Home > United States of America > Florida > Brevard County > Malabar > Saint John's Catholic Church Cemetery

Saint John's Catholic Church Cemetery

Memorials	:	1
Location	:	Malabar, Brevard County, USA
Coordinate	:	27.9761750, -80.6146830
Description	:	About 100 feet behind a billboard on northbound I-95 in Malabar, FL, sits an obscure 1 acre parcel of overgrown land which is all that remains of what used to be a church and cemetery that existed over 100 years ago. The church building, known as St. Johns, was constructed in 1912 by the Florida Indian River Catholic Colony. The Florida Indian River Catholic Colony was the work of a land development company based in North Dakota which had acquired 40,000 acres of land in Tillman (now Palm Bay) and Malabar, FL. On July 21, 1911, the state of... Read More	About 100 feet behind a billboard on northbound I-95 in Malabar, FL, sits an obscure 1 acre parcel of overgrown land which is all that remains of what used to be a church and cemetery that existed over 100 years ago. The church building, known as St. Johns, was constructed in 1912 by the Florida Indian River Catholic Colony. The Florida Indian River Catholic Colony was the work of a land development company based in North Dakota which had acquired 40,000 acres of land in Tillman (now Palm Bay) and Malabar, FL. On July 21, 1911, the state of Florida issued a permit to the corporation to do business in the state. The company sought to establish a Catholic community in Central Florida and ran advertisements in Midwestern newspapers and magazines promising "cheap land that would produce two crops a year." By 1912, families from Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, and Oklahoma began to arrive. They purchased land at $30 to $40 an acre but found that the low, flood-prone land and sandy soil did not respond well to the cultivation of vegetables or citrus. The new residents were also plagued by mosquitoes and unexpected freezes that destroyed the crops they had hoped to ship to northern markets. The new settlers became so embittered with the land company that they eventually refused to use the place of worship provided for them (St. John's Church), and instead helped build another church about five miles north in Tillman (now Palm Bay), FL. This "new" church would be known as St. Joseph's Church which was completed and dedicated in October of 1914. Because of the known burials on the land on which St. Johns Church was built, it was designated a cemetery by the State of Florida. In February 1915, the property, church and land, was donated to James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore and his successors, for the use and benefit of the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine. In about 1925, William Gerlits bought the church property for the lumber and used it to build a home for his family, nearby. Currently (2017), the property is owned by the Diocese Of Orlando and is still designated as a cemetery according to the Brevard County, FL, Property Tax Appraiser's office. It is believed that up to about a half-dozen, or so, settlers were buried in the St. John's Church cemetery before the completion of the St. Joseph's Church in Palm Bay, FL. It is believed that the graves of these early pioneer settlers were eventually moved and reinterred in the cemetery at St. Joseph's Church sometime before 1929. However, the names of these early settlers and the exact locations of their graves are unknown at this time. Anna M. (Bohaly) Jasa grew up as a child in those early years. She recalled that her father "dug the grave to bury Mr. Joseph Olivik at St. John's. Because he was the only one to have a team of oxen, he transferred the body across the muddy roads and buried him there."

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Saint John's Catholic Church Cemetery?
Saint John's Catholic Church Cemetery is located at Malabar, Brevard County ,Florida ,USA.
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1 memorials
Where are the coordinates of the Saint John's Catholic Church Cemetery?
Latitude: 27.9761750
Longitude: -80.6146830

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Saint John's Catholic Church Cemetery

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Nearby Cemetories: