Mile 327 - Palm Bay

As of January 13, 2008 at 6:00 PM
Steps: 764,694
Miles: 325.56


Steam Boats. The ferry Ida Mae (1912).

In the 1880s John Tillman operated a large banana and citrus groves on the north shore of Turkey Creek. To support his agriculture Mr. Tillman also constructed a wharf at the mouth of the creek. The wharf was used not only for the groves but became a major stopping point on the Indian River for steamboats. By the late 1880s Tillman's Wharf and the community became known as Tillman.

The Atlantic Coast, St. Johns, and Indian River Railroad began a spur line from Enterprise to Titusville in 1885. Shortly thereafter, the line was leased to the Jacksonville, Tampa, and Key West Railroad, which was owned by (our man) Henry Flagler. He extended the train service to Titusville and Tillman in 1894. In 1895, Flagler changed the name of the railroad to the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) and quickly supplanted the steamboat as the principal means of transportation along the Indian River.
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Culpepper house and first School at Tillman/Palm Bay.

Circa 1880. This building has a case of the "leans".


St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church

In the year of 1912, a group of families, mostly German and Slovanic ancestory, arrived by Florida East Coast Railway, from Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oklahoma, to the sleepy hamlet of “Tillman”, situated on the banks of the Indian River and Turkey Creek. Now known as Palm Bay, Brevard County, Florida.

They brought furniture, personal belongings and bags of seeds with them. By 1914, a total of one hundred families from the Midwest arrived in much the same way.

A land company, called “Indian River Catholic Colony”, traveled to the Midwest promising the farmenrs prosperity in the sunny south by farming two seasons a year, with no freezing or snow. They purchased the land at $30.00 to $40.00 per acre and soon learned that strange and hardy plants grew wild, but, the land did not respond to cultivation because of the poorly drained sandy soil and the unexpected freezes. The only thing they found in abundance were mosquitoes and insects.

The principal crops were potatoes, peppers and eggplant. The potatoes were shipped in barrels by railroad to Plant City, Florida. Peppers and eggplant were shipped in boxes.

Horse and buggy and mule drawn carts were the principal means of transportation. They traveled in the, “ruts” created by them since there were no roads. Supplies were brought to the area by boat on the Indian River and later, by the Florida East Coast Railway."
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Manatees at the Surface
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I am indebted to the Local Knowledge Website for the pictures below:


Momma with Baby.


Another picture of Momma with Baby.


Now That's Hip-Deep in Alligators!