Cocoa Beach welcomes millions of visitors every year, but the city has always managed to keep a small town atmosphere. While the land was originally purchased by a family of freed slaves following the Civil War, the land went largely undeveloped until it was bought again in 1923 by city attorney, Gus Edwards, who would later serve as Cocoa Beach's mayor. By 1940, it was a cozy little waterfront town with less than 50 people. A few years after World War II, America's space race began, and the city was never the same, experiencing an astounding 1000% growth in population from 1950 to 1960 as a result of NASA's nearby John F. Kennedy Space Center. Though the population declined after the Apollo Program came to an end, Cocoa Beach had become a home to thousands of residents where they decided to stay.