After the establishment of a lighthouse in 1848,[5] a few families moved into the area and a small but stable settlement was born.

It is thought the Artesia post office was so named for the ground water of artesian springs that are prevalent in the area.

[6] In the early 1920s, a group of Orlando journalists invested more than $150,000 in the beach acreage that now encompasses the area of presidentially named streets in Cape Canaveral.

[citation needed] At that time, fishermen, retirees, and descendants of Captain Mills Burnham —the original official keeper of the Cape Canaveral Light—resided in the northern part of the present city.

[citation needed] Due to the hardships caused by the Great Depression, many investors defaulted on their holdings.

Brossier and his son, Dickson, after they sold their Orlando home and used the remaining $4,500 to purchase much of the Avon area.

[citation needed] In 1951, anthropologist Irvine Rouse of Yale University visited the area and performed research.

At that time, state statute allowed an adjacent city to annex an unincorporated area without a vote of the residents.

Landowners felt that Cocoa Beach had more city debt and higher land taxes than they wished to support.

[6] Due to paperwork delays the city charter was made into bill 167 and approved by the Florida State Legislature in Tallahassee on May 16, 1963.

It had flyovers and a parade that included a stop at the newly opened Museum of Sunken Treasure.

[10] An annual celebration was started on October 9, 1990, The Patriot's Day Parade in honor of the last naval battle of the American Revolution that was fought off the Cape Canaveral coast in 1783.

[12] The city of Cape Canaveral is located on a barrier island on the Atlantic coast of Florida.

[13] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6.0 km2).

Many residents work in the service industry, engineering firms, and at the Kennedy Space Center to the north.

[31] Federally, Cape Canaveral is part of Florida's 8th congressional district, represented by Republican Bill Posey, elected in 2008.

A single potable water line from Cocoa runs under the Sykes Creek Bridge at Sea Ray Drive.