What Old Space Coast means

“Space Coast” is a 1960s name. By the middle of that decade, the State Archives of Florida says, realtors and advertisers were using it for the Atlantic coast from Daytona Beach to Fort Pierce. The place it describes is much older, and this site covers the part of its history that crosses town lines.

That means the Ais, whom the Spanish found on the Indian River; Mosquito County, created in 1824, and the St. Lucie County that was renamed Brevard in 1855; the railroad from Enterprise that reached Titusville in 1885 and Flagler’s line that followed in 1893; the steamboats; the Great Freeze of 1894-95; the Black community of Mims and the bombing that killed Harry and Harriette Moore in 1951; the Navy seaplane base that became Patrick; Bumper 8 and the census counts of the space boom; and the Indian River Lagoon itself. The history of each town lives on its own site in this network: Old Titusville, Old Cocoa, Old Rockledge, Old Cocoa Beach, Old Cape Canaveral, Old Melbourne and Old Palm Bay.

It isn’t a news site or a travel guide. Corrections and pointers to primary records are welcome through the contact page.