History of Cocoa, Florida
Fishermen founded Cocoa in 1882 under the name Indian River City, according to the Florida Department of State. The post office said the name was too long for a postmark, and at an 1884 town meeting Captain R.C. May suggested Cocoa. The town was incorporated in 1895, and the railroad reached it in 1893.
Cocoa passed Titusville, the county seat, in the 1920 census and stayed the bigger town until the space boom. It had 4,245 people in 1950 and 12,294 by 1960. Its old riverfront downtown survives as Cocoa Village.
Population, census by census
| Census | Population |
|---|---|
| 1900 | 382 |
| 1910 | 613 |
| 1920 | 1,445 |
| 1930 | 2,164 |
| 1940 | 3,098 |
| 1950 | 4,245 |
| 1960 | 12,294 |
| 1970 | 16,110 |
| 1980 | 16,096 |
| 1990 | 17,722 |
| 2010 | 17,140 |
| 2020 | 19,041 |
Every article, in order
Each article on this site, grouped by the period it covers.
Before 1900
- Cocoa's Black schools, 1891 to 1968: from a lodge hall to the Rosenwald school on Blake Avenue
- How Cocoa Was Founded, Named and Incorporated (1882 to 1895)
- S.F. Travis Hardware, founded 1885: Cocoa's oldest business
- The 1894-95 Great Freeze on Cocoa's stretch of the river
1900 to 1949
- The Porcher House, 1916: a citrus grower's coquina house on the river
- The Aladdin Theater, 1924: Cocoa's Boom-era showplace
- Cocoa in the Florida land boom, 1917 to 1930
- Cocoa's Black neighborhoods, 1880s to 1948: Florida Avenue, Lapham's Addition, College Park
1950 to 1979
- Brevard Junior College, founded 1960 in Cocoa: how it became Eastern Florida State
- Hurricane David in Cocoa, September 3, 1979
1980 to today
Places, people and institutions
- Cocoa and Rockledge: two towns founded by the same brothers
- Cocoa and the Brevard County Seat: Why the Courthouse Is in Titusville
- Cocoa Village: the old downtown and the buildings on the National Register
- Cocoa's citrus trade: growers, packing houses and the Florida Citrus Exchange
- Edward Porcher: the Cocoa citrus grower who washed and stamped his fruit first
Sources for this page
- Florida Department of State, Cocoa named Florida Main Street Program of the Month (2014)
- U.S. Census Bureau, 1970 Census of Population, Number of Inhabitants: Florida, Tables 6 and 7
- U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 CPH-2-11, Population and Housing Unit Counts: Florida, Table 10 (1980 and 1990)
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts (2010 and 2020 census counts)
- National Park Service, National Register Nomination Form: Aladdin Theater, Cocoa