#Houston Landing Discontinuing Operations

[myraelvira]

TX GHOST TOWNS PART 1

A photo of Indianola

Indianola

Indianola is a rather famous ghost town in the state of Texas. It is a town that lays on the coast of the state, in the Matagorda bay. Having started in August of 1846, it is said to have almost immediately started a rivalry with the nearby town of Port Lavaca (originally called Lavaca). According to the Texas State Historical Association handbook, the two was started by two men named Sam Addison White and William M. Cook. Just two years prior, in 1844, a stretch of beach near the point had been selected by Car, Prince of Braunfels as the landing place of immigrants bound for west Texas.The area was briefly referred as Karlshafen. The first house was build in 1845 by man named Johann Schwartz.

A WWII Post Card

During the Mexican War, Indianola, still referred to as Indian Point back then, was 'firmly established deep water port'. In 1846, Anglo landowners came into the area and started selling plots of land. The first post office opened in 1847 (which is a really big point in being recognized as an official town).

In 1845, it is said that thousands of Germans were stranded at Indianola because their agents had gone broke. Disease claimed many lives of those on shore, and those that tried to walk to New Braunfels or Fredricksburg ended up infected their destinations. Those that couldn't make the distance settled in the nearby towns of Victoria, Cuero, and Gonzales.

Allegedly, the town had experimented with canning beef in 1848, their first exports traveling to eastern markets in 1868. The town incorporated in 1853. It was originally the county seat of Calhoun County.

"Many currents of the mainstream of Texas history flow in this onetime port. Pineda explored the coast in 1519 and La Salle planted a settlement near here in 1685. Once an Indian trading point, it was a major seaport from 1844 to 1875. Texas colonists, including Germans led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, entered through Indianola. "

Indianola has had a bad history with hurricanes, almost like as if it's a town that's not supposed to be, or at least, not to be large.

Indianola, 1857

In 1851, a storm hit the town, and it was called "The Great Storm". During the Civil War, there were Union Army soldiers that occupied the town. Indianola was a port to rival other places such as New Orleans. There were ships that came to the port all the way from New York and New England, bringing by cargoes of ice.

"Forty-niners", supplies for frontier forts, and experimental Army camels were landed here landed here. During the Civil War Indianola and Fort Esperanza, which controlled the gateway to Indianola through Pass Cavallo, were objectives of Federal blockading vessels. Pass Cavallo, ten miles south, was one of several entrances to the inside waterway created by Matagorda Peninsula and the offshore islands extending to the Rio Grande. To deny Confederate use of this waterway for commerce through Mexico the Federals had to seize control of these entrances. Before Confederate defenses at Fort Esperanza were completed, two Federal steamers slipped through Pass Cavallo to Indianola and on October 31, 1862 demanded the surrender of Lavaca (now Port Lavaca) to the northwest.

The Confederate command refused, stood off the naval guns with land batteries, and forced the withdrawal of the Federal ships. Federal forces attacked Fort Esperanza November 22, 1863. The Confederates withstood the assault of naval and land forces for six days then spiked their guns, destroyed their magazines, and withdrew to the mainland. Indianola then fell December 23. On Christmas Eve, Federal and Confederate forces clashed at Norris Bridge, eight miles north. Two days later Lavaca was occupied and the entire Matagorda-Lavaca Bay area remained in Federal control until the war's end. Indianola was partially destroyed by a hurricane in 1875 and completely destroyed by another in 1886. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. (1963) "

(And yes, there were absolutely camels brought to Texas through Indianola.)

There is a historical marker about this topic which says,

"No immigrants arriving in Indianola were quite as exotic as the seventy-five camels that came ashore in 1856 and 1857 from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey. As early as 1836, politicians, diplomats and the military were considering the importation of camels for use in North America’s desert wastelands. In 1853, secretary of war Jefferson Davis, a man familiar with harsh desert conditions, proposed to congress the use of camels as pack animals in the desert southwest. Congress approved the request on March 3, 1855. After a three-month voyage from the Mediterranean, the Fashion entered Matagorda Bay on May 13, 1856 and landed the camels at the wharf at powder horn. Thirty-four camels, ranging from Bactrians (two-humped variety), Arabians (one-hump variety) and a hybrid-cross between the two, came ashore. Many residents of Indianola recalled the unusual sight of the camels being led through the streets. By February 1857, a second government shipment of forty-one camels arrived in Indianola. Military camel caravans carrying supplies became more common in the Texas Hill Country between the camels’ home of Camp Verde and San Antonio. The camels, along with traditional livestock, were used in the summer of 1857 to survey the great wagon road between Arizona and California, now known as Route 66. The camels were also used in 1859 and 1860 for reconnaissance in west Texas, surveying routes to the U.S./Mexico border. In 1861, upon the outbreak of the Civil War, all U.S. military assets, including the camels, came into possession of confederate troops and, after the war, the camels were auctioned off. "

The Great Camel Experiment Historical Marker | Taken by me

A newspaper called the 'Indianola Bulletin' had correspondents as far as Wilson county, which is right outside of San Antonio.

In 1867, a fire damaged the town, and yellow fever came.

It is stated that in 1875 the first major hurricane hit the town Around 150 to 300 people are estimated to have been the storm's fatalities. The debris from the storm was used to rebuild the city stronger; but in 1886 another storm came around and apparently 'demoralized' the citizens. These people moved inland to the nearby towns of Victoria, Cuero, Edna, and Gonzales, with some of the original structures standing today in these towns. Apparently there was a large ice house in town, and it floated across the bay somewhere, being converted in a house.

Even though the people of the town could have rebuilt once again, apparently the bay was too shallow for the ships of major importance. Initially, there was supposed to be a railroad that would have connected Indianola to San Antonio. But the hurricanes discouraged investors, and they decided to go to Galveston as the railroad port. but then, there was hurricane in Galveston, and so shipping traffic was then sent to Houston.

Monument to La Salle, one of the first explorers to come the area.

After the hurricane of 1886, the county seat of Calhoun County was then moved to Port Lavaca, which is about 30 minutes away or so from Indianola. On October 4th, 1887, the post was permanently closed and town declared dead. Allegedly, most of the cite of the city is now under water, due to storm erosion.

Indianola was of course one of the areas hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017. While there was some soil erosion, there doesn't seem to have been significant damage to what was left of the town.

Indianola, 2018

Though unincorporated, and a ghost town, Indianola is still lived in today. It is adjacent to Magnolia beach which attracts visitors from the local areas to fish and hang out.

Hawley/Deming's Bridge

Originally known as Deming's Bridge, Hawley started out in 1857 when a man named Edwin A. Deming build a bridge over the Tres Palacios River. It is located in Matagorda County, about a mile east of State Highway 71. The area was once used as a meeting place by the local settlers as early as 1850, and there was a log church in 1852. According to the TSHA handbook, there was land deeded for a cemetery and church in 1854.

A post office was operated in the 1860's, closed in 1866, then reopened in 1872. In 1861, the town was used during the Civil War but the Confederate reserve infantry unit the, Trespalacios Coast Guard. A cattle company was headquartered south of the town by Jonathan Edwards Pierce, a friend of Edwin Deming.

There was a storm and/or a fire that hit the town in 1875 destroying the church (which was called the Tres Palacios Baptist Church), but it kept its population of 300 people. In the mid 1880s, the town grew to 500 around ten years later. The church was rebuilt as a two story building, still Baptist, but on the second floor there was a Masonic meeting lodge.

In 1899, the town changed names from Deming's Bridge to Hawley. The original name had gone into disuse with the exception of a school called 'Deming's Bridge School'. The school eventually met its 'demise' at some point in the future, I am assuming through rot. The historical marker for the Deming's Bridge Community reads,

"The Deming's Bridge community grew up around a wooden bridge built over the Tres Palacios River at this site in 1857 for Edward A. Deming, owner of land along the west side of the stream. The crossing provided by Deming's Bridge became a natural gathering place for settlers of western Matagorda County.

Tres Palacios Baptist Church, site of many community activities, was established on the east side of the river. The Deming's Bridge Post Office opened in 1858, with Edwin A. Deming serving as postmaster until it was discontinued in 1866. Reinstated in 1872, the post office name was changed to Hawley in 1899. It closed again in 1903 when it was moved to the new settlement of Blessing (2 miles west). A Masonic hall, established in 1874, was also moved to Blessing after location of the railroad there caused a population shift.

Hawley Cemetery originated as a two-acre plot of land called Deming's Bridge Cemetery. Among the burials are the graves of brothers and noted cattle ranchers Abel Head "Shanghai" Pierce (1834-1900) and Jonathan Edwards Pierce (1839-1915). Jonathan Pierce donated land to enlarge the cemetery and was instrumental in changing its name in 1898 in honor of Texas Senator Robert B. Hawley (1849-1921)."

The historical marker is in front of one of the original pieces of wood that was used in making the bridge. The wood is huge, giant piece of log that is chained to some very old looking metal. For some reason, the whole thing is in a cemetery (Hawley Cemetery). The cemetery seems to be the original cemetery for the area, as when I went in 2020, there some very old graves there.

Hawley cemetery is also a historical marker.

Back in the 1890's the town of Hawley had 17 businesses. Jonathan Pierce was the postmaster, and apparently renamed the town as Hawley since there was a benefactor who appointed his son into the Navy. In 1903, the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railway was encroaching close to the area and Pierce donated land to ensure that the railroad would pass through the area. With this land donation, the town of Blessing was born. When Blessing came around, the post office and Masonic lodge moved there, turning Hawley into a ghost town. Blessing is still around though.

New Gulf

New Gulf is a company town that was created in 1928 by the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company (now Texasgulf). It was built in Wharton county before most of the area reportedly had paved roads. Apparently it was named through a contest that was employee only. The winning entry was submitted by a woman named Marie Ertz, that worked at the Houston. Apparently, the first town created by Texasgulf was called Gulf.

The town was built with 400 houses that ranged from 1-3 bedrooms. These houses were leased to employees. Apparently the town had a 'downtown' area, a single four lane road with essential businesses on either side, and a movie theater (I am not sure if any remnants of these are still around). New Gulf had its own post office, and the company provided a hospital, library, school, and golf course. In 1940 the population was 1586, the highest it ever was. The area is described as being semi isolated, with the community being very close knit. Reportedly the people would barely venture out to even Boling, which is just 3 miles away. At it's height, the town had as many 15 businesses, including a cafe, 2 dry goods stores, 2 grocery stores, 2 pharmacies, a barbershop, a tailor, and three garages. Eventually 4 churches were created, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian. The year of its creation, an independent school district was formed. Lago and Newgulf, Texas had the elementary schools, and Boling had the high school. The town started to decline after WWII as the demand for sulphur decreased. Texas Gulf Sulphur built new plants and the employees were eventually laid off.

The company started selling empty houses in 1961. Apparently in the 1980 census there were only 1000 residents in town. By 1990 only 100 of the company houses remained, and most of the residents did their shopping in Wharton. The post office closed in 1993, and the Newgulf School merged with the Boling school.

A skeleton crew was maintained through the 90's, and at some point it seems that the Wharton electric company may have bought out the original plant. According to the TSHA, the town is on top of the Boling Dome, an underground rock structure that contains petroleum, sulfur, and salt. In 2009, the estimated population was 10.

In 2020, I took went on a visit to the area. I drove through Wharton, then Boling, then got close to Newgulf. From more than ten miles away, I could see the abandoned smokestacks in the sky, which was honestly really frightening. There was something so ominous about seeing parts of this abandoned warehouse in the sky. When I drove into town, there was a noticeable emptiness about it all. There was an abandoned building that looked like it had serviced something before, and a bus stop that looked like it hadn't been used in years. If I remember correctly, there also seemed to have been a mount to some sort of stand that seemed to be removed at some point.

The company houses are still there, and very noticeably similar. At this point, many people have painted over the company white, there were red and blue, and various colored houses. It was a Saturday, so of course everyone was home. I didn't feel right going around taking pictures of peoples' houses.

I made my way to the old plant and saw a sign that said no trespassing. There didn't seem to be anyone working, but the last thing I wanted was for someone to call the cops on me. Like I said before, it seems that an electric company from Wharton seems to own the buildings now. There were company trucks parked in a gated lot.

I drove back to the main part of town, unsure of which road was the right one, since google maps had told me that there was still school there. To tell you the truth, the town was giving me creeps, since it was way too similar. I kind of got that cultish feel like Hackdirt in Oblivion. A lot of the land in the area seems to have been sold to farmers though, there was a lot of private areas. Near the back of the town are newer houses, that seem to have been built in the last 20 years. This seems to be an affluent area of the town.

Later on when I went back to the town in January of 2021, I decided to just say fuck it, and went in the plant anyway. There seemed to be someone else curious about the old plant, but they drove away once seeing the trespassing sign. I was actually pretty disappointed, there wasn't much of interest when driving further into the plant. There were some abandoned buildings that either had the windows boarded up or others that had them taken out. Really, the only marker to signify the history of the town are the two long stacks that are noticeable from miles away. It seems that everything that made the town come to be is essentially gone.

I was hoping to see some sort of remnants of the downtown, but it is all gone. I assume that maybe the large open field when entering the town may have been it.

The school is still there, and still in use. In 2029 it will turn 100 years old.

As far as I know, there don't seem to be any historical markers in this area, but I may be wrong. Also, I am unsure of what cemetery the original people of the town used, and what is closest buy. Probably something from Boling. Apparently there is more history to the town that can be found at the museum in Wharton.

Texana

Texana was founded in 1832 by Dr. Francis F. Wells and his sister in law, Pamelia McNut Porter, in what is now the south central part of Jackson County. The town was originally named Santa Anna after Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who was a popular Mexican liberal, soldier, and politician. In 1835 Antonio Santa Anna had 'proven himself an enemy of republican government', and the residents changed the name of the town to Texana. During the Texas revolution of 1835-36, the town served as a port of entry and training camp for many of the volunteers that came from various parts of the US. Texana was the original county seat of Jackson county, incorporated as a municipality in 1840. According to the TSHA, on January 2nd, 1850, a school called 'Texana Academy', also called 'Texana College', was chartered. It did not teach a full range of courses, so many students were forced to transfer to other schools to finish their education. It didn't have any religious restrictions, nor was it affiliated with any religious group, unlike most of the school in its day. I am assuming that it disappeared with the town when it was deserted.

By 1880, the town had acquired a regular steamboat service, along with mail and stage routes. There was a booming business section, and they even had their own newspaper called the 'Clarion'. In 1882, Texana was a thriving port town and had as many as twenty ships docking a week.

Image by Bill Matthews

In 1883, there was an inquiry from the investors of the New York, Texas, and Mexican Railroad if they wanted to have the railroad run through their town. Very little information can be found about this section, but according to museum dedicated to Texana, they told me that the people of Texana actually did not want the railroad running through town. Because of this decision, the railroad ended up bypassing Texana, and created the town of Edna. The railroad in Edna (which was only about 10 minutes away) essentially killed Texana, as many people and businesses moved to the new town. By 1884, Texana became a ghost town.

The Texana Museum

In 1968, congress approved the formation of a lake using the area of old Texana. The lake was formed by Palmetto Bend Dam, and completed in 1979. The old townsite was turned into the lake/dam combo now operated by the Lavaca-Navidad River Authority in Jackson County. Supposedly the formation of the lake took away a few driving routes to other parts of the county, like the small town of Vanderbilt, though I am unsure how true that is. Granted, I don't think I could prove or disprove this anecdote. The lake houses all sorts of wildlife, such as Gar, Catfish, crabs and more. By the lake is a small cemetery from the 1800s, called 'Sanford Cemetery'. It is gated off to the public by LNRA. LNRA is also in charge of the outdoor complex known as 'Brackenridge Park' where people can camp, attend events, and even get married.

image from LNRA website

At the park there is the old church from Texana, which people can rent out for their ceremony. The park also has the family cemetery belonging to the Brackenridge family, rather hidden in the woods of the park. The area was first selected by John Adams Brackenridge when his daughter Elizabeth Anne died on July 16th, 1856 at the age of 8. Not far from the cemetery is the site where the Brackenridge family used to live in their large house known as Fernwood. It has seen been torn down.

Fernridge

[SOURCES]

wikipedia http://usgenwebsites.org/TXJackson/texana_info.htm https://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/ http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasGhostTowns/IndianolaTexas/IndianolaTx.htm https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/indianola-tx https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/hawley-tx-matagorda-county https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/newgulf-tx https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texana-academy https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texana-tx https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/lake-texana http://www.lnra.org/home 'The Great Camel Experiment' Historical Marker 'Indianola' Historical Marker 'Deming's Bridge' HM

[loganspace]

The National Aeronautics and Dwelling Administration has selectedAstrobotic,Intuitive Machines, andOrbit Beyondbecause the first three personal companies to ship science and technology payloads beneath the Commercial Lunar Payload Providers and products(CLPS) as phase of itsArtemis program.

In an announcement the day long gone by, the administration acknowledged that every lander will raise NASA-supplied payloads to conduct science investigations and prove technologies on the lunar surface to pave the map for NASA astronauts lunar return in 2024. In all NASA will dole out up to $253 million in contracts to the three companies for their respective missions.

“Our series of these U.S. industrial landing provider companies represents The United States’s return to the Moon’s surface for the first time in decades, and it’s a huge step forward for our Artemis lunar exploration plans,” acknowledged NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. ”Next twelve months, our initial science and technology research will be on the lunar surface, which would perchance assist pink meat up sending the first lady and the next man to the Moon in five years. Investing in these industrial landing companies also is one other sturdy step to manufacture a industrial home economy beyond low-Earth orbit.”

As phase of the submissions, each companyproposed flying articulate instrumentsincluding equipment to foretell lander positions; measure lunar radiation; assess lander affect on the Moon; and assist with navigation.

It’s no longer completely a snatch for NASA, and the companies, but one other feather in the cap for XPRIZE — on condition that Astroboticbecame originally spun out of Carnegie Mellon Collegeto compete for theGoogle Lunar XPRIZE(GLXP) in 2007.

The Pittsburgh-basically based entirely Astrobotic, which is backed by the Dwelling Angels Community, became awarded $seventy 9.5 million to fly up to 14 payloads to Lacus Mortis, a tall crater on the advance side of the moon by July 2021.

Intuitive Machines, out of Houston, bought $77 million to fly five payloads to Oceanus Procellarum, a dejected dwelling on the moon in the identical timeframe. Whereas Edison, N.J.-basically based entirely Orbit Beyond is flying four payloads to the lunar lavea undeniable of Mare Imbrium, in one amongst the Moon’s many craters by September 2020.

“These landers are appropriate the starting up of thrilling industrial partnerships that will raise us nearer to fixing the many scientific mysteries of our Moon, our photo voltaic device, and beyond,” acknowledged Thomas Zurbuchen, partner administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in a observation. “What we be taught will no longer completely alternate our verify of the universe, but also prepare our human missions to the Moon and at final Mars.”

NASA’s partners absorb agreed to present discontinue-to-discontinue industrial payload provide companies including: payload integration and operations, and launch and landing.

These first steps from NASA pave the map for no longer completely the Administration’s lunar efforts, but also its eventual intentions to spacecraft and astronauts on Mars.

“This announcement begins a significant step in NASA’s collaboration with our industrial partners,” acknowledged Chris Culbert, CLPS program supervisor at NASA’s Johnson Dwelling Middle, in a observation from Houston. “NASA is committed to working with commercial to permit the next round of lunar exploration. The companies we now absorb selected signify a numerous neighborhood of thrilling tiny American companies, each with their absorb real, modern system to getting to the Moon. We glance ahead to working with them to absorb our payloads delivered and opening the door for returning other individuals to the Moon.”

[NEWS] Meet the first private companies that NASA has selected to deliver stuff and things to the Moon – Loganspace The National Aeronautics and Dwelling Administration has selectedAstrobotic,Intuitive Machines, andOrbit Beyond…

[brevardtoday]

Local Melbourne Florida Information & History

The Real History of The City Of Melbourne, Florida

Mr. Cornthwaite John Hector

A write-up about the Florida Metropolitan statistical area would not be complete without a mention of Melbourne, FL. The city had to be named Melbourne as a way of appreciating the good works of its first postmaster, Mr. Cornthwaite John Hector, who spent the larger part of his life as in Melbourne, Australia. Located right in the Brevard Country, the city was originally called “Crane Creek” by former slaves who founded it in 1867 after the civil war.

The area began to be called “Melbourne” eight years before the town was officially established. A name was needed because a post office was being established to serve families in the area. The first postmaster, Cornthwaite John Hector, was an Englishman who spent much of his life in Melbourne, Australia, before opening a general store at Crane Creek.

Credited with suggesting the Melbourne name, however, was Mrs. R.W. Goode. Hector is said to have favored a different name. Although there is more than one version of how the naming was accomplished, it appears that straws representing various names were drawn. The “Melbourne” straw was the one drawn.

On the morning of Dec. 22, 1888, a group of 23 qualified electors gathered to create the “Village of Melbourne” by a spoken vote, gaining the benefits provided to towns under Florida law. By evening, those pioneer settlers had elected their first officers and had settled on a corporate seal. It depicted a pineapple plant, along with a crane and a palmetto tree.

Up to that time, the small community located on a natural harbor of the Indian River Lagoon had been known as “Crane Creek.” The name reflected the importance of the harbor, formed where a freshwater creek flowed into the saltwater lagoon. At the time, barge traffic north and south along the lagoon was vital for the latest arrivals on the peninsula.

Eau Gallie

The history of Melbourne, Florida has always been a journey on the path of progress. The Indian River Lagoon attracted lots of settlers into the area in late 1800. These people, together with those already there, formed two distinct communities growing side by side for half a century. One was in Melbourne while the other was in Eau Gallie. Not until the year 1969 did the two cities came together to form Melbourne, Florida as it is known to be today.

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Down the Lagoon edge was the Front Street, just a stone throw from the Melbourne harbor. The street was one of the first commercial spots in the city. However, the subsequent introduction of rail transport in the city shifted commercial interests westward. It was a turning point in the city. Although Eau Gallie had rail tracks before Melbourne, it was no surprise because building the tracks across Eau Gallie River to connect with Melbourne was a big time-consuming exercise. Residents of Melbourne had to wait until on the 3rd of July 1893 when the first train stepped on the soil of the city. Now, Melbourne is in a prime position being connected to Florida on one side and on the other side with Miami. The city’s importance has increased considerably as a result.

Eau Gallie began as a small coastal town along the river on the Florida East Coast. Brevard County, home of Eau Gallie, was named after the State Comptroller, Theodore Washington Brevard in 1855.

In 1859, the US Army sent John Houston to conduct a Seminole Indian census. Arriving in the Indian River area, John fell in love with its beauty. He took a leave of absence and applied for a soldier’s land grant. Houston traveled to Eau Gallie with his sons and 10 slaves. His wife joined him a year later when their cabin was finished.

The area changed little during the Civil War. Former lieutenant governor, William Henry Gleason founded Eau Gallie in 1869 as he made his way to Arlington from Miami.

Gleason’s new land consisted of the entire area from the Indian River Lagoon to Lake Washington (about thirty square miles).

Eau Gallie is commonly said to mean “rocky water”, since coquina rocks were found in the area. While eau means “water” in French, gallie is not a French word and may be derived from galet (“pebble” in French). Some attribute it a Chippewa word; however, Chippewa speakers lived much farther north of Florida.

A post office called Eau Gallie was established in 1871, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1970. The Kentucky Military Institute wintered in Eau Gallie from 1907 to 1921. For entertainment, the town had a “speedway” for stock car races west of Wickham Road from 1957 to about 1971.

Melbourne Naval Air Station

Melbourne, Florida has been on a progress march since it was founded. With the Second World War came the Melbourne Naval Air Station formed in 1942. At inception, it was run as a training unit for newly appointed pilots being originally located right where we now have the Melbourne International Airport.

On October 20,2001, a State historical marker was dedicated to the honor of all personnel who were in the Navy and Marines or worked in a civil service capacity at NAS Melbourne.The dedication especially honors the 65 men who died at the station in performance of their duty.

NAS Melbourne was commissioned as Operational Training Unit 2 on October 20,1942 and closed on February 15,1946.The Station was used for training newly commissioned Navy and Marine pilots.

There were over 2,200 pilots who trained in Grumman F4F Wilcat and F6F Hellcat fighter planes.Of the pilots trained, 63 died in aerial accidents and two enlisted men died in ground-related accidents.

Today the area is operated by the City of Melbourne Airport Authority

Pride in the Melbourne Naval Air Station has been published in the book US Naval Air Station, Melbourne Florida, WW II by William R, Barnett who was a student pilot there in summer of 1944.

Melbourne, FL Census and Population

The city has recorded growth in populations as well as in its collections of places of attractions. The 2010 census declared the city population to be well over 75,000 without including the populations of surrounding towns like Indian Harbor Beach, Grant, and Palm Bay. Tourists in search of places of attractions in the city have never been in lack.

Some of these Melbourne Florida places of interest include:

The Melbourne Auditorium

Melbourne Greyhound Park

The Liberty Bell Memorial Museum

The Rossetter House Museum

Camp Holly

The Andretti Thrill Park

The Foosaner Art Museum

The Maxwell C. King Center for Performing Arts

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See Source Here: Local Melbourne Florida Information & History

from Brevard News https://brevardlocal.wordpress.com/2017/11/22/local-melbourne-florida-information-history/

[spekture]

Some cars are rare because they are so insanely expensive only the elite (and fortunate) can purchase them…and then some cars are rare because only a few of them still exist. Either way, you’ll pay a ton of money to own a rare vehicle. But what if you found something so rare, yet so surprisingly obtainable? Enter the 1996 Nissan Skyline R33 GTR LM Limited street car. Never heard of it? Don’t worry you’re not alone. In fact, I’ve been to all kinds of car events and shown this car to literally thousands of people and I can count on two hands how many people have known about the LM. As I see it, the best thing I can do for the car world is help share the history behind the LM and what makes it so rare. Continue reading if you enjoy obscure car knowledge. Who knows, it might come up in a trivia game sometime and you will know the answer! Winning.

‘One in a Thousand’ is rare or even ‘One in five hundred’ is rare, but how about one of 98 total vehicles ever produced in the world? Let’s stop and dwell on that for a second, shall we? Here come the fun car facts! Let’s think about how many of these cars are actually on the road worldwide. The 1996 R33 GTR LM is now 20 years old and if just one vehicle per year was totaled in an accident that brings the total to 78 vehicles remaining. We are talking an endangered species here! This vehicle was never sold in the United States, so not one single person out of the 400,000,000 people in the United States was able to purchase this vehicle, EVER. An owner in New York and I were able to navigate the United States red tape, find willing sellers searching the entire world, buy the car, bring it into the U.S., and park it in our garages. Two of us total in the United Sates! That offers a little perspective on how rare this car is, and unfortunately most people will never see this car on the roads in their lifetime. It’s basically like a blue unicorn.

Now that we’ve established this car is a pretty darn rare item, let’s give a little history. The Nissan Skyline GTR model earned the name of ‘Godzilla’ by the Australians after winning 29 out of 29 straight international events in competition. Hashtag beastmode. While we’re on the subject of ‘rare’, that feat has never been repeated. Nissan then turned their focus to the 24 hours of LeMans. Rules for participation in the event require the race car to be based off of a manufacturer’s street legal car. A minimum number of road legal cars must be sold to the public in order to participate. Nissan built 2 LM race cars (these are museum items) and decided to run a special version of their R33 GTR platform to commemorate their participation in the LeMans race. These cars started as normal R33 GTR models and five specific changes were made before leaving Nissan. Carbon Fiber rear wing, Commemorative Checkered Flag Decal on the C-Pillar, N1 air ducts, N1 bonnet lip, and the most noticeable, BT2 Championship Blue paint. 99 total units were produced with chassis code 001 remaining in Nissan’s collection. The rest were sold to the public and if you were one of the 98 lucky customers, good for you!

So let’s talk about this particular car. If this were an article written in Japan, it would be pretty short and simple. I imagine it would go like this: “I wanted a rare Skyline so I called around to a few dealerships, found one, bought it.” Article finished. However, things become much more complicated when you live in the United States. The first step for me was to establish a great network of United States citizens who knew about these cars in Japan or who had worked on them before. I built a great network of the top GTR experts in the US over the course of 7 years. There weren’t a ton of people in this niche so we all became close and information traveled fast. In 2013, a good friend of mine named Steve McCarty, Owner of Rivsu Imports based out of Florida, called me and said “I have a car that I know you know about and it will be the first one to enter the United States in a decade. Do you want to talk about it?” We had a long discussion about the logistics and how we’d get this little project to the finish line but at the end of the conversation I was sold. Personally, I really hated the idea of trying to modify a United States Domestic Market (USDM) car enough to be rare. It was kind of a bucket list item to be “the only” one of a type of car at an event, so it was something that I really wanted to make happen. I of course talked to my wife, who lucky for me, is a little bit of car enthusiast that likes being unique as well, and she approved! Excited like a kid on Christmas, I made a deposit to purchase the car from a dealership in Japan.

In most stories here in the United States, purchasing the car is where the story ends. For this car, that’s where the real story begins! If you need to go grab some popcorn or a soda now is a good time to do that…I’ll wait for you…Ok let’s get in to the good stuff!

The only avenue to get this car in to the United States and be legally titled and insured was under a little known Voluntary Clean Up Program (VCP) 32. VCP32 specifically identifies the 1996 to 1998 Nissan Skyline R33 passenger car as being legal to import to the United States and gives you step by step instructions to get to the finish line. The entire compliance package is hundreds of pages and in the interest of everyone’s time I’ll just hit the high points.

The first major hurdle for us was the “Registered Importer” hurdle. According to the VCP32 document, only a Registered Importer (RI) could import the vehicle, and more specifically, the VCP32 identifies JK Technologies as the only RI who can complete the process. Enter, the lawyers. Rivsu Imports has to legally sell the vehicle to JK Technologies and ensure JK Technologies will legally sell the vehicle back once the compliance is complete. We buttered up Lois and Jonathan at JK and they agreed to take on the project! Yay! Next stop for the car, the port!

Fast forward about 60 days and the car lands in Baltimore, MD. When the car is released from Customs and Border Patrol, we have already made history! This is the first R33 GTR passenger car to enter the United States in more than a decade. Unfortunately, breaking one record doesn’t get the car to my driveway. On to the compliance package! JK Technologies is a great partner with us and has a no quit, no give up attitude to get this project to the end! Everything is firing on all cylinders (pun intended), until we come to a screeching halt. EPA requires the vehicle to perform several cold start, warm start, and various speed emissions tests to pass Unites States emissions requirements and the vehicle developed a problem during these tests – “Rod Knock.” If you are a motor head, you instantly know those two words equal “expensive!” Rod knock is essentially when a bearing in the motor fails and the motor will have to be rebuilt to perform correctly again. My car developed this dreadful condition while going through the EPA testing and JK Technologies halted testing immediately. This brings us to our second major hurdle. According to VCP32, the vehicle must pass the EPA compliance with the motor that cleared customs. This requirement exists to prevent importers from importing vehicles with nonconforming motors, swapping them with USDM motors to pass emissions and then swapping the non-conforming motor back in later. Knowing this, we all knew the test would have to be completed on a damaged motor, unfortunately no one wanted to take the blame if the motor blew up before the tests were finished. Enter the lawyers. The ultimate agreement was for Rivsu Imports to “hold JK Technologies harmless” if the car failed during the tests but to continue the tests. Heavy motor oil was put in the car to help the damage and the tests continued.

It made it! The EPA testing was completed with the motor intact. Upon completing of EPA testing the car was given its NHTSA, EPA, DOT and FMVSS approval letters to operate legally on United States roads. Phew, what a victory. It was the first time in a year and a half I sighed a moment of relief. Once the papers were issued there was no more risk of the car ever having to leave the country. I was so excited to see the car on an actual road, I scheduled a flight down to Florida to see the car in real life at the Rivsu Florida facility. What a bitter sweet moment. The car was there, I saw it, touched it, sat in it, started it up… and heard the rod knock.

Just to do a quick recap. I purchased the car in 2013 and it was released from the government as a legal vehicle in 2015. I hit the high points but there were months of waiting and working in between. All the while, I decided to build this car in the image of Nismo (Nissan’s racing division). I had 2 years to find some of the most difficult to find and discontinued Nismo parts ever made in the world. I stockpiled them all at an RB26DETT shop in Arlington, TX; Alamo Autosports. I was ready to throw the whole Nismo catalog on this car the minute it landed!

Back to our story. The car was finally ready to ship to Alamo Autosports to get it ready for the street. Thankfully, all of the parts we needed to rebuild the motor and all of the Nismo parts that I had been saving were ready to go when it arrived! The next 3 months of reconstructing the car were far more difficult than the previous 2 years. It was finally almost done and ready to roll, and I couldn’t wait to show this piece of history to the world!

December 2015, the car was FINALLY ready. I wanted to debut it at Hot Import Nights Houston, so that was our goal. It made it! I was ready for the jaw dropping reaction of spectators similar to those who see the Mona Lisa for the first time. At least that’s what I thought was going to happen after all I went through to bring this car to them. Needless to say, I was disappointed. There were a lot of patrons who enjoyed the car, but labeled it as a regular ol’ every day R33 GTR and not an ultra-rare, limited edition. I got mad. I wanted to correct everyone who walked by and told their friends “Oh damn, an R33 GTR, so cool” and walked on by. No one had a clue. No one even knew why I had the license plate LM GTR. It was supposed to be the best moment of the last 2 years and it was noticeably underwhelming.

I had to take a step back. After HIN I realized there are only two handfuls of people who truly knew what this car was. The rest, just knew of this forbidden fruit from Japan and that was it. How was I supposed to expect them to know all of the history that I knew, and all that we went through to get the car here? That’s not fair to them and certainly not fair to myself. To say I didn’t care about other people’s reactions would be a lie. No one is supposed to derive their self-worth from others but it’s kind of nice when people build you up. Come on, that’s part of the reason why we all want to own awesome cars!

After the show I drove the car home and parked it in my driveway next to my R35 GTR and left the garage door open for a minute longer than usual to simply look at what I had achieved. A network that started 10 years prior, took multiple companies, lawyers, time zones, miles, countries, languages, shops, family, and friends was finally sitting in my garage, and I had the keys, the title, and the papers to prove it. No one else needed to tell me I had done something amazing, at that moment, I knew I had.

Curious about importing a car from Japan? David shares his story and the journey of the Skyline GTR R33 LM. #spekture #nissan #gtr #R33 #lm #godzilla Some cars are rare because they are so insanely expensive only the elite (and fortunate) can purchase them…and then some cars are rare because only a few of them still exist.