Sebastian, Florida

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Sebastian, Florida
City
City hall
Motto: "Home Of Pelican Island"^[1] "Friendly People and Six Old Grouches"^[2]^[3]
Location in Indian River County and the state of Florida
Coordinates: 27°46′58″N 80°28′56″W / 27.78278°N 80.48222°W / 27.78278; -80.48222Coordinates: 27°46′58″N 80°28′56″W / 27.78278°N 80.48222°W / 27.78278; -80.48222
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Indian River
Settled	1870s
Incorporated (municipality)	Dec. 6, 1924
Incorporated (city)	May 18, 1925
Government
• Type	Council-manager government
Area
• Total	13.5 sq mi (35.1 km²)
• Land	12.6 sq mi (32.7 km²)
• Water	0.9 sq mi (2.4 km²)
Elevation	20 ft (6 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	21,921
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	32958, 32978
Area code(s)	772
FIPS code	12-64825^[4]
GNIS feature ID	0295607^[5]
Website	City of Sebastian Florida

Sebastian is a city in Indian River County, State of Florida, United States. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 21,929.^[6]

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.^[7] 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 over $500 million USD.

The town of Sebastian was a fishing village as early as the 1870s. It was officially founded in 1882^[7] and originally named St. Sebastian, after Saint Sebastian.^[8] 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 as the country’s first National Wildlife refuge in 1903.

Geography

Climate

Climate data for Sebastian
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °F (°C)	73 (23)	74 (23)	77 (25)	80 (27)	85 (29)	88 (31)	89 (32)	89 (32)	87 (31)	83 (28)	77 (25)	73 (23)	81.3 (27.4)
Average low °F (°C)	54 (12)	56 (13)	59 (15)	64 (18)	68 (20)	72 (22)	74 (23)	74 (23)	74 (23)	69 (21)	62 (17)	56 (13)	65.2 (18.3)
Precipitation inches (mm)	2.1 (53)	2.2 (56)	3.5 (89)	3.5 (89)	3.6 (91)	5.1 (130)	5.8 (147)	6.0 (152)	9.1 (231)	7.1 (180)	2.4 (61)	1.6 (41)	52 (1,320)
Source: Weatherbase

Demographics

Sebastian Historical Marker

As of the census^[4] of 2010,^[9] there were 21,921 people, 9,508 households, and 6.462 families residing within the city consisting of 10,815 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 90.5% White, 5.3% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.10% Asian, 1.2% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.00% of the population.

The household category breakdown is 21.5% having 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. Meanwhile 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.

In the city the population was distributed 52.4% female and 47.6% male with the following age ranges, 15.8% 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.^[10] 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.

Mayors of Sebastian, Florida

Name	Start of term	End of term
T.B. Hicks	December 16, 1924	December 13, 1925^[11]
George Badger	December 14, 1925	January 5, 1940*^[11]
L.O. Baughman	January 17, 1940	October 20, 1942^[11]
E.W. Vickers	October 20, 1942	December 10, 1945^[11]
L.M. Shafor	December 10, 1945	December 8, 1947^[11]
Earl Roberts	December 8, 1947	December 12, 1949^[11]
J.R. Middleton	December 12, 1949	December 10, 1951^[11]
A.G. Shaffer	December 10, 1951	December 14, 1955^[11]
C.E. Taylor	December 14, 1955	December 9, 1957^[11]
Paul Stevenson	December 9, 1957	December 14, 1959^[11]
Fred Rohme	December 14, 1959	July 8, 1961^[11]
Amos Simmons	July 8, 1961	December 11, 1961^[11]
W.E. Boone	December 11, 1961	December 19, 1967^[11]
C. Zimmer	December 19, 1967	December 10, 1973^[11]
F.E. Cragg	December 10, 1973	December 2, 1977^[11]
Patrick Flood	December 12, 1977	March 19, 1984^[11]
James Gallagher	March 19, 1984	March 17, 1986^[11]
L. Gene Harris	March 17, 1986	March 17, 1988^[11]
Richard Votapka	March 20, 1988	March 19, 1990^[11]
Will Conyers	March 19, 1990	March 15, 1992
Lonnie Powell	March 15, 1992
Walter Barnes
Ruth Sullivan

Education

School District of Indian River County operates public schools.

There are three elementary schools (Sebastian Elementary,^[12] Pelican Island Elementary,^[13] and Treasure Coast Elementary^[14]) two middle schools (Sebastian River Middle School^[15] and Storm Grove Middle School^[16]) and one high school, Sebastian River High School, in the city.

Located to the west of the city center on County Road 512, the Sebastian Public Library^[17] is part of the Indian River County Library System.

Notable people

Bryan Augenstein, pitcher in Major League Baseball, plays for the Tampa Bay Rays; born in Sebastian.^[18]
Paul Kroegel, American conservationist

References

↑ "City of Sebastian Florida". City of Sebastian Florida. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
↑ Russ Lemmon: Origin of Sebastian's 'Six Old Grouches' remains a mystery
↑ Tampa Bay Times - Who are Sebastian's "six old grouches"?
↑ 4.0 4.1 "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
↑ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
↑
↑ 7.0 7.1 http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/florida/sebastian
↑ "Profile for Sebastian, Florida, FL". ePodunk. Retrieved September 19, 2012.
↑ "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010". US Census Bureau. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
↑ http://www.bestplaces.net/city/florida/sebastian#
↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 11.16 11.17 11.18 Sebastian River Area historical Society, Inc., More Tales of Sebastian 1992
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↑ "Bryan Augenstein". MLB.com. Retrieved September 19, 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sebastian, Florida.

City of Sebastian Florida Portal style website, Government, Business, Library, Recreation and more
City-Data.com Comprehensive Statistical Data and more about Sebastian
ePodunk

v t e Municipalities and communities of Indian River County, Florida, United States

County seat: Vero Beach

Cities	Fellsmere Sebastian Vero Beach

Towns	Indian River Shores Orchid

CDPs	Florida Ridge Gifford North Beach Roseland South Beach Vero Beach South Wabasso Wabasso Beach West Vero Corridor Windsor Winter Beach

Unincorporated communities	Oslo Vero Lake Estates

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