Ballard House was begun in December 1915 for the S.T. Ballard family, owners of the Ballard Flour Co. Ginter Brothers held the construction contract, and the house was said to have cost $40,000 to build. The Ballards were from Louisville, KY., and they brought their yacht, "Sunshine," from that city by railroad freight car. Earlier, in the 1860s, this sunny point area was owned by John C. Houston, Eau Gallie's first settler. It was the "salt mine," where river water was boiled in a huge iron pot until it condensed, and the salt was then spread on cypress log slabs to dry. From here, westerly around the creek, rice was planted, and in this area the Houstons had their sugar cane mill, propelled by a horse or sometimes oxen.