History of Brevard County
Brevard County began on March 14, 1844, as St. Lucie County, and was renamed in 1855 for Theodore Washington Brevard, Florida's comptroller from 1853 to 1861. In 1879 it annexed the southern part of Volusia County, Titusville included, which made it one of the longest counties in Florida, and county voters chose Titusville as the seat.
For a century it was a thinly settled strip of river towns: 16,142 people in 1940 and 23,653 in 1950. Then the space program arrived at Cape Canaveral, and the county went to 111,435 people in 1960 and 230,006 in 1970. Each town on the river has its own site in this group; this one covers the county as a whole.
Population, census by census
| Census | Population |
|---|---|
| 1940 | 16,142 |
| 1950 | 23,653 |
| 1960 | 111,435 |
| 1970 | 230,006 |
| 1980 | 272,959 |
| 1990 | 398,978 |
| 2010 | 543,376 |
| 2020 | 606,612 |
Every article, in order
Each article on this site, grouped by the period it covers.
Before 1900
- Mosquito County, 1824 to 1845, and the lagoon that kept the name
- Fish, fruit and cattle: how Brevard made a living before the rockets
- How Brevard County Got Its Name (1855)
- The railroads reach Brevard: Enterprise to Titusville in 1885, Flagler's line in 1893
- The 1894-95 Great Freeze on the Indian River
1950 to 1979
- Brevard County in the space boom: 23,653 people in 1950, 230,006 in 1970
- Bumper 8 and the first launch from Cape Canaveral, July 24, 1950
- Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore, killed in Mims, Christmas 1951
Places, people and institutions
- Black history in Brevard County: what the state's records hold
- Hurricane History of Brevard County
- Indian River steamboats: the lagoon's highway before Flagler
- Naval Air Station Banana River, the seaplane base that became Patrick
- The Ais, the Indian River's people in the Spanish record
- The Indian River Lagoon: 156 miles of estuary, and what the blooms did to it
- The Intracoastal Waterway through the Indian River: from toll canal to federal channel
- When did Brevard become the Space Coast?
- Why Titusville Is the County Seat (and Not Cocoa or Melbourne)
Sources for this page
- National Park Service, National Register Multiple Property Documentation Form, Titusville Multiple Property Group
- Annie Mary Hartsfield, Mary Alice Griffin and Charles M. Grigg, eds., Summary Report: NASA Impact on Brevard County (Florida State University, 1966) (1940 to 1960)
- Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Total County Population: April 1, 1970-2030
- U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 CPH-2-11, Population and Housing Unit Counts: Florida, Table 10 (1980 and 1990)
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts (2010 and 2020 census counts)