Brochure for the Hotel Indian River, Rockledge, Fla., Winter Resort [Central East Coast Florida]

Author: [Andrew S Lee, Proprietor]

Publisher: Art Press, Loughead & Co

Condition: Near Fine

Original wrappers with string tie. Stiff ribbed paper with lavender cursive titles. 16 pages; with 8 full-page halftones from photographs. 6.5 by 4.5 inches.  Carefully handled minor hand-soiling to the wraps with uneven darkening to string edge of the rear wrapper. Uncommon with OCLC/WorldCat listing only one copy, at the University of Miami. There is a similar 1892 edition, but with 8 pages, not 16, at the Wisconsin Historical Society. The Hotel Indian River was large resort hotel in Central East Florida built in 1884-1885, near Cape Canaveral, which operated for a few decades. Located in what is now Rockledge along the western shore of the Indian River.  It is adjacent to and immediately south of Cocoa and about 55 miles east of Orlando. Henry Titus, founder of Titusville built The Titus House one of the earliest hotels on the Indian River.  After Titus died in 1881, the Titus House was sold and expanded into the Indian River Hotel, which incorporated the original structure’s wings. By 1915, it had become The Dixie Hotel, which it remained until fire partially destroyed the historic inn in 1962. The structure was torn down and replaced with high-rise apartments. A unique feature of Rockledge is that is bounded by two major Florida rivers that have been a large part of Florida’s history:  the Indian River on the east and the St. Johns River on the west. The importance of tourism also came to Rockledge before many other areas in the state due to the ability to travel by the river route. The last two pages advertise the Fountain Spring House in Waukesha, Wis., noted as a Summer Resort, evidently a lodging affiliated with Indian River. In the late 1800s the Florida East Coast Railway was extended through Rockledge.  Not long after that, the Dixie Highway opened the area to busses and cars. It became US-1 and Rockledge began to grow into a prosperous small town that was larger in the winter because of tourists. Ref: Florida Backroads; HMdb – Online