Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian, Florida
City
City hall
Motto: "Home Of Pelican Island"[1] "Friendly People and Six Old Grouches"[2][3]
Location in Indian River County and the state of Florida
Sebastian, Florida Location in the United States
Coordinates: 27°46′58″N 80°28′56″W / 27.78278°N 80.48222°WCoordinates: 27°46′58″N 80°28′56″W / 27.78278°N 80.48222°W
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Indian River
Settled	1870s
First settlers	Andrew Canova, Ed Marr, Thomas New and David Peter Gibson
Incorporated (municipality)	Dec. 6, 1924
Incorporated (city)	May 18, 1925
Government
• Type	Council-manager government
Area
• Total	13.5 sq mi (35.1 km^2)
• Land	12.6 sq mi (32.7 km^2)
• Water	0.9 sq mi (2.4 km^2)
Elevation	20 ft (6 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	21,921
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	32958, 32978
Area code(s)	772
FIPS code	12-64825[4]
GNIS feature ID	0295607[5]
Website	City of Sebastian Florida

Sebastian is a city in Indian River County, State of Florida, United States. In 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 21,929.^[6]

Sebastian is a principal city of the Sebastian−Vero Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Indian River County.

History

In 1715, several Spanish ships loaded with treasure (known as the 1715 Treasure Fleet) encountered a storm off the shores of the Treasure Coast and were lost.^[7] It is estimated that only a portion of the sunken treasure has been found. The value placed on the treasure lost from the 1715 fleet has been estimated at over $500 million USD.

The town of Sebastian was a fishing village as early as the 1870s. In the early 1880s David Peter Gibson, and Thomas New settled in the area. New filed to start a post office under the name New Haven. However, New got into legal trouble for misuse of his position as postmaster and was removed. Sebastian was officially founded in 1882^[7] and named St. Sebastian, after Saint Sebastian.^[8] Later, “St.” was removed from the name of the town, but not from the river. Sebastian was incorporated as a city in 1923. Nearby Pelican Island was declared the United States’ first National Wildlife refuge in 1903.

Geography

Climate

Climate data for Sebastian
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °F (°C)	73 (23)	74 (23)	77 (25)	80 (27)	85 (29)	88 (31)	89 (32)	89 (32)	87 (31)	83 (28)	77 (25)	73 (23)	81.3 (27.4)
Average low °F (°C)	54 (12)	56 (13)	59 (15)	64 (18)	68 (20)	72 (22)	74 (23)	74 (23)	74 (23)	69 (21)	62 (17)	56 (13)	65.2 (18.3)
Average precipitation inches (mm)	2.1 (53)	2.2 (56)	3.5 (89)	3.5 (89)	3.6 (91)	5.1 (130)	5.8 (147)	6.0 (152)	9.1 (231)	7.1 (180)	2.4 (61)	1.6 (41)	52 (1,320)
Source: Weatherbase

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.		%±
1930	386		—
1940	425		10.1%
1950	376		−11.5%
1960	698		85.6%
1970	825		18.2%
1980	2,831		243.2%
1990	10,205		260.5%
2000	16,181		58.6%
2010	21,929		35.5%
Est. 2014	23,344	[9]	6.5%
U.S. Decennial Census[10]

Sebastian Historical Marker

At the 2010 census,^[4][11] there were 21,921 people, 9,508 households and 6.462 families residing within the city in 10,815 housing units. The racial make-up of the city was 90.5% White, 5.3% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.10% Asian, 1.2% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.00% of the population.

21.5% of households had children under the age of 16 living with them, 54.1% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present. 32.00% consisted of non-traditional families or unrelated individuals. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 85 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.75.

52.4% of the population were female and 47.6% male. 15.8% were under the age of 16, 6.0% from 15 to 19, 3.7% from 20 to 24, 3.8% from 25 to 29, and 26.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50.1 years.

The per capita income for the city was $24,959 in 2010.^[12] About 4.8% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The Government of the City of Sebastian follows a council-manager government model with a five-member city council as the elected governing body and a city manager as the chief operating officer. Members of the city council serve two-year terms with staggered elections.

Mayors of Sebastian, Florida

Name Start of term End of term T.B. Hicks December 16, 1924 December 13, 1925[13] George Badger December 14, 1925 January 5, 1940*[13] L.O. Baughman January 17, 1940 October 20, 1942[13] E.W. Vickers October 20, 1942 December 10, 1945[13] L.M. Shafor December 10, 1945 December 8, 1947[13] Earl Roberts December 8, 1947 December 12, 1949[13] J.R. Middleton December 12, 1949 December 10, 1951[13] A.G. Shaffer December 10, 1951 December 14, 1955[13] C.E. Taylor December 14, 1955 December 9, 1957[13] Paul Stevenson December 9, 1957 December 14, 1959[13] Fred Rohme December 14, 1959 July 8, 1961[13] Amos Simmons July 8, 1961 December 11, 1961[13] W.E. Boone December 11, 1961 December 19, 1967[13] C. Zimmer December 19, 1967 December 10, 1973[13] F.E. Cragg December 10, 1973 December 2, 1977[13] Patrick Flood December 12, 1977 March 19, 1984[13] James Gallagher March 19, 1984 March 17, 1986[13] L. Gene Harris March 17, 1986 March 17, 1988[13] Richard Votapka March 20, 1988 March 19, 1990[13] Will Conyers March 19, 1990 March 15, 1992 Lonnie Powell March 15, 1992 Walter Barnes Ruth Sullivan

Education

The School District of Indian River County operates public schools.

There are three elementary schools (Sebastian Elementary,^[14] Pelican Island Elementary^[15] and Treasure Coast Elementary^[16]), three middle schools (Sebastian River Middle School,^[17] Storm Grove Middle School^[18] and Sebastian Charter Junior High) and one high school (Sebastian River High School) in the city.

Located to the west of the city center on County Road 512, the North County Public Library is part of the Indian River County Library System.

Transportation

The GoLine Bus system operates the #9, #10, #11, and #12 buses out of the North County Transit Hub at 90th Avenue & Sebastian Blvd to various parts of Indian River County.^[19]

Notable people

• Bryan Augenstein, pitcher in Major League Baseball, plays for the Tampa Bay Rays; born in Sebastian.^[20]
• Paul Kroegel, American conservationist

See also

• Ais people
• Alvaro Mexia
• Andrew Canova
• Bartram Trail
• Robert A. Hardee

References

1. "City of Sebastian Florida". City of Sebastian Florida. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
2. Russ Lemmon: Origin of Sebastian's 'Six Old Grouches' remains a mystery
3. "Who are Sebastian's "six old grouches"?", Tampa Bay Times
4. "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
5. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
7. http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/florida/sebastian
8. "Profile for Sebastian, Florida, FL". ePodunk. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
9. "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014". Retrieved June 4, 2015.
10. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
11. "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010". US Census Bureau. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
12. http://www.bestplaces.net/city/florida/sebastian#
13. Sebastian River Area historical Society, Inc., More Tales of Sebastian 1992
19. http://www.golineirt.com/GoLineGuide.pdf
20. "Bryan Augenstein". MLB.com. Retrieved September 19, 2012.

External links

• City of Sebastian Florida Portal style website, Government, Business, Library, Recreation and more
• City-Data.com Comprehensive Statistical Data and more about Sebastian
• ePodunk