1912-1932
The Union Cypress Co. was Melbourne's first big industry, bringing employment, growth and development to the region. Their big cypress/pine sawmill was a three-story, all-steel structure about 50 by 150 feet. Five, 150-horsepower boilers provided power. Its power plant supplied Melbourne's first electricity. The company's railway to Deer Park provided the first direct route across the St. Johns River for 80 miles south of Enterprise. Some 40,000 feet of lumber and 45,000 shingles could be produced daily from the cypress/pine holdings of George W. Hopkins, which had a market value over $2 million in 1911. Lumber not used locally was shipped out via the Florida East Coast Railway. The company-owned town of Hopkins had some 69 buildings within its industrial, residential and commercial areas. The big mill burned in August, 1919, and was replaced by a smaller pine mill. Construction of a new cypress mill began in late 1924, but halted after Hopkins died in January, 1925. Foshee Manufacturing Co. leased the now-idle mill and railway in March, 1928, but even with plenty of timber left, had to close in late 1932 due to a declining lumber market in the Great Depression. Less than a handful of original buildings exist today.| HM Number | HM1CJG |
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| Tags | |
| Marker Number | F-618 |
| Year Placed | 2008 |
| Placed By | The Brevard County Historical Commission, The Brevard County Tourist Development Council, and the Florida Department of State |
| Marker Condition | No reports yet |
| Date Added | Thursday, October 16th, 2014 at 1:16pm PDT -07:00 |
| UTM (WGS84 Datum) | 17R E 538921 N 3104647 |
|---|---|
| Decimal Degrees | 28.06663333, -80.60390000 |
| Degrees and Decimal Minutes | N 28° 3.998', W 80° 36.234' |
| Degrees, Minutes and Seconds | 28° 3' 59.88" N, 80° 36' 14.04" W |
| Driving Directions | Google Maps |
| Area Code(s) | 321 |
| Closest Postal Address | At or near 1020 Mill St, Melbourne FL 32901, US |
| Alternative Maps | Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap |
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