[4] It has been suggested that Juan Ponce de León landed near Melbourne Beach in 1513, where he then became the first European to set foot in Florida.

[6] However, this suggestion has not been met with wide acceptance from historians who state that de Leon's landing place cannot be known within a leeway of less than a hundred miles or so.

In 1879, a hotel, the Oak Lodge, was built for researchers and naturalists on a 164-acre (66 ha) location near Aquarina.

In 1928, Harry J. Brooks, attempting to set a long distance record, crashed a Ford Flivver off the coast of Melbourne Beach, resulting in his death.

[9] The town's population oscillated until World War II, when it began growing steadily.

Currently, it is largely residential, with an elementary school, some businesses, and many condominiums in the unincorporated areas to the north and south.

[10] In 2016, a Publix located four miles south of Melbourne Beach sold one of the winning tickets in the $1.3 billion Powerball.

[11] It is situated on the barrier island that separates the Indian River Lagoon from the Atlantic Ocean.

This island, approximately 40 miles (64 km) in length, stretches from Cape Canaveral to the north to the Sebastian Inlet to the south.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.3 km2).

[18] As of 2015[update], the top 10 largest self-reported ancestry groups in Melbourne Beach, Florida are English (18.5%), German (15.2%), Italian (11.4%), Irish (10.4%), "American" (8.1%), Greek (5.7%), Scots-Irish (4.3%), French (except Basque) (4.1%), Scottish (2.9%), and Swedish (2.4%).