Indiantown, Florida
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Indiantown is a
village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
in Martin County,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, United States. The population was 6,560 at the 2020 census. It is a rural community in the interior of Florida's
Treasure Coast The Treasure Coast is a region in the southeast of the U.S. state of Florida. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and comprises Indian River, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. The region, whose name refers to the Spanish Treasure Fleet that was lost ...
region, first established in the early 1900s, then incorporated on December 31, 2017. The village is governed by a mayor and council elected
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...
, while day-to-day operations are directed by the village manager. Indiantown has been noted as hosting a large population of
Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...
Guatemalans Guatemalans ( or less commonly ) are people connected to the country of Guatemala. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Guatemalans, several (if not all) of these connections exist. Guatemala is a multicultu ...
, who began to move to the city in the 1980s in order to flee the
Guatemalan Civil War The Guatemalan Civil War was fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various Left-wing politics, leftist rebel groups. The Guatemalan government forces committed Guatemalan genocide, genocide against the Maya population o ...
.


History

Indiantown was originally established by the
Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
people as a trading post. Tribes fleeing southwards from the U.S. Army after the
First Seminole War The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...
found the area an attractive place to settle due to a relatively higher elevation and ample hunting and fishing spots. It was then settled by white American migrants in the 1890s. In 1924, Indiantown was transformed when S. Davies Warfield built an extension of the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...
from Coleman, Florida, to
West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
, passing directly through—and stopping in—Indiantown.McIver. 198 Warfield's contributions to Indiantown are memorialized in, among others, Warfield Boulevard (the main route through Indiantown) and Warfield Elementary School. Warfield planned to make Indiantown the southern hub of the Seaboard rail line. Toward that end, he planned a model city, laying out streets and building a school, housing, and a railroad station. Warfield also built the Seminole Inn, which is now on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. The
Florida land boom of the 1920s The first real estate bubble in Florida was primarily caused by the economic prosperity of the 1920s coupled with a lack of knowledge about List of Florida hurricanes, storm frequency and poor Building code, building standards. This pioneering e ...
fizzled out after 1926. Warfield died a year later, putting an end to plans to make Indiantown the Seaboard's southern headquarters. The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane wreaked significant destruction and halted further development. A serious effort to revitalize the local economy began in 1952 when the Indiantown Development Corporation was sold and restructured as the Indiantown Company. The company was involved in the construction of new water and sewage systems, housing developments, docks making use of the St. Lucie River, and a airstrip for bringing in small cargo and civilian air traffic. In the 1950s and 1960s, Indiantown was home to the Circle T Ranch and its Circle T Rodeo Bowl. The 1963 rodeo event drew approximately 15,000 visitors, making it the largest tourist attraction in Florida at the time. The ranch was later bought out and turned into a filming studio. Seaboard trains continued to stop at the Indiantown depot through the 1960s, but passenger service to the station was eliminated when
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
took over in 1971. The depot was demolished several years later. The Seminole Inn is virtually all that remains of the 1920s boom.


Immigration by Maya Guatemalans

During the
Guatemalan Civil War The Guatemalan Civil War was fought from 1960 to 1996 between the government of Guatemala and various Left-wing politics, leftist rebel groups. The Guatemalan government forces committed Guatemalan genocide, genocide against the Maya population o ...
, Indiantown and its surrounding area became a destination for Indigenous
Maya Maya may refer to: Ethnic groups * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Mayan languages, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (East Africa), a p ...
from
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
who were seeking refuge amid the
Guatemalan genocide The Guatemalan genocide, also referred to as the Maya genocide, or the Silent Holocaust (, , or ), was the mass killing of the Maya peoples, Maya Indigenous people during the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996) by successive Guatemalan military go ...
. Maya refugees began settling in Indiantown in the 1980s, and grew to a population in the thousands by the 2000s. ''The Washington Post'' reported that many individual seeking refuge spoke a Mayan language as a
first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
. By one estimate in 2010, there were four to five thousand Maya in Indiantown. Guillermo Carrasco, the chair of the board for the Guatemalan Maya Center in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, stated that the town's name, "Indiantown", appealed to indigenous Guatemalan migrants. Currently, the economy of Indiantown relies heavily on seasonal agriculture. The town also continues to make use of its position near the intersections of many major roads to act as a transportation and infrastructure hub. There are also attempts to take advantage of nearby natural wetlands and to revitalize the rodeo in order to draw in tourists. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Indiantown was particularly affected by the virus, with 10% of the city testing positive for the virus as of July 2020, among the highest in the state at the time.


Geography

Indiantown is located in western Martin County at (27.0263, –80.4728). It is east of Port Mayaca on
Lake Okeechobee Lake Okeechobee ( ) is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the List of largest lakes of the United States by area, eighth-largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the second-largest ...
, southwest of Stuart, the Martin
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
, and northwest of
West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, Indiantown has a total area of , of which , or 1.80%, are water. The town's southern border is the St. Lucie Canal, connecting Lake Okeechobee with the St. Lucie River near Stuart.


Demographics


2010 and 2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 6,560 people, 1,916 households, and 1,357 families residing in the village. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 6,083 people, 1,383 households, and 1,029 families residing in the village.


2000 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 5,588 people, 1,648 households, and 1,264 families residing in the village. The population density was . There were 1,807 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the Village was 45.92%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 20.99%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 2.29% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.97%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 26.54% from other races, and 3.10% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 48.93% of the population. In 2000, there were 1,648 households, out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.3% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.39 and the average family size was 3.59. In 2000, in the village, the population was spread out, with 31.2% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 15.7% from 45 to 64, and 16.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 123.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 123.2 males. In 2000, the median income for a household in the village was $28,977, and the median income for a family was $30,675. Males had a median income of $17,810 versus $19,063 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the village was $11,085. About 18.8% of families and 23.8% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 31.3% of those under age 18 and 7.0% of those age 65 or over.


Government

The Village of Indiantown was incorporated on December 31, 2017 by special state legislation, subject to approval by residents in a referendum. Indiantown is a Village located in Martin County, governed by a village council of five. The Village of Indiantown has a council-manager form of government. The Village of Indiantown selected their first permanent village manager on December 17, 2018.


Public transportation

Martin County Public Transit Martin County Public Transit, known popularly as MARTY, is the provider of public transportation for Martin County, Florida Martin County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state, state of Flori ...
(MARTY) provides fixed-route bus service through Indiantown.


Parks and Recreation

Indiantown is the home of Payson Park, one of the top
thoroughbred horse racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and Horse industry, industry involving the Horse racing, racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter know ...
facilities in the United States. Among the trainers with their champion horses who have participated in this event are William Mott,
Christophe Clement Christophe Clement (November 1, 1965 – May 25, 2025) was an American Thoroughbred horse trainer, who won the 2014 Belmont Stakes with Tonalist. Racing background Clement initially acquired his training skills from his father, Miguel, a lead ...
, Roger Attfield, Shug McGaughey, John Kimmel, and Tom Albertrani.
The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...
frontman, Davy Jones, also kept a stable of thoroughbred horses in Indiantown, and it was here that he died in 2012 on Leap Year Day. Other parks located within the village are Big Mound Park, Booker Park, Post Family Park, and Timer Powers Park.


Notable people

* Charles Emanuel, professional NFL football player * Cleveland Gary, professional NFL football player * Davy Jones, musician and actor from
The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...
* Corey McIntyre, professional NFL football player * Patrick Sheltra, 2010
ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three nationa ...
racing champion


Notes


References

* McIver, Stuart B. (1994), ''Dreamers, Schemers and Scalawags''. Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press, Inc. {{authority control Port St. Lucie metropolitan area Former municipalities in Florida Villages in Florida