Beautiful Brevard County

Some Facts about Brevard

• The Space Coast is 72 miles long and was created in 1855 by the Florida Legislature.
• Brevard's name came from a Civil War general.
• Brevard County is 20 miles wide east to west.
• Brevard's population in 2006 was 534,359.
• Brevard's projected population in 2020 is 800,800
• Brevard County has been occupied for at least 10,000 years! First by the Paleo Indians.
• By 2012 the projected population is 577,600.
• The average high temperature is 80.
• In 1513 Ponce deLeon landed somewhere around Melbourne Beach.
• Cape Canaveral was first named Cape of Currents by Ponce de Leon in 1513.
• Cocoa was supposedly named after a box of Baker's Cocoa delivered to Willard's General Store.
• Cocoa Beach was the first homesteaded by freed slaves after the Civil War.
• Melbourne was named in 1880 when homesteader Richard W. Goode's daughter drew its name on the longest of three broom straws.
• Melbourne Beach is the oldest beach community in Brevard County founded in 1883.
• Patrick Air Force Base was first named the Banana River Naval Air Station in 1940 and changed to Patrick Air Force Base in 1950.
• Juan Ponce de Leon was the first European explorer on Florida soil in 1513.
• The average high temperature in January is 71 degrees with the low around 50 degrees.
• The average high temperature in July is 90 degrees and the average low is 73 degrees.
• The biggest private-sector employers as of October 2008 included Harris Corp., United Space Alliance, Health First Inc., Wuesthoff Health System Inc., Northrup Grumman and Space Gateway Support.