Counties celebrate 100 years

The Treasure Coast has two important milestones to celebrate this year: the centennials of Martin and Indian River counties.

In coming issues you’ll read more about the creation of these two counties 100 years ago. Along with St. Lucie, the three counties comprise what we today call the Treasure Coast.

How these counties came to be is a convoluted story, but I’ll give it a try.

When Florida was a Spanish territory, the area was part of a region unpleasantly called Los Mosquitos, after the blood-sucking insect. After Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821, the Florida territorial legislative council in 1824 created Mosquito County, a region 190 miles long and 60 miles wide. 

Unhappy with the name, citizens over the years tried unsuccessfully to give it another name until 1844, when the region covering mostly today’s Brevard, St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties was called St. Lucie County and the northern region was called Orange County. St. Lucie also originated from the Spanish as Santa Lucia, after which an early fort and colony between Vero Beach and Stuart [nobody knows exactly where] was named.

The name St. Lucie County only lasted 10 years when the Florida Legislature passed and the governor in 1854 signed into law a bill renaming the region Brevard County, after the state’s comptroller at the time, Theodorus Brevard. 

In 1905, the Legislature and governor carved what would become modern-day St. Lucie and Indian River counties and part of Martin out of Brevard and called the region St. Lucie County, resurrecting the old name. Then in 1925, the Legislature and governor created Indian River County, carving it out of St. Lucie, and Martin County, carving it out of both Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties. Indian River’s name came from the waterway while Martin County was named after the governor of the time, John W. Martin.

The history shows how closely these three counties have been tied. While they are today called the Treasure Coast, that name didn’t come into usage until the early 1960s after divers discovered and historians confirmed that our coast was where a fleet of treasure-laden Spanish ships had sunk during a hurricane in 1715.

We’ve already begun celebrating Martin’s Centennial with the publication this month of a special publication called Martin 100, which can be ordered online at indianriverstore.com. The magazine was assembled by our creative team of history writers, including Sandra Thurlow and Rick and Donna Crary. We look forward to bringing you more about the history of these two counties as the year progresses.

And speaking of centennials and history celebrations, we hope you’ll join us Saturday, Jan. 11, at the St. Lucie County Regional History Center, 414 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, for the annual Treasure Coast History Festival, founded by Indian River Magazine in 2017. The festival is free and open to the public. I’ll be hosting a panel on the notorious Ashley Gang, gunned down at the Sebastian River Bridge 100 years ago last year, at 11 a.m. See you at the festival!

I look forward to seeing you at the festival!

 

 

 

 

Gregory Enns
Reach Gregory Enns or 772.940.9005.

See the original article in print publication

Jan. 4, 2025