Melbourne, situated on Indian River Lagoon, on Florida's "Space Coast," is about one hour's drive south of Kennedy Space Center. The city traces its origins to two early settlements: Eau Gallie and Crane Creek. Eau Gallie, was founded by white settlers in the decade before the Civil War. Among its most prominent residents was James Wadsworth Rosetter, who, in the early twentieth century, became a leading fish merchant and an agent for Standard Oil.

Crane Creek was first settled by Black freedmen in the years following the Civil War. Early residents included Peter Wright, the Black "sailing mailman," who delivered mail and local news up and down the coast.The community's first white settlers arrived in 1877, when Richard Goode moved his family here from Chicago. As Crane Creek grew, the need for a post office prompted residents to choose a new, official name for their town. As the story goes, they pulled straws, each labeled with a different name, and in this manner Melbourne was chosen.

The coming of Henry Flagler's East Coast Railroad in 1893 breathed new life into the area, as it provided ready means of transportation for fishermen and farmers eager to get their crops to market. When a 1919 fire destroyed much of Melbourne's downtown, reconstruction efforts clustered businesses nearer the train depot.

World War II ushered in the era of the Melbourne Naval Air Station. During the war, more than 2,200 newly commissioned Navy and Marine pilots trained at the base in Grumman F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat fighter planes. The base closed at war's end, but the Melbourne Military Memorial Park honors the veterans who trained there. Adjacent to the Park is "Honor America," where visitors to the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum can see a full-size replica of the Philadelphia attraction, flags from the Revolutionary period, copies of documents important to the nation's founding, and other exhibits.

Melbourne and Eau Gallie formally consolidated in 1969, reincorporated under one city charter as Melbourne, but with two distinct historic districts: the Historic Downtown Distict along New Haven Avenue and the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront. Must see sites include the Brevard Art Museum and the Historic Rossetter House Museum, which consists of the historic Rossetter house and gardens, the Roesch House, the home of Eau Gallie's postmaster, mayor, and newspaper publisher, William P. Roesch, and the 1865 Houston Family Memorial Cemetery. These are poignant reminders of the pioneering families, black as well as white, who forged this unique and historic town on Florida's modern Space Coast.

This podcast made possible through a grant from the Florida Humanities Council. Script written by Naomi Williams. Narrated by Dave Dunwoody.