BY MILT THOMAS
If you believe everything happens for a reason, then you should know the reasons Vero Beach became the Vero we know and love.
The City of Vero was first incorporated in 1919. In 1920, the city purchased what had been a privately owned electric plant in order to ensure there would be sufficient power to fuel future growth. The first library, established in 1915 in what is now the Women’s Club, served Vero’s citizens until 1962 when a new county library was built across from city hall. In 1922, the city began providing residents with water, and in 1925, sewer.
In 1925, the City Council under then-mayor Bayard T. Redstone re-incorporated as the City of Vero Beach in recognition of a new bridge connecting the mainland and barrier island. That same year, the City Council approved sending a delegation to Tallahassee in support of a bill creating Indian River County. Our representative at the time introduced that bill, Andrew W. Young, who had been Vero’s first mayor.
In 1928, E.E. Carter, son of the man who created Vero out of a wetland marsh a more than a decade earlier, chaired a committee to establish an airport. It was completed in 1930. Local businessman Bud Holman and Mayor Alex MacWilliam, Sr. (who succeeded the above-mentioned Bayard T. Redstone in that capacity) convinced Holman’s friend, Eddie Rickenbacker, to refuel his Eastern Air Transport Company passenger planes in Vero instead of Cocoa. We were then the smallest city in the country to have scheduled passenger service. In 1935, thanks to the efforts of elected officials and local businessmen, Vero Beach became the smallest airport in the country to offer air mail service.
In 1930, the city established Crestlawn Cemetery on Old Dixie Highway, where most of the people mentioned in this article are buried along with many of the people responsible for the Vero Beach we love. Today there is talk of selling this sacred Vero Beach ground to a private company.
After World War II, when the Navy turned Vero’s airport back over to the city, Bud Holman and then Mayor Merrill P. Barber, talked the Brooklyn Dodgers into opening a spring training facility in the vacated Navy buildings. They even created the name Dodgertown for this facility.
Among Mayor Alex MacWilliam, Sr.’s other accomplishments was establishment of the state’s first mosquito control district. He was one of the delegates to Tallahassee and is credited with coming up with the name of Indian River County. When the Army Corps of Engineers was widening the Intracoastal Waterway after World War II, he convinced them to realign their original channel in anticipation of building the future Merrill P. Barber Bridge. (Later, as a state legislator he would also set aside money to build the original Barber Bridge). He also had them pump extra spoil into a marshy area next to the future bridge in order to create what would eventually become Riverside Park. In addition, as a World War I survivor, he wanted to create a park to honor of those local heroes who died in America’s wars. So he had the Army Corps create a spoil island that would become what he considered his greatest achievement, establishment of the Veterans Memorial Island Sanctuary.
Alex MacWilliam had vision, a quality that seems in short supply today.
In 1961, the city built our current electric plant on 17th Street. It is interesting to see the benefits presented to taxpayers at the time:
1. It is profitable. More than #35 million will be collected from the sale of electricity in Vero Beach during the next ten years.
2. It costs nothing. Vero Beach is paying for its electric system simply by issuing certificates pledging the revenues as collateral.
3. Holds down taxes. Public ownership of an electric system helps hold down city taxes and provides for tax reductions as the city grows.
4. We need money. Costs are going up, but taxes in the city have been kept down by the revenue from our electric system. Demands for services increase, but city funds (alone) are insufficient to meet all of them.
5. Adds local industry. City fathers are able to offer special rates to industry. More local jobs and money will be available for Vero Beach folks.
6. Circulates more money locally. Revenue collected by private interest goes out of the city, much of it even goes out of the state in federal taxes. Revenue collected in Vero Beach – a municipal operation – stays at home.
7. Municipal operation is controlled by the people. Rates are set by the city council composed of Vero Beach people.
8. Increase in value. Our electric system will increase in value, a great capital asset, worth millions in the future.
9. Public by nature. An electric utility is a monopoly and is not private enterprise as some have been led to believe. Being public by the very nature of its existence, an electric utility belongs rightly under the control of the people, not of a few individuals.
10. Rate cuts seen. As our system continues to grow, Vero Beach folks can look forward to future rate cuts.
And finally, the utilizing of revenue from a city-owned electric system is the fairest and most equitable method of financing city operations.
My, how times have changed. Would those points still be valid today if we had kept up maintenance and improvements to the power plant instead of looking for cheaper energy elsewhere? And is point #9 somewhat prophetic, given our intent to abandon it to private interests?
The legacy of all those decisions made by elected officials working in concert with community leaders over many years is the Vero Beach we have today. What will become the legacy of our current City Council?
If we sell the electric system and possibly water and sewer, it will put the financial viability of our city in peril. We are cutting and slashing budgets now in hopes of somehow overcoming the loss of revenue as anticipated back in 1961 (see point #4).
We have Holman Stadium, the Merrill P. Barber Bridge, MacWilliam Park and more landmarks named after the people who gave us the Vero Beach we all love. Under the current circumstances, I rather doubt any landmarks will be created to honor the current city council.
If you believe everything happens for a reason, I don’t believe it is a reason the people of Vero Beach expected.
Indian River Guardian 
Great job Milt. Kind of brings a tear to your eye.
Very interesting to read of the benefits presented to city taxpayers when the electric plant was built. Great article, as always, Milt!
I would hope the current members of the City Council (not all), but the “troika” who insist on getting rid of the people’s electric utility, will have a change of heart and mind. But, by then, it may be too late. Let’s hope that we will be able to keep Vero – “Vero.” Caroline Ginn
I heard one current member of the City Council this morning complaining that Crestlawn Cemetery is being included in a “package” to be added to our City charter……but since she is a new-comer, I suppose it doesn’t make any difference to her that many of the founding families are laid to rest there. I’m not sure what she had in mind for it, but I doubt it would benefit us residents in the future. It is interesting to read, once more, about the birth of our city – how it has evolved. I, too, thank Milt Thomas. Isn’t it ironic the current library is next to the first Vero library–Women’s Club?
Cathy, If you heard a member of the City Council complaining that Crestlawn Cemetery is being proposed as one of a number of City-owned properties to be protected from sale or lease without voter approval, you must have been listening to Pilar Turner. It continues to amaze me how Mrs. Turner can continue to present herself as someone who cares about the community.
To Milt – a timely history lesson – thank you! To Cathy – when the site for the newest library was being planned, the location of the first library at the Woman’s Club was one of the factors that was considered. Just that little consideration can give us – “a sense of place” – something that I think we all need in this day and age.
Ruth Stanbridge
This was so informative! Lots of good memories. Good job Milt. Thanks