Ernest Kouwen-Hoven (1875–1940)Gravestone at the Melbourne, Florida cemetery
at billiongraves.com was a Dutch-born American businessman who founded Indialantic, Florida.

Biography

Kouwen-Hoven came to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

at the age of 20 from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 1908, his son, Jack, was born. His daughter, Phylis, followed in 1910. In 1915, the family arrived in

Melbourne, Florida Melbourne ( ) is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is located southeast of Orlando, Florida, Orlando along Florida's Space Coast, named because of the region's proximity to Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. The city ...

from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. He purchased land and platted it in 1916, thus founding Indialantic, Florida. The plat was later revised in 1919. In the same year, he began construction of his

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

across the Indian River. His original "Indialantic, Florida Land Sales" office, which was destroyed by fire in 1919, was built on Front Street in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. During construction of his bridge he set up three sawmills throughout Brevard County. The first one was in Melbourne Village, the second in

Merritt Island Merritt Island is a peninsula, commonly referred to as an island, in Brevard County, Florida, United States, located on the eastern Florida coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the name of an unincorporated town in the central and sout ...

and the last one 5 miles west of Grant. In 1921 his bridge was complete. In the 1920s, Ernest, along with Charles Steward, Claud Edge, L. G. McDowell, F.C. Powell and Ernest Every created the Melbourne Golf Course and Country Club in 1920. It is now the Melbourne Municipal Golf Course. In 1925, the pre-historic body of a human, dubbed the " Melbourne Man", was found there. The site can be seen from the ball fields of the Florida Preparatory Academy. In 1923, he built a grand home, Magnolia Manor. It was to be part of the Magnolia Park subdivision, but it never materialized. Parts of the original property have been replatted, including Magnolia Manor. This house was eventually purchased by a Robert Widrig. Mr. Widrig added 2 wings and called it the Lincoln Hotel. It ultimately failed and was revitalized as The Belcelona in 1957. The property was sold to the Florida Air Academy in 1961, which is now the Florida Preparatory Academy. Ernest's wife dedicated the second bridge across the Indian River between Melbourne and Indialantic.

References

* Melbourne Bicentennial Book. Noreda B. McKemy and Elaine Murray Stone. Library of Congress 76-020298. * Melbourne Beach and Indialantic. Frank J. Thomas. Tempus Publishing, Inc. 1999 * Melbourne and Eau Gallie. Karen Raley and Ann Raley Flott. Arcadia Publishing. 2002. .
Brevard County Property Appraiser. Plat Book 6, Page 74. 1926 Magnolia Park

Brevard County Property Appraiser. Plat Book 11, Page 78. 1956 Magnolia Manor
*

History of Florida The history of Florida can be traced to when the first Paleo-Indians began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. They left behind artifacts and archeological remains. Florida's Recorded history, written history begins with the ar ...

1875 births 1940 deaths Dutch emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from California People from Melbourne, Florida {{US-business-bio-1870s-stub