Daytona Beach, Florida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, USA. Daytona Beach is a year-round resort area, and home to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach Community College, and Keiser College Daytona Beach Campus. The city is historically known for its motorsports, with both Daytona International Speedway and the old Daytona Beach Road Course having hosted races for over a century. Daytona could accurately be called a seasonal town, with large groups of out-of-towners descending upon the city for various events, most notably Speedweeks in early February when over 200,000 NASCAR fans come to attend the season-opening Daytona 500. Other events include the NASCAR Pepsi 400 race in July, Bike Week in March, Biketoberfest in October and Black College Reunion in March and April. In the past Daytona Beach catered to spring breakers, but in recent years many of the breakers have migrated to other sites, like Panama City.
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[edit] "The World's Most Famous Beach"
The city and its beaches, lined with hotels, motels, condominiums and houses, attract over 8,000,000 tourists each year. In a wide variety of price ranges, hotel and motel rooms are typically plentiful except during special events. Daytona Beach has high security around its main hotel locations, with multiple cameras filming hotel and beach areas. It is one of the few places in the world where a family car can be driven on an ocean beach. Most other driving beaches require 4 wheel drive or other special equipment.
During motorcycle events (Bike Week and Biketoberfest), several hundred thousand bikers from all over the world visit the greater Daytona Beach area. While the city is often associated with spring break, the efforts of the local government to discourage rowdiness, combined with the rise of other spring break destinations, have nearly ended Daytona's former preeminence as a spring break destination. Indeed, so few students (relative to past years) have come since 2002 that officials stopped estimating their numbers. [1]
Special events that draw visitors to Daytona Beach include:
- Speedweeks (Daytona 500 NASCAR race, Rolex 24 sports car race, and others)
- Pepsi 400 NASCAR race on or around July 4 (Traditionally called the Firecracker 400)
- Daytona Beach Bike Week Daytona 200 motorcycle race in March
- Biketoberfest in October
- Turkey Run car show and events during Thanksgiving weekend (Traditionally called the Turkey Rod Run)
- Black College Reunion (BCR) (date varies)
- Spring break (date varies)
- Dayton to Daytona - date varies, but is usually the second week of May
Daytona Beach is also home to the headquarters of NASCAR, Grand-Am, International Speedway Corporation and the LPGA.
[edit] History
The area was once inhabited by the Timucuan Indians, who lived in fortified villages. War and disease, however, would decimate the tribe. Florida was acquired from Spain by the United States in 1821, although permanent settlement was delayed until after the Second Seminole War from 1835 to 1842. When the Civil War ended, Florida experienced a boom in tourism.
The city was founded in 1870 and incorporated in 1876. It was named for its founder, Matthias Day. In 1886, the St. Johns & Halifax River Railway arrived in Daytona. The line would be purchased in 1889 by Henry Flagler, who made it part of his Florida East Coast Railway. The separate towns of Daytona, Daytona Beach and "Seabreeze" merged as "Daytona Beach" in 1926, at the urging of civic leader J.B. Kahn and others. By the 1920s, it was dubbed "The World's Most Famous Beach."
Daytona's wide beach of smooth, compacted sand attracted automobile and motorcycle races beginning in 1902, as pioneers in the industry tested their inventions. The area would be nicknamed "The Birthplace of Speed." On March 8, 1936, the first stock car race was held on the Daytona Beach Road Course. In 1959, William France created Daytona International Speedway to replace the beach course. Automobiles are still permitted on the beach, although now only at slow speeds.
[edit] Culture
Daytona Beach is located roughly at the southern end of the cultural South, so its culture has remained somewhat Southern, but due to mass migration from Northern states, it is in many ways more similar to South Florida. It should be noted however that South Florida has a major Hispanic influence, which is not as prevalent in Central Florida.
The architecture and style of its older homes and buildings and the culture and speech of its older, locally-born inhabitants leaves no doubt as to its cultural Southern roots.
Daytona Beach has often been viewed as a party town. It has been a traditional destination for people who want to drink and get rowdy. There are still very strong remnants of the party culture, but in recent years the local government has made somewhat successful efforts to clean up Daytona Beach's rough, honky-tonk image and turn it into a more family-friendly beach destination.
In addition to motorsports, Daytona is also the home of the Daytona Cubs, a minor league baseball team of the Florida State League.
[edit] Notable inhabitants
- Duane Allman and Gregg Allman, musicians
- Vince Carter, professional basketball player
- Bill France, founder of NASCAR
- Ryan Lochte, 2004 Olympic medalist in swimming
- Mary McLeod Bethune, civil rights activist
- Kevin Nash, professional wrestler
- Josef Papp, engineer who was awarded patents related to the development of a fusion engine and claimed to have invented a jet submarine.
- Ron Rice, owner/founder of Hawaiian Tropic
- Glen "Fireball" Roberts, former NASCAR driver
- Bob Ross, host of The Joy of Painting
- David Sholtz, governor of Florida.
- Mike Skinner, NASCAR driver
- Howard Thurman, author and theologian
- T. K. Wetherell, president of Florida State University
- Robert Wright, musical theater writer
[edit] Points of interest
- Daytona USA
- Halifax Historical Museum
- International Motorsports Hall of Fame
- Museum of Arts & Sciences
- Ponce de Leon Inlet Light, 2nd tallest in the U.S.
- Southeast Museum of Photography
- List of Registered Historic Buildings in Daytona Beach, Florida
[edit] Geography and Climate
The city of Daytona Beach is split in two by the Halifax River lagoon, part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and sits on the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered on the north by Holly Hill and Ormond Beach and on the south by Daytona Beach Shores, South Daytona and Port Orange. The major highways that serve the city are the east-west Interstate 4 and the north-south Interstate 95, which intersect near the city. Other major roads in the city include US 92/International Speedway Boulevard, US 1/Ridgewood Avenue and A1A/Atlantic Avenue.
| Monthly Normal and Record High and Low Temperatures | ||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec High °F | 87 | 89 | 92 | 96 | 100 | 102 | 102 | 100 | 99 | 95 | 89 | 88 |
| Norm High °F | 69.7 | 71.1 | 75.6 | 79.8 | 85 | 88.8 | 91 | 90.1 | 87.9 | 82.6 | 76.9 | 71.4 |
| Norm Low °F | 47.1 | 48.8 | 53.7 | 58 | 64.5 | 70.6 | 72.4 | 72.8 | 71.9 | 65.3 | 57 | 50.1 |
| Rec Low °F | 15 | 24 | 26 | 35 | 44 | 52 | 60 | 65 | 52 | 41 | 27 | 19 |
| Precip (in) | 3.13 | 2.74 | 3.84 | 2.54 | 3.26 | 5.69 | 5.17 | 6.09 | 6.61 | 4.48 | 3.03 | 2.71 |
| Source: USTravelWeather.com [2] | ||||||||||||
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 64,112 people, 28,605 households, and 13,844 families residing in the city. The population density was 421.8/km² (1,092.6/mi²). There were 33,345 housing units at an average density of 219.4/km² (568.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 62.33% White, 32.75% African American, 1.73% Asian, 0.32% Native American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races, and 1.76% from two or more races. 3.48% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 28,605 households out of which 18.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.1% were married couples living together, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 51.6% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06 and the average family size was 2.77.
In the city the population was spread out with 17.6% under the age of 18, 16.6% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 19.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,439, and the median income for a family was $33,514. Males had a median income of $25,705 versus $20,261 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,530. 23.6% of the population and 16.9% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 34.9% of those under the age of 18 and 12.1% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
[edit] Sister cities
[edit] External links
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
| Cities and communities of Volusia County, Florida | |||||||||
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