March 2017 | Business View Magazine

108 109 Palm Bay, Florida lished the Melbourne-Tillman Drainage District, and issued $1.5 million worth of bonds. Starting in 1922, a 180-mile grid comprised of 80 canals was dug to drain 40,000 acres of swampy land west of Palm Bay. The canals made it pos- sible to control flooding and turn marsh lands to agricul- tural use. The area’s main industry was rooted in citrus groves which shipped winter produce via the Florida East Coast Railroad to northern markets. Farmers also sold timber and land to paper companies. The economic AT A GLANCE Palm Bay, Florida WHAT: A city of 111,000 WHERE: In Brevard County, on Florida’s central-eastern coast WEBSITE: www. palmbayflorida.org success of the early 1920s was cut short when a fire broke out amongst the dredges and a severe hurricane hit Palm Bay. By 1926, the pre- viously flourishing Melbourne-Tillman Drainage District was bankrupt. Palm Bay’s modern resurgence can be traced back to 1959, when the Mackle brothers of Miami purchased land for a local residential project. Although the project had its share of stops and starts, it served as a catalyst for the growth of industry and population in the area, leading to the incorporation of the City of Palm Bay in 1960. On the heels of the incorporation, the city’s industrial base began to grow. One of the city’s first major industrial corporations, Radiation Inc., later evolved into the Harris Corporation, which still serves as the city’s ma- jor employer today. The 1970s saw increasing construction and expansion in the city and as a result Palm Bay experienced enormous growth in the ensuing two decades. For three consecutive years between 2003 and 2005, the City of Palm Bay was a finalist for the All-America City Award. Growth was steady Buchanan estimates that with all the newconstruction and job offerings, the city’s current population of about 111,000will grow to225,000over the next twenty years. TheGrowth Management projections show that the city is ready for the influx of new residents.