The imposing three-story hotel built at this site in 1870 by Col. Henry T. Titus was the first hotel built along the Indian River and served for many years as a local gathering place. After Titus’s death in 1881, the wooden structure changed hands several times. In 1890 it was refurbished and renamed the Dixie Hotel, remaining a popular winter resort for tourists until its destruction by fire in 1964.