Timeline of Cape Canaveral events:

1564 - John Sparke writes about his landing experiences with Captain John Hawkins

1571-12 Pedro Menendez wrecks off the Coast of Cape Canaveral and encounters Ais Indians.

1605-6, Spanish Governor sends Alvaro Mexia

Alvaro Mexia

Alvaro Mexia was a 17th century Spanish explorer and cartographer of the east coast of Florida. Mexia was stationed in St Augustine and was given a diplomatic mission to the native populations living south of St. Augustine and in the Cape Canaveral area...

 on a diplomatic mission to the Ais Indian nation. The mission is a success; diplomatic
ties are made and an agreement for the Ais to receive ransoms for all the shipwrecked sailors they return.

1788-4, French botanist André Michaux traveled in the Merritt Island - Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...

 area. He spent five days looking for plants. Wrote letter dated April 24, 1788 from
St Augustine. Flag or bigfower paw-paw, Asimina obovata (Annona

Annona

Annona is a genus of flowering plants in the pawpaw/sugar apple family, Annonaceae. It is the second largest genus in the family after Guatteria, containing approximately 110 species of mostly neotropical and afrotropical trees and shrubs....

 grandiflora (Bartr.)).
More information can be found in the article about André Michaux

1847 - Canaveral Lighthouse is built

1853 - Captain Burnham settled on the east coast of the Banana River

1885 - Hurricane "Wall of water" devastated area

1888-11 - William H. Peck

William H. Peck

William Henry Peck was a writer from the Southern United States.-Biography:Peck was born in the Sand Hill section of Richmond County, Georgia, part of Augusta. He was the son of Samuel Hopkins Peck, a merchant in Augusta, and his wife, the former Sarah Holmes Pate...

 publishes story in Florida Star about his visit to Burnham (lighthouse keeper)

1890 - Canaveral Club formed by George H. Reed 18K acres (see picture in the external link)

1898 - Thomas Barbour aged 14 years following an attack of typhoid fever came to live in Florida with his Grandmother at Eau Gallie. It was here (close to Canaveral area) that he developed his love for nature

1920 - Brossier bros, a group of journalists start real estate project which they called Journalista. This area currently had streets named after presidents and has an area known as "Avon by the Sea"

1930 - Gene Stirling an archaeologist from Harvard does research work on mounds in Cape Canaveral called the Fuller Mounds

1950-7-4, First Rocket fired at Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...

 Bumper became the first mission to launch from Cape Canaveral

1951 - Anthropologist Irvine Rouse of Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 visits area does research

1953-11-4, Port Canaveral

Port Canaveral

Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with nearly 2.8 million multi-day cruise passengers passing through during 2010. As a deep water cargo port, it has a high volume of traffic. Over of bulk...

 has its grand opening, keynote speaker Spessard Holland

1954 - The first port manager, George King, was announced

1958-1-31, First satellite fired

1961-5-5, Sub-orbital flight by Alan Shepard

Alan Shepard

Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...

1961 7-21, Sub-orbital flight by Gus Grissom

Gus Grissom

Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...

1962-2-20, Orbital flight by John Glenn

John Glenn

John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...

1962-2-22, VP Lyndon Johnson escorts Glenn to Cape from PAFB. President
JFK rides with Glenn from skid to ceremony where Glenn is awarded
the NASA service medal

1963-5-14, Gordon Cooper

Gordon Cooper

Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. , also known as Gordon Cooper, was an American aeronautical engineer, test pilot and NASA astronaut. Cooper was one of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first manned space effort by the United States...

 orbits Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 26 times

1963-11-28, Renaming of Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...

 by Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

 to Cape Kennedy

1965 - A lock was dedicated at the port

1967 - Museum of Sunken Treasure opened featuring artifacts from the 1715 Treasure Fleet