Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Sunset City. The population was 41,590 at the 2010 census. As of 2012, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 42,645. It is named after the army installation of Fort Pierce built in the area in 1838 during the Second Seminole War.Fort Pierce was awarded the 2005 City of Excellence Award by the Florida League of Cities for overall excellence in city government and in 2011, Main Street Fort Pierce, Inc. received the Great American Main Street Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in downtown.GeographyFort Pierce is located at .According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.8 mi², of which 14.7 square miles is land and 6.0 square miles of it is water.EnvironmentShore Protection projectAccording to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, The Fort Pierce Beach Shore Protection project includes 1.3 miles of shore line running from immediately south of the Fort Pierce Inlet southward to Surfside Park. The project is on a two-year renourishment cycle due to impacts to the beach from the federal navigation project at Fort Pierce Inlet. This two-year renourishment cycle is a much shorter renourishment interval than what is typical for other projects along the east coast of Florida.
