Old Florida Charm, New Horizons

This is a view of Fort Pierce on Pine Street, now Second Street, in the early 1900s. Fort Pierce incorporated as a city in 1901. ST. LUCIE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Fort Pierce is a coastal city with deep roots

BY FORT PIERCE MAYOR LINDA HUDSON

Fort Pierce is defined by its waterways, location, favorable subtropical climate and its people. The city marks its 125th anniversary in 2026. Fifty-three of 66 registered voters voted to incorporate on Feb. 2, 1901, naming the new town Fort Pierce after the Second Seminole War military fort located about a mile south of the present-day courthouse on Indian River Drive.

Waterways were central to Fort Pierce’s beginnings, from the sinking of Spanish treasure ships in 1715 to the U.S. Army navigating the old natural inlet to the Rio de Ays [Spanish for Indian River] in 1838 to establish military Fort Pierce. The importance of the inlet became clear when the 1910 hurricane closed it. For 10 years, the closure caused hardships for the commercial and recreational fishing industry. In 1921, the city and financiers opened the new, straight, short and deep manmade Fort Pierce Inlet, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Lagoon.

In the 1920s, Prohibition created lucrative enterprises for smugglers and bootleggers in Fort Pierce, especially from the Bahamas. The Port of Fort Pierce was created by 1930.