Collection of digital images, documents, and other records depicting the history of New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Series descriptions are based on special topics, the majority of which students focused their metadata entries around.

In 1758, the first European settlers arrived in present-day New Smyrna Beach and Dr. Andrew Turnbull established the colony of New Smyrna. Most of the colony’s settlers were from Greece, Italy, and Minorca, Spain. Turnbull planned for the town to produce hemp, sugarcane, indigo, and rum, but the colony quickly collapsed due to insect-born diseases and raids by nearby Native American tribes. Most of the survivors resettled in St. Augustine.

In 1887, New Smyrna was incorporated. In 1892, Henry Morrison Flagler expanded his Florida East Coast Railway to the area, sparking growth in the city. During the Prohibition of the 1920s, New Smyrna served as a site for moonshine stills and hideouts for rum-runners. In 1947, the city was renamed New Smyrna Beach when it annexed Coronado Beach.

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