LIVING HISTORY
Homes reflect in a serene pond in St. Lucie West where the Peacock Ranch was located. Thirty years ago no one dreamed there would be a massive development
covering thousands of acres west of the turnpike.
As it marks its 50th anniversary, once
sleepy Port St. Lucie has become the most
populated city on the Treasure Coast
28
Port St. Lucie 50th Anniversary
PORT ST. LUCIE
COMES OF AGE
BY SUSAN BURGESS
In its early years Port St. Lucie was a lot like any Smalltown,
USA. Its few families raised their kids, worked,
worshipped and socialized with their neighbors.
Retired residents did what retirees all over Florida do.
They played golf, sunned on the beach, went fishing
and enjoyed a relaxed lifestyle.
But this was an unusual city. It wasn’t born from the aspirations
and dreams of its early settlers like White City, its
neighbor to the north, or because it was a trading center like
SUSAN BURGESS
Fort Pierce, or a railroad stop like Stuart.
It sprang from the ambitions of a development company in
the late 1950s, owned by three brothers named Mackle who
hoped to make a bundle off Florida land. Their success at
marketing the area to northerners as a subtropical paradise
eventually turned into the thriving city of Port St. Lucie —
now the ninth largest city in Florida.
The city celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 27, with
a population of 165,000 — a staggering number considering
that the 2000 U.S. Census reported only 88,769 residents, and
in 1970, nine years after its birth, it had a population of just
>>