History of Port St Lucie, Florida

The city of Port St Lucie, Florida is a former Spanish colony. It is from this invasion in 1960 that it began to develop. It was largely-uninhabited. The exploitation of this land allowed the population to develop and enrich itself. Today Port St Lucie is one of the largest cities in Florida. Discover its evolution.

When was Port St Lucie, Fl established?

The land that now forms the city of Port St Lucie was almost all uninhabited for a very long time. The few people who lived there made their living from fishing or local farms. Trade began after the discovery of America and the settlement of these wildlands. Port St Lucie was under Spanish rule. Its development began in the 1950s.

The General Development Cooperation invested a large amount of money in the colony. It would be several tens of millions of dollars. The productivity of the local communities was much boosted. Port St Lucie began to produce on a large scale. This allowed the development of the city itself. It was beginning to look like what it is today.

How did Port St Lucie, Fl get its name?

It is the Spanish religious festival Santa Lucia that gave birth to the name of the city Port Saint Lucie. It dates back to the beginning of the 16th century. Back then Florida was all colonized like many other territories in America. As the land was under Spanish rule, the English version was not yet in use. It only appeared when the lands became independent from the King of Spain.  

Is there a port in Port St Lucie, Fl?

Many people today are asking themselves this famous question. Why include the word port in the name of a city that does not have one. To understand this anecdote, we have to go back to the 1950s. The General Development Corporation showed interest in these lands in Florida.

As mentioned above, this giant corporation invested a significant amount of money in the development of this area. It has implemented a marketing program for the city of Port St Lucie. The construction of a major port was in the plans. But in reality, the company went bankrupt at the end of the 20th century. Following this event, the realization of those plans was forever forgotten. But the memory of such intentions has remained with us, and it never occurred to anyone to change the name.