Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker: Indian River

Indian River

THE BRIDGES

Location:2 Royal Palm Pointe City Park
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: A parade of Model T automobiles crossed the first bridge to span the Indian River on Labor Day 1920. This made Vero the first community with a bridge to Orchid Island. Made of sabal palm pilings and rough-cut planking, it began on the mainland side from a causeway created from dredged fill, and curved in the middle where the bridge tender’s house was located. The bridge tender would open the metal swing span by hand for boat traffic. The tolls varied from $.05 for pedestrians to $.10 for a horse to $.35 for a two-ton delivery truck. In the 1950s, after successful lobbying from Florida State Senator Merrill P. Barber, a new bridge was constructed using an extension of the dredged-fill causeway for its bridgehead. The Merrill P. Barber Bridge was designed in the Mid-Century Modern style, and had a steel bascule span with a booth for the bridge tender. In the 1990s, a new mainland approach was established to the north and the Barber bridge was replaced with a concrete arch bridge. This second Barber bridge is fixed, and is tall enough that the Atlantic Ocean can be seen clearly to the east. The old causeway and bridgehead became Royal Palm Pointe, a residential and commercial corridor with a city park on the river.
Sponsors: The Indian River County Historical Society, Tourist Development County of Indian River

FRANK AND STELLA HEISER HOUSE

Location:11055 138th Avenue
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: Side One: Frank William Heiser was born in Lafayette, Indiana, in 1892. He was orphaned at age 14 and later dropped out of school. In 1911, Heiser bought a 20-acre farm in Fellsmere and moved to the area in 1912. He married Fellsmere Sales Company secretary Stella Mounger in 1915. Local builders, Shupe and Shafer, constructed this single-story, 1,440 square foot, bungalow-style house that featured five rooms and five gables. In 1918, the Heisers had a daughter, Lois, their only child. Frank Heiser, a member of numerous Fellsmere business associations, saw opportunity in the nutrient-rich muck fields west of the town. In 1923, he organized the Standard Agricultural Chemical Company, later named the Ammoniated Products Company (APC) in 1924. To process the muck into fertilizer base, APC built the Broadmoor Muck Plant five miles west of town. In 1925, Heiser became General Manager of the Trans Florida Central Railroad and President of the Fellsmere Drainage District, a position he held until 1946. In 1926, Heiser became APC’s General Manager and the company became the single largest landowner in Indian River County. High shipping costs forced the company out of business and the plant closed. Side Two: In 1927, Heiser planted his first test crop of sugar cane in Fellmere’s muck lands. After that crop’s success, he planted 100 acres in 1929. Heiser’s next goal was to build a sugar mill. He traveled between Fellsmere and New York City by train during 1930 and 1931 to secure financing, raising $1 million. Heiser founded the Fellsmere Sugar Company in 1931. The mill was built west of Fellsmere in 1932 using materials from the muck plant and a Louisiana sugar mill. By 1933, the Fellsmere Sugar Mill produced 2 million pounds of raw sugar and employed 225 people. From 1935 to 1937, he converted the company into a cooperative, the Fellsmere Sugar Producer’s Association, and added a sugar refinery. In 1936, the refinery, the first in Florida, could produce up to 150,000 pounds of refined sugar daily, labeled “Florida Crystals.” Challenges plagued the cooperative, and in 1943, Heiser and the other members sold it to Puerto Rican sugar producers. The Heisers left Fellsmere and moved to Jacksonville, though Frank returned periodically. Frank died in Jacksonville in 1961, followed by Stella in 1976. An unsung hero of Fellsmere, Heiser and his company saved the town from total economic collapse during the Great Depression.
Sponsors: Patricia and Cornelius du Plessis, Owners and Restorers of the Frank and Stella Heiser House, Fellsmere Historian Richard B. Votapka and Wife Linda

BASEBALL AND DODGERTOWN

Location:4000 26th Street
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: Dodgertown was the spring training facility of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Originally part of a World War II Naval Air Station, Dodgertown became the spring training home of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948, when local business leader Bud Holman convinced the Dodgers to set up a spring training facility in Vero Beach. Here, Dodger President Branch Rickey sought to create a “baseball campus” where players could live and play together. Dodgertown was the South’s first racially integrated spring training camp, where 600-plus players from the Brooklyn Dodgers 26 minor league teams played. Hall of Fame players Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella were among the first African American players to train here. In 1953, Dodger President Walter O’Malley privately built the 6,500-seat Holman Stadium, a state-of-the-art ball park at Dodgertown. During its history, 6 World Championships and 14 National League Pennant-winning teams played at Dodgertown. In 2001, the Dodgers sold Dodgertown to Indian River County, then leased it back until 2008, when their spring training facilities moved west to Arizona. In 2012, the O’Malley family stepped up to manage historic Dodgertown as a year-round multi-sports complex.
Sponsors: Indian River County Historical Society, Tourist Development Council of Indian River County and the Florida Department of State

ROSELAND

Location:12973 Bay Street
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: The Ays Indians lived along the confluence of the St. Sebastian and the Indian River (Rio d’ays) when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. For hundreds of years after that, settlements in the Indian River area were restricted to the coastal areas where citrus, pineapples, and fishing were the primary industries. In 1816, George Fleming, an Irishman who had served in the army of Spanish Florida, received a large land grant on both sides of the St. Sebastian River. This grant was important in the growth of the area. Roseland’s first citizen was Dempsey Cain, who settled on the north side of the river in 1877. Cain is credited with naming the community on the south side of the river Roseland after the wild roses that grew there in abundance. As more settlers arrived, a post office was built in 1892, and in 1893, a depot and water tower were constructed for Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railway. In 1910, the A.A. Berry Land Development Company purchased the remnants of the old Fleming land grant. The original Berry Land Office Building still stands in Roseland, as does the 1926 Roseland Community Center, built of lumber salvaged from the first bridge to cross the St. Sebastian River.
Sponsors: Indian River County Historical Society, Tourist Development Council of Indian River County and the Florida Department of State

US-1 TEE-BEAM BRIDGE IN INDIAN RIVER COUNTY

Location:US 1 Over Old Dixie Highway and FEC Railway
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: The tee-beam bridge at this location carried traffic southbound on US-1 over the Florida East Coast Railway and Old Dixie Highway beginning in 1927. The tee-beam design, constructed from cast-in-place concrete beams and reinforced steel running lengthwise along the bottom, was one of the most popular bridge types in the 1920s and 1930s. The Florida State Road Department was authorized in 1923 to complete a system of roads designated by the state legislature to help encourage tourism, which included the construction of US-1 as a major north-south route through Florida. This tee-beam bridge was the first US-1 bridge constructed by the Florida State Road Department in Indian River County. It was the second of six bridges built in the 1920s along US-1 in Florida. The durable tee-beam bridge was easy and cost-effective to build. This bridge was also important for its great length for a tee-beam bridge, which totaled 288 feet. The bridge at this location was a significant example from the 1920s, a decade from which historic bridges are increasingly rare. It was replaced in 2014.
Sponsors: Florida Department of Transportation

OSCEOLA PARK HISTORIC DISTRICT

Location:Bounded by 20th Street, 20th Avenue, 18th Street, 23rd Avenue
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: Osceola Park was one of the first residential subdivisions added to the town of Vero Beach, and contains the city’s largest concentration of early 20th century buildings. In 1915 and 1917, the Indian River Farms Company, who had platted the original town of Vero in 1913, hired chief engineer William H. Kimball to develop plans for the subdivisions of Little Acre Farms and Osceola Park Homesites. Located west of Vero, the Little Acre Farms subdivision consisted of one-acre lots that provided enough land for a home, a vegetable garden, and some livestock. In contrast, Osceola Park was laid out following a traditional grid pattern of streets, some using American Indian names such as Osceola, Tom Tiger, and Tallahassee. Osceola Park was developed for Vero’s first residents, and the neighborhood became a fashionable residential district where some of the town’s most prominent citizens lived. The district developed between 1915 and 1958, and includes houses that represent the architectural tastes and changes in construction technology over four decades. The approximately forty-acre Osceola Park Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Sponsors: Indian River Historical Society, City of Vero Beach, Osceola Park Neighborhood Association, Tourist Development Council of Indian River County

McKEE JUNGLE GARDENS

Location:350 U.S. 1
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: This is the original site of McKee Jungle Gardens, one of Florida's earliest tourist attractions. McKee Gardens was founded in 1932 by Vero Beach pioneer Waldo Sexton and Cleveland industrialist Arthur G. McKee. They engaged William Lyman Phillips, a landscape architect who designed Fairchild Tropical Gardens and Bok Tower Gardens, to enhance and develop the 80 acres of dense tropical vegetation. The gardens contained a collection of native and imported tropical plants, an aviary, resident monkeys, and an alligator named "Ole Mac." One of the most impressive components of Phillips' design was the magnificent Cathedral of Palms, a colossal stand of more than 300 royal palms planted in precise rows. At its height of popularity the garden attracted 100,000 visitors annually, but closed in 1976, unable to compete with the allure of new theme parks nearby. Most of the acreage became a golf course and condominiums. The remaining 18 acres, now known as McKee Botanical Garden, were saved from destruction by the Indian River Land Trust and the citizens of Indian River County, and serves as an example of environmental stewardship and horticultural inspiration. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places-January 1998
Sponsors: Sponsored by the Indian River Land Trust Indian River County Historical Society Indian River County Tourist Development Council and The Florida Department of State

THE MARIAN FELL LIBRARY

Location:65 North Cypress Street
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: The Merian Fell Library, the oldest library in Indian River County, opened its doors to the public on May 1, 1915 at 63 North Cypress Street, Fellsmere, Florida. Construction of the library was made possible by Marian Fell, daughter of Edward Nelson Fell (the founder of Fellsmere) through royalties she received from translating literary works of Russian author and playwright Ashton Chekov. Born in 1886, Marian Fell was educated in private schools in the United States, Paris, and Russia. Between 1912 and 1916, Saribner's published five of Marian Fell's translations, some of the first Russian literature to appear in English. The Fell family is believed to have resided directly across the street from the library, at 88 Cypress Street, from 1915 to 1917. North of the library were two grass tennis courts belonging to the Fellsmere Tennis Association, where the 1916 Fell Cup was held. The Fell Library is typical of many architecturally modest library buildings constructed in small Florida towns during the early twentieth century, and has been used for readings, recitals, meetings, social events, and children's programs since it opened. The library is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Sponsors: Indian River Country Historical Society The Mary Carter Memorial Fund The Fellsmere Community Redevelopment Agency and the Florida Department of State

U.S. NAVAL STATION, VERO BEACH WORLD WAR II

Location:Vero Beach Municipal Airport
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: Site of the Main Hanger and Control Tower of the Vero Beach Naval Air Station (NAS) that was commissioned on 24 November 1942 to provide Navy and Marine flight training base for over 2700 men 300 WAVES and women Marines. The previously city-owned airport expanded from 100 acres to 2500 acres and contained self-supporting facilities for a population equal to the size of Vero Beach. The purpose of the NAS was constantly revised from originally training dive-bomber pilots to daytime pilots and ultimately to nighttime fighter pilots. Ingenuity of the maintenance crews was required to keep planes operational due to the shortage of repair parts. Almost 200 men received training on the Brewster SB2A Buccaneer and 1400 men on the Grumman F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, F7F Tigercat. Although extensive safety procedures were established, records show over 100 lives were lost in flight training accidents. Training diminished after VJ Day (14 August 1945), but as of 2 September 1945, records show 237,102 hours of flight time had been provided since the first flight in December 1942. The Vero Beach NAS was placed in caretaker status in June 1946 and deeded back to the city.
Sponsors: the Indian River County Historical Society, the City of Vero Beach and the Florida Department of State

THE FELLSMERE PUBLIC SCHOOL

Location:22 S Orange St
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: The Fellsmere Public School, the first masonry school building in what is now Indian River County, was constructed during 1915 and 1916 at 22 South Orange Street. The 22,680 square foot, two-story school with a raised basement was designated by Frederick Homer Trimble, a former Methodist missionary architect who had worked in Fuzhou, China. Trimble, who began his architectural career in the United State in 1915 with the Fellsmere School, designed several building in Fellsmere and Vero Beach, and over 150 buildings in South Florida. Trimble also designed the first buildings at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. The bid to construct the school was awarded to Arthur F. Sanders, a Fellsmere contractor, on May 4, 1915 by the St. Lucie County School Board. Trimble donated the plans for the Fellsmere school but was paid $100 per month to oversee its construction. The school's construction was delayed for several months before funding was obtained from the sale of bonds. By September 1915 Sanders' crews had constructed the Fellsmere Short Line Railroad from the Fellsmere Farms Railroad north of South Carolina Avenue down to the center of Cypress Street to the school site. A special railcar build tin Palatka was used to haul materials to the school on 4x4 heart-of-pine rails spiked to 2x8 crossties. Work began on the school's foundation in October 1915, and was completed in mid-November 1915. On January 31, 1916, the school's cornerstone was laid under the direction of the Grand Masonic Lodge. The Fellsmere, Public School was completed the same year at a cost of $40,000. The school's doors opened to 136 students on October 2, 1916. Principal Anderson A. Price, Assistant Principal Ina C. Elder, and five women teachers, Miss Jesse M. Hunter (the first teacher in Fellsmere, 1912), Miss Neva M. Hunter, Mrs. A.A. (Lula) Price, Miss Ethel Jones, and Miss Agnes Helseth provided instruction for grades 1-12. The Fellsmere School is the oldest public school building in Indian River County, and remained active as a school until 1964. It was later used as the Fellsmere City Hall and Police Station. It is the birthplace of the annual Fellsmere Frogleg Festival. In 2010, the City of Fellsmere restored the school for use as a Cit Hall/Government Center/Boys and Girls Club at a cost of $3.060,000. On October 19, 2010, the Fellsmere Public School building was once again re-opened to the public.
Sponsors: City of Fellsmere, Indian River County Historical Society and the Florida Department of State

THE FELLSMERE RAILROAD

Location:South Carolina Ave and N. Broadway St.
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: The standard-gauge Fellsmere Railroad was completed in 1910 with 60 lb. rail to replace the old Sebastian & Cincinnatus narrow-gauge railroad built between Sebastian and Fellsmere. The Fellsmere Farms Company used the 10 mile long railroad from September 1910 until May 1, 1911 for carrying logs to the Florida East Coast Railway in Sebastian and for transporting supplies, materials, equipment, and heavy machinery used for excavating drainage canals to Fellsmere. The railroad officially opened to the public on May 1, 1911, and ran four passenger trains daily with only two on Sunday, to and from Sebastian and Fellsmere. On January 23, 1913 the 12’ x 32’ Fellsmere Depot was opened for service, with Edward Nelson Fell, the founder of Fellsmere, purchasing the first ticket. The depot was built on the South side of the mainline north of the intersection of Broadway and South Carolina Ave. By April 1915, the railroad was extended another 6 miles west of Fellsmere to Broadmoor (a now non-existent town), In June 2, 1924 the Trans-Florida Central railroad (dubbed the “Dinky Line”) took over railroad operations. On November 30, 1952, the railroad officially ceased operations after 42 years of service.
Sponsors: Sponsored by the Indian River Historical Society, The Fellsmere Community Redevelopment Agency, and The Florida Department of State.

FELLSMERE UNION CHURCH

Location:12 North Hickory St
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: Side 1: Fellsmere Union Church, located at 12 North Hickory Street, is the first and oldest church in the City of Fellsmere. The Reverend James A. Liggitt, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church of London, Ohio, and a property owner in Fellsmere, was quoted in his sermonette in the July 25, 1912 edition of the Fellsmere Farmer as saying there was “a strong sentiment among residents of Fellsmere, Florida for a church unity organization – a Union Church or amalgamation of religious bodies which in their present segregated state make it necessary to maintain countless churches and pastors.” At the time, the Union Church movement was spreading across the United States and Canada. The Reverend Fletcher D. Baker, Doctor of Divinity, who later became the first minister of the Fellsmere Union Church, arrived in Fellsmere in October 1912, at age 68, and built a cottage at the corner of New York Avenue and Orange Street. Unfortunately, his wife, Ella Vanarsdel Baker, died the month before at age 65. Rev. Baker was born in Indiana and later moved to Illinois, where he served in the Union Army as a private during the Civil War, from 1862 to 1865, and fought at Gettysburg. He was ordained as a Methodist Episcopal minister in 1871. Side 2: On December 12, 1912, Baker, along with R.A. Conkling, Fellsmere Farms Company Demonstration Farm Superintendent, and Victor J. Hadin, local builder, were appointed to a committee to consider forming a Union Church. By January 23, 1913, there were at least 24 donors to the church, including the Fellsmere Farms Company. In a letter dated January 14, 1913, General Manager Ernest H. Every stated that the Fellsmere Farms Company donated Lots 10 to 17 in Block 77 to the Union Church. The order for lumber was placed by February 6, 1913, and the original one-story wood frame 40' x 60' building with a 10' x 10' square bell tower was constructed by Victor J. Hadin over the next three months. On Sunday, May 4, 1913, the Fellsmere Union Church opened its doors for its first non-denominational worship service. In August, the church was lighted with electricity. By 1914, church membership totaled 101, and in 1920, the church was incorporated. On January 6, 1926, the congregation voted to change the name of the church to the Fellsmere Community Church, and it was incorporated by this name on September 14, 1953, by church member Ernest H. Everett
Sponsors: The Indian River County Historical Society, The City of Fellsmere, and the Florida Department of State

VERO BEACH CITY HALL

Location:1053 20th Place
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: Vero’s first town hall building was located at the southeast corner of the original 1913 town plat, west of the Florida East Coast Railway tracks along Osceola Boulevard, later State Road 60. Designed by John Sherwood in the Spanish Mission Revival style, it was completed in 1924. Although described as “the grandest building in Vero,” the interior space was limited. By 1925, Vero had expanded its city limits to the Indian River and the barrier island. After amending its name to Vero Beach, the growing city needed a new city hall building, but it took nearly 40 years for that to occur. In 1962, the city council contracted W. G. Taylor, a local architect, and Hensick and Son, a local builder, to construct this new city hall. The mid-Century Modern building features a flat roof line, walls of glass, climate control, and a unique drive-up window for payment of utility and tax bills. Conveniently located on the first floor, the city council chamber had plentiful seating and an audio system. Ironically, the new location selected to accommodate the new city hall and police department buildings was originally part of the Henry Gifford homestead where the name Vero was first used for a post office in 1891.
Sponsors: The Indian River Historical Society, The City of Vero Beach Historical Commission

ALLEN CHAPEL AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH

Location:6425 85th Street
County: Indian River
City: Wabasso
Description: Beulah African Methodist Episcopal Church was the first house of worship in Wabasso to be affiliated with a national congregation. Its founders settled here in the early 1900s as laborers in agriculture, lumber, turpentine, and construction, the industries that formed the county’s early economy. Many congregants soon became successful entrepreneurs and property owners, including John Knowles, Sam Caswell, and Thomas Jackson – the three men who donated this land as a site for the church and school. The original sanctuary was built in 1916. It served as a classroom, as well, until the congregation’s commitment to education drew the attention of the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The school fund provided the seed money for Douglas Elementary School, built on this same donated tract in 1927. The teaching, spiritual inspiration, and fellowship fostered by these parishioners helped them defy racial barriers. Members became civic leaders, medical professionals, NASA engineers, business owners, educators, citrus growers, and decorated military veterans. The church was renamed Allen Chapel AME Church in 1943. This sanctuary, dedicated in 1957, is the third to be built on this site.
Sponsors: Indian River Historical Society

HISTORIC HALLSTROM FARMSTEAD

Location:1726 Southwest Old Dixie Highway
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: In the early 1900s, Swedish immigrant and horticulturalist Axel Hallstrom sought the warm climate of Florida for his wife’s health and moved to this area to grow tropical trees and fruits. He first planted pineapples on his new farmstead, in the area known as the Golden Ridge, but gradually converted the plantation into a citrus grove. By 1918, Hallstrom had completed his brick home. In the 1930s, he became director of the St. Lucie County Bank and kept it open during the Great Depression. Due to his dedication and support of Swedish-American relations during the 1930s and through World War II, the King of Sweden awarded Hallstrom the Royal Order of Vasa in 1958. Hallstrom’s only child, Ruth, continued her father’s legacy of involvement in the community. She traveled by boat from Oslo, Florida, up the Indian River to teach in a one-room school house in Orchid. Upon her death in 1999, Ruth bequeathed the house to the Indian River Historical Society, and in 2002, the Hallstrom House was listed on the National Register of Historical Places. In 2015, pineapple slips from some of Hallstrom’s original plants came home to the Golden Ridge, and were replanted on the Hallstrom Farmstead.
Sponsors: The Indian River County Historical Society, Tourist Development County of Indian River

BIRTHPLACE FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN IN FLORIDA

Location:On Broadway, block #99; lots 12-14
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: “The population of Fellsmere is of a high type of intelligence, with lofty ideals and wise execution. Progressive in all things, perhaps no better indication of the fact may be given than the unanimous vote of the town granting unrestricted suffrage to women.” Fellsmere Tribune, March 8, 1916. At a February 1915 meeting at the Dixie Theater, Fellsmere citizens accepted the articles of incorporation unanimously. The charter included a unique proposal that women be granted full and equal privilege for suffrage in municipal elections. Local bills seldom received close scrutiny from legislators, and the equal suffrage provision went unnoticed. In signing the act that created the town of Fellsmere, Governor Park Trammell, in effect, gave women the right to vote in its municipal elections. In the June 19, 1915 city election, Mrs. Zena M. Dreier was the first woman to cast a ballot in Fellsmere, in all of Florida, and south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The town residents took much pride in this unique woman’s right, and urged neighboring municipalities to follow the ‘Fellsmere Way’ to equal suffrage. In 1919, a U.S. Constitutional amendment granted suffrage to women. But history will note that Fellsmere led the way.
Sponsors: THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN--INDIAN RIVER AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

CITY OF VERO BEACH

Location:Corner of 21st Street and 16th Ave
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: The pattern of community development which occurred in Vero Beach provides insight into some important aspects of Florida's history. Although the coastal waters in the region attracted fishermen, settlement of this area did not occur until the 1880's. during that decade, the problem of lack of transportation which had deterred settlers was solved by railroad construction. In 1891, a post office named Vero was established at the home of Henry Gifford who had settled on the site in 1888. When the railroad was extended south to Lake Worth in 1894, a depot was built at Vero. With the railroad came tourism and a growing interest in the area. At that time, large scale drainage of swamp land such as that which surrounded Vero was being undertaken in Florida. An example of the way in which investors took advantage of the newly recognized potential of swampy areas may be found in the creation of the Indian River Farms Company. In 1909, Herman T. Zeuch of Davenport, Iowa visited the Vero area. He saw land that could be drained and sold to citrus farmers and cattle raisers. A corporation, the Indian River Farms Company, was chartered in 1912 with stockholders who were chiefly residents of Zeuch's home town. In 1913, the town of Vero was platted at the Company's direction. In 1915, the Vero Woman's Club was founded, an act which signified the vitality of the new community. A clubhouse, located near this marker, was built the next year on land donated by the Indian River Farms Company. The planned drainage program was completed in 1917. In that year, maintenance and extension of the drainage area was given over to the State of Florida. The name of the community was changed to Vero Beach in 1925, when the town became the county seat of newly created IndianRriver County. The Indian River Farms company was dissolved in 1936. Vero Beach has remained the center of this productive citrus growing region.
Sponsors: Sponsored by vero beach woman's club in cooperation with department of state

FELLSMERE GRADE

Location:Co. Rd. 507, near road to Goodwin Wildlife Mangement Area, Fellsmere Grade
County: Indian River
City: Fellsmere
Description: Fellsmere, the northernmost town in St. Lucie County in 1919, had a population of over 800 people. The county built the first public road to cross the St. Johns River marsh in St. Lucie County (now Indian River County). Promote as the Fellsmere-Tampa cross state road, this road allowed travel between the interior and the coast. From 1919 until the 1940's, this road served as an important transportation route from Fellsmere, across the river to Kenansville, the sawmill at Holopaw, and the cattle markets of Kissimmee, but it never reached Tampa. During these decades it became a state road (SSR 170) and provided a corridor to Central Florida and a recreational access to the St. Johns River marshes. The town of Fellsmere was dependent on the sportsmen attracted to these resources. In the late 1940's the bridges burned across the river and the Fellsmere Grade ended in the marsh six miles from this site. Today this road serves the public as a recreational access.
Sponsors: THE ST. JOHNS RIVER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

RIOMAR CLUBHOUSE - SAINT EDWARDS SCHOOL

Location:2225 Club Drive
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: The Riomar Club chose this site for its clubhouse which was completed and opened in 1930. Ladies were attired in flowing formal gowns and the men in strikingly-starched white linen suits. A center for social activities for the area, the club drew many permanent residents and winter visitors to Vero Beach. The building is a Spanish-design clubhouse reminiscent of the style of Palm Beach. The exterior is stucco with interior pecky cypress beams. Purchased in 1965 for the purpose of starting an independent school, affiliated with the Episcopal Church, Saint Edward's School opened with 33 students in Grades 5-8. In 1972, the Upper School campus was opened on A-1-A south of here, and the Riomar building continued to house Grades Kindergarten through Grade 6, adding Pre-Kindergarten in 1983. The building was renovated in 1988 with the exterior maintaining the original character. On November 3, 1988, Bishop William Folwell dedicated the newly renovated building, and with his pastoral staff he marked the threshold with the sign of the cross and gave a blessing.
Sponsors: Saint Edward's School in Cooperation with the Florida Department of State

SEBASTIAN

Location:U.S. 1 at Sebastian Inlet
County: Indian River
City: Sebastian
Description: Settled in the 1870's, Sebastian became an important trading and fishing center during the era of the river steamers. To improve commerce and fishing, pioneers in 1886 attempted unsuccessfully to link the ocean with the river via the Sebastian Inlet. A channel was successfully cut in 1895, but a storm filled the inlet with sand shortly afterwards. In 1921, it was reopened only to be closed again by erosion. Jetties were constructed later to protect the channel permanently.

SITE OF FORT VINTON

Location:S.R. 60 and S.R. 609 intersection, near I95 west o
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: A few miles southwest of this marker is the site of Fort Vinton. As white settlers moved into Florida, demands increased for the removal of the Seminole Indians to a western reservation. The Seminoles did not wish to leave, and in 1835 the conflict known as the Second Seminole war began. The 1838-39 campaign of that war was planned with the major objective of driving Indians away from settled areas and into the southern part of Florida. New posts were to be built where needed and others, such as Fort Pierce, were to be reoccupied. Supply outposts were needed for field campaigns, and early in April, 1839, such a post, called Fort or Post No. 2, was constructed about twenty miles northwest of Fort Pierce. This fortification was abandoned by or before 1842, when hostilities ended. Early in 1850, when another concerted effort to force the remnants of the Seminoles to emigrate got underway, it was reactivated as Fort Vinton. The post was named for Captain John R. Vinton, who had served in the area during the earlier conflict and had died in the Mexican War. Fort Vinton, an outpost of Fort Capron at Indian River Inlet, was soon abandoned (May, 1850) and is not known to have played a role in the hostilities of the later 1850's.
Sponsors: sponsored by treasure coast chapter national society daughters of the american revolution in cooperation with department of state

SITE OF SURVIVORS' AND SALVAGERS' CAMP - THE 1715 FLEET

Location:south of Sebastin Inlet State Recreation Area on A
County: Indian River
City: Orchid Island
Description: Late in July, 1715, a hurricane destroyed a fleet of eleven or possibly twelve homeward bound merchant ships carrying cargoes of gold and silver coinage and other valuable items from the American colonies to Spain. About 1500 men, women, and children who survived the disaster and reached the shore made their camp along the barrier island near the place where the fleet's flagship had sunk. Governor General Corcoles sent a relief party composed chiefly of Indian auxiliaries from St. Augustine to provide subsistence for the survivors. These auxiliaries also gave protection and aid to the salvagers who used the campsite while working to recover the valuable cargo from the sunken vessels. Archaeological work at the site revealed that the salvagers seem to have erected some temporary structuresfor use as storehouses for the recovered gold and silver. While the salvage operation was in process, Henry Jennings, an English pirate, sailed to the site, drove off the guards and seized a large quantity of the recovered coins which he carried away to Port Royal, Jamaica. But the great majority of the treasure was safely regained and moved to Havana by the Spanish salvagers.
Sponsors: Sponsored by treasure coast chapter nsdar in cooperation with department of state

VETERANS MEMORIAL ISLAND SANCTUARY

Location:Near Riverside Park
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: River travel was vital to the early human activity of Florida and the Indian River area. In the early 1900s, efforts began to dredge the Indian River. By the 1930s, the U.S. Corps of Engineers routinely maintained this channel called the Intracoastal Waterway. After World War II the channel was once again slated for dredging and Alex MacWilliam, Sr., a veteran and member of the Florida Legislature, proposed a special project and persuaded the federal government to realign the existing Vero Beach channel to make way for a modern drawbridge (the first Merrill P. Barber Bridge) and to create a memorial island with the surplus dredging material. Lest We Forget are the words used in the dedication of this island on May 3, 1964. This one man and hundreds of citizens in Indian River County did not forget and 17 years later created Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary. The Vero Beach Beautification Society and the Garden Club coordinated the beautification of the property. Today the Stars and Stripes wave proudly over this Island Sanctuary which can be seen from the deep channel of the Intracoastal Waterway and the two modern bridges now spanning the Indian River.
Sponsors: THE INDIAN RIVER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, THE VETERANS MEMORIAL ISLAND SANCTUARY ADVISORY COMMITTEE,AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

VERO BEACH RAILWAY STATION

Location:2336 14th Avenue
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: In 1893, Henry Flagler’s railroad arrived in Sebastian, and reached Ft. Pierce in 1894, bypassing the tiny community of Vero. Flagler renamed his railroad the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) in 1895. Because of agricultural growth in the area, Flagler returned and built the Vero Railway Station, which was a stop on the FEC by 1903. “Beach” was added to the city and station names in 1925. During the 1920s and the Great Depression, the community of Vero Beach continued to grow, and it doubled in size after World War II. Agriculture, especially citrus growing, kept the freight platform busy, but the Vero Beach Station closed when passenger service was suspended in the late 1960s. The passenger station was acquired from the FEC by the Indian River County Historical Society and moved to a city-owned parcel in Pocahontas Park, northwest of the original site, in 1984. This parcel had been deed restricted for the relocation of the station sixty years prior. The station is used as an exhibit center for Indian River County history, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. It remains important to Vero Beach.
Sponsors: Indian River CountyHistorical Society, Tourist Development Council of Indian River County

GIFFORD HIGH SCHOOL SUNDIAL LANDMARK

Location:4530 28th Court
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: In 1892, William Edward Geoffrey, an African American man from Darlington, South Carolina, came to work on the Florida East Coast Railroad in Gifford. The town’s first school was built in 1898, but only served white children. In 1901, Geoffrey purchased eighty acres of land in Gifford, and donated a portion for a park and the construction of a black school. Named the Gifford School, the small building was located at 38th Lane, east of what is now US Highway 1. The school originally taught students in first through sixth grades. Older students had to travel to Fort Pierce to attend high school. In 1938, the Gifford School expanded to include a high school. In 1952, the Indian River County School Board funded the construction of a new high school building at 45th Street and 28th Court. Following the integration of Indian River County schools in 1969, Gifford High School graduated its last class and became a middle school. The original façade is now part of the Gifford Middle School campus. This sundial was presented as a gift from the Class of 1964 upon their graduation. This façade and sundial are the last material remnants of the original Gifford High School.
Sponsors: Gifford High School Alumni and Friends Association, Gifford Community Cultural and Resource Center, Gifford Historic Museum, Dr. MLK, Jr. Committee, Gifford Progressive Civic League, Indian River County Historical Society

QUAY/WINTER BEACH BRIDGE ROAD

Location:69th Street (mainland) to Winter Beach Bridge Road (barrier isalnd/Orchid Island) to A1A
County: Indian River
City: Indian River Shores
Description: In the early 20th century, the Indian River was a highway for settlers and tourists. There were few roads, and no bridges from the mainland to the barrier islands in the Indian River County area. In 1923, a road with bridges was opened, crossing the river at the Narrows. The road ran from Quay (later renamed Winter Beach) eastward to Hole-in-the-Wall Island, across the southern tip of Pine Island, and over the main channel to join Jungle Trail on Orchid Island. Across the narrow road and rickety bridges, developers and tourists came looking to build winter homes with access to the Atlantic beaches. In addition, settlers on Orchid Island sent their winter vegetables and world-famous citrus back to the mainland to be loaded on to the Florida East Coast Railway. At the Winter Beach Bridge’s eastern terminus is Bridge Tender Park, the former site of the bridge tender’s home. The tender’s job was to open the metal swing span over the main channel for boats traveling up and down the river. After World War II, the Winter Beach Bridge burned, and the metal span was removed, leaving only the pilings. Winter Beach Road and its bridge alignments are listed as one of Indian River County’s Scenic and Historic Roads.
Sponsors: The Indian River County Historical Society, Tourist Development County of Indian River, and the Florida Department of State

LAURA (RIDING) JACKSON HOMEPLACE

Location:6155 College Lane
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: Laura Reichenthal (1901-1991) was born in New York City and studied at Cornell University. During the 1920s and 1930s, under the pen name Laura Riding, she became a renowned author. She moved to Europe in 1926 to collaborate with British poet and novelist Robert Graves on various publishing activities. During her time abroad, she produced 27 books of poetry, short stories, literary criticism, and social commentary. After returning to the U.S. in 1939, she abandoned poetry, and embarked upon a comprehensive study of language. In 1941, she married Time magazine poetry critic Schuyler Jackson, who joined her in this work. The couple settled in Wabasso, Florida, in 1943, and restored this small frame home that was originally located on an 11-acre citrus grove. Built of Florida pine circa 1910, the house is an excellent example of Florida cracker architecture, with raised floors, a metal roof, deep porches, and large windows for cross-ventilation. After her husband’s death in 1968, she continued to live and work here until her own death. The house was moved to this site in 2019 by the Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation to serve as a focal point for the study of literature, history, architecture, and the environment.

A.B. MICHAEL (WABASSO) BRIDGE

Location:County Road 510
County: Indian River
City: Wabasso
Description: Two Dollar Bluff, prominently featured on the U.S. Geodetic Map of 1887, was considered a navigational aid for ships on the Indian River. Located on property owned by settler and citrus grower A.B. Michael, this bluff was an Ais Indian midden and became the site for the Michael Family dock. By 1927, archeological materials in the midden, including shell, pottery shards, and bones, were almost gone, taken for use as road material. The dock was replaced with a narrow, wooden bridge with a metal swing span that crossed to the community of Orchid. This bridge allowed the Indian River citrus to travel from the Orchid Island groves to the railroad, and it opened up the northern part of Indian River County to tourism and land development. During World War II, the bridge was limited to those who lived on the island, and the bridge tender was tasked with checking the credentials of those who crossed. In 1970, the old bridge was replaced with a causeway, a high-arch bridge over the main channel, and named the Wabasso Bridge. In 2020, it was renamed the A.B. Michael Bridge. This bridge leads directly to the beaches of the Treasure Coast where remnants of the 1715 Spanish Silver Fleet are still found.

WINTER BEACH PIONEER CEMETERY

Location:44th Court between 67th Street and 71st Street
County: Indian River
City: Winter Beach
Description: Even before Florida became a state in 1845, the Indian River region was attracting pioneer settlers. These were mostly farmers seeking land to grow winter crops such as beans, cabbage, and tomatoes. They later become famous for growing pineapples and citrus. Communities grew these crops on the barrier island, Orchid Island, on the western shore of the Indian River, and the sandy dunes of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge. Woodley, established in 1893, was one of these communities. By the 1900s, it had grown and changed its name to Quay. During Florida’s “Roaring 1920s,” the name was changed again to Winter Beach. Since the community’s origin, citizens have donated land for communal needs, most notably a cemetery. Since the dune line of the Atlantic Coast Ridge reminded many settlers of the hills and mountains of their previous homes, the ridge was chosen as a location for this cemetery. In 1896, the cemetery was officially assigned to the Woodley Trustees, which later became the Winter Beach Cemetery Association. The Winter Beach Cemetery is the final resting place for the community’s original settlers and their descendants.

TREASURE HAMMOCK RANCH FARMSTEAD AND COW PENS

Location:8005 37 Street
County: Indian River
City: Vero Beach
Description: Treasure Hammock Ranch was established in 1943 by Indian River County pioneer Waldo E. Sexton, who arrived in 1913. The ranch and surrounding lands comprise headwaters of the Sebastian River set in a Chapter 298 Drainage District by the Florida Legislature in 1927. The east portion of the ranch was broken out of the original Kenmore Cattle Company of Gilbert Barkoskie, Hubert Graves, Prescott Gardner, and Sexton when the partnership was dissolved. The bridge, barn, cattle pens, weigh scales, dipping vat, and one-of-a-kind wooden squeeze chute were all built with vernacular materials and workmanship, and remain in their original state. Since its inception, the ranch has been a source of feeder calves and seed-stock. Originally devoted to breeding dwarf Guinea cattle, derived from European strains, and Brahman cattle, the ranch produced a small, thrifty hybrid for Florida's subtropical conditions. It evolved toward modern production standards and in 1953, became a founding member of the Florida Beef Cattle Improvement Association. Herds of the ranch are still driven on the historic Ranch Road (now 82nd Ave.) as was customary for decades. The farmstead was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.