The Early Years of Port St. Lucie, Florida
A Personal Memoir
by Strelsa Schreiber

Envision a beautiful river winding its way slowly south, as it has done for untold years, through jungle-like vegetation in a sub-tropical climate. Alligators and manatees move in the waters, an abundance of fish is there for the catching. The silence is broken only by the sound of birds flying through the air and by wildlife scurrying behind the dense growth.

Now imagine the publisher of a successful magazine, who, upon viewing the North Fork of the Saint Lucie river for the first time, is captivated by its beauty, magic, and mystery. He visualizes how all of this can be transformed into a retirement community where people who may have wanted always to live in Florida can now do so with affordable housing available to them. Gardner Cowles, publisher of Look Magazine, set about to establish such a community, which he named River Park, and he contracted with the Mackle Company, builders well known throughout the south, to start building homes on the 8500 acres that he purchased. The first families occupied these residences in 1957.

A few miles farther south the General Development Corporation had purchased extensive acreage and built a luxury resort that would someday be known throughout the world, and where villas provided housing for visitors and guests. The company incorporated the area into a city in 1961, although there were less than a dozen legal residents, and later embarked on building residences and expanding the city's development.

Now, 36 and 40 years later, the communities have not gone according to plan. River Park remains unincorporated and separate from the City of Port St. Lucie, although the entire area is regarded as one. Unanticipated growth occurred during the '70s and '80s making the area one of the fastest growing in the country, far beyond the scope of original plans. The affordable housing designed to attract retirees appealed also to young married couples and middle-aged adults with families who found other desirable features here, too. This growth has brought about problems and challenges, and how they have been addressed by a community that still faces tremendous growth is told in the pages of this book about modern pioneers.