<P> In the 1930s, a group of wealthy journalists started a community called "Journalista Beach", now called Avon by the Sea . The Brossier brothers built houses in this area and started a publication entitled the Evening Star Reporter that was the forerunner of the Orlando Sentinel . </P> <P> Construction of Port Canaveral for military and commercial purposes was started in July 1950 and dedicated on November 4, 1953 . Congress approved the construction of a deep - water port in 1929, half a century after it was first petitioned by the U.S. Navy in 1878 . It is now the major deep - water port of Central Florida . </P> <P> Cape Canaveral became the test site for missiles when the legislation for the Joint Long Range Proving Ground was passed by the 81st Congress and signed by President Harry Truman on May 11, 1949 . Work began on May 9, 1950, under a contract with the Duval Engineering Company of Jacksonville, Florida, to build the Cape's first paved access road and its first permanent launch site . </P> <P> The first rocket launched at the Cape was a V - 2 rocket named Bumper 8 from Launch Complex 3 on July 24, 1950 . On February 6, 1959, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile was accomplished . NASA's Project Mercury and Gemini space flights were launched from Cape Canaveral, as were Apollo flights using the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets . </P>

Why was cape canaveral chosen as a launch site for rockets