Melbourne, Florida
| Melbourne, Florida | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| City | |||
Downtown Melbourne in January 2009
|
|||
|
|||
| Nickname(s): The Harbor City, The Midway City | |||
 Location in Brevard County and the state of Florida |
|||
 Melbourne, Florida
|
|||
| Coordinates: 28°7′N 80°38′W / 28.117°N 80.633°WCoordinates: 28°7′N 80°38′W / 28.117°N 80.633°W | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| State | Florida | ||
| County | Brevard | ||
| Settled | c. 1867 | ||
| Incorporated (village) | December 22, 1888 | ||
| Consolidated with Eau Gallie | July 15, 1969 | ||
| Founded by | Cornthwaite John Hector | ||
| Named for | Melbourne, Australia | ||
| Government | |||
| • Type | Council-Manager | ||
| • Mayor | Kathy Meehan | ||
| • City Manager | Mike McNees | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 39.6 sq mi (103 km2) | ||
| • Land | 33.9 sq mi (88 km2) | ||
| • Water | 5.7 sq mi (15 km2) 14.4% | ||
| Elevation | 20 ft (6 m) | ||
| Population (2010) | |||
| • Total | 76,068 | ||
| • Density | 2,518.8/sq mi (972.5/km2) | ||
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) | ||
| ZIP code | 32901, 32934, 32935, 32940, 32902, 32912, 32936, 32941, 32904 | ||
| Area code | 321 | ||
| FIPS code | 12-43975 | ||
| GNIS feature ID | 0294589 | ||
| Website | City of Melbourne | ||
Melbourne /ˈmɛlbərn/ is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 76,068. The municipality is the second-largest in the county by both size and population. Melbourne is a principal city of the Palm Bay – Melbourne – Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 1969 the city was expanded by merging with nearby Eau Gallie.
Evidence for the presence of Paleo-Indians in the Melbourne area during the late epoch was uncovered during the 1920s. C. P. Singleton, a Harvard University zoologist, discovered the bones of a mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) on his property along Crane Creek, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from Melbourne, and brought in Amherst College paleontologist Frederick B. Loomis to excavate the skeleton. Loomis found a second elephant, with a "large rough flint instrument" among fragments of the elephant's ribs. Loomis found in the same stratum mammoth, mastodon, horse, ground sloth, tapir, peccary, camel, and saber-tooth cat bones, all extinct in Florida since the end of the Pleistocene 10,000 years ago. At a nearby site a human rib and charcoal were found in association with Mylodon, Megalonyx, and Chlamytherium (ground sloth) teeth. A finely worked spear point found with these items may have been displaced from a later stratum. In 1925 attention shifted to the Melbourne golf course. A crushed human skull with finger, arm, and leg bones was found in association with a horse tooth. A piece of ivory that appeared to have been modified by humans was found at the bottom of the stratum containing bones. Other finds included a spear point near a mastodon bone and a turtle-back scraper and blade found with bear, camel, mastodon, horse, and tapir bones. Similar human remains, Pleistocene animals and Paleo-Indian artifacts were found in Vero Beach, 30 miles (48 km) south of Melbourne, and similar Paleo-Indian artifacts were found at Lake Helen Blazes, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Melbourne.
...
Wikipedia