VERO BEACH — Since its completion in 1935, the Heritage Center in historic downtown Vero Beach has been the epicenter of the community. Its rich history and that of all of Indian River County enticed a steady stream of visitors who wandered through the Heritage Center and the attached Indian River Citrus Museum, viewing the prized historical collections of local residents and organizations. This was the second year for A Heritage Celebration, which asked the question, “Do you know where you live?”
“It’s great to see that people are interested in the history,” said Mary Graves, who has lived in the area 32 years. “It’s also nice to see all the old Vero people together.”
For Graves and other long-time Veroites, the evening provided an opportunity to catch up with old friends and reminisce about lives spent growing up in a small-town environment.
A gifted translator, poet and painter Marian Fell, daughter of Fellsmere founder Edward Nelson Fell, was exceptionally accomplished for her time. The Indian River County Main Library’s Archive Center and Genealogy Department displayed prints painted sometime around 1900, to accompany her poem, The Origin of the Camel.
The Library also offered up an interesting bit of trivia about a primitive mammal with a prominent proboscis. The scientific name given to the fossil Tapirus Veroensis (aka Vero Tapir) was bestowed after it was first discovered in Vero Beach. This particular species went extinct about 11,000 years ago, but its more recent counterparts still exist in other parts of the world.
A Vero Beach Municipal Airport photographic slideshow explained the history of the airport, from its 1932 Eastern Air Lines service and selection as a Naval Air Station ten years later, to its more recent improvements including the new Airport Terminal Building, Airport Traffic Control Tower and Approach Control Radar System.
Before its draw as a prime tourist and retirement spot, one of the area’s top industries was citrus, and many of the displays documented its story.
The Pioneer Helseth family moved to the area in the late 1800s, with O.O. (Ole Olsen) Helseth homesteading 160 acres. Families stuck together in those days, and the Helseth display included photos of many of the old homesteads, including six that still exist today.
“Everybody called him O. O.,” said Patsy Helseth, dressed in an original Norwegian dress from the early 1900s. “He was on the first County Commission when it became Indian River County in 1925.”
“They wanted to have a post office, but it had to be just four letters so they called it Oslo; just like Vero,” explained Betty Armistead, granddaughter of Andrew Helseth.
“When the county wanted to put a road through his property he gave them the right as long as they called it Oslo Road,” added Patsy Helseth.
The satin wedding gown and formal black wedding suit belonging to Emely and Axel Hallstrom took center stage, along with congratulatory notes from their family members. The couple married in 1902, shortly before moving to Vero where he tried his hand at a pineapple plantation before switching to citrus.
Their daughter Ruth willed their exquisite home and all of its contents to the Indian River County Historical Society and tours of the Hallstrom House are now conducted three times each week.
To get the younger generation interested, the Heritage Center started a new student initiative for fourth-graders this year. Students who gathered three facts at the event received a refund of their admission, a gift from the Citrus Museum and bygone bragging rights at school.
A partial selection from George Hamner’s extensive collection of colorful and unique citrus packing labels was another popular draw.
“I liked the artwork,” said Hamner, who became an avid collector in 1965, as shipping houses began switching from wooden boxes to cardboard.
“Since I knew all these houses, every time I’d go over to a packing house I would ask if they had any labels. I was very selective. I was trying to do it only on the east coast of Florida, but ended up doing it throughout the state. Everything we do in this industry is referenced to a box. We don’t even make them anymore but everyone uses it as a point of reference. It defines the whole industry.”
B.T. Cooksey’s extensive collection of vintage postcards and photos also drew a crowd, with people perusing albums filled with colorful postcard invitations to visit beautiful, sunny Florida.
“Graves Brothers is the oldest citrus company in Florida still run by one family; we’re four generations now,” said Elizabeth Graves Bass, Heritage Center board president, pointing out scrapbooks filled with historic references.
The genealogical society has a new task on their hands, and is using their resources to hopefully track down the owner of a memorial needlepoint.
“Melody Inn owner Margaret Burri purchased a painting at an auction in Miami, and the frame was falling apart,” explained Mary Mitchell. “When they went to get it reframed, they found this behind it.”
At the top, the perfectly preserved needlepoint reads, “In memory of Betty Howard who died Dec. 1st, 1853 in her 19th Year.” The words “Mary Howard’s work” were stitched into bottom of the piece.
“We’re now trying to find out who she was,” added Mitchell. “It’s a mystery.”
Painters tape marked out large circle in front of Chris Runge’s booth. The space represented the 15-foot circumference of a more than 250-year-old “Champion Life Oak Tree” which sits in the backyard of the home he is restoring.
“The house is on 15th Avenue; what they call Original Town,” said Runge, owner of Landscape Concepts. “It’s the first house to have received a historic site designation; it was built by W.A. Keen in 1924. His name is inscribed on each of the window boards.”
Other exhibitors included Vero native Rody Johnson, author of The Rise and Fall of Dodgertown, and of Different Battles: The Search for a World War II Hero. Some of the area’s oldest neighborhoods were represented, including Osceola Park and Original Town, and representatives of the Amtrak/FEC Corridor Coalition used a model train set to remind visitors of its long history in the area. Janie Gould of WQCS, who promotes history through the radio through Florida Frontiers, historical interview segments which include her Floridays pieces; the Sebastian Area Historical Society, which offers free admission to its Historical Museum on Main Street, and members of the Indian River Citrus League were also on hand to share their expertise.
More “friend-raiser” than fundraiser, organizers were pleased with the number of new members who joined throughout the evening, each helping to preserve the area’s heritage for generations to come.