Vero Beach, Florida

Vero Beach is a city in and the county seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,354. Nicknamed "The Hibiscus City", Vero is situated about 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Orlando along the Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean on Florida's Treasure Coast. Because it is located about 65 miles (105 km) north of West Palm Beach at the northern end of the South Florida region, the city has adopted two similar mottos "The Gateway to the Tropics" and "Where the Tropics Begin".

Vero Beach was named the 7th Best Small Beach Town in Florida by Southern Living Magazine in 2023. The main roadways in the city are U.S. Route 1, Florida State Road A1A, and Florida State Road 60 (20th Street), which has its eastern terminus at Sexton Plaza in the city.

Parts of a human skeleton were found north of Vero in association with the remains of Pleistocene animals in 1915. The find was controversial, and the view that the human remains dated from much later than the Pleistocene prevailed for many years. In 2006, an image of a mastodon or mammoth carved on a bone was found in vicinity of the Vero man discovery. A scientific forensic examination of the bone found the carving had probably been done in the Pleistocene. Archaeologists from Mercyhurst University, in conjunction with the Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee (OVIASC), conducted excavations at the Old Vero Man site in Vero Beach in 2014–2015. Starting in 2016, archaeologists from Florida Atlantic University joined the Old Vero Man site excavations.

In 1715, a Spanish treasure fleet wrecked off the coast of Vero. Eleven out of twelve Spanish ships carrying tonnes of silver foundered in a hurricane. The remains of the silver attracted pirates. A group of 300 unemployed English privateers led by Henry Jennings stole about £87,500 in gold and silver in their first acts of piracy. The coins still wash to the shore to this day.

In 1872, Captain Allen W. Estes officially established the first land patent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian River Lagoon, after settling in the area in 1870.^{[citation needed]}

In 1893, Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway began operation through the area.

The town of Vero was chartered on June 10, 1919, with a population of 71 residents.

Vero was switched from being part of St. Lucie County to being designated the county seat of the newly-formed Indian River County on May 19, 1925 and was officially renamed "Vero Beach".