A Timeline of St. Lucie County

The Ais people establish permanent settlements along the Indian River Lagoon on the east coast of Florida. For at least two thousand years, they build shell middens, fish the rich estuarine waters, and maintain trade networks across the Florida peninsula. Archaeological evidence of their occupation has been found throughout what is now St. Lucie County.

Spanish explorers under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés establish Fort Santa Lucia near the St. Lucie Inlet, one of a chain of outposts along the Florida coast. The fort gives its name to the St. Lucie River and, eventually, to the county itself. The Spanish presence disrupts the Ais people’s traditional way of life, introducing European diseases that begin a catastrophic population decline.

Quaker merchant Jonathan Dickinson, his family, and crew are shipwrecked near the St. Lucie Inlet aboard the barkentine Reformation. Captured by the Ais people, they eventually make their way north to St. Augustine. Dickinson’s subsequent journal, published in 1699, provides one of the most detailed firsthand accounts of the Ais people and the southeast Florida coast in the late seventeenth century.

A fleet of eleven Spanish treasure ships is destroyed by a hurricane off the coast of what is now St. Lucie and Indian River counties. The disaster scatters gold, silver, and Chinese porcelain across the ocean floor, giving the region its enduring name: the Treasure Coast. The Ais people salvage goods from the wrecks, and Spanish salvage camps operate along the coast for years afterward.

During the Second Seminole War (1835–1842), the U.S. Army establishes a military outpost on the Indian River. Named for Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, brother of future President Franklin Pierce, the fort is part of a chain of outposts built to prosecute the war against the Seminole people. The fort’s location will later become the city of Fort Pierce and the seat of St. Lucie County.

The Second Seminole War — the longest and most expensive Indian war fought by the United States — ends without a formal treaty. Most Seminoles are removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), but a small band retreats into the Everglades and refuses to leave. Their descendants are today’s Seminole Tribe of Florida. The end of hostilities opens the Indian River region to permanent civilian settlement.

The first permanent European-American settlers arrive along the Indian River, taking advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 to claim free land. They grow pineapples in the sandy soil, fish the lagoon, and trade goods by sloop along the waterway. Communities like Fort Pierce, Eden, and Ankona take shape as small, isolated settlements connected primarily by boat.

Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Railway arrives at Fort Pierce, ending decades of isolation for the Indian River communities. The railroad provides reliable access to northern markets, making the citrus industry commercially viable and sparking a wave of immigration and development. Within a decade, the region will have grown enough to justify its own county.

Fifty-four of sixty-six registered voters gather at Davis Hall in Fort Pierce and vote to incorporate the city. A.C. Dittmar is elected the first mayor, and P.P. Cobb, D.L. Alderman, A.Y.W. Hogg, L.L. Carlton, and F.M. Tyler serve as the first aldermen. The incorporation reflects the growing maturity and ambition of the Indian River settlements.

President Theodore Roosevelt designates Pelican Island in the Indian River Lagoon as the first National Wildlife Refuge in the United States. Paul Kroegel, a German immigrant and local homesteader, is appointed the first warden at a salary of one dollar per month. He protects nesting brown pelicans from plume hunters who kill birds for the millinery trade. Pelican Island is located near Sebastian, which at this time is part of the territory that will become St. Lucie County.

The Florida Legislature carves St. Lucie County from the southern portion of Brevard County. The act is signed by Governor Napoleon B. Broward on May 24, 1905, and takes effect July 1. Fort Pierce is designated the county seat. The county’s first five commissioners are W.R. Hardee, K.B. Raulerson, J.F. Bell, R.D. Holmes, and Paul Kroegel. The new county is formally inaugurated on July 4, 1905.

The Florida Legislature creates Okeechobee County from the western portion of St. Lucie County. This is the first of three subdivisions that will reduce St. Lucie County from its original vast territory to its present boundaries. The new county encompasses the area around Lake Okeechobee, reflecting the distinct geography and economy of the interior.

The Florida Legislature creates both Martin County (from St. Lucie’s southern portion) and Indian River County (from its northern portion) in 1925. Stuart becomes the seat of Martin County; Vero Beach becomes the seat of Indian River County. Sebastian, where founding commissioner Paul Kroegel lived, passes into Indian River County. St. Lucie County is reduced to approximately its present-day boundaries.

The Category 4 San Felipe–Okeechobee Hurricane makes landfall near West Palm Beach, striking the Treasure Coast with catastrophic force. Fort Pierce and St. Lucie County sustain severe damage from winds exceeding 140 miles per hour. The storm continues inland to Lake Okeechobee, where the resulting flood kills an estimated 2,500 people, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in American history.

The U.S. Navy establishes the Amphibious Scout and Raider School on the beaches of North Hutchinson Island near Fort Pierce. Thousands of volunteers endure punishing training in the surf and sand to become the Navy’s first Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs). These frogmen clear beach obstacles at Normandy, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The UDT program is recognized as the direct origin of today’s Navy SEALs.

The celebrated author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston, a towering figure of the Harlem Renaissance, moves to Fort Pierce. She settles at 1734 School Court in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, works as a substitute teacher at Lincoln Park Academy, and writes for the Fort Pierce Chronicle. Hurston dies in Fort Pierce on January 28, 1960, and is buried in an unmarked grave at the Garden of Heavenly Rest cemetery.

The General Development Corporation, founded by the Mackle brothers, incorporates the City of Port St. Lucie on land that was largely cattle ranch and pine flatwoods in southern St. Lucie County. GDC markets lots nationally through mail-order campaigns, attracting buyers from the Northeast and Midwest. The 1970 Census records a population of roughly 330. By the 2020s, Port St. Lucie will grow to exceed 200,000 residents.

The New York Mets relocate their spring training operations to Port St. Lucie, building a facility that will be known at various times as Thomas J. White Stadium, Tradition Field, and Clover Park. The Mets’ presence brings national media attention and economic activity to the city, reinforcing Port St. Lucie’s growth as a major community in St. Lucie County.

The Indian River Lagoon, the most biodiverse estuary in North America and the historical lifeline of St. Lucie County, faces severe environmental challenges. Harmful algal blooms, loss of seagrass habitat, pollution from agricultural and urban runoff, and freshwater discharges from Lake Okeechobee via the C-44 canal threaten the lagoon’s ecological health. Manatee die-offs linked to starvation from seagrass loss draw national attention.