Philip Perry Chapter
'Cocoa'
The
origin of the name of the city is surrounded by myth. Since most of the
chapter members reside in Cocoa, and people always ask about the city's
name, we are sharing one of the stories.
The city was founded by fishermen around 1860 and there was just one supply
store on the river in the late 1800s. Since people didn't live closely to
one another, the store served as a meeting place for the people of the
area. Advertising signs had been placed on the river bank so fishermen
could locate it from the water. One old sign, advertising "Baker's
Cocoa," grew so weathered that the "Baker's" part of the
sign was not visible any more. The store never replaced the sign, the
fishermen got into the habit of referring to the store as "Cocoa,"
and the name just stuck to the area.
The city could have been called "Cattle," since  one of the main industries in 1880 was raising cattle. The men
who herded them were called cow hunters, rather than cowboys, because the
cattle free-ranged, which made them hard to find in the palmetto bushes.
Here is a photo of the cattle racing through the middle of town in 1918.
Daughters of the American
Revolution promote
Patriotism, Education, and Historic Preservation.
Last Revision: May 1, 2011
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