The history of Cocoa Beach is parallel to the development of America’s space program in the 1940’s and ‘50’s.
Before that, it’s sister city, Cocoa (5 miles west on the mainland on Indian River) was established first by settlers in 1860 and was known as “Indian River City”. Northern tourists came to escape the harsh winters; citrus, cattle and pineapple were the mainstay industries. The city changed its name to Cocoa after a shipment of baker's cocoa arrived at a local store in the 1880s. In the1890's the extension of the Jacksonville, St. Augustine, and Indian River Railway to Cocoa brought more development.
During WWII, the military created the Melbourne Naval Air Station (now Melbourne International Airport), and the Banana River Naval Air Station (now Patrick Air Force Base), on the look out for German U-boats offshore. The Coast Guard used the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse.
After the war in 1948 the Naval air stations were reopened as a missile testing ground. Cape Canaveral was the nation's first long-range test center for all three branches of the military. July 24, 1950 saw the first successful launch of a US rocket into space—ten miles. In 1962 John Glenn circled the earth, and in 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
Today, hotels, condominiums, souvenir stores and strip malls line both sides of Cocoa Beach’s north-south main highway, A1A, and traffic can sometimes be hectic. Just the same, the city and its beach cast a spell on millions of visitors every year.
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