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NEW COUNTY CREATED
Development got a boost in 1925 when the state legislature created
the last two of Florida’s 67 counties — Martin and Indian River
— from portions of St. Lucie County. When the St. Lucie County
sheriff shut down Vero’s movie theater for showing a film on a Sunday,
in violation of local “blue laws,” residents hatched plans to split
from St. Lucie. A contingent of civic leaders went to Tallahassee and
persuaded the legislature to create the new county.
Later, in a referendum, county voters picked Vero Beach over
Winter Beach, formerly known as Quay, to be the county seat.
“Vero won by a large majority of 197 votes,” the Vero Press reported
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on Jan. 22, 1926.
The newspaper made no secret about how it stood on the
issue, telling readers in a headline, “Ambitions of Quay developer
given no consideration by thinking voters who have the county’s
best interests at heart.”
Newspapers predicted big things for Vero Beach in the mid-
1920s, when the great Florida land boom was in full swing, particularly
in South Florida. On Dec. 17, 1925, the Vero Beach Press
Journal predicted the city would have a population of 35,000 in
1930. Columnist E. J. Sellard called Vero Beach “Florida at its best”
and said it was destined to become one of Florida’s big cities.
“When one sees the vast acres representing a potential wealth
not to be found anywhere in the universe, and then hears idle
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An early post card touted Vero’s Great Steel and Concrete Spillway, part of the
development at Indian River Farms.
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