Port St. Lucie, Florida is a waterfront golf retirement community and senior vacation area.

Port St. Lucie FL History

According to historians, Spanish settlers first gave the name “St. Lucie” to the area. The name was given when Spaniards began construction of a fort on December 13th, the feast day of the Roman Catholic Saint Lucia. The “Santa Lucia” colony was established somewhere in the area between Vero Beach and Stuart around 1567. Old Spanish maps identify this section as Santa Lucia, which encompassed the entire area from Vero Beach to Stuart.

In 1958, General Development Corporation purchased the River Park property as well as an adjoining 40,000 acres. A subsidiary of Mackle Company, GDC had a budget of $50 million to develop a new community on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

The population boom was on. Full-page ads drew the interest of retirees from the Northeast, offering them 80 x 125-foot lots for $10 down and $10 a month. Homes sold for as little as $9,000. Soon ranchers began selling pastureland that they had purchased for just $6 an acre for as much as $225 per acre. For a while, GDC sold as many as 300 lots a day. A tiny town in the 1960’s, Port St. Lucie experienced astonishing growth in the late 20th century, fueled in part by a desire for less expensive housing.

Port St. Lucie Florida – Site of a PGA School & Spring Training Camp

Today, a PGA school and golf club and the spring training camp of the New York Mets are located in Port St. Lucie, Florida. The city is a thriving golf retirement community and senior vacation area.