A City in the Sun: The Fascinating History of Ormond Beach, Florida
- Jyothi Dondero
- Sep 30
- 9 min read
From its earliest Native American inhabitants to its rise as a resort town and “Speed Capital of the World,” Ormond Beach has a history as dynamic as its coastline. Shaped by explorers, settlers, industry, and even titans of wealth like John D. Rockefeller, the city has weathered centuries of change while preserving its unique character. Today, Ormond Beach blends heritage with modern growth, offering a window into both Florida’s storied past and its ever-evolving future. Step back through centuries of triumphs and trials as we uncover how Ormond Beach grew from a Timucua hunting ground into one of Florida’s most captivating coastal cities.
Ancient Roots: The Timucua People
Tucked along the eastern seaboard of central Florida’s Atlantic coast in Volusia County, Ormond Beach has a long and captivating history, dating back to around 12,000 years ago when the region was first settled by local Native American groups. Situated in the Halifax River lagoon, the area that would one day become the city of Ormond Beach was home to the Timucua Indians, a group of connected tribes that spoke a shared language but had distinct cultural and religious practices.
Europeans first made contact with the local indigenous population in the 1500s, during the heyday of the Age of Exploration. The earliest detailed European descriptions of the Timucua and their land date to the early 16th century, when French and Spanish explorers began to map the Halifax and Tomoka rivers. These early records describe the Timucua people as hunters and fishermen who lived on a peninsula between the two rivers in a large village named Nocoroco. However, archaeological evidence indicates that rather than maintaining a permanent settlement on the peninsula, the Timucua only travelled intermittently through the area and probably used the peninsula solely as a base for temporary, seasonal camps.
The Timucua were largely untouched by European settlement in their territory for the greater part of the 16th and 17th centuries. At that time, the nexus of Spanish settlement in central Florida was at St. Augustine to the north, and it remained so for well over a century. During this period of early European contact, the Timucua continued to traverse the Halifax and Tomoka river valleys during their seasonal rounds.
The Quaker Settlement and Timucua Decline
The first European settlement in Timucua territory actually came about purely by accident. In 1643, a passenger ship carrying Quaker settlers was traveling up the coast to St. Augustine. It was blown off course by strong winds and foundered off the Atlantic coast near the Halifax River lagoon. The survivors salvaged what they could and established a small, rough community along the coast. For the most part, the Timucua ignored the tiny Quaker encampment, nestled so improbably along the Atlantic shore. However, in 1704, Chief Oseanoha, one of the few Timucua left in the area, raided the Quaker town, killing most of the settlers and destroying the encampment in the process. It would be close to sixty years before European settlers would return to the area.
While the Timucua raid effectively ended European settlement in the Halifax River basin for the next six decades, the tide was steadily turning against them. At the time of the raid, as a result of continued warfare and exposure to European diseases, there were fewer than a thousand Timucua Indians left in the area, and their power was weakening. Those who remained maintained their subsistence lifestyle of hunting, fishing, and foraging for shellfish, wild grains, and roots. However, within another twenty years, the Timucua population had shrunk dramatically, numbering at just 176. By the mid to late 1800s, the Timucua Indians had vanished as a distinct community, another casualty of the relentless onslaught of European colonialism.
Spanish and British Rivalry
As the local population declined, European interest in the region began to grow. Spain claimed the Halifax River basin and the surrounding areas as part of Florida in 1708, and over the next several decades, the Spanish Crown did its best to populate the land. King Ferdinand VII attempted to encourage prospective settlers by offering them large land grants, but there were few takers. In the meantime, Florida remained a highly coveted territory, and its ownership was hotly contested. In 1763, Spain lost Florida to England. While the loss would prove to be temporary, it was during this brief period of British sovereignty that the first permanent European settlers moved into the region, thanks entirely to the massive land grants offered to them by the British Crown.
In 1766, Robert Oswald, a prominent Scottish merchant and a recipient of one of these British land grants, settled in Florida with his young family. He established one of the first plantations in Central Florida, Mount Oswald, dedicated to rice and indigo cultivation. He also founded the nearby Three Chimneys Sugar Mill Plantation, the remains of which are now on the National Historic Register. While Oswald and other English settlers managed to create the first permanent European homesteads in the area, England's hold over Florida would only last a mere twenty years. In 1783, control over Florida was ceded back to Spain, and by 1785, most of the British settlers had left the area, including Robert Oswald.
Spanish Florida and the Ormond Family
From 1783 to 1821, Spain continued to administer the region of Florida and encouraged Spanish settlers to come to the area by once again offering them hefty land grants. This time, the tactic worked. The early 1800s saw the immigration of numerous Spanish pioneers into Florida from the Bahamas, many of whom established cotton and indigo plantations in their new home, as well as thriving sugar mills. It was during this period that King Ferdinand VII of Spain hired Captain James Ormond, a Scottish privateer, to transport a group of Franciscan settlers to east-central Florida.
Ormond arrived in the region that would later come to be known as Ormond Beach sometime in the early 1800s. As a reward for his services, he received a land grant of 20,000 acres from the Spanish Crown, on which he established Damietta, a vast cotton and indigo plantation. But his life was soon cut short. In 1817, James Ormond I was killed by a runaway slave and the Ormond family returned to Scotland. The new head of the family, James Ormond II, sailed to Florida three years later to take over the reins of the valuable plantation. When he died in 1829, his heirs once again abandoned Damietta. However, the Ormond family eventually made their way back to Damietta and continued to have a strong presence in the region for generations to come.
From Territory to Settlement: Florida’s New Beginnings
In 1822, Spain’s long-standing control over Florida came to an end, and the land was formally incorporated as a U.S. territory. However, many of the local European settlements were still prone to intermittent attacks from native groups, including the Seminoles, who were still active in Florida. In 1835, the Second Seminole War began and lasted for seven long years. The settlers were under constant attack and very soon, most of them abandoned their plantations and fled to St. Augustine in the north. It wasn’t until after 1845, when Florida officially became a U.S. state, that the area began to be resettled once again.
Nine years later, in 1854, Volusia County was established, encompassing the Halifax River basin and surrounding lands. It was soon attracting adventurous pioneers who carved out small homesteads across the area. In the late 1860s, the Corbin Lock Company, based in New Britain, Connecticut, purchased a large tract of land across the river, on the western banks of the Halifax. The land was developed into a settlement of vacation and retirement homes for the company’s employees and was named New Britain in honor of the company’s home base.
At around the same time, the Bostrom brothers, John and Andrew, joined the settlers flocking to Volusia County and established a homestead named Bosarve. With the help of their sisters, they ran a successful boarding house out of their sprawling plantation home, offering accommodation and hospitality to the increasing number of visitors who were travelling to the newly stable region in pursuit of sunnier climes.
Ormond is Born: The Making of a City
The settlement of New Britain and its environs continued to grow, and on April 22, 1880, the city was officially incorporated and renamed Ormond in honor of the wealthy and still influential Ormond family. Within six years, the St. John’s and Halifax railroad was built, followed by a bridge spanning the river the next year. These developments were a great boon to the economic health of the small city, enabling its residents, many of whom were engaged in farming and the citrus trade, to transport their goods to faraway markets.
During this time, the region continued to attract travelers and tourists, prompting John Anderson and J.D. Price, both prominent local residents, to build the Ormond Hotel, which was the first hotel in the city. It opened to great fanfare on January 1st, 1888, and was so successful that Henry Flagler, the oil and railroad magnate, purchased it in 1890 as part of his venture to develop central and southern Florida into a resort destination. Flagler enlarged the Ormond Hotel and brought his Florida East Coast Railway into the region, bringing a renewed surge of economic prosperity to the nascent town. Sadly, the Ormond Hotel, which was once on the National Register of Historic Places, was destroyed in 1992.
As the twentieth century loomed, the small city of Ormond continued to grow. In 1903, the city of Ormond became known as “The Speed Capital of the World” as its hard-packed, white sand beach became the site of numerous speed trials and record-breaking runs. On January 27, 1906, a record speed of 122.44 mph was logged on the beach at Ormond by drag car racer, Victor Demogeot, and a year later, Glenn Curtis set his own unofficial speed record on the same beach. To this day, driving is still permitted on some parts of the now famous strip of sand that borders the equally famous Daytona Beach.
Resilience and the Rockefeller Era
Like every other city in the country, Ormond suffered through the economic crises brought on by the Great Depression and the First and Second World Wars, but its citizens had long proven their grit and resilience in the face of tough times. For instance, during the Prohibition Era in the 1920s, the coastline off Ormond became known as a center for bootlegging, with smugglers using the beach as a drop-off point. And despite the challenging economic climate, Ormond continued to attract wealthy travelers and vacationers, drawn by the sunny subtropical climate of the region.
One of the most famous visitors to Ormond was J.D. Rockefeller, who first visited the city in 1914 in search of a pristine environment where he could spend the winter months. Four years later, he bought The Casements, a sprawling local home named for its manifold casement windows, which was built in 1913 to accommodate the family of a wealthy New England churchman.
Over the next several years, Rockefeller became a common fixture in the growing city, along with the famous guests who routinely came down to visit the aging tycoon. In 1937, Rockefeller passed away peacefully in his sleep at The Casements and two years later, at the outbreak of WWII, his family sold the home to a private purchaser. The Casements changed hands several more times before it was finally purchased by the city in 1973 and converted into a civic building, showcasing the area’s cultural history and acting as a community center.
Modern Era and Legacy
As the Second World War began, Ormond’s reputation as a resort town faded, and its tourism industry slipped into steady decline. Yet the city adapted, continuing to grow and eventually finding prosperity in new ways. In 1950, it was officially renamed Ormond Beach and has since evolved into a hub for education, technology, and healthcare.
In recent decades, Ormond Beach has worked to balance growth with preserving its coastal charm and historical identity. The city has invested in infrastructure improvements, reinstated beach driving in certain segments, and supported mixed residential and commercial developments designed to attract families and professionals. It also emphasizes the preservation of historic landmarks such as the Anderson-Price Memorial Library Building and the Ormond Fire House, both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Education and community institutions continue to play a vital role in Ormond’s identity. The Montessori Global Research Institute operates a laboratory school in Ormond Beach, providing early childhood through elementary education and serving as a training site for teachers. The emergence of new educational initiatives, paired with investments in healthcare and local research precincts, helps position Ormond as more than a tourist town, becoming a hub for knowledge, wellness, and heritage-driven living.
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