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The Story of the Swanson Brothers, Early 20^th Century Florida Homesteaders at the John F. Kennedy Space Center

In recent columns, I've written about a variety of homesteaders (male, female, young, old, immigrant, African American, Hispanic, veterans, widows, and more). Their special stories reflect some of the many ways that people obtained federal land to improve their lives. This column tells the story of two brothers who joined the early 20^th century land rush to Florida, with their land now part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center. Whether they really intended to become long-time farmers seems much less likely than simply taking advantage of a great opportunity to get “free” federal homestead land and then make money by selling it for a profit.

Let me introduce you to Andrew “Andy” Sibilious Swanson (1890-1965) and Ralph Lebanon Swanson (1893-1972). They were the second and third of three sons born to John A. Swanson and his wife Anna, in Cattaraugus County, New York. In the later 1910s, life for both Andy and Ralph would completely change. Both would leave New York to claim homesteads in east-central Florida.

In late 1918, following the end of World War I, Florida experienced a land boom. Florida’s warm weather, growing tourist and agricultural economy, along with improved railroads and increasing road access in the age of rising car ownership, all figured into Florida being recast as a warm paradise and a land of opportunities, including a place to invest and make money. National newspapers carried stories about people streaming into Florida by the thousands to get in on the real estate boom. One measure of what was happening with skyrocketing land sales and speculation in southern Florida in the “Roaring ‘20s” was the staggeringly thick July 26, 1925 issue of the Miami News newspaper. It had a record 504 pages, mostly real estate ads, and weighed over seven pounds!

While much of the real estate craze occurred in south Florida, other areas of the state were also involved including Brevard County, in central-eastern Florida, which today has a population of more than 600,000 people. But before Florida’s great land boom, Brevard County was sparsely settled. The 1910 census reported only 4,717 people in the county, and still only 8,505 by 1920. But in 1920, that number included Andy Swanson. However, before he started homesteading there by early 1919, he was already living in Jacksonville.

On June 5, 1917, Andy registered with the draft board. Between his employment with the State Board of Health and his service with the Florida Naval Militia, he was not shipped overseas to fight in the war. On July 23, 1917, Andy’s younger brother Ralph had enlisted for service in the U.S. Navy. He served for over two years until being discharged on September 27, 1919 in New York City. He last served on the USS Mercury, and during his two years of duty, Ralph was stationed on a number of naval vessels where he served as an electrician.

Before Ralph’s discharge in the fall of 1919, his brother Andy had established a homestead claim on 160 acres of federal land on Merritt Island in Brevard County, east of Orlando, Florida. His homestead land today is within the southwestern part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center property, with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge lying north of the Space Center.

What caused Andy to settle on this particular tract of land in what was then a relatively remote and sparsely settled area not connected to the mainland of Florida is unclear. But not having been a farmer in his youth, and having been an employee of the State of Florida at a time when real estate values were on the rise, suggests a likely reason: the hope that getting 160 acres of “free” homestead land could help him financially. After his discharge from the Navy in the fall of 1919, Ralph joined Andy in Florida.

The 1920 federal census reported that Andy S. Swanson was farming on his homestead claim in “Precinct 15” in Brevard County, Florida on Merritt Island. Ralph was living with him at that time and may have assisted him with some of the work needed for Andy to be granted his land in 1923 under the Three-Year Homestead Act of 1912.

Sometime after the census was taken, Ralph filed his own homestead claim on 157.65 acres of federal land adjoining his brother’s land to the south. While initially living together in early 1920, Ralph would have established his own residence on his own adjacent homestead claim made later in 1920, to meet homesteading requirements.

The 1912 Three Year Homestead law effectively amended the 1862 Homestead Act. A homesteader’s residency required on the land was decreased from five to three years, with up to five months of absence from the land allowed during each of those three years. This allowed homesteaders the possibility of getting temporary employment elsewhere to earn money needed to continuing homesteading.

By 1922, Andy had met the requirements to get his homestead and filed a notice with the U.S. Land Office in Gainesville, Florida to prove up on his claim, which was successful. On August 22, 1922, Andy’s homestead was patented to him by the General Land Office. Thereafter, on November 11, 1922, he registered his homestead patent with the Clerk of the Circuit Court at the Brevard County Courthouse in Titusville, Florida. To get there from his homestead, Andy had to leave Merritt Island and travel west to the Florida mainland across Indian River. The process for Andy’s brother Ralph to get his homestead was similar. In early 1923, Ralph filed to prove up on his homestead and received patent to it on May 26, 1923.

As early as 1949, the military was performing test rocket launches at what by that time had become part of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, partly located in the same Township as the Swanson brothers’ land on Merritt Island. With the start of the Space Age in the 1950s, the area would only become more important to the federal government.

In the late 1950s, the government established the Long Range Proving Ground on Merritt Island that later became part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center. That helped stimulate further developments in that part of Brevard County. By 1962, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), an independent agency of the U.S. federal government, began further land acquisition, buying title to 131 square miles of land on Merritt Island and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles of land. Included were Andy and Ralph Swanson’s homesteads and those of their neighbors patented in the 1910s and 1920s.

However, by the late 1950s and early 1960s when this was occurring, Andy Swanson was long gone from his Merritt Island homestead. He likely sold it soon after gaining title to it in 1922.

The 1930 federal census reported that Andy S. Swanson was then married to Nell Parsons (1902-1979), with both living in a rented house ($50 per month) in the small town of Perry in Taylor County in northern Florida, about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee.

By 1935, Andy S. Swanson and his wife Nell had moved again—this time to southern California where they lived the rest of their lives in Los Angeles County.

Ralph, like his brother Andy, also did not remain long on his adjoining homestead, which he had received in 1923. But instead of moving into northern Florida like Andy, Ralph moved south. By 1930, Ralph was married to Gertrude Honeywell (1906-1999), and had a young son. They were living in Palm Beach County, Florida at the historic Jupiter Lighthouse, where Ralph served as the First Assistant Keeper from 1928 to 1946. After that, he was transferred to the Fowey Rocks light station, located seven miles southeast of Cape Florida on Key Biscayne, near Miami.

When Andy died in 1965, his brother Ralph was retired and living in West Palm Beach, Florida with his family. Subsequently, Ralph remained in Florida the rest of his life dying in Palm Beach, Florida in 1972.

In sum, both brothers are examples of early 20^th century homesteaders in Florida, who were part of the population surge and land boom at that time. That they were two of several homesteaders who settled on what is now part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center may be a surprise to many people who might not have thought about the Space Center as a place that had been homesteaded. Yet, the story of the Swanson brothers just underscores that homesteading was widespread in America from the 1860s into the 1980s, and occurred in many places that may surprise us today. Learning about the often fascinating stories of real homesteaders during this 120+ year period only enriches our understanding of how really important homesteading was in the history of the United States.