Old Palm Bay

About this publication

Palm Bay began as a citrus packing house at the mouth of Turkey Creek.

According to the National Register nomination for St. Joseph's Catholic Church, three partners from Quitman, Georgia, bought 75 acres on the Indian River in 1870 and built a packing house at Tillman's Wharf, now Castaway Point. The Tillman post office opened on March 4, 1887. A Catholic colony company brought about 100 Midwestern families after 1911, and they built St. Joseph's Church in 1914. In 1925 the Legislature chartered the Town of Palm Bay, and in 1960 it became a city with 2,808 residents. By the 2020 census it had 119,760, the most in Brevard County.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Palm Bay, a white wood-frame Stick-style church.
St. Joseph's Catholic Church, built by the settlers of Tillman in 1914 and listed on the National Register in 1987. Ebyabe via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.

What this site covers

The Ais, the people the Spanish found on this stretch of the Indian River. Tillman, its post office and its Catholic colony. The 1925 renaming and the 1960 city.

General Development Corporation, whose Port Malabar is part of the city: its guilty plea, its $169 million fund for buyers, its bankruptcy, and the 1996 appeals ruling that reversed the convictions of four of its executives. The growth from 18,560 people in 1980 to 62,632 in 1990. The 1987 shootings at Palm Bay Center and Sabal Palm Square, which killed six people, two of them police officers. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004. Turkey Creek Sanctuary and the lagoon.

Turkey Creek running between wooded banks in Palm Bay.
Turkey Creek in the Turkey Creek Sanctuary, established by the city in 1981. Clayton Kern via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 3.0.

Corrections welcome at hello@oldpalmbay.com.