POST WAR
SMITH COLLECTION, ARCHIVE CENTER, IRC MAIN LIBRARY
The original Merrill P. Barber Bridge, which opened in 1951, provided easy access between the mainland and the barrier islands in postwar Vero Beach.
Merrill P. Barber, a former Vero Beach mayor and
state senator, helped secure funding for the construction
of the 1951 bridge that would bear his
name. When a new bridge was built in 1995, it was
also named for him.
VeroBeach100.org City of Vero Beach 1919-2019 53
its progress, said his younger daughter,
Merrill Dick.
“Every night after dinner Daddy and
I would take a walk,” she said. “Usually I
was barefoot and by the end of the night
I would have bloody toes from stubbing
them. We would walk from our house
on Royal Palm Place to the construction
site, and Daddy would be so interested in
everything that transpired that day and
the challenges the men were having. Even
after it was completed, there would be
times when he would want to walk to the
bridge and talk to the bridge tender.”
PARK AND BRIDGE DEDICATED
Stabile, who was in college, and Dick,
who was 5 or 6, remember the bridge
dedication in 1950 as “quite an event.” It
took place the same day that the nearby
MacWilliam Park was dedicated in honor
of mayor and legislator Alex MacWilliam,
who was in the hospital, the sisters said.
The 1951 bridge eventually became
inadequate for the growing community.
The draw span seemed to be raised more
often than not, causing regular traffic tieups.
In 1995, the new fixed-span bridge
was built and again named for Barber, who
died in 1985.
“I remember dad saying it was becoming
a very dangerous situation,” Stabile
said. “The beach had built up so much and
he was worried about people trying to
get to the hospital. He was anxious to see
it replaced. I don’t think when he passed
away he had any idea it would remain the
Barber Bridge.”
The Intracoastal Waterway was also
improved during the postwar era, thanks
to an incident in Vero Beach involving
President Harry Truman.
STUCK IN THE MUD
Truman was en route to Key West in
1950 when his yacht ran aground near
Vero Beach, said William Crawford, author
of the book Florida’s Big Dig: The Atlantic
Intracoastal Waterway.
Even though Congress had decided in
1945 to widen and deepen the waterway,
most members opposed using federal
funds for that purpose, Crawford said in a
radio interview. Truman felt the same way
until he was inconvenienced in Vero. A
yacht carrying the former assistant secretary
of the Navy was also cruising south.
“According to the mayor of Vero Beach,
Alex MacWilliam, both yachts were
grounded in the Vero Beach area,” Crawford
said. “As a result, Congress got into
action and in 1950 passed the necessary
funding to increase the depth.”
By 1960, the channel had been dredged
to a depth of 12 feet south to Fort Pierce,
Crawford said, and he thinks that wouldn’t
have happened if Truman’s yacht hadn’t
run aground.
“There probably wouldn’t have been
any funding, because there was a big
fight at that time,” he said. “It’s a fight that >>
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