Merritt Island, Florida

Merritt Island owes its name to the King of Spain. The entire island was part of a land grant given by the King to a nobleman named Merritt.[6]

Archaeological excavations have uncovered the fossils of extinct animals such as mastodons, giant land tortoise, camel, glyptodont, horse, mammoth, giant armadillo, peccary, and tapir,[4] which lived in the area up to 11,000 years ago. Their extinction was part of a larger North American die-off in which native horses, mastodons and other camelidaes also died out. Possibilities for extinction include global climate change and hunting pressure from the arrival of the Clovis people, who were prolific hunters with distinct fluted stone tools which allowed for a spear to be attached to the stone tool.[7][8] This megafaunal extinction coincided roughly with the appearance of the big game hunting Clovis culture, and biochemical analyses have shown that Clovis tools were used in hunting camels.[9]

By at least 800 to 900 BC, permanent Native American structures occupied the area. Their mounds populated the lagoon margin.[10]

In 1605, Spanish explorer Álvaro Mexía visited while on a diplomatic mission to the local tribes living in the Indian River area. He called the local tribe of Ais people, part of the native province of Ulumay.[11] Merritt Island is the prominent island on a color map he drew of the area, a copy of which is in the archives at the Library of Congress and the archives in Seville, Spain.[12] Within a few years all but a handful of these natives were dead from illnesses unwittingly imported by the Europeans.[11]

In the 1760s, the Elliott Plantation grew sugar and milled it. Remains of the plantation can be found in the Wildlife Refuge.[4] In April 1788, French botanist André Michaux traveled in Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral. He spent five days looking for plants. He wrote a letter on April 24, 1788 from St Augustine. He reported discovering the flag or bigflower paw-paw, Asimina obovata (Annona grandiflora (Bartr.)).[13]

In 1837, Fort Ann was constructed on the east coast of Merritt Island near the present day Haulover Canal,[4] to protect the area against the Seminoles.[14] Merritt Island's recent history dates back to the mid-19th century and centers on the growth of citrus, stressing the cultivation of pineapples and oranges. The Indian River oranges and grapefruit come from this sandy area. Freezes destroyed the local pineapple industry in the late 1890s.[4] Freed slaves constructed small towns in the area after the Civil War, including Haulover, Clifton, and Shiloh.[4]

The island's population grew in the 1950s and 1960s as the Space Race began and nearby NASA expanded. Construction of a barge canal to the Intracoastal Waterway from the Atlantic Ocean (for power plant oil shipments) cut off the northern half of the island for many years. To this day, the northern portion of the island remains slightly less developed, with a few areas remaining as cattle pasture or citrus land. The small towns on the island vanished with the coming of the Space Age, and now only live on in the names of streets and historic churches. In 1988, citizens defeated a proposed incorporation into a city, 77% opposed to 23% in favor.[15]

Sea Ray Boats operated a factory on Merritt Island from 1978 to 2012.[16] At one time it employed 1200 people.[17] It closed the plant in 2013.[18]

To the north, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, along with a narrow barrier island that make up Canaveral National Seashore, offer an unpopulated protected buffer area for rocket launches at Kennedy Space Center. There are about 356 species of birds on the peninsula, one of most diverse in the country.[4] Migratory birds join the more resident wildlife, including alligators, manatees, dolphins, sea turtles, bald eagles, ospreys, bobcats, and the elusive Florida panther. A number of bald eagle nests are monitored atop power line poles along SR 3 within Kennedy Space Center.

There are about 12,000 feral pigs in North Merritt Island. Licensed trappers catch about 2,000 annually, which keeps the population even. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service would like to reduce the population.[20]

Merritt Island has or had 23 named communities,[4] all unincorporated, including:

According to the 2000 Census:

• Median household income = $43,532
• Median family income = $52,388
• Median income for males = $41,393
• Median income for females = $25,787
• Per capita income = $23,961

• Below the poverty line:
  • Families = 7.2%
  • Population = 9.4%
  • Those under age 18 = 13.8%
  • Those over age 64 = 7.0%

There are light industrial fabrication centers on the Merritt Island Airport, and NASA-related industrial activities to support the Space Shuttle, which was retired in summer of 2011, and other rocket launches on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Air Liquide operates a plant there.[21][22]

Merritt Island has a redevelopment agency funded by the county.[23]

The residential areas of Merritt Island, East and West Merritt Island, are only accessible by causeway or drawbridge at all points. The island is linked by causeways, SR 520 (Merritt Island Causeway), , State Road 404 (Pineda Causeway), , State Road 405, , State Road 406, and SR 528, to the barrier island to its east and the mainland to the west. Mathers Bridge connects the southernmost area to the barrier island.

SR 3, a 4-lane highway, connects the Kennedy Space Center for workers from the more densely populated central and southern sections of the island.

The lift station near the Pineda Causeway was built to handle 9,000,000 US gal (34,000,000 L) per day. It became overloaded after Hurricane Irma in 2017. Trucks were used to dispose of the excess which rose to 12,000,000 US gal (45,000,000 L) daily.[28]

Merritt Island Airport is a public general aviation airport located on South Merritt Island and run by the Titusville-Cocoa (TICO) Airport Authority.