Citrus and Pineapple Era in Sebastian, Florida

Between the 1880s and the 1920s the Sebastian area lived on three things: fishing, pineapples and citrus, grown on the sandy ridges along the Indian River and on Orchid Island.

The state historical marker at Roseland, just across the St. Sebastian River, says that for centuries settlements in the Indian River area were restricted to the coast, where citrus, pineapples and fishing were the primary industries (Florida Division of Historical Resources, Roseland marker). Settlers farmed the dry, well-drained sand because the low ground inland was wet much of the year.

The first cash crops were winter vegetables. The Winter Beach Pioneer Cemetery marker south of Wabasso records that early Indian River settlers were mostly farmers growing beans, cabbage and tomatoes for northern winter markets, who later became famous for pineapples and citrus grown on Orchid Island, on the western shore of the Indian River and on the dunes of the Atlantic Coastal Ridge (Winter Beach marker).

Sebastian itself was still small. The Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce notes that by the 1890s both Sebastian and Roseland had their own post offices, a sign of steady settlement along the river and the new railroad.

Pineapples grew on the sandy ridge that runs from Stuart north through Sebastian, and on Orchid Island east of the lagoon, from the late 1800s until about 1920.

County Historian Ruth Stanbridge told Vero News in October 2016 that pineapples were the crop of choice before citrus, and that in the early 1900s the fruit grew along the Golden Ridge from Stuart through Sebastian. The same report names Axel Hallstrom as the original pineapple grower in Indian River County; his farmstead on Old Dixie Highway is now kept by the Indian River County Historical Society.

Growing started even earlier on the north end of the county. WQCS, the public radio station of Indian River State College, reported in April 2012 that David Gibson grew pineapples in what is now northern Indian River County in the 19th century; Gibson is the same settler the Sebastian Inlet District credits with the first known attempt to cut Sebastian Inlet.

Across the Treasure Coast the scale was large. Florida State Parks describes dozens of pineapple plantations that thrived from the 1880s through the 1920s, worked in part by African American and Bahamian laborers who came to the region for plantation jobs.

Pineapples near Sebastian failed because cheaper Cuban fruit arrived by rail, pests attacked the plants and the freezes of 1917 and 1918 killed what was left.

The railroad that had opened northern markets to Sebastian growers also let imported fruit in. Stanbridge explained to Vero News that once the Florida East Coast Railroad was complete, pineapples were imported from Cuba, and that between the bugs brought in with Cuban crops and the freezes of 1917 and 1918 the local pineapple industry was wiped out.

State park historians at Savannas Preserve, south of Indian River County, give the same cause from the other end of the Treasure Coast. Florida State Parks says the industry came to a halt in the early 1900s when nematodes and spider mites attacked the plants and several cold spells hit the plantations, after which most families turned to citrus.

The switch held for most of the century. Stanbridge noted in 2016 that citrus had replaced pineapples as the major Indian River County crop almost 100 years earlier, and the Indian River County Historical Society has since replanted pineapple slips descended from the original Hallstrom crop at the farmstead.

Henry Flagler's railroad reached Sebastian in 1893, and every grove and pineapple field near Sebastian, Roseland and Wabasso then shipped north by rail.

The state marker at the Vero Beach station records that Flagler's railroad arrived in Sebastian in 1893 and reached Fort Pierce in 1894, and that agricultural growth brought Flagler back to build a Vero station by 1903 (Vero Beach Railway Station marker). In Roseland, a depot and water tower went up for the railway in 1893 (Roseland marker).

Fruit from Orchid Island first crossed the lagoon by boat. The Town of Orchid history says Captain Frank Forster's grove north of today's Wabasso bridge produced fruit served to travelers aboard the Florida East Coast Railway dining cars. Later a narrow wooden bridge with a swing span replaced the Michael family dock at Two Dollar Bluff, which allowed the Indian River citrus to travel from the Orchid Island groves to the railroad (A.B. Michael (Wabasso) Bridge marker).

Sebastian also became a rail junction for the interior. The Fellsmere Railroad, finished in 1910, ran about 10 miles to the Florida East Coast Railway in Sebastian and opened to the public on May 1, 1911, carrying logs and supplies before farm produce (Fellsmere Railroad marker).

Citrus near Sebastian began with small family groves on Orchid Island in the 1880s and on the ridge west of the Sebastian riverfront in the early 1900s.

Stephen Michael bought land from Captain Forster on Orchid Island in 1886 and planted a small grove that was later wiped out by severe frost. His son A. B. Michael took it over and reestablished the grove across 10 acres of land in 1902, at age 25, and its grapefruit became known for quality, according to the Town of Orchid. He was later a charter member of the Indian River Citrus League and was named a Great Floridian in 2000.

On the mainland the ridge near Sebastian filled with small groves. The Treasure Coast Almanac reports that the ridge land now inside the 182-acre Spirit of Sebastian development was settled in the early 1900s by several small growers who cleared and planted citrus, and that after World War I a Vickers Brothers citrus company employed growers there.

Grove owners carried weight in local fights. The Sebastian Inlet District history says area residents opposed to the 1918 inlet cut wanted to protect grove, cattle and railroad interests, a reminder that citrus money sat beside fishing money in early Sebastian.