History of Cape Canaveral, Florida
The cape's name is Spanish; NASA's Spaceport News credits it to Ponce de León and translates it as a place of canes. The first lighthouse there was finished in January 1848, and the 1868 iron tower that replaced it still stands about a mile inland, where it was moved in 1893 and 1894. When the Spanish came, the people of the Indian River to the south were the Ais.
In 1949 the cape was chosen for the Joint Long Range Proving Ground, and the first rocket, Bumper 8, went up on July 24, 1950. All six Mercury flights, the ten crewed Gemini flights and the first crewed Apollo flight launched from the cape's pads. After President Kennedy's death the cape was renamed Cape Kennedy; Florida restored the old name in 1973. The City of Cape Canaveral, just south of the launch area, was incorporated in 1963 and counted 4,258 people in the 1970 census and 9,972 in 2020.
Population, census by census
| Census | Population |
|---|---|
| 1970 | 4,258 |
| 1980 | 5,733 |
| 1990 | 8,014 |
| 2010 | 9,912 |
| 2020 | 9,972 |
Every article, in order
Each article on this site, grouped by the period it covers.
Before 1900
1900 to 1949
1950 to 1979
- Bumper 8: July 24, 1950, the cape's first launch
- Port Canaveral, 1953 to today
- Mercury at the cape: Friendship 7, Aurora 7, Sigma 7
- Cape Kennedy and back, 1963 to 1973
- Project Gemini at the cape, 1965 to 1966
- Apollo 1 and Launch Complex 34: January 27, 1967
1980 to today
Places, people and institutions
- Apollo at the cape and Apollo at Kennedy Space Center
- The Ais and the cape: the northern edge of Ais country
- The Eastern Test Range: the cape's stations downrange
Sources for this page
- Florida Department of State, historical marker: Cape Canaveral Lighthouse
- National Park Service, National Historic Landmark Nomination: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (1984)
- NASA, Spaceport News, "Cape Canaveral named and renamed" (July 12, 2002), p. 12
- City of Cape Canaveral, City Government
- U.S. Census Bureau, 1970 Census of Population, Number of Inhabitants: Florida, Table 6
- U.S. Census Bureau, 1990 CPH-2-11, Population and Housing Unit Counts: Florida, Table 10 (1980 and 1990)
- U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts: Cape Canaveral city, Florida (2010 and 2020 census counts)