"Magnolia Point" redirects here; that name was used for the post office here for a year starting in 1871; it was renamed City Point in 1872.

City Point was the name of a community located between modern day Cocoa and Sharpes; named for the steamer City Point, which brought many early settlers to the area. A historic plaque notes that the town was established "shortly after the Civil War"; A post office was established under the City Point name in 1872, and an all-denomination community church was erected in 1885.[1][3]

While always seemingly a small community, a 1917 newspaper article boasted that it contained a post office, a dry goods store, a meat shop, a drug store, a bakery, a cold drink stand, and a 15-20 child schoolhouse as well as a "health resort" attached to Clearwater Lake (a lake I cannot locate on maps I can access. Maybe it's the modern day Sharpes Lake, about 2 miles NW, or Lake Poinsett, about 6 miles SW?). Even with those claims, the article itself notes that City Point is "not on all the maps", but notes hopefully that the completion of the Dixie Highway should increase tourism.[2]

By the late 1950s, the community seemed to be fading. On July 31st 1957, Lawrence P. Abney, postmaster for City Point since 1914, retired and closed the general store & post office for City Point, noting that business had slowed in recent years due to the death or moving away of local residents, as well as easier access to stores elsewhere.[4][5] 3 homes were also lost to fire in 1959-1960, one of which was the Swinson homestead, over 50 years old and built of Merritt Island lumber, noted as one of Cocoa's notable landmarks.[6][7][8]

Into the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was mentioned rarely, mostly in reference to areas west of City Point and US-1, lumped in with Sharpes to create the "Sharpes-City Point" area, described as a slum with seemingly little connection to the older, proper "City Point" area closer to the riverfront.[9] After this, City Point effectively vanishes from newspaper record, with results referring to house sales on City Point Rd, or false positives.

Surviving Remnants

City Point's name survives in a street, that being City Point Rd, north of 528. Despite it's name, the street is mostly infested with 1980s-2000s new build housing, only a single (condemned) house from the City Point days seems to remain, 170 City Point Rd, built 1901.[10] Taking a stroll up Indian River Dr, you can find the well preserved and maintained City Point Community Church, currently owned by the Brevard Heritage Foundation, with a historical marker in front. Along this portion of Indian River Drive, you can also spot some historic houses, hiding in the cracks between 2000s-era riverfront mansions.



Images

Here is an image I took of the preserved City Point Community Church on July 28, 2022. Apologies for my beater truck hogging the shot.



References

[1] Florida Today, March 22, 2001, "Spotlight On Brevard History: City Point"
[2] The Cocoa Tribune, September 6th, 1917, "City Point Paragraphs"
[3] Florida Historical Marker F-537
[4] The Cocoa Tribune, July 1, 1957
[5] The Cocoa Tribune, July 3, 1957
[6] The Cocoa Tribune, March 30, 1959
[7] The Cocoa Tribune, January 9, 1959
[8] The Cocoa Tribune, July 26, 1960
[9] Florida Today, February 19, 1970
[10] Brevard County Property Appraiser