TIMELINE
VeroBeach100.org City of Vero Beach 1919-2019 15
1920 — Vero’s first toll bridge, a wooden
swing bridge, opens.
1924 — The Vero Theatre opens as the
city’s first motion picture theatre.
1925 — With the connection of the
mainland to the barrier island, the name
of the town of Vero is changed to Vero
Beach and its boundaries are extended
after Indian River County is carved from
the northern part of St. Lucie County. Dixie
Highway is officially open to traffic.
1926 — The Vero Beach Municipal Power
Plant is built on the south side of 19th
Place between 12th Court and railroad
tracks. Another newspaper, the Vero Beach
Journal, begins publishing.
1927 — The Vero
Press is absorbed
by the Vero Beach
Journal, becoming
the Vero Beach
Press Journal.
1929 — With
Cadillac dealer Bud
Holman its chief advocate, the Vero Beach
Airport opens.
1932 — Eastern Air Lines makes Vero
Beach a fueling stop.
1932 — Waldo Sexton and Arthur McKee
open McKee Jungle Gardens, Vero Beach’s
signature tourist attraction.
1942 — The U.S. Navy selects Vero Beach
as the site for a Naval Air Station based at
the Vero Beach Airport.
1947 — The Brooklyn Dodgers announce
that they have selected Vero Beach for
their spring training location, accepting
the city’s offer to train at facilities at the
former Naval Air Station. In 1948, the
Dodgers begin playing at the new Holman
Field.
1951 — Barber Bridge is built from
mainland to barrier islands.
1957 — Piper Aircraft begins research and
development in Vero Beach.
1958 — Vero
Beach Theatre
Guild formed.
1961 — Piper
Aircraft moves
administrative
and operations
to Vero Beach.
1965 — A1A Bridge over Sebastian
Inlet opens.
1966 — Vero Beach Concert Association
begins presenting concerts.
1973 — Riverside Theatre is built with
$1.5 million raised in private donations.
1979 — The 17th Street Bridge is
completed, allowing a second point of
access from Vero Beach mainland to the
barrier islands.
1986 — Center for the Arts opens, which
would later become the Vero Beach
Museum of Art.
1995 — Second Merrill P. Barber Bridge
opens.
2008 — Dodgers spend their last spring in
Vero Beach, moving to Glendale, Arizona,
for pre-season training. The site becomes
known as Vero Beach Sports Village.
2008 — Singer Gloria Estefan and
husband, Emilio, open the Costa d’Este
hotel on the beach.
2009 — Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee
is formed to excavate the Old Vero Ice Age
site before it is overtaken by development.
2013 — Vero Beach Sports Village
becomes known as Historic Dodgertown.
2018-2019 — Vero Beach celebrates
its centennial. F
CASSENS COLLECTION, ARCHIVE CENTER, IRC MAIN LIBRARY
Vero’s first bridge from the mainland was wooden.
FLORIDA PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION
Piper Aircraft moved to Vero Beach in 1961.
The Vero Beach Theatre Guild
is now more than 60 years old.
The Naval Air Station was decommissioned after
the end of World War II.
Vero Beach was the spring training home of the
Dodgers for 60 years.
The Barber Bridge was named after state senator
and former mayor Merrill Barber.
OVIASC
Archaeological research in Vero Beach has rendered
significant findings from the Ice Age.
The Vero Theatre, which later became the Florida
Theatre, opened in 1924.
The Press Journal represented
the merger of the
Vero Beach Journal and
the Vero Press.
Compiled by Gregory Enns
RIVERSIDE THEATRE
/VeroBeach100.org