Southeastern Volusia Historical Society, Inc.
120 Sams Avenue
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
Phone:(386) 478-0052
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10am-4p.m.
Admission: Free
Contact Us
New Smyrna Beach MainStreet, Inc.
P.O. Box 641
New Smyrna Beach,
FL 32170-0641
President:
Cindy Jones
Southern Trends Home Furnishings
334 Canal St.
Phone: 386-428-4199
Secretary:
Barbara Diegel
My 1230 AM WSBB
229 Canal Street
Phone: 386-428-9091
Membership Committee:
J. Pendergast
Wendy Edwards, D.C.
Bob Garriques
Downtown New Smyrna Beach New Smyrna Beach & Canal Street (History)
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Downtown is rich in history and character.
Charming, historic downtown New Smyrna Beach is an enjoyable place to shop, dine and meet friends in the heart of the city.
Local Links
New Smyrna Beach is a city in the northeastern part of the state of Florida located 15 miles southeast of Daytona Beach, FL. Incorporated in 1903, it sits along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River (a lagoon separated from the Atlantic by barrier islands). Juan Ponce de León landed just north of the city site in 1513 A.D. This site was once occupied by the Timucua Indians who also built the Turtle Mound in the Canaveral National Seashore. It is also the site of one of the oldest settlements in the united states with the remains of a Spanish fort Circa 1565.
Below is excerpt from: The Foundation For The New Smyrna Museum Of History In Southeast Volusia County, Inc. 1982 St. Rd. 44, # 157 * New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
TURNBULL'S "EGYPTIAN" CANALS Turnbull, a physician and an entrepreneur, traveled extensively and was greatly impressed by the Egyptian irrigation system of canals. Turnbull's colonists built a similar system of canals that continues to criss-cross our community today. This unique irrigation/drainage system was new in North America. Digging the dirt trenches and lining them with coquina rock quarried in the area was back-breaking work for the colonists, but the system produced more fertile farmland, drained mosquito breeding swamps, and provided transportation.
Three of the canals from this time period are still quite evident. One is the canal that runs under our present day main street, appropriately called Canal Street. This lovely canal was covered over in 1924 to make room for a wider street and side walks. One remaining visible canal is the canal that runs behind the houses on Myrtle Avenue and through the Myrtle Avenue Park. Another is the canal running along 10th. Street, dividing the communities of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater.
Old Fort Park
New Smyrna Beach is well known as an art town with many artist's workshops and galleries. The Atlantic Center for the Arts, a world-renowned artists community and arts education facility dedicated to promoting artistic excellence has renowned professional artists of music, literary, performing and visual arts. Many of the artist have shops located on Canal Street.
The arrival of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway in 1892 spurred development of the area's economy, which was based on the tourism, citrus, and commercial fishing industries. The town counted 543 inhabitants at the turn of the century and proceeded to grow fourfold in the next two decades, reaching a population of 2,492 in 1920. The principal areas of business and residential development lay along Canal Street and Faulkner Street. Residential development during that period of expansion occurred mainly in the blocks surrounding the intersections of Washington Street and Orange Street and about two blocks inland from the river between Lytle Avenue and Clinch Street. New Smyrna Beach, like most other Florida communities, experienced a period of intensive speculative development during the Florida land boom of the mid-1920s. During the boom a significant collection of buildings was constructed in the area extending from Louise Avenue, eight blocks north of Canal Street, southward to Sixth Street
After the collapse of the land boom in 1926, the State of Florida fell into a protracted economic depression. Development slowed to a virtual halt in New Smyrna Beach during the Great Depression years of the 1930s and did not recover to its boom-time levels until after World War II.
There may be about 800 buildings in New Smyrna Beach that remain from the historic period. They include buildings on the mainland, west of the Intracoastal Waterway, and on the peninsula, the former community of Coronado Beach, which was incorporated into the City of New Smyrna Beach in 1947.
Few historic buildings in the city date from the late nineteenth century. The majority were constructed between 1900 and 1930. Most of the historic buildings in the city exhibit vernacular designs. Bungalow, Colonial Revival, and Mediterranean Revival were the most common of the high architectural styles applied to residential buildings in New Smyrna Beach during the historic period. Many examples can be viewed on Canal Street. Most historic commercial buildings reflect the masonry vernacular designs commonly found throughout the United States in the early twentieth century.
