Fort Pierce, Florida

Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. An hour north of West Palm Beach, the city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. It is also known as the Sunrise City. Per the 2020 census, the population was 47,297.

The city was named after the Fort Pierce army post which was built nearby in 1838 during the Second Seminole War, and lasted until 1842. The military post had been named for Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, a career United States Army officer and the brother of President Franklin Pierce.

The first permanent settlement of the current city was during the 1860s. In 1901, the city was officially incorporated as a municipality. It was the largest city on Florida's Atlantic Coast between Daytona Beach and West Palm Beach until 1970, when it was surpassed by Melbourne.

The neighborhood of Lincoln Park, the area north of Moore's Creek, originated as Edgartown. The renowned writer, Zora Neale Hurston lived in the neighborhood. In its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, a thriving African-American community, centered along Avenue D. It was the county's center for African-American businesses and the Lincoln Theater on Avenue D. Lincoln Park Academy is situated in the neighborhood on Avenue I, west of North 17th Street.

Lincoln Park each February hosts a celebration of the artwork of the African-American collective of landscape artists formed in the 1950s. Local artist A.E. Backus mentored many of the artists at his gallery. Several of the artists got their start at Lincoln Park Academy under the leadership of teacher Zanobia Jefferson. Art historian Jim Fitch in 1994 gave the group the name of 'the Highwaymen'. Over the course of 2001 to 2020, Gary Monroe wrote several books on the artwork of the 26 artists known as Highwaymen (including one woman).

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.84 mi² (77.29 km²), of which 23.79 square miles (61.62 km²) is land and 6.05 square miles (15.67 km²) of it (20%) is water.

According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, The Fort Pierce Beach Shore Protection project includes 1.3 miles (2.1 km) of shore-line running from immediately south of the Fort Pierce Inlet southward to Surfside Park. The project is on a two-year renourishment cycle due to impacts to the beach from the federal navigation project at Fort Pierce Inlet. This two-year renourishment cycle is a much shorter renourishment interval than what is typical for other projects along the east coast of Florida.

The initial construction of the project occurred in 1971, and the ninth nourishment was completed in May 2013. Completion of plans and specifications, advertisement and award for the 10th renourishment contract were completed in FY 2014. The project was scheduled to start mid-February 2015. Sand for the project is dredged from an approved offshore borrow area known as the Capron Shoal and then pumped via a pipeline onto the 1.3 miles (2.1 km) of beach south of the Fort Pierce Inlet. The sponsor, St. Lucie County, is preparing a General Reevaluation Report (GRR) for the project at their own expense that will evaluate extending Federal participation for an additional 50 years. Current Federal participation expires in 2020.