Writing
Notes, essays, and research from Old Palm Bay.
- Naming history
The 1925 renaming: how the Town of Tillman became the Town of Palm Bay
In 1924 the residents of unincorporated Tillman asked the Legislature for a charter as the Town of Palm Bay. It was granted in the 1925 session, and on December 16, 1925, the Post Office changed the town's post office name from Tillman to Palm Bay.
- Civic history
The 1987 Palm Bay shootings
On April 23, 1987, William Bryan Cruse Jr. opened fire at two Palm Bay shopping centers, killing six people, two of them Palm Bay police officers, and injuring ten. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and death sentences in 1991. What the court's opinion records.
- Hurricanes
Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne (2004): Landfall Dates and Palm Bay's Damage
Frances came ashore on Hutchinson Island just after midnight on September 5, 2004, as a Category 2. Jeanne hit the same spot around midnight on September 25 to 26 as a Category 3. What the two storms did to Palm Bay and Brevard.
- Pre-Columbian
The Ais: the people of Palm Bay's stretch of the Indian River
The Ais held Florida's Atlantic coast from near the Indian River Inlet north almost to Cape Canaveral when the Spanish arrived. What the Spanish record and Jonathan Dickinson's 1696 shipwreck journal say about them, and what they don't say about Turkey Creek.
- GDC era
General Development Corporation: the fraud case, the bankruptcy and the reversal
General Development Corporation, the developer behind Palm Bay's Port Malabar, pleaded guilty to fraud over how it sold homes in the 1980s, set up a $169 million fund for buyers and filed for Chapter 11. Four of its executives were convicted; in April 1996 a federal appeals court reversed every conviction.
- Natural history
The Indian River Lagoon at Palm Bay: the 2011 blooms and after
Palm Bay lies on the central Indian River Lagoon. In 2011, while a superbloom covered the lagoon north of Eau Gallie, a second bloom of about 19,000 hectares covered the central lagoon from Eau Gallie south to Vero Beach and Fort Pierce. What the water district, the state and Brevard County record.
- Schools and sports
The Palm Bay High Pirates and their two state football titles
Palm Bay High School's Pirates won Florida state football championships in 2000, beating Dillard 10-6 in Class 6A, and in 2002, beating Jefferson 19-10 in Class 4A, according to the Florida High School Athletic Association's championship records.
- Civic history
Palm Bay becomes a city, 1960
Palm Bay was incorporated as a town in 1925. In 1960, under Mayor Harry Pollak, it was incorporated as a city with 2,808 residents, according to the city's timeline. Its first school, fire station, bank and library followed between 1966 and 1984.
- Demographics
The Palm Bay population explosion, 1960 to 2020
Palm Bay had 2,808 people at the 1960 census, 18,560 in 1980 and 62,632 in 1990, when it became the most populous city in Brevard County. By the 2020 census it had 119,760, more than 42 times its 1960 count.
- Early settlement
Tillman: what Palm Bay was called before 1925
Palm Bay began in 1870 as a citrus venture at the mouth of Turkey Creek. Its post office, Tillman, was established on March 4, 1887. After 1911 a Catholic colony company brought about 100 Midwestern families, who built St. Joseph's Church in 1914. What the National Register nomination for the church records.
- Natural history
Turkey Creek Sanctuary: 130 acres on the creek, since 1981
The City of Palm Bay's Turkey Creek Sanctuary, established in 1981, protects 130 acres of hydric hammock, mesic hammock and sand pine scrub along Turkey Creek, with a 1.85-mile boardwalk and the Margaret Hames Nature Center, opened in 1992.
- Editorial
What 'Old Palm Bay' means
What this site covers: Palm Bay from the 1870 citrus venture at Tillman's Wharf and the 1887 Tillman post office through the 1925 town charter, the 1960 city, General Development's Port Malabar and the growth that made it Brevard's largest city.