Old Cocoa
Editorial

What 'Old Cocoa' means

What this site covers: the mainland city of Cocoa, founded in 1882 as Indian River City and incorporated in 1895, not Cocoa Beach. Its citrus trade, its Black neighborhoods and schools, the brick downtown of the land boom, and the buildings on the National Register.

By The Old Cocoa History Team Updated October 13, 2026
A Cocoa welcome sign at the entrance to the City of Cocoa.
A Cocoa welcome sign, May 2015. Cocoa is the mainland city; Cocoa Beach is a separate city across the river. COCOAFL via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

“Old Cocoa” is the mainland city of Cocoa, on the west bank of the Indian River across from Merritt Island. According to the Florida Department of State, it was founded by fishermen in 1882 as Indian River City, took the name Cocoa in 1884, and was incorporated in 1895. It is not Cocoa Beach, a separate city on the barrier island, which has its own site in this network.

This site covers the town’s documented past: the founding; the citrus trade and the Great Freeze; Edward Porcher and his house; S.F. Travis Hardware; the land boom and the Aladdin Theater; Cocoa Village; the Black neighborhoods and the Rosenwald school on Blake Avenue; the college; and the town’s ties to Rockledge.

The Porcher House in Cocoa, a coquina-faced classical revival house.
The Porcher House, 1916, on the river at the south edge of Cocoa Village. Smallbones via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

It isn’t a news site or a travel guide. Corrections and pointers to primary records are welcome through the contact page.

Sources

  1. Florida Department of State, Cocoa named Florida Main Street Program of the Month (2014), with a short history of the city

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