dug to drain of swampy land west of Palm Bay for other uses. The canals made it possible to control flooding and redevelop marsh lands to agricultural use. These actions had the unintended consequences of leaving the land more vulnerable to flooding from storms and destroying important habitats for complex ecology. Farmers planted citrus groves and truck farms which shipped winter produce by the Florida East Coast Railroad to northern markets. Farmers sold timber and land to paper companies. Based on use of the Tillman and Hopkins canals, ranchers raised beef cattle in West Melbourne. In 1926, a fire among the dredges and a severe hurricane caused extensive damage, leading to an economic downturn in Palm Bay. The Melbourne-Tillman Drainage District went bankrupt. In 1959, General Development Corporation purchased and platted extensive tracts of land in Palm Bay for a large residential project known as Port Malabar. The city of Palm Bay incorporated on January 16, 1960. Prior to expanding its borders, the city population was 2,808 that year. The active development of the city after that point was intertwined with GDC, which laid out and built many of the streets, sold and built many of the city's homes, and built a water treatment plant. This was later purchased by the city of Palm Bay after GDC filed for bankruptcy in 1991. The Melbourne-Tillman Water District was revived under the auspices of the County Government. In 2019, it controlled of land. On April 23, 1987, William Bryan Cruse, Jr. (November 21, 1927 – November 29, 2009) shot and killed six people, including two college students and two police officers, at a local shopping center. He also wounded ten other people. The shooting by the 59-year-old, who was retired or unemployed and caring for a chronically ill wife, made national news. Convicted and sentenced to death, Cruse died on Florida's death row in 2009. In October 1994 $500,000 of gold and gems stolen from a jewelry store which was at the time the largest single robbery in the city's history. Police suspected a connection with a similar robbery in May 1994 in Daytona Beach. Larry Lawton was later charged in 1996 with the crime after fingerprint evidence linked him to the crime. 2000s For three consecutive years between 2003 and 2005, Palm Bay was a finalist for the All-America City Award. In 2008, the city was named in an article from