In 1715, several Spanish ships loaded with treasure encountered a storm off the shores of the Treasure Coast and were lost. It is estimated that only a portion of the sunken treasure has been found. The value placed on the treasure lost from the 1715 fleet has been estimated at more than US$500 million. The town of Sebastian was a fishing village as early as the 1870s. In the early 1880s David Peter Gibson and Thomas New settled in the area. New filed to start a post office under the name New Haven. However, New got into legal trouble for misuse of his position as postmaster and was removed. Officially, Sebastian was founded in 1882 and named St. Sebastian, after Saint Sebastian. Later, “St.” was removed from the name of the town, but not from the river. Sebastian was incorporated as a city in 1923. Nearby Pelican Island was declared the first National Wildlife refuge in the United States in 1903.
Geography
Climate
Demographics
At the 2010 census, there were 21,921 people, 9,508 households and 6.462 families residing within the city in 10,815 housing units. The racial make-up of the city was 90.5% White, 5.3% African American, 0.20% Native American, 1.10% Asian, 1.2% from other races, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.00% of the population. 21.5% of households had children under the age of 16 living with them, 54.1% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present. 32.00% consisted of non-traditional families or unrelated individuals. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.9% had someone living alone who was 85 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.75. 52.4% of the population were female and 47.6% male. 15.8% were under the age of 16, 6.0% from 15 to 19, 3.7% from 20 to 24, 3.8% from 25 to 29, and 26.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50.1 years. The per capita income for the city was $24,959 in 2010. About 4.8% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 5.0% of those age 65 or over.
The GoLine Bus system operates the #9, #10, #11, and #12 buses out of the North County Transit Hub at 90th Avenue & Sebastian Blvd to various parts of Indian River County.
