Indiantown is a village in Martin County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,560 at the 2020 census. It is a rural community in the interior of Florida's Treasure Coast region, first established in the early 1900s, then incorporated on December 31, 2017. The village is governed by a mayor and council elected at-large, while day-to-day operations are directed by the village manager.
History
Indiantown was originally established by the Seminole people as a trading post. Tribes fleeing southwards from the U.S. Army after the First Seminole War found the area an attractive place to settle due to a relatively higher elevation and ample hunting and fishing spots. It was then settled by white American migrants in the 1890s.
In 1924, Indiantown was transformed when S. Davies Warfield built an extension of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad from Coleman, Florida, to West Palm Beach, passing directly through—and stopping in—Indiantown.
Warfield planned to make Indiantown the southern hub of the Seaboard rail line. Toward that end, he planned a model city, laying out streets and building a school, housing, and a railroad station. Warfield also built the Seminole Inn, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Florida land boom of the 1920s fizzled out after 1926. Warfield died a year later, putting an end to plans to make Indiantown the Seaboard's southern headquarters. The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane wreaked significant destruction and halted further development.
A serious effort to revitalize the local economy began in 1952 when the Indiantown Development Corporation was sold and restructured as the Indiantown Company. The company was involved in the construction of new water and sewage systems, housing developments, docks making use of the St. Lucie River, and a airstrip for bringing in small cargo and civilian air traffic.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Indiantown was home to the Circle T Ranch and its Circle T Rodeo Bowl. The 1963 rodeo event drew approximately 15,000 visitors, making it the largest tourist attraction in Florida at the time. The ranch was later bought out and turned into a filming studio.
Seaboard trains continued to stop at the Indiantown depot through the 1960s, but passenger service to the station was eliminated when Amtrak took over in 1971. The depot was demolished several years later. The Seminole Inn is virtually all that remains of the 1920s boom.
Warfield's contributions to Indiantown are memorialized in, among others, Warfield Boulevard (the main route through Indiantown) and Warfield Elementary School.
Currently, the economy of Indiantown relies heavily on seasonal agriculture. The town also continues to make use of its position near the intersections of many major roads to act as a transportation and infrastructure hub. There are also attempts to take advantage of nearby natural wetlands and to revitalize the rodeo in order to draw in tourists.
Geography
Indiantown is located in western Martin County at (27.0263, –80.4728). It is east of Port Mayaca on Lake Okeechobee, southwest of Stuart, the Martin county seat, and northwest of West Palm Beach.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Indiantown has a total area of , of which , or 1.80%, are water. The town's southern border is the St. Lucie Canal, connecting Lake Okeechobee with the St. Lucie River near Stuart.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 6,560 people, 1,841 households, and 1,503 families residing in the village.
2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,588 people, 1,648 households, and 1,264 families residing in the Village. The population density was . There were 1,807 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the Village was 45.92% White, 20.99% African American, 2.29% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.97% Pacific Islander, 26.54% from other races, and 3.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 48.93% of the population.
There were 1,648 households, out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.9% were married couples living together, 13.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.3% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.39 and the average family size was 3.59.