Roseland, Florida: History, Park and Services Guide

Roseland is an unincorporated part of Indian River County north and west of the City of Sebastian, and it is not inside the city.

The county's Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan defines the area as about 1,574 acres, or 2.46 square miles, of unincorporated county land north and west of Sebastian, with the Indian River to the northeast and the Sebastian River to the west and northwest (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan). Because Roseland is unincorporated, the county's future land use map and zoning map govern development there, so zoning, parks and road questions go to Indian River County rather than to Sebastian City Hall (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 6). The same plan notes that the U.S. Census Bureau defines a Roseland Census Designated Place whose boundaries are close to, but slightly smaller than, the plan area (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 12).

Addresses in Roseland are a common source of confusion. Indian River County lists Roseland Community Park as 12925 83rd Avenue, Sebastian, FL 32958 (Indian River County Parks), and the federal fire station register lists Station 09 as 13550 Roseland Rd, Sebastian, FL 32958 (NERIS). The state marker database files the Roseland marker under the city name Vero Beach (Florida Division of Historical Resources). In practice a Roseland street address usually carries a Sebastian mailing city while the land itself stays outside the city limits.

Roseland is named for the wild roses that grew along the south side of the St. Sebastian River, a name credited to Dempsey Cain, who settled on the north side of the river in 1877.

The Florida Department of State marker calls Cain the first citizen of Roseland and says he named the community on the south side of the river after the wild roses that grew there in abundance (Roseland historical marker). The marker text begins much earlier: the Ays Indians lived where the St. Sebastian River meets the Indian River, which the marker labels the Rio d'ays, when the Spanish arrived in the 1500s. For hundreds of years after that, the marker says, settlement in the Indian River area stayed on the coast, where citrus, pineapples and fishing were the main industries.

The county plan, which spells the tribe Ais, says the Roseland area was inhabited by Ais Indians for thousands of years and that little evidence of their settlement remains beyond the remnants of a shell midden at Moore's Point, mostly destroyed when its shells were ground down for fill and to pave roads in Roseland (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 17). Land title reaches back to Spanish Florida: in 1816 George Fleming, an Irishman who had served in the army of Spanish Florida, received a large land grant on both sides of the St. Sebastian River, and the marker credits that grant with shaping the growth of the area.

Roseland gained a post office in 1892, an East Coast Railway depot and water tower in 1893, and a land company owner in 1910, according to the state marker.

The depot and water tower were built for Henry Flagler's East Coast Railway as more settlers arrived on the St. Sebastian River (Florida Division of Historical Resources). In 1910 the A.A. Berry Land Development Company bought the remnants of the old Fleming land grant, and the marker states that the original Berry Land Office Building still stands in Roseland.

Little from the earliest years survives. A 1989 Historic Properties Survey cited in the county plan found that some development took place in Roseland in the 1880s and 1890s, but no buildings remain from that period, including the first post office of 1892 (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan). Of the 284 county buildings that survey verified as built between 1900 and 1940, 33 were in Roseland, or 11.6% of the total, which the plan uses to call Roseland one of the oldest communities in Indian River County. The plan's list of those Roseland properties gives construction years from 1900 to 1935, with most dated 1925 (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 18).

Roseland Community Park, at 12925 83rd Avenue, is a 0.74-acre Indian River County park open daily from 7 a.m. to sunset, with a boardwalk to the Sebastian River.

The county lists a grill, a covered pavilion, a picnic table, the community building and a boardwalk to the Sebastian River, plus 14 parking spaces and 1 accessible space (Indian River County Parks). The county listing gives (772) 226-1875 as the phone number for Roseland Community Park and Community Building, and it directs questions about renting the community building to the Roseland Women's Club.

County park rules apply in Roseland as in every Indian River County park: no pets under County Ordinance 205.03.22, no alcohol under 205.03.26, no open fires under 205.03.04, no camping under 205.03.16 and no overnight parking under 205.03.19 (Indian River County Parks). The 14-space lot on 83rd Avenue is the only parking the county lists for Roseland Community Park, and the park closes at sunset, so the riverside boardwalk is a daytime stop.

Roseland Community Park is one of several county recreation sites nearby. The 2003 county plan listed five facilities the county recreation department maintained in the Roseland area: Helen Hanson Park, the US 1 Roadside site at Moore's Point, the Roseland Community Center, Dale Wimbrow Park and the Donald McDonald Campground (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 25).

The Roseland Community Building dates to 1926 and was built of lumber salvaged from the first bridge to cross the St. Sebastian River, according to the state marker.

The marker names the 1926 Roseland Community Center, alongside the Berry Land Office Building, as the two early structures that still stand in Roseland (Roseland historical marker). Indian River County lists the building as part of Roseland Community Park at 12925 83rd Avenue, and rental requests go to the Roseland Women's Club rather than to the county (Indian River County Parks).

The building has long been the community's meeting place. The county plan named three activity centers for Roseland residents: the Roseland Community Center, the Firehouse and the Roseland United Methodist Church (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 24). The state marker for Roseland stands on Bay Street, which the state database gives as 12973 Bay Street, with the year 2014 (Florida Division of Historical Resources).

Indian River County Fire Rescue Station 09, at 13550 Roseland Rd, is the county fire station on Roseland Road; the next stations listed are Station 08 at 1115 Barber St in Sebastian and Station 10 in Fellsmere.

The federal NERIS register lists Station 09 at 13550 Roseland Rd, Sebastian, FL 32958, Station 08 at 1115 Barber St, Sebastian, and Station 10 at 62 N Broadway St, Fellsmere (NERIS). That is a change from 2003, when the county plan counted no fire stations in Roseland other than one volunteer station, no emergency medical stations and no police stations or satellite offices (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 24). The plan also noted that the Sheriff's department kept no office in Roseland (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 25), and that there were no public schools in Roseland (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 24).

Roads are the other service residents ask about. The county plan found that most local roads in Roseland are not paved, and that only Roseland Road, from 126th Street to the Riverwalk Shopping Center, and US 1 had sidewalks (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 35). Residents who want a local road paved can apply for petition paving: if a majority of residents agree, the county pays 25% of the paving cost and assesses the rest to the residents. The sidewalk along Roseland Road from 126th Street to the Riverwalk Shopping Center was completed in early 2002 (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 36).

The Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, adopted by Indian River County on September 9, 2003, is the county's neighborhood plan for Roseland, and its figures should be read as 2003 data.

The plan began with residents. In February 2001 the Roseland Property Owners Association wrote to the Board of County Commissioners asking for a task force to review the land development regulations and comprehensive plan as they relate to Roseland, and in March 2001 the board approved a Roseland Neighborhood Plan Task Force (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 5). The plan was adopted on September 9, 2003 (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, cover). Its stated goal is to maintain the quality of life in the Roseland area, preserve natural and historic resources and ensure adequate physical infrastructure (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 38). It also proposed a Roseland corridor plan covering both sides of US 1 north of the Sebastian city limits to the north county line, with rules on signage, roofing, color, buffers, architecture and landscaping for new commercial development (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 37).

Conservation land frames Roseland on two sides. The plan says Roseland abuts two areas protected under the County Environmental Lands Program: the 95-acre Fischer-Sebastian River Tract, with a public canoe launch completed in fall 2001, and the 407-acre North Sebastian Conservation Area of xeric scrub, pine flatwoods and savanna wetlands, habitat for the Florida scrub-jay and the gopher tortoise (Historic Roseland Neighborhood Plan, page 23). Today the county lists the North Sebastian Conservation Area at 1295 Main St, Sebastian, as 407 acres open from 7:30 a.m. to sunset year-round, with about 10 miles of walking trails, 15 parking spaces plus 1 accessible space, and a rule that dogs must be leashed, a practical difference from Roseland Community Park, where pets are not permitted (Indian River County Conservation Lands). The county bought the land between 1996 and 1999 under three Florida Communities Trust cost-share grants to preserve scrub and wetland habitat for rare and endangered species. Because the plan dates from 2003, its counts of roads, schools and services are a 2003 snapshot rather than a current inventory.