Vero Heritage Center and Indian River Citrus Museum in Vero Beach, Florida

The Heritage Center is the former Vero Beach Community Building, a 1935 one-story frame hall at 2146 14th Avenue that now serves as an event venue and as the home of the Indian River Citrus Museum.

Vero Heritage says the building was built in 1935 through a partnership between the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and the City of Vero Beach, and that Vero Heritage, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, maintains the building at no cost to the City. The nonprofit lists weddings, fundraisers and community gatherings among its present uses and gives 2140 14th Avenue as its contact address.

The 1992 National Register nomination describes a 1935 one-story Frame Vernacular municipal building located at 2146 14th Avenue, in the center of Pocahontas Park in Vero Beach. Pocahontas Park is land the Indian River Farms Company donated for municipal use to the City of Vero in 1920, and the nomination notes that the two-story Indian River County Courthouse stands directly east, across 14th Avenue. The city's Local Register page lists the VB Heritage Center at the same 2146 14th Avenue address.

Union workers of Vero Beach built the hall in early 1935 to plans by local architect Garns, while the Federal Emergency Relief Administration supplied the unskilled labor.

The nomination records that the architect was W. H. Garns, that plans for the proposed recreation hall were reviewed and approved on January 22, 1935, and that the one-story building cost an estimated $3,650. Materials came from the Crosby Builder's Supply Company of Vero Beach. Completed in early April 1935, the hall first hosted the Seventh Annual Flower Show of the Indian River Garden Club, and it was officially dedicated as the Vero Beach Community Building on July 4, 1935, with band music, dancing and sports events sponsored by the Modern Woodmen of America.

Inside, the main dance hall and recreation room has original plaster walls, a heart pine floor, a stage and a full-height ceiling with exposed trusses, plus a massive coquina veneer fireplace on the north wall. The nomination calls the Vero Beach building one of the two remaining Federal Emergency Relief Administration projects downtown, the Indian River County Courthouse being the other. The National Park Service record names Garns,W.H. as architect, gives 1935 as the significant year and cites entertainment and recreation and architecture as areas of significance.

With the first squadrons arriving at Naval Air Station Vero Beach in 1943, the city converted the Community Building into a Servicemen's Center for military personnel.

According to the Vero Beach nomination, early in February 1943 federal funds totalling $6,175 were allocated to build and furnish a servicemen's wing, and with local money the budget reached $8,175. Completed in the summer of 1943, the wing held a lounge with fireplace, a reading room and showers. A social group of local women known as the Bombadears was organized to entertain servicemen stationed at the air station, under written rules that included parental consent and ladylike conduct at all times.

Early on November 2, 1944, a fire that probably started in the stage footlights damaged the Vero Beach building, with total damage estimated at $8,000. Mayor Alex MacWilliam ordered immediate repair, and the hall served service personnel for the rest of the war. Vero Heritage remembers the period for its USO-era dances. In 1946 the building returned to civilian use and remained a center for community groups until January 1992, when it was vacated.

Vero Heritage says that when demolition loomed, citizens led by the Indian River County Historical Society and Millie Bunnell fought to save the Vero Beach building, which was fully restored in 1993.

The federal listing is dated 1/19/1993 in the National Park Service record, reference 92001746, under the name Vero Beach Community Building, Old. At the time of the nomination the building was known as the Vero Beach Physical Arts Center, its current function was recorded as vacant, and the city planned to restore it, uncovering original finishes and rebuilding a ladies' lounge lost to termite damage in the 1960s.

The City of Vero Beach National Register page lists the property as the Vero Beach Community Building (Vero Heritage Center), and the Local Register entry places it under Ordinance 2008-08 of 7/15/08. The table below sets out the main dates from the federal and nonprofit records.

The Indian River Citrus Museum inside the Vero Beach Heritage Center shows citrus history through photographs, tools, signs, advertising prints and original crate labels.

Its museum page invites Vero Beach visitors to discover how citrus seeds made their way to Florida and how area pioneers built the Indian River Citrus name. The collection includes photos of citrus workers, groves, processes and pioneer families, and artifacts such as citrus tools, signs and original advertising prints. Original crate labels are on display and also for sale in the gift shop. Vero Heritage presents Indian River Lagoon country, along the middle of the eastern coast of Florida, as the region whose fruit carried the Indian River Citrus stamp.

The museum reaches beyond its walls. A Stories from the Groves video series includes a short history of the Graves Brothers Company, in which a family member describes the company's start in the 1920s growing vegetables before it settled in Indian River County and Vero Beach, and calls it the longest-running citrus company still in the same families. The Vero Heritage Citrus Label Tour, modeled on tours in Polk and Manatee Counties, puts crate label art on public signs; as of summer 2022 there were three signs in Historic Downtown Vero Beach.

Admission to the Vero Beach citrus museum is by suggested donation of $5 per person or $10 for families of three or more, with children under 5 free.

The Vero Beach museum page offers private tours before or after regular operating hours by appointment at 772-770-2263, with at least one week's notice requested. The page does not post a weekly schedule, so a call ahead is the practical way to confirm opening times. The building is also rented for weddings, galas, concerts and civic gatherings, so the hall may be booked for private events on some days.

The wartime history is marked each summer. Vero Heritage says the Heritage Center hosts a USO style dance honoring World War II veterans, and on Friday, May 23, 2025, it held a USO-style swing dance with live big band music, in recognition of the Indian River County Centennial and the legacy of Naval Air Station Vero Beach and local veterans. The nonprofit's 2026 events list includes a Pioneer Dinner, a Heritage Market at Downtown Friday, a historic downtown walking tour and a bluegrass music series. Last verified: October 15, 2026, by re-reading the Vero Heritage home, museum, dance and Graves Brothers pages, the 1992 National Register nomination and NPGallery record, and the City of Vero Beach National and Local Register lists.