The 1969 Merger of Eau Gallie and Melbourne

Eau Gallie and Melbourne merged in 1969 after voters approved it, joining two neighboring Brevard County cities on the Indian River Lagoon into the single City of Melbourne.

The City of Melbourne states that the old Eau Gallie downtown was once the City of Eau Gallie, prior to the cities of Eau Gallie and Melbourne merging in 1969 upon approval by voters (City of Melbourne, Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA). The Florida Department of State put it the same way in 2018: in 1969 citizens of the city decided to merge Eau Gallie with the city of Melbourne (Florida Department of State). The University of Central Florida RICHES collection on Melbourne also records that in 1969, Eau Gallie merged with Melbourne (UCF RICHES).

The combined city kept the Melbourne name. The Genealogical Society of South Brevard describes today's Melbourne as the result of a merger, in 1969, with the adjoining city of Eau Gallie, which leaves Melbourne with two identities and two histories (Genealogical Society of South Brevard). None of the sources checked for this page gives the 1969 vote totals or the exact effective date, so neither is stated here.

Eau Gallie is the older of the two places, settled around 1859 and 1860, while Melbourne, first known as Crane Creek, incorporated in 1888; both were tied to the Indian River and reached by the railroad in 1893.

The Brevard County Historical Commission notes that by 1860 families were also settling the area around what would become Eau Gallie (Brevard County Historical Commission). The Eau Gallie Arts District history names John Carroll Houston IV as the first permanent settler in the Eau Gallie area in 1859, records that Eau Gallie served as the county seat of Brevard County from 1874 to 1878, and says the railroad reached Eau Gallie in 1893 (Eau Gallie Arts District history).

Melbourne's milestones ran a few years behind. The UCF RICHES collection records that Melbourne, formerly called Crane Creek, was founded by former slaves in 1867 (UCF RICHES). The Melbourne town was incorporated in 1888, and the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Indian River Railway reached Melbourne in July 1893 (Genealogical Society of South Brevard). By 1900, a sandy one-lane trail ran between Melbourne and Eau Gallie, the first overland link between two towns that had relied on the Indian River for travel.

The two towns already shared an airfield a generation before they shared a government. Naval Air Station Melbourne was developed in 1942 from what had been the Melbourne-Eau Gallie Airport, dedicated the year before (Genealogical Society of South Brevard). The UCF RICHES collection adds that the station closed in 1946 and the property became the Melbourne airport (UCF RICHES).

The space program reshaped Melbourne and Eau Gallie in the 1950s and 1960s, replacing agriculture as the base of the local economy and bringing a boom in population growth across Brevard County.

The Genealogical Society of South Brevard writes that as space exploration gained momentum in the 1960s, related industries and the space program itself began to supplant agriculture in the economy of Melbourne and Eau Gallie (Genealogical Society of South Brevard). The same history counts Melbourne at 4,011 people in 1945, before the space era, and at 68,000 in 1999, three decades after the merger.

At the county level, the Brevard County Historical Commission credits the Kennedy Space Center launch complex and the continuing role of Cape Canaveral in missile development with a boom in population growth and development across Brevard (Brevard County Historical Commission). The sources checked here do not say whether that growth was the stated reason Eau Gallie and Melbourne voters chose to combine, so this page does not claim a motive.

Old Eau Gallie survives as the north Melbourne riverfront district along Eau Gallie Boulevard, Highland Avenue and Houston Street, now the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront Community Redevelopment Area and the Eau Gallie Arts District.

Eau Gallie's footprint began with William Henry Gleason, who bought 16,000 acres at $1.25 an acre and platted land from the Indian River Lagoon to Lake Washington; part of that land became the city of Eau Gallie and later north Melbourne (Eau Gallie Arts District history). The name is French for rocky water, a reference to the coquina rock along the Indian River Lagoon shore (Florida Department of State).

Melbourne protects the old Eau Gallie core through local historic designation. Since 2006 the City of Melbourne has locally designated six historic resources and one historic district with 12 more contributing resources, the Eau Gallie Historic District (City of Melbourne Historic Preservation). Designated Eau Gallie sites include the Eau Gallie Yacht Club at 1149 Houston Street and the Rossetter House at 1328 Houston Street and 1365 Highland Avenue. Questions on Melbourne design guidelines go to Community Development at (321) 608-7500.

The Eau Gallie Arts District, known as EGAD, became a Florida Main Street community in 2010, and the Florida Department of State named it the September 2018 Florida Main Street Community of the Month (Florida Department of State). Its own history notes that Eau Gallie joined with the City of Melbourne in 1969, but locals still call it Eau Gallie (EGAD).

Melbourne reinvests in old Eau Gallie through the Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA, created May 22, 2001 under Brevard County authority and funded by tax increment above the 2001 base value.

The Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront CRA captures both city and county taxes on property value growth above the 2001 level (City of Melbourne). The City of Melbourne lists its results: Eau Gallie Square built and improved, the Highland Avenue parking lot purchased, Eau Gallie Pier reconstructed, facade and Art Overlay Zone grants, a sidewalk on Eau Gallie Boulevard, benches and business wayfinding signs.

The Melbourne City Council itself serves as the board for all three city redevelopment agencies, so Olde Eau Gallie CRA business is heard at City Council meetings, with an advisory committee reviewing projects first (City of Melbourne). Exterior changes to commercial buildings and signs in the Eau Gallie CRA need prior approval from the Historic and Architectural Review Board.

Current Eau Gallie CRA priorities include lighting for Highland Avenue and Eau Gallie Square, public parking, and the Pineapple Avenue Complete Street project with the Space Coast Transportation Planning Organization to add crosswalks on Pineapple Avenue (City of Melbourne). Melbourne City Council held a first public hearing on October 28, 2025 on an unsolicited public private partnership proposal from Melbourne Hospitality Holdings, LLC, and heard a revised proposal on December 9, 2025.

One date conflict is worth knowing: the Eau Gallie Arts District history says community effort helped create a Community Redevelopment Area in 2000 and a Waterfronts Florida Partnership designation in 2003 (EGAD), while the City of Melbourne gives May 22, 2001 for the CRA. The city date, tied to the Brevard County authorization, is the one used on this page.