St. Lucie County

St. Lucie County, Florida
St. Lucie County Courthouse
Nickname(s): "Loose County"
Location in the U.S. state of Florida
Florida's location in the U.S.
Founded	May 24, 1905
Named for	Saint Lucie of Syracuse
Seat	Fort Pierce
Largest city	Port St. Lucie
Area
• Total	688 sq mi (1,782 km2)
• Land	572 sq mi (1,481 km2)
• Water	116 sq mi (300 km2), 16.9%
Population (est.)
• (2015)	298,563
• Density	486/sq mi (188/km²)
Congressional district	18th
Time zone	Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website	www.stlucieco.gov

St. Lucie County is a county located in the state of Florida, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 277,789. The county seat is Fort Pierce. As of the 2015 Census Estimate, St. Lucie County is at a population of 298,563.

St. Lucie County is included in the Port St. Lucie, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie, FL Combined Statistical Area.

The area was originally inhabited by the Ais tribe, a hunter-gatherer culture whose territory extended from south of the St. John's river to the St. Lucie Inlet. Spanish explorers frequently encountered the fierce tribe as the Spanish treasure routes ran parallel in order to take advantage of the strong Gulfstream current. The area was given several names by the Spanish including Rio de Ays (later anglicized to Indian River) as well as Santa Lucia, named after the short-lived late 16th-century Spanish fort that bore its name farther south. The fabled 1715 Spanish treasure fleet sank off the area that is now St. Lucie County, leading to the regional naming of the area as the Treasure Coast.

During the early 19th century, the Spanish government issued several land grants in the area, one of which went to settler James Hutchinson. The grant contained 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) and today the barrier island Hutchinson Island still retains his name. During the mid-1800s, Seminoles and runaway slaves sought refuge in the virtually uninhabited area. By 1837 the Second Seminole war had broken out in Florida. In December 1837, a group of soldiers under the command of Lt. Colonel Benjamin K. Pierce sailed down the Indian River and established a fort, naming it after their commander. Today the county seat of St. Lucie County is still known as Fort Pierce. In 1841, the United States government began issuing land grants under the Armed Occupation Act to Americans who were willing to settle the area. Several of these grants were within the boundaries of today's St. Lucie County. The Third Seminole War in 1851 saw the building of a second major American fort in the area, Fort Capron, located in the area that is today's St. Lucie Village.