Editing Palm Bay, Florida (section)

===1900s===
Between 1910 and 1914, a land company known as the Indian River Catholic Colony became established at Tillman. Attempting to grow two crops a season, farmers quickly depleted the soil, and the colony failed. Those remaining built St. Joseph's Church on Miller Street, the oldest building still standing.

In the 1920s, the city was renamed as Palm Bay, after the bay bordered with [[Sabal palmetto|sabal palm trees]] known as [[Palm Bay (Florida)|Palm Bay]], located at the mouth of Turkey Creek.<ref name="eriksen"/> A group of Tillman businessmen established the Melbourne-Tillman Drainage District, and issued $1.5 million worth of bonds. Starting in 1922, a {{convert|180|mi}} grid of 80 [[canal]]s was dug to drain {{convert|40000|acre|km2}} of swampy land west of Palm Bay for other uses. The canals made it possible to control flooding and redevelop marsh lands to agricultural use. These actions had the unintended consequences of leaving the land more vulnerable to flooding from storms and destroying important habitats for complex ecology.

Farmers planted citrus groves and truck farms which shipped winter produce by the [[Florida East Coast Railroad]] to northern markets. Farmers sold timber and land to paper companies. Based on use of the Tillman and Hopkins canals, ranchers raised beef cattle in West Melbourne.<ref name = bj2017>{{Cite journal |first=Rosemary |last=DeFrancisci |year=2017 |title= West Melbourne Cowboys|journal=The Journal of the Brevard County Historical Commission |volume=XVI |issue=2 |pages=4, 5}}</ref>

In 1926, a fire among the dredges and a severe hurricane caused extensive damage, leading to an economic downturn in Palm Bay. The Melbourne-Tillman Drainage District went bankrupt.

In 1959, [[General Development Corporation]] purchased and platted extensive tracts of land in Palm Bay for a large residential project known as Port Malabar. The city of Palm Bay incorporated on January 16, 1960.<ref name=PBFLInc>{{cite news | first=Susan | last=Cervenka | title=Parade kicks off Palm Bay birthday | url=http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091205/NEWS01/912050316/Parade-to-kick-off-city-s-birthday | publisher=Florida Today | location=Melbourne, Florida | pages=1B | date=5 December 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091219063630/http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091205/NEWS01/912050316/Parade-to-kick-off-city-s-birthday | archive-date=2009-12-19 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Prior to expanding its borders, the city population was 2,808 that year.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Keyonna | last=Summers | title=Looking back at 50 years | url=http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100117/NEWS01/1170334/Looking-back-at-50-years | publisher=Florida Today | location=Melbourne, Florida | pages=1B | date=17 January 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140713041818/http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100117/NEWS01/1170334/Looking-back-at-50-years | archive-date=2014-07-13 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The active development of the city after that point was intertwined with GDC, which laid out and built many of the streets, sold and built many of the city's homes, and built a water treatment plant. This was later purchased by the city of Palm Bay after GDC filed for bankruptcy in 1991.

The Melbourne-Tillman Water District was revived under the auspices of the County Government. In 2019, it controlled {{convert|100|mi2}} of land.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Dave | last=Berman | title=Fine: Add party affiliation in city elections | url=https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/2019/01/14/fine-list-political-party-affiliations-municipal-election-ballots/2568174002/| newspaper=Florida Today | location=Melbourne, Florida| pages= 1A,2A | date=January 16, 2019 | access-date=January 16, 2019}}</ref>

On April 23, 1987, [[1987 Palm Bay shooting|William Bryan Cruse Jr. shot and killed six people]], including two college students and two police officers, at a local shopping center. He also wounded ten other people. The shooting by the 59-year-old, who was retired or unemployed and caring for a chronically ill wife, made national news.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/25/us/florida-gunman-charged-with-killing-6.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm | work=The New York Times | first=Jon | last=Nordheimer | title=FLORIDA GUNMAN CHARGED WITH KILLING 6 | date=25 April 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://crime.about.com/od/deathrow/ig/Florida-Death-Row-Inmates/William-Cruse.htm |title=William Cruse - Florida Death Row Inmate William Cruse |publisher=Crime.about.com |date=1987-04-23 |access-date=2012-12-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928114624/http://crime.about.com/od/deathrow/ig/Florida-Death-Row-Inmates/William-Cruse.htm |archive-date=2011-09-28}}</ref> Convicted and sentenced to death, Cruse died on Florida's death row in 2009.<ref name="fdoc">{{cite web|url=https://fdc.myflorida.com/offenderSearch/detail.aspx?Page=Detail&DCNumber=117051&TypeSearch=IR|title=Inmate Release Information Detail – Inmate 117051|publisher=[[Florida Department of Corrections]]|access-date=May 16, 2022}}</ref>

In October 1994, $500,000 of gold and gems stolen from a jewelry store which was at the time the largest single robbery in the city's history. Police suspected a connection with a similar robbery in May 1994 in Daytona Beach. [[Larry Lawton]] was later charged in 1996 with the crime after fingerprint evidence linked him to the crime.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Decker|first=Susan|date=December 30, 1996|title=Police get break in Gem Heist|page=A1|work=Florida Today|location=[[Cocoa, Florida]]|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/174985705/}}</ref>