SEBASTIAN, FL

Sebastian is a city in Indian River County, Florida, United States at the confluence of the St. Sebastian River and the Indian River. It is two miles away from the Atlantic Ocean. It is the largest city in Indian River County and the biggest population center between Palm Bay, Florida and Fort Pierce, Florida. The city’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism. It has numerous resorts in the local area, such as Disney's Vero Beach Resort. It is very close to many natural and scenic areas like the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, Sebastian Inlet State Park, and St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park.

In 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 21,929.

Sebastian is a principal city of the Sebastian−Vero Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Indian River County.

History

In 1715, several Spanish ships loaded with treasure (known as the 1715 Treasure Fleet) encountered a storm off the shores of the Treasure Coast and were lost. It is estimated that only a portion of the sunken treasure has been found. The value placed on the treasure lost from the 1715 fleet has been estimated at more than US$500 million.

The town of Sebastian was a fishing village as early as the 1870s. In the early 1880s David Peter Gibson and Thomas New settled in the area. New filed to start a post office under the name New Haven. However, New got into legal trouble for misuse of his position as postmaster and was removed. Officially, Sebastian was founded in 1882 and named St. Sebastian, after Saint Sebastian. Later, “St.” was removed from the name of the town, but not from the river. Sebastian was incorporated as a city in 1923.

Nearby Pelican Island was declared the first National Wildlife refuge in the United States in 1903.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total land area of .

Climate

Demographics

At the 2010 census, there were 21,921 people, 9,508 households and 6.462 families residing within the city in 10,815 housing units. The racial make-up of the city was 90.5% White, 10.3% African American, 0.20% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 1.2% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.00% of the population.

21.5% of households had children under the age of 16 living with them, 54.1% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present. 32.00% consisted of non-traditional families or unrelated individuals. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 85 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.75.

52.4% of the population were female and 47.6% male. 15.8% were under the age of 16, 6.0% from 15 to 19, 3.7% from 20 to 24, 3.8% from 25 to 29, and 26.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50.1 years.

The per capita income for the city was $24,959 in 2010. About 4.8% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The Government of the City of Sebastian follows a council-manager government model with a five-member city council as the elected governing body and a city manager as the chief operating officer. Members of the city council serve two-year terms with staggered elections.

Education

The School District of Indian River County operates public schools.

There are three elementary schools (Sebastian Elementary, Pelican Island Elementary and Treasure Coast Elementary), two middle schools (Sebastian River Middle School and Sebastian Charter Junior High) and one high school (Sebastian River High School) in the city.

Located to the west of the city center on County Road 512, the North County Public Library is part of the Indian River County Library System.

Transportation

The GoLine Bus system operates the #9, #10, #11, and #12 buses out of the North County Transit Hub at 90th Avenue & Sebastian Blvd to various parts of Indian River County.

Notable people