MELBOURNE,  FLORIDA

September 10, 2021

Melbourne is a city of about 84,678 people in southern Brevard County on Florida's Space Coast about one hour east of Orlando.

It is on the Indian River Lagoon and its city limits extend eastward to a section of the Atlantic Ocean barrier island.

The city gets its name from Melbourne, Australia. The area began to be called Melbourne eight years before the town was officially established.

A name was needed because a post office was being established to serve families in the area.

The first postmaster, Cornthwaite John Hector, was an Englishman who spent much of his life in Melbourne, Australia, before opening a general store at Crane Creek.

A local pioneer, Mrs. R. W. Goode, suggested the post office be named Melbourne.

The area began to thrive in the late 1800's because of its advantageous location on the Indian River Lagoon.

Farmers in the area had easy access to a good port and economic transport of their produce to profitable markets.

An interesting local character was Peter Wright, a black freedman (a slave freed during the Civil War) who became known as the "Sailing Mailman".

Wright sailed a regular schedule from Titusville to Malabar to deliver mail to the numerous riverside settlements.

Melbourne prospered along Crane Creek where it empties into the Indian River.

Its fortunes were also linked to Eau Gallie, another small town north of Melbourne with a nice port on the Indian River.

Eau Gallie was settled by William Gleason and his friends.

Gleason had earlier done a lot of development in the Miami area, and was prominent in state and national politics.

The railroad came to Eau Gallie and Melbourne in 1893, and the focus of commerce moved from the Indian River to the tracks on the higher land to the west.

The edge of historic downtown Melbourne Florida near the Indian River was the location of the "Trysting Steps", a wooden stairway leading up a bluff at the north end of Front Street.

The stairs provided a convenient way to reach residences on the higher ground above and became an informal meeting place which was especially popular among young lovers at the time.

In 1969, local voters consolidated Melbourne and Eau Gallie into one city and picked the name Melbourne for the new venture.

Some wanted it to be named Eau Gallie; others wanted Melbogallie and any other variety of  compromise names.

Most folks are grateful that the name Melbourne won out - except for the remaining Eau Gallie natives.

The "new" Melbourne of today has two distinct "old" and renovated downtown areas:

historic Downtown Melbourne and Olde Eau Gallie, each with a nice variety of restaurants and shops.

The Eau Gallie Arts District a few miles north has several galleries and a large public library.

The old Melbourne Hotel shown on the postcard above still stands on US-1 in historic downtown Melbourne and is used today as an office building.

One of the interesting buildings still standing in Melbourne from the early days is the ice plant.  It was originally a power generating plant that also produced ice. 

It is on US Highway 1 near downtown Melbourne, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Melbourne city limits take in a large area of beach along the Atlantic Ocean and miles of shoreline on the Indian River Lagoon.

Other towns in the Melbourne area are Palm Bay, Melbourne Beach,  Indialantic,  Satellite Beach, and Indian Harbor Beach.

Melbourne's location on the Indian River Lagoon make it an ideal place for boating and fishing. 

Melbourne Harbor Marina is on the Indian River in downtown Melbourne.

The large residential development communities of Suntree and Viera are in the north region of the Melbourne area.

Melbourne Orlando International Airport is located in Melbourne.  It was formerly named Orlando Melbourne International Airport but lost a lawsuit and had to change its name.

The city has many defense and technology companies, along with a large number of high-tech employees.

Florida Institute of Technology is a private university in Melbourne with programs in science, aeronautics, business, engineering, humanities, psychology and communication.

It was founded in 1959 as Brevard Engineering College to respond to th eneed for advanced education of professional people working the the space program.

The entire Melbourne area has abundant shopping, dining, drinking, and recreational resources.

Melbourne is also a city with many parks.  Some are on the Indian River, others on Crane Creek. 

People love to watch the manatees in Crane Creek.

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MELBOURNE FLORIDA ATTRACTIONS

Brevard Zoo
8225 N. Wickham Rd, Melbourne
321-254-9453

Honest John's Fish Camp
750 Old Florida Trail, Melbourne Beach
321-727-2923

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