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J AN 141981 ao� 45 PACE.608 <br />MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF PETITION REGARDING <br />67TH STREET OR QUAY DOCK ROAD <br />HISTORY: <br />At some time in the distant past a roadbed was laid out <br />across the swamp in Government Lot 3 to a point where it intersected <br />a portion of high ground approximately 100 feet wide which runs <br />parallel to the river. It is not known when, or by whom this road- <br />bed was originally constructed. <br />Subsequent thereto, in the 1880's, John's Island was <br />populated by farmers who grew various Vegetables which were shipped <br />north by steamboat. <br />In approximately 1898 the railroad came through the county, <br />the steamboat traffic declined, and the farmers took their produce <br />by boat to the mainland where it was carted by wagon to the railroad. <br />In 1925, Winter Beach, then called Quay, and Vero Beach <br />vied for the position of county seat for the soon to be created <br />Indian River County. Quay lost the contest. In 1926 the Florida <br />land bubble burst and Quay fell into obscurity. At about the same <br />time, the farmers left John's Island since it was easier and more <br />economical to grow their produce near the railroad. <br />Consequently, the road, which was little more than a <br />one lane potholed wagon trail fell into disuse except for access <br />by the family that lived on and owned all of Government Lot 3. <br />Periodically, the county would patch the potholes on the roadway. <br />In the 1930's and 40's, Ben Babb, who was part of the <br />family who owned Government Lot 3 and lived thereon since 1919 <br />conducted an oyster business on the property,and, generally, drove <br />people off the property, claiming it as his own. By 1959 both Ben <br />Babb and his mother, Harriet Thompson, had both died and had left <br />all of Government Lot 3 to Ben's sisters, Sarah Bullingame and <br />Persis Stanley. During this period only desultory maintenance was <br />performed on the roadway. <br />In 1968 James Holmes pruchased Government Lot 3 from the <br />sisters who conveyed to the "center of the road". At that time the <br />roadway consisted of a narrow, potholed way which terminate approximately <br />139' east of the river and which merely provided access to the house <br />located thereon. <br />Mr. Holmes, having bought to the center of the <br />