 percent of their productive time either in “slapping
mosquitoes or tending to their wounds.” The Stearman PT-17 and the L-4 Piper Cub
airplanes are used for spraying. The area sprayed extends from the Sebastian Inlet to the
Fort Pierce Inlet, an area of 10,000 acres. It takes up to 17 flying hours, 2,044 pounds of
DDT and 5,110 gallons of Diesel oil.
August 14, 1945 - President Harry S. Truman announces the surrender of Imperial Japan,
effectively ending World War II. The U.S. Naval Air Station at Vero Beach newspaper, “The
Buccaneer,” reports the news on August 23, 1945.
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March 23, 1947 - Ownership of the U.S. Naval Air Station is transferred to the City of Vero Beach.
Mayor Alec MacWilliam designates the island in the Indian River as a
Memorial Park to honour local servicemen. A causeway/bridge is
completed from the mainland to the island. On May 10, 1964,
Memorial Island is formally dedicated to Indian River County’s war
dead. In 2003, the City renames it “Veterans Memorial Island
Sanctuary.”
1940 - 1949
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1940 - 1949
September 28, 1947 - Sebastian Inlet re-opens
at 11 a.m. before a crowd of approximately
200 people. The channel is now 125 feet wide
at low tide and approximately 350 feet wide at
flood tide.
1947 - 1948 - City leaders, local business
owners, and the Miracle Mile Association
begin initial plans to create Vero Beach’s
“Miracle Mile,” an attractive business
thoroughfare intended at this time to
stretch from McAnsh Park to the Indian River.
The Brooklyn Dodgers play the Montreal Royals at the newly Navy-built Holman Field. The Dodgers
remain in Vero Beach for 61 Spring trainings. Pictured is the first baseball field for the Brooklyn
Dodgers.
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Book In Progress
More History Coming Soon
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