Daytona Beach, Florida, United States

🇺🇸 Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It is a principal city of the Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach metropolitan area. Daytona Beach is also a principal city of the Fun Coast region of Florida.

Daytona Beach is historically known for its beach, where the hard-packed sand allows motorized vehicles on the beach in restricted areas. This hard-packed sand made Daytona Beach a mecca for motorsports, and the old Daytona Beach and Road Course hosted races for over 50 years. This was replaced in 1959 by Daytona International Speedway. The city is also the headquarters of NASCAR.

Daytona Beach hosts large groups of out-of-towners during the year, who visit the city for various events, notably Speedweeks in early February when over 200,000 NASCAR fans come to attend the season-opening Daytona 500. Other events include the NASCAR Coke Zero Sugar 400 race in August, Bike Week in early March, Biketoberfest in late October, and the 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race in January.

History The area where Daytona Beach is located was once inhabited by the indigenous Timucuan Indians who lived in fortified villages. The Timucuas were nearly exterminated by contact with Europeans through war, enslavement and disease and became extinct as a racial entity through assimilation and attrition during the 18th century. The Seminole Indians, descendants of Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama, frequented the area prior to the Second Seminole War.

During the era of British rule of Florida between 1763 and 1783, the King's Road passed through present-day Daytona Beach. The road extended from Saint Augustine, the capital of East Florida, to Andrew Turnbull's experimental colony in New Smyrna. In 1804 Samuel Williams received a land grant of 3,000 acres (12 km²) from the Spanish Crown, which had regained Florida from the British after the American Revolutionary War. This land grant encompassed the area that would become Daytona Beach. Williams built a slave-labor-based plantation to grow cotton, rice and sugar cane. His son Samuel Hill Williams would abandon the plantation during the Second Seminole War, when the Seminoles burned it to the ground.

The area now known as the Daytona Beach Historical District was once the Orange Grove Plantation, a citrus and sugar cane plantation granted to Samuel Williams in 1787. The plantation was situated on the west bank of the tidal channel known as the Halifax River, 12 miles north of Mosquito Inlet. Williams was a British loyalist from North Carolina who fled to the Bahamas with his family until the Spanish reopened Florida to non-Spanish immigration. After his death in 1810, the plantation was run by his family until it was burned down in 1835. In 1871, Mathias Day Jr. of Mansfield, Ohio, purchased the 3,200-acre tract of the former Orange Grove Plantation. He built a hotel around which the initial section of town arose. In 1872, due to financial troubles, Day lost title to his land; nonetheless, residents decided to name the city Daytona in his honor, and incorporated the town in 1876.

In 1886, the St. Johns & Halifax River Railway arrived in Daytona. The line would be purchased in 1889 by Henry M. Flagler, who made it part of his Florida East Coast Railway. The separate towns of Daytona, Daytona Beach, Kingston, 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. It hosted land speed record attempts beginning in 1904, when William K. Vanderbilt set an unofficial record of 92.307 mph (148.554 km/h). Land speed racers from Barney Oldfield to Henry Segrave to Malcolm Campbell would visit Daytona repeatedly and make the 23 mi (37 km) beach course famous. Record attempts, including numerous fatal endeavors such as Frank Lockhart (Stutz Black Hawk, 1928) and Lee Bible (Triplex Special, 1929), would continue until Campbell's March 7, 1935 effort, which set the record at 276.816 mph (445.492 km/h) and marked the end of Daytona's land speed racing days.

On March 8, 1936, the first stock car race was held on the Daytona Beach Road Course, located in the present-day Town of Ponce Inlet. In 1958, William France Sr. and NASCAR created the Daytona International Speedway to replace the beach course. Automobiles are still permitted on most areas of the beach, at a maximum speed of 10 mph (16 km/h).

Geography Daytona Beach has a total area of 64.93 sq mi (168 km²). of which 58.68 sq mi (152 km²) is land and 6.25 sq mi (16 km²) is water, with water thus comprising 9.6% of the total area.

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.

Culture The Museum of Arts and Sciences is the primary cultural facility for Daytona Beach and Volusia County. Other museums located in the city include the Southeast Museum of Photography and the Halifax Historical Museum. The Museum of Arts and Sciences is actually a collection of museums and galleries and includes the Klancke Environmental Complex, the Cuban Museum, Root Family Museum featuring one of the largest Coca-Cola collections in the world, the Dow American Gallery and the Bouchelle Center for Decorative Arts which together form what is probably one of the finest collections of furniture and decorative arts in the Southeast. It also includes the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art, which houses the largest collection of Florida art in the world. There are also changing exhibitions and a children's science centre opened in 2008. Since 1952, the non-profit Daytona Beach Symphony Society has sponsored performances by U.S. and international orchestras, opera and dance companies each season at the Peabody Auditorium.

Beaches and parks Daytona Beach has over 23 miles (37 km) of white sandy beaches open to pedestrians without time restrictions. Cars can be driven on some of the beaches during daylight hours. There are more than ten waterfront parks in Daytona Beach. Thong bikinis are prohibited in all areas of Daytona Beach, with a penalty of up to $500 and 60 days in jail.

Sport Daytona Beach is home to the headquarters of the LPGA, NASCAR, IMSA, International Speedway Corporation, in Florida.

Motorsports The Daytona International Speedway hosts the annual 24 Hours of Daytona (Rolex 24 at Daytona) and Daytona 500 races, among other events.

Baseball In addition to motorsports, Daytona is also the home of the Daytona Tortugas, a minor league baseball team of the Low-A Southeast who play at Jackie Robinson Ballpark; it was established in 1993 and currently has 6 championships.

Golf There are a number of golf courses in Daytona Beach. • Daytona Beach Golf Course: Two courses, North and South Courses designed in 1922. • LPGA International: The golf club offers two 18-hole courses, Hills and Jones (originally Legends and Champions).

Special events The city attracts over 8 million tourists each year. Special events that draw visitors to Daytona Beach include: • Speedweeks (Daytona 500 NASCAR race, Rolex 24 sports car race, and others) • Coke Zero Sugar 400, NASCAR race held on the first Saturday of July (formerly called the Pepsi 400 and the Firecracker 400) • Daytona Beach Bike Week Daytona 200 motorcycle races, bike shows and biker reunion in March • Spring break (date varies, usually the first and second week of March)

During motorcycle events (Bike Week and Biketoberfest), several hundred thousand bikers from all over the world visit the greater Daytona Beach area. The city is also often associated with spring break, though the efforts of the local government to discourage rowdiness, combined with the rise of other spring break destinations, have affected Daytona's preeminence as a spring break destination. It is the destination of Dayton 2 Daytona, an annual event that draws over 3,000 University of Dayton college students since 1977.

Media: Print • The Daytona Beach News-Journal – Daily newspaper covering the Greater Daytona Beach Area. • Hometown News – Weekly newspaper covering the Greater Daytona Beach Area. • East Coast Current – Community Newspaper covering Volusia County. www.ECCurrent.com • Orlando Sentinel – Newspaper and news site based in Orlando with a bureau covering Daytona Beach and Volusia County. • The Avion Newspaper – Student college publication of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. • The Daytona Times – Black newspaper covering Daytona Beach • HeadlineSurfer.com – Internet-only newspaper covering the Greater Daytona Beach-Orlando Area.

Media: Radio AM • WNDB, 1150 AM, Daytona Beach, News/Talk/Sports • WROD, 1340 AM, Daytona Beach, Classic rock • WMFJ, 1450 AM, Daytona Beach, Religious • WDJZ, 1590 AM, Daytona Beach, Adult Contemporary/Newstalk; FM • WHOG-FM, 95.7 FM, Ormond Beach, Classic rock • WCFB, 94.5 FM, Daytona Beach, Urban Adult Contemporary • WQMP, 101.9 FM, Daytona Beach, Modern rock • WIKD-LP, 102.5 FM, Daytona Beach, Campus Radio of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University • W231CN, 94.1 FM, Daytona Beach, Urban Contemporary "HOT 94.1".

Media: Television • WESH, Channel 2, digital channel 11, NBC • WDSC-TV, Channel 15, digital channel 24, Educational independent • Central Florida News 13, Bright House Networks cable channel 13.

Economy A major part of the Daytona Beach area economy is involved in the tourist industry. Over 8 million visitors came to the Daytona Beach area in 2004.

The area's economy includes other industries besides tourism, such as manufacturing. Daytona Beach has industrial sites within an enterprise zone and sites within a foreign trade zone adjacent to Daytona Beach International Airport. Prime Interstate 4 and Interstate 95 sites are available with access to road, air, rail and water transportation.

Companies and organizations that have their corporate headquarters or a major presence in the area: • Brown & Brown • Halifax Health • Halifax Media Group • International Speedway Corporation • Gambro-Renal Products • Ladies Professional Golf Association • NASCAR • Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University • TopBuild • Cobb Cole • DMW Delivers

Economy: Retail • Volusia Mall, 1700 West International Speedway Blvd. The largest shopping mall in Daytona Beach. Anchored by Sears, JCPenney, Macy's, and Dillard's. • Ocean Walk Shoppes, 250 North Atlantic Ave. Open-air shopping centre, located in the heart of the beach area. • Tanger Outlets, located in the south-east quadrant of Interstate 95 and LPGA Blvd. The 380,000 square feet (35,000 m²) retail centre was completed in November 2016.

Economy: Top employers According to the City's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city include: 1 Volusia County School District; 2 Halifax Health; 3 Volusia County, Florida; 4 AdventHealth Daytona Beach; 5 Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; 6 Daytona State College; 7 The City of Daytona Beach, Florida; 8 Bethune Cookman University; 9 Florida Hospital Healthcare Partner; 10 SMA Healthcare.

Education: Universities • Bethune–Cookman University • Daytona State College • Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University • University of Central Florida, Daytona Beach Campus

Vocational schools • The Airline Academy – Offers flight training for pilots and other airline professionals. • Keiser College • Phoenix East Aviation – Offers flight training for pilots. • WyoTech (formerly AMI) motorcycle repair, and marine repair training.

Health Healthcare in Daytona Beach is dominated by Halifax Health (formerly known as Halifax Hospital). The Halifax Hospital Taxing District was established in 1927 by an Act of the Florida Legislature as a public hospital district. There are dozens of individual practitioners and Professional Associations (PA) in the Daytona Beach area.

Utilities Basic utilities in Daytona Beach (water and sewer) are provided by the City Government. • Florida Power & Light is Daytona Beach's local electric power provider. • TECO/People's Gas is Daytona Beach's natural gas provider. • Spectrum and AT&T networks are Daytona Beach's local cable providers. • AT&T (formerly BellSouth) is Daytona Beach's local phone provider.

The city has a successful recycling program with separate pickups for garbage, yard waste and recycling. Collection is provided by several private companies under contract to Volusia County, Florida.

Transport: Air Passenger airline services are located at Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB), which is centrally located within the city adjacent to Daytona International Speedway. The site was first used as an airport with terminals being constructed in 1952 and 1958. The present facility was constructed in 1992 at the cost of $46 million, and includes both a domestic terminal and an International terminal. Despite the new facilities, DAB has found difficulty in attracting and retaining carriers; Continental Airlines, AirTran Airways, and United Airlines discontinued flights to Daytona in 2007 and 2008. LTU & American Airlines also serviced Daytona Beach during the 1980s and 1990s, both of which ended all flights in 1994 & 1997.

Current passenger airlines serving DAB include Delta Air Lines (with nonstop service to Atlanta) and American Airlines (with non-stop service to Charlotte). Both carriers offer connecting service from those cities to destinations worldwide. International flights from DAB fly to destinations in the Bahamas through air taxi and charter services Airgate Aviation and IslandPass; non-stop flights are available from DAB to Marsh Harbour, Treasure Cay, and North Eleuthera. Sunwing Airlines also operates seasonal flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport. DAB is also heavily used for general aviation, largely due to Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, whose campus is located at the airport.

Larger airports nearby are Orlando International Airport and Jacksonville International Airport, each of which is approximately 90 minutes away.

Buses • Daytona Beach is served by Greyhound Bus Lines, which has a terminal located at 138 South Ridgewood Avenue (US 1). The Greyhound routes from Daytona Beach connect with hubs in Jacksonville and Orlando. • Votran is the local bus service provided by Volusia County.

Automobiles Daytona Beach is easily accessible by I-95 that runs north and south and I-4 connecting Daytona Beach with Orlando and Tampa. US 1 (Ridgewood Avenue) also passes north–south through Daytona Beach. US 92 (International Speedway Boulevard) runs east–west through Daytona Beach. SR A1A is a scenic north–south route along the beach.

The Volusia County Parking Garage is located at 701 Earl Street at North Atlantic Avenue (SR A1A). The garage is strategically located, next to the Ocean Center, Daytona Lagoon, and across the street from the Hilton Hotel and Ocean Walk Shoppes. Over one thousand parking spaces are available inside the garage, which also houses an intermodal transfer station for VoTran.

Bridges There are four bridges over the Halifax River (and Intracoastal Waterway) at Daytona Beach. They include (starting from furthest downstream) the Veterans Memorial Bridge (which carries CR 4050 traffic), the Broadway Bridge (which carries US 92 traffic), the Main Street Bridge (which carries CR 4040 traffic), and the Seabreeze Bridge (which carries SR 430 traffic). All four bridges charge no toll to traffic. In June, 2016, the Veterans Memorial Bridge was closed as part of a three-year project to demolish the drawbridge and replace it with a high span bridge.

Transport: Rail Passenger railroad service to Daytona Beach was established no later than 1889 by the Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Halifax River Railway, predecessor of the Florida East Coast Railroad (FEC). Long-distance trains such as the City of Miami and the South Wind (both from Chicago), East Coast Champion (from New York City) and the Havana Special (New York City) made stops at Daytona Beach. Long distance routes were diverted to Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad routes on the Florida interior south of the Jacksonville Union Station, following the beginning of a labor dispute on the FEC in 1963. Passenger trains continued calling at Daytona Beach until July 31, 1968, when the FEC terminated passenger operations system-wide. The FEC currently operates freight trains through Daytona Beach.

Daytona Beach is served by Amtrak by way of a Thruway Motorcoach connection between the beachside and Amtrak's DeLand Station, 28 miles (45 km) to the west. There, the service connects northbound with train 92, the Silver Star, and train 98, the Silver Meteor. Southbound connections from Daytona Beach are limited to Silver Meteor southbound train 97. The DeLand – Daytona Beach service is Amtrak's only Florida Thruway Motorcoach route provided by a taxi-cab, rather than a bus.

National Historic Places • The Abbey • Mary McLeod Bethune Home • Bethune–Cookman College Historic District • Delos A. Blodgett House • City Island • City Island Ball Park • Cypress Street Elementary School • Daytona Beach Bandshell and Oceanfront Park Complex • Daytona Beach Surfside Historic District • Bartholomew J. Donnelly House • El Pino Parque Historic District • Amos Kling House • S.H. Kress and Co. Building • Merchants Bank Building • Olds Hall • Rogers House • Seabreeze Historic District • Seybold Baking Company Factory • South Beach Street Historic District • South Peninsula Historic District • South Ridgewood Elementary School • Southwest Daytona Beach Black Heritage District • Tarragona Tower • Howard Thurman House • Tourist Church • US Post Office • White Hall • S. Cornelia Young Memorial Library

Other points of interest • Daytona 500 Experience • Daytona International Speedway • Daytona Beach Boardwalk • Daytona Lagoon Water Park • Halifax Historical Museum • Jackie Robinson Ballpark • Main Street Pier • Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center and Visual Arts Gallery • Museum of Arts and Sciences • News Journal Center • Southeast Museum of Photography • The Ocean Center • List of Registered Historic Buildings in Daytona Beach, Florida.