Hosie Schumann Park, Gifford

Hosie Schumann Park is an Indian River County neighborhood park at 1760 39th Street, Vero Beach, beside the Geoffrey Subdivision on the east side of US 1.

The county's park page, which spells the name Hosie Shumann Park, gives the address as 1760 39th Street Vero Beach, FL 32960 (Indian River County, Hosie Shumann Park page). The county's Parks and Beaches list carries the same Hosie Shumann spelling (Indian River County Parks and Beaches list). The state historical marker on the site is titled GIFFORD SCHOOL/ HOSIE SCHUMANN PARK and gives its location as 1760 39th Street (Florida Historical Marker, Gifford School and Hosie Schumann Park).

The 2014 Gifford Neighborhood Plan places the park on the north side of 39th Street, adjacent to the W.E. Geoffrey Subdivision (Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014, recreation facilities). The plan explains why that matters: the subdivision is separated from the rest of Gifford by US 1, so Hosie-Schumann Park is the only park within walking distance of the W.E. Geoffreys Subdivision. The plan's boundary text also stretches the Gifford Neighborhood area east of US Highway One to take in the Geoffrey Subdivision.

For 1760 39th Street, the Census geocoder returned no city or CDP for this address: it matched 1760 39TH ST, VERO BEACH, FL, 32960 and listed no incorporated place and no census designated place (Census geocoder, 1760 39th Street). Last verified: October 22, 2026, after rereading the Hosie Shumann Park page, state marker 1112, the 2014 Gifford plan, recreation element Table 10.5, the 2025/2026 budget book and the Census geocoder.

Hosie Schumann Park is open daily from 7am to sunset and has a playground, a basketball court, a picnic area and parking under large, mature oak trees.

The county page lists Hours of Operation: Daily 7am-Sunset and four amenities: Picnic Table, Playground, Parking and Basketball Court (Hosie Shumann Park amenities and hours). Its description calls the park a two-acre neighborhood park and points to its abundance of large, mature oak trees, which create a cool, shaded environment throughout much of the park. A new restroom is listed among the county's 2024/2025 accomplishments (see the improvements section below).

The rules block on the Hosie Shumann page bars pets and alcohol within any County Park (County Ordinance 205.03.22 and 205.03.26), along with open fires, camping and fireworks, and its two 205.03.19 lines rule out overnight parking and trespassing once the park closes at sunset (rules on the Hosie Shumann Park page).

County sources give two different sizes for Hosie Schumann Park: 2 acres on the park page and in the Gifford plan, and .50 acre in the comprehensive plan's facilities table.

The county park page lists Park Size: 2 Acres (Hosie Shumann Park page), and the 2014 Gifford Neighborhood Plan says Hosie-Schumann Park is two acres in size and consists mostly of open space (Gifford Neighborhood Plan 2014). Table 10.5 of the comprehensive plan's recreation element, Parks and Facilities in Unincorporated Indian River County, lists Hosie-Schumann Park as county owned, classification N, with .50 in the acreage column (Comprehensive Plan Chapter 10, Table 10.5).

The 2014 Gifford plan uses the two acre figure in its neighborhood park assessment: it defines neighborhood parks as parks which are 2 to 5 acres in size, and it says Gifford has two 2-acre Neighborhood Parks, Hosie-Schumann Park and Martin Luther King Jr. Park (Gifford plan recreation assessment). The same plan says Hosie-Schumann park has been recently improved to make it a functional neighborhood park, pointing to its Appendix B.

The park stands on land donated in 1901 for a school for Gifford's Black community, which later became Gifford High School, and it became a county park in 1971.

State marker 1112, dated 2020, credits William E. Geoffrey with giving the land in 1901 for a black school in Gifford; the Julius Rosenwald Foundation helped fund the Gifford School, which was built for grades 1-6 (marker 1112 text). The marker adds that the school transitioned into a high school in the late 1930s and that in 1938 three students graduated in Gifford High School's first senior class. The county park page repeats the 1901 donation and the Rosenwald support, and it describes the Gifford School as expanding from elementary grades to a high school that educated generations of students during segregation, becoming a cornerstone of the community (county park description).

The park's name also comes from the marker text. The property passed to Indian River County in 1971, when its owners gave it to the county for a community park, and the marker says the company named Gulf & Western Sugar dedicated it to Hosie Shumann, who worked for the company from 1942 until his death in 1971 (Florida Historical Marker 1112). The Gifford High School history guide covers the school itself in more depth.

Indian River County's most recent listed work at Hosie Schumann Park is a new restroom and sewer connection, completed as a 2024/2025 accomplishment of the Parks Division.

The county's adopted budget for 2025/2026 lists, under Parks Division accomplishments for 2024/2025, Completed construction of a new restroom and sewer connection at Hosie Shumann Park (Indian River County Annual Budget 2025/2026, Parks). Earlier work appears in Appendix B of the 2014 Gifford Neighborhood Plan, Recently Completed Improvements in Gifford Area Parks (Gifford plan Appendix B).

Action 13.1 of the Gifford plan set out the 2015 work list and said that by 2016 the Parks Division will build or schedule for construction a pavilion in the Hosie-Schumann park (Gifford plan Objective 13). The current amenity list on the county Hosie Shumann page names a picnic table, playground, parking and a basketball court (current amenity list). The plan's list of issues raised at the July 2013 meeting or on comment cards includes a need for improvements at Hosie Schumann park, especially for children (including swings) (Gifford plan issue list).