Historic Lee County
An illustrated history of Fort Myers and the Southwest Florida area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
An illustrated history of Fort Myers and the Southwest Florida area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
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HISTORIC<br />
LEE COUNTY<br />
The Story of Fort Myers &<br />
Southwest Florida<br />
By Pamela Sustar<br />
Edited by Matt Johnson<br />
A publication of the<br />
Southwest Florida Museum of History Foundation, Inc.
Thank you for your interest in this HPNbooks publication. For more information about other<br />
HPNbooks publications, or information about producing your own book with us, please visit www.hpnbooks.com.
HISTORIC<br />
LEE COUNTY<br />
The Story of Fort Myers &<br />
Southwest Florida<br />
By Pamela Sustar<br />
Edited by Matt Johnson<br />
Commissioned by the<br />
Southwest Florida Museum<br />
of History Foundation, Inc.<br />
<strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network<br />
A division of Lamert Incorporated<br />
San Antonio, Texas
Our history here in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> is a rich one, filled with facts and tales passed down through the ages of battles won and lost, fortunes<br />
made, discoveries of ancient civilizations, and the rough and tumble grit of the men and women who came and settled here. Some may<br />
disagree with what lies herein whether it be fact or fiction, but all will be mesmerized by the story that is <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
First Edition<br />
Copyright © 2008 <strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network<br />
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from<br />
the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to <strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network, 11555 Galm Road, Suite 100, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790.<br />
ISBN: 9781893619876<br />
Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2008929460<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>: The Story of Fort Myers and Southwest Florida<br />
author: Pam Sustar<br />
editor: Matt Johnson<br />
cover artist: Marcus Antonius Jansen<br />
contributing writers for “Sharing the Heritage”: Susan Cumins<br />
Doris Kraus<br />
<strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network<br />
president: Ron Lammert<br />
project managers: Joe and Robin Neely<br />
administration: Donna M. Mata<br />
Melissa Quinn<br />
book sales: Dee Steidle<br />
production: Colin Hart<br />
Craig Mitchell<br />
Charles A. Newton, III<br />
Roy Arellano<br />
Evelyn Hart<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
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CONTENTS<br />
4 CHAPTER 1 before the discovery<br />
9 CHAPTER 2 the beginning of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
18 CHAPTER 3 growth of Fort Myers<br />
23 CHAPTER 4 transportation history of southwest Florida.<br />
27 CHAPTER 5 the other side of the river<br />
31 CHAPTER 6 <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s barrier islands<br />
35 CHAPTER 7 other communities in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
38 CHAPTER 8 sports history of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
43 CHAPTER 9 aviation in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
51 EPILOGUE<br />
52 BIBLIOGRAPHY<br />
53 SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
84 SPONSORS<br />
85 ABOUT THE AUTHOR<br />
85 ABOUT THE EDITOR<br />
86 ABOUT THE COVER<br />
CONTENTS<br />
3
CHAPTER I<br />
B EFORE THE D ISCOVERY<br />
✧<br />
Juan Ponce De Leon.<br />
Long before any European gazed upon the shores of today’s <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, the Calusa Indians lived and<br />
loved and constructed their villages of palms and shell and fished the waters. They inhabited the area<br />
for possibly four thousand years before being discovered or written about by European settlers in the<br />
early 1500s.<br />
The Calusa, nicknamed “The Shell Indians”, were the ruling tribe of the Florida peninsula,<br />
feared by other smaller, subordinate tribes in the territory. Their name “Calusa” presumably came<br />
from a digression of the real name “Calos” which is said to be an abbreviation for the Choctaw<br />
words kala lu-sa, meaning strong and black. Fontaneda, a Spaniard taken captive around the age<br />
of thirteen and held by the Calusa for seventeen years, called the chief of the tribe “Carlos”, i.e. the<br />
real name of the tribe “Calos” without the “r,” which more than likely, was not his actual name, but<br />
sounded that way in Fontaneda’s Spanish language. The meaning of “Carlos,” according to<br />
Fontaneda, was “brave and skillful, as indeed the Carlos Indians were.” From the chief’s name we<br />
have derived San Carlos Bay, Big Carlos Pass, and Little Carlos Pass.<br />
Tales told of the reputation of the Calusa have been conflicting, some depicting them as ruthless,<br />
bloodthirsty warriors who sacrificed their captives, be them tribal enemies or Christians, by<br />
cutting off their heads and presenting them to one of their three deities. Yet others have told of the<br />
fairness of Carlos. One story tells of Christian captives being put to death at the hands of their<br />
guards without reason. When brought to Carlos’ attention, he recognized the captives were not<br />
being obstinate when not following orders; they merely did not understand the Calusa language.<br />
Chief Carlos proclaimed no captives would be ordered to do anything unless an interpreter was<br />
present, thus saving many captives’ lives.<br />
The Calusa were a indeed a tribe with a vicious reputation, yet they were a people with a beautiful<br />
artistic side as well. Artifacts have been found of intricately carved statues of animals and<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
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wooden masks. Among the most famous artifacts<br />
discovered was a statuette of a panther or<br />
cat, named “Marco Cat”, unearthed in 1896<br />
by archaeologist Frank Hamilton Cushing and<br />
now on display at the Smithsonian museum.<br />
It is speculated that the Calusa had the opportunity<br />
to delve into such intricate work due to<br />
the abundant food supply in the estuaries,<br />
and thus less time was spent in search of sustenance<br />
and more in creative expression.<br />
Unlike Indians in other areas, they were not<br />
agricultural; they existed instead on fish, shellfish,<br />
and game. This, of course, made them quite<br />
adept at making fishing nets, using hooks, and<br />
creating devices for entrapment. The Calusa<br />
were mainly seafaring people using many different<br />
types of boats, including sailing canoes,<br />
which were tied together in a catamaran style,<br />
traveling as far as Cuba and possibly the Yucatan<br />
peninsula. A theory of the disappearance of the<br />
small remnant of Calusa that remained after<br />
being ravaged by Spanish slave traders and diseases<br />
was of them fleeing in their sailing canoes<br />
to the far side of the Gulf of Mexico.<br />
The most renown legacy the Calusa left<br />
behind were the shell mounds, some enormous<br />
in size, as was the nineteen-foot temple mound<br />
located where Old Marco Village in today’s<br />
Collier <strong>County</strong>. The most amazing aspect of<br />
these mounds was the amount of work and<br />
manpower it took to move and place the millions<br />
of cubic yards of shell. Some find it hard<br />
to believe it was possible. We do not know if<br />
this was a volunteer effort or slave labor, but<br />
we do know that it must have taken a powerful<br />
central authority to accomplish such a task.<br />
These shell mounds served as domiciles,<br />
temple sites, dwelling places for their chiefs,<br />
burial and refuse mounds, among other uses.<br />
Some of these mounds still stand today<br />
throughout Southwest Florida and are preserved<br />
on Pine Island, which may have been<br />
the location of the Calusa’s capital city. The<br />
Randell Research Center includes a 3,700-foot<br />
interpretive walkway that leads through the<br />
mounds, canals, and other features of the<br />
Pineland “live” archaeological excavation site.<br />
The Calusa discovered many wrecks of<br />
Spanish trade ships washed upon their shores<br />
filled with treasure, silver, gold, precious<br />
gems, which, in the beginning, did not<br />
interest the Indians at all. They found the<br />
tools, clothing and food to be of much more<br />
value. The Spanish shipwrecks were so<br />
numerous the Calusa lost track through the<br />
years of just how many there had been. The<br />
origin of the Spanish ships was unknown to<br />
the Calusa and also of little concern. What the<br />
Calusa did not realize was the intention of the<br />
Spaniards to take over the Florida peninsula,<br />
which ultimately became their demise.<br />
Some of the beached shipwrecks held survivors.<br />
We do not know how the Calusa treated<br />
the captives they found, but it is known<br />
many escaped or were traded to the Spanish<br />
for Indian captives One thing was certain, the<br />
Calusa hated the Spaniards and took captive<br />
or killed as many as they could find.<br />
The Spanish efforts to protect their trade<br />
routes and their treasure brought about the introduction<br />
of Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a ruthless<br />
man known as a great fighter and leader. During<br />
his travels toward Southwest Florida, he massacred<br />
many men, women, and children in numerous<br />
ports all in the name of Spain.<br />
In February 1566 Menendez’s party sighted<br />
land close to the mouth of the<br />
Caloosahatchee River. While searching for a<br />
harbor, Menendez spotted a canoe carrying a<br />
tanned, almost naked man speaking in<br />
Spanish and welcoming the Spaniards. He<br />
✧<br />
Pedro Menendez De Aviles.<br />
CHAPTER I<br />
5
✧<br />
Top, left: Seminole Chief William<br />
“Billy” Bowlegs.<br />
Top, right: Seminole Chief Holata Micco,<br />
known as Billy Bowlegs.<br />
Below: Seminole Chief Osceola.<br />
told of being captured from a Spanish ship<br />
along with eleven others. This was the beginning<br />
of the strange tale of the interaction of<br />
Menendez and Carlos, chief of the Calusa.<br />
In their negotiations, Carlos released several<br />
Spanish captives and gave Menendez his sister<br />
as his wife, which was the first known “marriage<br />
of convenience” occurring in America.<br />
Although Menendez tried to convert the<br />
Indians to Christianity, Carlos and his people<br />
were not impressed with the message or what<br />
they had seen of the practice of Christianity.<br />
Menendez left the harbor he had named<br />
“San Anton”, but did not forget the area;<br />
instead he ordered one of his captains,<br />
Francisco de Reinoso, to go and establish a<br />
fort there and search for a cross-state waterway.<br />
The relations between the Spaniards and<br />
the Calusa were strained to say the least. The<br />
Spaniards eventually tricked Carlos into coming<br />
to the San Anton fort, where he and 20 of<br />
his men were captured and put to death.<br />
By December of 1568, the Spaniards had<br />
slaughtered numerous Calusa chiefs. The<br />
Calusa in their retaliation had isolated the<br />
Spaniards in their fort, forcing them to abandon<br />
the fort and mission due to starvation. For<br />
roughly a century after the Spaniards departure,<br />
the Calusa lived in peace and flourished.<br />
As the years passed, the Calusa once again<br />
returned to their way of life. During this time,<br />
they reached their peak in population and<br />
made their greatest strides in culture. The day<br />
was coming when they would see their first<br />
Spanish trader since the days of Menendez. He<br />
arrived with his family and he came in peace.<br />
Surprisingly, the Calusa had no fear of him,<br />
realizing he was just as he appeared. This time<br />
their encounter with the Spanish was a nonviolent<br />
one; a business relationship profitable for<br />
both parties. This was the beginning of an era<br />
of successful trade and improved relationships<br />
between the Calusa and the Spaniards.<br />
With tensions all but nonexistent,<br />
Lieutenant Juan Rodriguez de Cartayo on a<br />
peace mission from St. Augustine, arrived in<br />
1612. He was greeted by more than sixty<br />
canoes filled with men and women welcoming<br />
him to their town. His hope was to send<br />
monks to the Calusa to “Christianize” them.<br />
This hope was never was realized. The Calusa<br />
had had their fill of missionaries and wished<br />
to live and let live. Even though missionary<br />
efforts in 1680 and 1697 were met with opposition<br />
and turned away, the Calusa continued<br />
to welcome Spanish traders.<br />
Unbeknownst to the Spanish or the Calusa,<br />
the threat the Spanish visitors presented was<br />
not that of a vicious attack, but something<br />
much more insidious. They brought diseases—white<br />
man’s diseases; small pox,<br />
measles, tuberculosis, and yellow fever. This<br />
was the beginning of the decline of the Calusa.<br />
Their decline was hastened by the arrival of<br />
the English slave traders, just as ruthless as the<br />
Spanish before them. Between the epidemics<br />
and the slave traders the once proud and<br />
strong Calusa tribe was all but extinguished. It<br />
has been told the few that remained fled for<br />
Cuba or the Yucatan Peninsula, or hid deep<br />
within the swamps of the Everglades.<br />
THE SEMINOLE TRIBE<br />
While the most numerous Indian tribe in<br />
the area had been the Calusa, the Seminole<br />
presence was also felt here in Southwest<br />
Florida. Contrary to popular belief, the<br />
Seminole were not native to Florida. They<br />
migrated here from Georgia, Alabama, and<br />
South Carolina, and were previously known<br />
as the Creek Indians. In addition to the<br />
Creeks, the Seminole tribe included Yuchis,<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
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Yamasses, and Chocktaws. Their numbers<br />
increased with runaway slaves who sought<br />
refuge with the Indians. The term “Seminole”<br />
is a derivative of “cimarron,” which means<br />
“wild men” in Spanish.<br />
The Seminole Indians during the First and<br />
Second Seminole Wars had been pushed farther<br />
and farther south down the Florida<br />
peninsula. The Macomb Treaty of 1838 stated<br />
the Indians should stop fighting and in<br />
exchange would be allowed to remain below<br />
the Peace River and Lake Okeechobee, which<br />
gave them free use of the old canoe trails<br />
through the Everglades. The war was declared<br />
finished, except the attacks continued.<br />
In July 1839, the Seminole attacked a small<br />
detachment of soldiers guarding a trading post<br />
at Harney Point (city of Cape Coral today).<br />
In May 1841, General Worth took command<br />
of the army and at once sent parties into<br />
every swamp and hammock where the Indians<br />
might be found. The army even resorted to<br />
using bloodhounds, with poor results.<br />
The unrest became even more apparent with<br />
the admission of the territory of Florida as the<br />
twenty-seventh state of the Union in 1845.<br />
There was no more than a restless foreboding<br />
here in Southwest Florida until 1848, when<br />
Congress passed a bill granting to the state of<br />
Florida “all lands, lakes, and water courses south<br />
of the established survey.” The Indians protested<br />
this invasion of their territory, which the United<br />
States had given them. The answer they were<br />
given was “Go west and we will give you gold for<br />
each man, woman, and child—$250 for a warrior,<br />
lesser amounts for the others”.<br />
Once the bill was signed and the interior<br />
lands officially belonged to the state of Florida,<br />
Governor Thomas Brown immediately called<br />
for the removal of the Seminoles and all Florida<br />
Indians. An elaborate plan was set into motion<br />
to encroach on Indian land surveying farther<br />
and farther south, sending scouting parties<br />
deep in to the Everglades. In order to protect<br />
the advancing settlements a series of Fort were<br />
construct along the borders of the Everglades.<br />
On February 15, 1850, an order came from<br />
headquarters at Fort Brooke (Tampa) establishing<br />
the post, Fort Myers, by Major General<br />
Twiggs. When completed, the fort consisted<br />
of 57 buildings, including a $30,000 hospital.<br />
The fort extended from the foot of what is<br />
today Hough Street, in a half-circle to Second<br />
Street, and back to the edge of the<br />
Caloosahatchee River at Monroe Street in<br />
what is today’s downtown Fort Myers.<br />
The Seminoles, the only Indian tribe who<br />
never officially surrendered to the U.S.,<br />
successfully resisted removal and did so<br />
fiercely. The U.S. Army became so frustrated<br />
with the resistance and successes of the<br />
Seminoles tactics, they resorted to deception to<br />
capture the famous chief, Osceola, under the<br />
guise of a meeting on peace.<br />
By 1855 only five hundred Seminole<br />
remained in Florida, managing to hideout in the<br />
Everglades. The Third, and last, Seminole War,<br />
was fought against a remnant of Seminole under<br />
the leadership of yet another well-known chief,<br />
Chief Billy Bowlegs. He eluded capture until his<br />
beloved granddaughter and other women and<br />
children were held hostage. It was only then Billy<br />
Bowlegs brought his band of followers out of<br />
✧<br />
Above: A map of the 1839 treaty of the U.S.<br />
and Seminoles. granting lands south of<br />
Caloosahatchee to Seminoles.<br />
Below: A map of U.S. forts established<br />
along the Caloosahatchee during the<br />
Seminole Wars.<br />
CHAPTER I<br />
7
✧<br />
Top, left: Colonel Abraham C. Myers,<br />
c. 1883.<br />
Top, right: General David Twiggs.<br />
Below: Marion Twiggs Myers,<br />
wife of Colonel Myers and daughter<br />
of General Twiggs.<br />
Bottom, right: Fort Myers “Block House”<br />
erected by the US Army in 1856.<br />
ILLUSTRATION FROM FRANK LESLIE’S ILLUSTRATED<br />
NEWSPAPER, OCTOBER 2, 1858.<br />
hiding in the Everglades. He was met by federal<br />
troops in 1858 at what is now known as Billy’s<br />
Creek at the gates of Fort Myers. He and his men<br />
walked into the stockade with dignity and pride.<br />
He boarded the steamer Grey Cloud along with<br />
124 of his followers on their way to an Indian<br />
reservation in the West. Those that remained saw<br />
no further hostilities from the American settlers<br />
and, in fact, would become an essential resource<br />
for the newcomers to the harsh frontier of<br />
Southwest Florida.<br />
The Seminole Tribe today has numerous<br />
reservations in Florida, the nearest to <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> is located to the east in Immokalee.<br />
The Indian population as a whole were<br />
treated very poorly by the “white man” who<br />
came and confiscated their land and<br />
butchered their people. Yet today we see in<br />
the Seminole tribe their resourcefulness and<br />
resilience in their successes, for example, the<br />
Seminole Gaming Casino of Immokalee and<br />
the worldwide ownership of The Hard Rock<br />
Cafe and Casinos. The Seminole Tribe of<br />
Florida entered into an agreement with the<br />
U.S. Government in 1957 confirming their<br />
sovereignty over tribal lands and agreeing to<br />
compensation for seized territory.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
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CHAPTER II<br />
T HE B EGINNING O F L EE C OUNTY<br />
The story of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> begins with Punta Rassa, a point of land at the mouth of the<br />
Caloosahatchee. Punta Rassa, which translates “flat point” from Spanish, was used as a deepwater<br />
harbor at the southern edge of the Caloosahatchee River by the Calusa Indians, the Spaniards, the<br />
cowboys, and the U.S. military. The first U.S. military post at Punta Rassa was Fort Dulaney, established<br />
in 1837 during the Second Seminole War. In the summer of 1841, Fort Dulaney was expanded<br />
to include barracks, large warehouses, and a hospital, only to be destroyed by a hurricane in<br />
October of that same year. The encampment was forced to move upriver to a less vulnerable site.<br />
The new site, nine miles from the mouth of the river, on a spot of land described as “incredibly free<br />
of mosquitoes” would become Fort Harvie, but it was only used for a short period. The War<br />
Department, believing the long Seminole war was winding down, ordered troops out, and, on March<br />
21, 1842, Fort Harvie was abandoned. Over the next decade, greed played a major role in the propaganda<br />
which led to the third Seminole war. Slave’s owners envisioned a goldmine in the rich mucklands<br />
of the Glades, but first it would have to be drained, and they required wide public support for<br />
such a drastic project. It had to look as if the general public would benefit, not just the slave owners.<br />
They also made sure the public outcry was against giving the Seminole Indians even one foot of<br />
the precious land and to take back what the U.S. Government had already given them.<br />
The propagandists exaggerated whatever misdemeanors and crimes the Seminole committed,<br />
causing more tension and applying more pressure on Congress to either kill every Indian or deport<br />
them from the area.<br />
The final straw was on July 17, 1849, when a white trader was killed by five Indians at his trading<br />
post on the Peace River. Of course, there was no inquiry as to the motive behind the killing<br />
and no mention of Billy Bowlegs punishing the guilty Indians himself.<br />
This is when the War Department ordered General Twiggs to take action. One of the first things<br />
he did was to re-establish the fort on the Caloosahatchee. Major Ridgely, following orders from<br />
General Twiggs, arrived at the site of Fort Harvie on the Caloosahatchee River in February 1850, only<br />
✧<br />
The former commander’s quarters of Fort<br />
Myers, built in 1850. It later became home<br />
to Manuel Gonzales and was the final<br />
remaining fort structure standing until 1937.<br />
CHAPTER II<br />
9
✧<br />
Top, left: Manuel Gonzalez, Fort Myers’<br />
first resident.<br />
Top, right: Francis Asbury Hendry.<br />
Below: A map of the military post of Fort<br />
Myers, established in 1850. It was created<br />
as part of the 1856 U.S. Government<br />
review of spending at Fort Myers.<br />
to find the buildings almost completely<br />
destroyed by fire, supposedly by vengeful<br />
Indians. The site was used to build Fort Myers,<br />
named in honor of Colonel Abraham C. Myers,<br />
General Twiggs future son-in-law. By the late<br />
twentieth century, the footprint of the old fort<br />
became the foundation for downtown Fort<br />
Myers. During the Civil War, the harbors at<br />
Fort Dulaney and Fort Myers were reactivated<br />
by the Union Army as a means to steal and ship<br />
cattle for confederate Florida to Key West and<br />
Cuba. The Union effort to disrupt the Florida<br />
cattle industry was so detrimental to the<br />
Confederate war effort that it could not go<br />
unchallenged. In February 1865, a group of<br />
empowered Cattlemen called the Cattle<br />
Battalion, attacked Fort Myers. The battle was<br />
short, and the fort held. After the war was over,<br />
Fort Myers and Punta Rassa were once again<br />
abandoned, but not for long. Jacob Summerlin,<br />
a former Confederate blockade runner during<br />
the Civil War, moved in. As a young man he<br />
inherited 20 slaves with a value of over $1,000<br />
each. Summerlin, being a cattleman and having<br />
no interest in plantation life, traded the slaves<br />
for six thousand head of cattle. He became one<br />
of the largest cattle owners in the state and<br />
turned the old barracks at Punta Rassa into his<br />
own cattle shipping empire. In the beginning,<br />
he shipped his own cattle to Cuba, but being<br />
an enterprising fellow, he became the middleman,<br />
charging 25 to 50 cents a head for others<br />
to use his cattle pens and wharf.<br />
It was possibly during this time the Florida<br />
nickname, “cracker,” came about. The term<br />
was associated with the cattle herders or cowboys<br />
who would use whips to herd their livestock.<br />
The sound of cracking whips could be<br />
heard for great distances while the cowboys<br />
attempted to keep their herds in line. For several<br />
years, Jacob and his son, Samuel, dominated<br />
the Punta Rassa cattle business, and<br />
even built a “hotel” of their own to provide<br />
lodging for the cattlemen, the Summerlin<br />
House, which stood until 1960. A model of<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
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the “hotel” which was constructed from the<br />
original timbers can be seen at the Southwest<br />
Florida Museum of History. In 1867, the<br />
International Ocean and Telegraph Company<br />
came to the area and seized the land and barracks<br />
under the provisions of a Congressional<br />
Act of July 24, 1866, which allowed any telegraph<br />
company “to take and use public land<br />
necessary for the stringing of lines or the<br />
establishment of stations.” Of course, Jacob<br />
Summerlin did not let that setback stop him.<br />
He simply built a much longer, better wharf a<br />
little farther up river using the finest quality<br />
yellow pine (known for it’s durability in such<br />
a harsh environment).<br />
Mr. Summerlin continued building his<br />
empire, incorporating Captain F. A. Hendry’s<br />
cowpens and wharf at Punta Rassa with his own<br />
in 1878 for the purchase price of $10,000.<br />
During the 1880s, George Renton Schultz, a<br />
telegrapher from Newark, New Jersey, in charge<br />
of the telegraph station at Punta Rassa, converted<br />
the unused portion of the barracks into an<br />
inn. The cattle industry was slowing down, and<br />
a new interest entered the picture. Sportsmen<br />
came to fish the waters for Spanish mackerel,<br />
kingfish, channel bass, sea trout, and, of course,<br />
the elusive tarpon. Tarpon fishing became so<br />
popular among his visitors that Schultz’s inn<br />
became known as the Tarpon House.<br />
His winter visitors were to include Charles<br />
B. Hogg of the Standard Oil Company, Hugh<br />
O’Neill, John Jacob Astor, Thomas Edison,<br />
Lieutenant Henn, and W. H. Haldeman, one<br />
of the developers of the city of Naples. The<br />
Hendrys, one of the first families in <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong>, settled here during the winter of<br />
1872-1873, when Charles, along with his<br />
cousins, Captain F. A. and William M. Hendry,<br />
drove their herds of cattle just south of the<br />
Caloosahatchee. Charles housed his family in<br />
a small cabin near what is now Immokolee<br />
✧<br />
Top, left: Colonel Abraham C. Myers,<br />
c. 1883.<br />
Top, right: Captain Fred Menge, c. 1940.<br />
Below: Captain. F.A. Hendry with Seminole<br />
Indians, c. the 1880s.<br />
CHAPTER II<br />
11
✧<br />
Above: Colonel Abraham Myers, namesake<br />
of Fort Myers.<br />
Below: Jacob Summerlin “King of the<br />
Crackers,” the largest cattle owner in<br />
Southwest Florida.<br />
and would later be Glades <strong>County</strong>. This is<br />
where tragedy struck the Hendry family. Their<br />
eldest child, six-year-old Esther Ann, fell ill<br />
while Charles was out on the range. He made<br />
it home in time to see his daughter before she<br />
died on May 17, 1873, but the tragedy made<br />
it painfully aware to Charles that living in the<br />
wilderness was taking its toll on his wife.<br />
Residing so far inland just before the turn of<br />
the century, neighbors were located as much<br />
as thirty miles away. Jane Hendry insisted on<br />
relocating to Fort Myers, where she would<br />
have others close by in time of need. Four<br />
days after burying their daughter, the<br />
Hendrys arrived in Fort Myers. This founding<br />
family of Fort Myers in reality were squatters,<br />
taking possession of a small log cabin located<br />
at the edge of Billy’s Creek. The cabin they<br />
moved into, which had been a shelter for<br />
troops during the Seminole War, was small,<br />
only two rooms, but served its purpose as a<br />
temporary shelter. After the hurricane of<br />
October 1873, the Hendrys purchased the<br />
squatter’s right to the area east of what is now<br />
Monroe Street. The relocation of Charles and<br />
his family to the area was the beginning of the<br />
city of Fort Myers, for along with Charles and<br />
Jane Hendry, and their surviving children,<br />
James, Alice and Roean, many more of the<br />
Hendry clan followed; Captain F. A. Hendry<br />
and family, William M. Hendry and family,<br />
Jehu J. Blount, whose wife, Mary Jane, was a<br />
sister of F. A. and William, and Francis J. and<br />
Augustus J. Wilson, nephews of the Hendrys.<br />
In 1873, William M. Hendry, cousin to<br />
Charles, relocated to Fort Myers, rebuilding<br />
an old building on the bank of the<br />
Caloosahatchee River just east of Hendry<br />
Street, and in 1875 erected a larger house on<br />
the same site. During that same year, he<br />
opened a general store with Major Aaron<br />
Frierson, a native of South Carolina who<br />
served in the War Between the States, at the<br />
corner of First and Hendry Streets under the<br />
name of Frierson & Hendry. He became the<br />
first postmaster of “Myers” in 1876, the name<br />
given to Fort Myers by the Post Office<br />
Department. The U.S. Government stated<br />
there was already a town by the name of Fort<br />
Myer in Virginia, and one was enough.<br />
During his lifetime in Fort Myers, William<br />
served three years as postmaster and eighteen<br />
years as clerk of the circuit court, being succeeded<br />
by his son, Henry A. Captain Francis A.<br />
Hendry, cousin to Charles, first visited Fort<br />
Myers as a dispatch bearer in 1854, and came a<br />
year later as a guide for a cavalry company. He<br />
moved his family to Fort Myers in 1873 into<br />
one of the officers’ quarters just east of where<br />
the Royal Palm Hotel was built. F. A. Hendry<br />
became widely known as the cattle king of<br />
South Florida. Before settling in the area,<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
12<br />
COUNTY
Captain Hendry drove his cattle to the grazing<br />
grounds south of the Caloosahatchee in the Fort<br />
Thompson area in 1870, began shipping steers<br />
to Cuba from Jacob Summerlin’s wharf at Punta<br />
Rassa and a year later. Within one year he had<br />
shipped 12,896 head of cattle. He was also very<br />
well-liked and respected by the Seminole<br />
Indians. When the Seminoles heard Captain<br />
Hendry was dying in 1917, Chief Billy<br />
Conapachee and his brother, Billy Fuel, walked<br />
sixty miles from deep within the Glades to see<br />
him before he died. Captain F. A. Hendry had a<br />
long and active political career and a leading<br />
part in the incorporation of Fort Myers in 1885,<br />
and, along with other big cattlemen of Fort<br />
Myers, was very influential in the formation of<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> in 1887. He became known as “The<br />
Father of Fort Myers.” He was elected to serve<br />
on the first town council, and, two years later,<br />
with the creation of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, he was elected<br />
as one of the first county commissioners. He<br />
also served six terms as representative in the<br />
state legislature, representing <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> from<br />
1893 to 1904. He and his wife had eight children,<br />
and all of their sons followed in their<br />
father’s footsteps serving in public office. James<br />
E. served a term as city treasurer, Louis served<br />
six terms as mayor of Fort Myers, and George<br />
was a state senator. Another of the Hendry clan<br />
was Jehu J. Blount’s wife, Mary Jane Hendry, sister<br />
of Captain F. A. and William Hendry. She<br />
and her husband also moved to Fort Myers in<br />
the fall of 1873, and, shortly after arriving, Jehu<br />
opened a general store across the street from<br />
William Hendry’s store. He went into partnership<br />
with Howell A. Parker, forming the Parker-<br />
Blount firm.<br />
Jehu had been serving for a year or so unofficially<br />
as the postmaster of Fort Myers without<br />
being paid, so, when his brother-in-law,<br />
William, was appointed the first postmaster of<br />
✧<br />
Above: Jehu J. Blount, Fort Myers’ first<br />
(unofficial) postmaster.<br />
Below: A plat of Fort Myers submitted by<br />
James Evan in 1876.<br />
CHAPTER II<br />
13
✧<br />
Above: J. J. Blount’s General Store, on the<br />
northwest corner First and Hendry Streets.<br />
Below: The former officerss quarters at Fort<br />
Myers, occupied by F. A. Hendry in 1870.<br />
Fort Myers, he was angry to say the least. He<br />
and William’s stores were directly across from<br />
each other, and they had always been strong<br />
competitors, so watching potential customers<br />
walking into his rival’s store to pick up their<br />
mail and do their shopping was more than he<br />
could take. With all the political influence<br />
he could muster, he succeeded in having his<br />
own business partner, Howell<br />
A. Parker, appointed as postmaster<br />
when Hendry’s term expired in 1879.<br />
He, then, would reap the benefits of<br />
having the Post Office in his general<br />
store. Mr. Blount was successful in<br />
various business ventures. In company<br />
with Captain Hendry and Frank J.<br />
Wilson, he promoted and built the<br />
first drainage ditch in South Florida,<br />
doing the original work on what later<br />
became known as the Three Mile<br />
Canal between Fort Thompson and<br />
Lake Okeechobee. Jehu Blount was<br />
also one of the founders of the First<br />
Methodist Church, serving many<br />
years as one of its stewards.<br />
Nearing the end of 1873, the residents<br />
of Fort Myers were taken aback<br />
when a newcomer showed up on the<br />
scene announcing he owned all the<br />
land they occupied. His homestead<br />
application for the land was granted<br />
by the government in Gainesville on<br />
December 7. This newcomer was a surveyor<br />
from Suffolk, Virginia, one Major James Evans.<br />
Evans may have been new to the current<br />
residents, but certainly not new to the area. He<br />
had journeyed through this area many times<br />
with surveying crews and knew the surrounding<br />
territory better than anyone with the exception<br />
of the Indians and the Hendrys. Late in<br />
November 1859, Evans, not yet a “major,” was<br />
assigned to a team ordered to survey the<br />
Caloosahatchee region. The team arrived in<br />
December to begin work. During the winter,<br />
their work was interrupted by rumors of<br />
approaching war. His colleagues left for their<br />
home states, but Evans decided to stay to pursue<br />
a lifelong desire to grow tropical fruits and<br />
plants in a balmy, fertile area such as Fort<br />
Myers. Evans realized that once the survey was<br />
completed, the land could then be purchased<br />
from the government, first, by those who had<br />
already settled here. He brought slaves from his<br />
Virginia plantation and planted hundreds of<br />
coconuts, an acre of tropical plants and shrubs,<br />
coffee, and pineapple.<br />
His time in Fort Myers was shortened by his<br />
devotion to his home state of Virginia. Fort<br />
Sumter had been attacked, and war was emi-<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
14<br />
COUNTY
nent. Evans returned to Virginia, where he<br />
defended his home in the Confederate Army<br />
attaining the rank of major. During his<br />
absence, he did not forget about his land on the<br />
Caloosahatchee. He waited for the survey of<br />
the area to be completed, and, on September<br />
30, 1873, applied for homestead, and within<br />
two months had his application approved.<br />
Evans was a beloved man in Fort Myers. Even<br />
though he had every right to force out the squatters<br />
in the area, he never went to court to force<br />
the issue. In one account of this period in Fort<br />
Myers history, it referred to Evans as a “kindly<br />
disposed man” in reference to a compromise<br />
reached by him and the settlers. Captain Hendry<br />
wrote: “The coming of Major Evans was to the<br />
squatters the realization of that which they mostly<br />
feared. Being a stranger in their midst, the confiscating<br />
of their property was to their minds the<br />
thing mostly to be expected. But the major soon<br />
ingratiated himself with them by the kindly<br />
assurance that they would be taken care of. The<br />
heartfelt gratitude of these people caused them to<br />
hold in highest esteem the man who allowed<br />
them to retain their homes.”<br />
Of course, Evans may have had other<br />
motives in mind, according to one old-timer. He<br />
asked him why he didn’t force their removal, to<br />
which Evans replied “Oh, I didn’t want to take<br />
too many chances. I had the law on my side—<br />
but they had Winchesters!” According to courthouse<br />
records, Evans took title to the land,<br />
139.45 acres, on October 12, 1876. He immediately<br />
had the town site platted and recorded in<br />
December 1876, in Key West, the county seat at<br />
the time. The town plat was drawn according to<br />
the settlers’ claims for land, thus explaining the<br />
haphazard layout of the Fort Myers streets.<br />
During the next year and a half, he deeded a<br />
major portion of the best land away for next to<br />
nothing. The Hendry clan received most of the<br />
waterfront, with Captain Hendry acquiring the<br />
choicest property. He paid a $1 for the land<br />
between Jackson and <strong>Lee</strong> Streets and another $1<br />
for the entire waterfront between Royal Palm<br />
Avenue and Hough Street, roughly 800 feet of<br />
water frontage. He also received in the deal large<br />
tracts south of First Street, totaling approximately<br />
twelve acres.<br />
Mrs. Jane Hendry, spouse of Charles W.,<br />
received most of the waterfront between Monroe<br />
and Hendry Streets and all of the block of First,<br />
Hendry, Second and Monroe Streets, also for $1.<br />
For $1, Charles W.’s brother, W. Marion Hendry,<br />
obtained most of the waterfront between<br />
Hendry and Jackson Streets along with choice<br />
parcels south of First Street. Jehu J. Blount,<br />
brother-in-law to the Hendrys, received, for $1,<br />
the entire waterfront between Hough and<br />
Washington, along with a few other tracts. It has<br />
been speculated Major Evans motive may have<br />
been something other than generosity in his<br />
benevolent disposing of his property.<br />
On June 4, 1872, Congress passed an act in<br />
favor of the International Ocean Telegraph<br />
Company, giving it the right to seize acreage at<br />
Punta Rassa, Fort Myers, Branch River, Bartow,<br />
and Tuckerstown, where it had already established<br />
or intended to establish stations. Evans,<br />
already laying claim to part of this designated<br />
land, ended up in a court battle with the telegraph<br />
company. The battle continued for two<br />
years until the secretary of the interior made a<br />
special ruling in Evans’ favor. During the suit,<br />
members of the Hendry clan may have<br />
advanced him monies towards the cost of contesting<br />
the company’s court action against him,<br />
resulting in a ruling in Major Evans’ favor. The<br />
Hendrys may have paid all the expenses and, in<br />
turn, received the gist of the newly platted town.<br />
Of course, as mentioned previously, this is only<br />
✧<br />
Jacob Summerlin Home, Punta Rassa,<br />
built 1874.<br />
CHAPTER II<br />
15
✧<br />
Above: A map of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> boundaries<br />
after its creation in 1887 with a photo of<br />
county’s namesake, General Robert E. <strong>Lee</strong>.<br />
Below: The Hendry Whitering<br />
General Store.<br />
speculation. Evans did not wait the five years to<br />
get title to his land under the Homestead Act of<br />
1862. He instead purchased it outright under<br />
provisions of the Land Act of 1820, paying the<br />
going rate of $1.25 per acre, thus acquiring the<br />
entire town site of 139.45 acres on October 12,<br />
1876, for a mere $174.32, which today would<br />
calculate well into the millions of dollars.<br />
The International Ocean Telegraph Company<br />
did establish a station in Fort Myers and brought<br />
in a telegrapher by the name of C. W. (Waddy)<br />
Thompson to operate it. Not long after his<br />
arrival, he met and fell in love with Laura<br />
Hendry, the daughter of Captain F. A. Hendry.<br />
Their marriage and wedding ceremony was presumably<br />
the first in Fort Myers. Major James<br />
Evans was well liked by the people of Fort<br />
Myers, earning him many elections to public<br />
office. He served seven years on the town council<br />
and eight as county tax assessor. In October,<br />
1878, Major Evans donated an acre of ground<br />
located on the southwest corner of Second<br />
and Jackson Streets to the Board of Public<br />
Instruction of Monroe <strong>County</strong>. On this land the<br />
first schoolhouse was built, paid for by the<br />
county. The schoolhouse later burned. Because<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
16<br />
COUNTY
of extenuating circumstances, the loss of the<br />
schoolhouse leads to the formation of <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong>. Major Evans also donated four lots at<br />
Anderson and Evans on October 5, 1885, to the<br />
Protestant Episcopal Church. Major James<br />
Evans, the founder of the town of Fort Myers,<br />
died on January 12, 1901, and was taken to<br />
Virginia for burial in Cedar Hill Cemetery in<br />
Suffolk. While Fort Myers was coming to life in<br />
the 1800s, there were only three counties from<br />
the Tampa Bay area south; Hillsborough,<br />
Manatee, and Monroe.<br />
The area <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> occupies now was originally<br />
part of Monroe <strong>County</strong>. The county seat<br />
was located in Key West, quite a journey from<br />
Fort Myers. Fort Myers incorporated in August<br />
1885, with a bulging population of 349, the second<br />
largest town on Florida’s Gulf Coast south<br />
of Cedar Key.<br />
The residents of Fort Myers had been dissatisfied<br />
for years being part of a county<br />
whose county seat was so far away that it was<br />
almost impossible to reach. To attend court or<br />
transact business with county officials, or<br />
appeal adjustments to one’s taxes would be<br />
more costly than it would be worth. They felt<br />
they were getting little in return for the taxes<br />
they sent to Key West—no roads, no bridges,<br />
no public improvements of any kind. Even<br />
though the county made a small effort to<br />
improve the roads near the end, it was too little<br />
too late. And what was about to happen<br />
was to be the last straw.<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> finally had enough in 1886, so<br />
it has been told, when a mouse chewed on a<br />
match in the town’s only schoolhouse, sparking<br />
a fire that could not be contained. The<br />
building was destroyed. The school officials<br />
traveled to Key West to request funds to build<br />
a new schoolhouse only to be told there<br />
would be no additional funds because they<br />
should have take better care of county property.<br />
This outraged the citizens of Fort Myers<br />
who held a town meeting and voted to petition<br />
Tallahassee that a new county be formed<br />
from the northern section of Monroe <strong>County</strong>.<br />
Captain F. A. Hendry, along with other major<br />
cattlemen of Fort Myers, had many strong<br />
friends among Tallahassee politicians and quickly<br />
got action in the state legislature. The bill was<br />
passed by both the Senate and the House within<br />
a week and signed immediately by the governor.<br />
Captain Hendry named <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> after<br />
General Robert E. <strong>Lee</strong>, an admired Confederate<br />
officer during the Civil War.<br />
On May 9, 1887, a telegram came from<br />
Tallahassee, saying: “Your county bill has just<br />
passed the House of Representatives. You now<br />
live in the county of <strong>Lee</strong>.” Fort Myers was<br />
named the county seat.<br />
✧<br />
(From left to right) G. W. Hendry, Jehu J.<br />
Blount, W. M. Hendry, Jr., J. A. Hendry, Sr.,<br />
and Captain F. A. Hendry, c. 1912.<br />
CHAPTER II<br />
17
CHAPTER III<br />
G ROWTH OF F ORT M YERS<br />
HISTORICAL<br />
HOMES<br />
✧<br />
The Murphy-Burroughs home.<br />
Fort Myers experienced tremendous growth during the building boom between 1898 and the 1920s<br />
as waves of winter visitors streamed into Florida hoping to find their fortunes in land investments. The<br />
“housing boom” began with the construction of what is now referred to as the Murphy-Burroughs home.<br />
John T. Murphy, a millionaire from Montana, was so enchanted with the charm of the little cow<br />
town that he and his business partner and friend decided to build winter homes here. Mr. Murphy’s<br />
home was without question the largest and most ornate residence in Fort Myers at the time. The size<br />
itself was impressive, but even more exciting were the unusual features included in the home, such<br />
as electricity, indoor plumbing, and a primitive intercom in the kitchen to summon the servants.<br />
Located at the corner of First and Fowler Streets, the two-and-a-half story Victorian frame structure,<br />
built in 1901, included an elaborately decorated veranda wrapping around three sides of the<br />
building with a balcony above, ten dormers, a widow’s walk, and two fireplaces. A latticework<br />
gazebo and stone waterfall were added along the way, together with Fort Myers’ first tennis court.<br />
The home had numerous owners before being purchased by Nelson and Adeline Burroughs in<br />
1918, thus the adoption of the common name, Murphy-Burroughs. In May 1922, the Burroughs<br />
transferred title of the property to their two daughters, Jettie and Mona, who nearly lived here year<br />
round. After Jettie’s death in 1971, Mona became the sole owner of the home. When Mona<br />
Burroughs died in 1978, she bequeathed her beautiful home to the City of Fort Myers with two<br />
conditions. The first, her husband Franz Fischer, would be permitted to live in the house until he<br />
died with financial provision for his care. The second condition required the city to use the property<br />
only as a garden, park, or museum, and should be kept as close to the original condition as<br />
possible. Both conditions have been adhered to by the city.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
18<br />
COUNTY
Today the Murphy-Burroughs home is<br />
open to the public, and is available for weddings<br />
and receptions, and private parties. One<br />
has only to stroll upon the wrap-around<br />
porch and walk through the well preserved<br />
dining room and parlor to step back in time,<br />
a grand time of entertaining guests such as the<br />
Edisons and the Fords.<br />
Another historic beauty, known as the<br />
Langford-Kingston home, was built on First<br />
Street in 1919 by Walter G. Langford. The<br />
Chicago Bungalow Style home, a 2.5-story<br />
structure, was modeled after a home Langford<br />
was fond of in Jacksonville. The red brick<br />
exterior with intricate and unusual designs in<br />
the white masonry trim is well known to the<br />
residents of Fort Myers. It has been the topic<br />
of historic restoration in the past few years,<br />
receiving a Special Category Grant for<br />
restoration, stabilization, and relocation. The<br />
5,232-square-foot building was moved in<br />
May 2003 one block to the east across the<br />
street from the Murphy-Burroughs home.<br />
Langford’s home, is a rare form of<br />
architecture in Southwest Florida, with its<br />
large front porch with massive supports, front<br />
stoop, and grand staircase, sadly enough, was<br />
enjoyed by Langford for only a short period of<br />
time. He passed away within the year. The<br />
house was then sold in 1925 to the inventor<br />
of the Kingston carburetor, George Kingston.<br />
It remained with the Kingston family until it<br />
was sold to the First United Methodist<br />
Church in 1953. The church stopped using<br />
it for services in 1991 but continued to<br />
operate a day care there until 1996. In 2001<br />
the church donated the home to the city of<br />
Fort Myers.<br />
One of the most well-known homesteads in<br />
the area is the Thomas Edison Winter Estate<br />
drawing thousands of visitors every year. Edison<br />
made the decision to purchase the land to<br />
develop his “Garden of Eden” after visiting the<br />
quaint little river town for the first time<br />
in late 1884. He acquired a thirteen-acre<br />
tract for the building of his estate from Jacob<br />
Summerlin’s son, Samuel, for $2,750, an<br />
exorbitant price during that time. He envisioned<br />
a winter haven from the bustle of New York City<br />
with his own botanical gardens. His original<br />
plans included two houses and a laboratory to<br />
be built upon the banks of the Caloosahatchee<br />
River. Edison’s home was to be one of the first<br />
prefabricated homes in the country.<br />
Early in 1887, Edison returning from the<br />
North, immediately went to work putting an<br />
electric light plant into operation. The lights<br />
at Seminole Lodge, as Edison called his estate,<br />
were turned on for the first time on Saturday<br />
night, March 27, 1887, a history-making<br />
event for Fort Myers. Almost everyone in<br />
town strolled out to Edison’s home that<br />
evening to observe the miracle of invention.<br />
(Contrary to some accounts, Edison did not<br />
light the rest of Fort Myers.)<br />
Edison regarded nature as an endless<br />
source of discovery, and through his undaunted<br />
efforts, Riverside Avenue (now McGregor<br />
Boulevard) became the majestic scenic boulevard<br />
we see today, lined with royal palms, and<br />
the reason for the “City of Palms” nickname.<br />
Today, visitors not only see Edison’s elaborate<br />
winter estate during their visit to Fort Myers,<br />
but also his contribution of a rich history to<br />
this ever expanding urban area.<br />
✧<br />
Top, left: (From left to right) Jeita<br />
(daughter), Mona (wife), Nelson, and Mona<br />
(daughter) Burroughs.<br />
Top, right: John Murphy.<br />
Bottom: Langford-Kingston Home.<br />
CHAPTER III<br />
19
parade of lights in mid to late February<br />
through downtown Fort Myers. Main events<br />
include opening ceremonies, a gala ball,<br />
fashion show and the Edison Festival 5K Race.<br />
DOWNTOWN BUSINESS<br />
DEVELOPMENT<br />
✧<br />
Above: The Henry Ford Estate, Fort<br />
Myers, Florida.<br />
Below: Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and<br />
Harvey Firestone.<br />
Edison’s legacy will forever live on. Besides<br />
the obvious contributions of his inventions,<br />
today we see evidence of his legacy in Edison<br />
Park, one of Fort Myer’s oldest and most<br />
prestigious subdivisions, Edison Park Creative<br />
Expressive Arts Elementary School, Edison<br />
Bridge (built in 1931), Edison Avenue, and<br />
one that continues to grow larger every year,<br />
the Edison Festival of Light. Held in February,<br />
this is one of the area’s largest and most<br />
celebrated annual events, commemorating the<br />
birthday of Thomas Edison. It features three<br />
weeks of events, including a spectacular<br />
During the downtown building boom, as<br />
in any town, Fort Myers had it’s business<br />
rivalries and competitions. According to Karl<br />
H. Grismer in The Story of Fort Myers, one<br />
notable squabble was between Walter G.<br />
Langford and Harvie E. Heitman. The feud<br />
began in 1897 over building the first <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> courthouse. Langford, being more of<br />
a progressive fellow, wanted to use bonds to<br />
finance the construction and have a building<br />
to be proud of. Heitman, the frugal,<br />
conservative one, wanted something modest.<br />
The county had trouble raising the funds and<br />
had to settle for a frame courthouse, not the<br />
stately structure they had hoped for.<br />
The organization of Fort Myers first<br />
locally owned bank, the Bank of Fort Myers,<br />
brought about the formation of “teams,” if you<br />
will, in the business world, bringing out a<br />
serious spirit of competition. The directors<br />
included: Harvie E. Heitman, James E.<br />
Hendry, Sr., Walter G. Langford, E. M.<br />
Hendry, George R. Shultz, R. A. Henderson,<br />
Sr., and James E. Foxworthy. Each of these<br />
men was a successful businessman in their<br />
own right.<br />
Other very prominent citizens were not<br />
included on the new institution’s board of<br />
directors, causing deep resentments. The<br />
resentments may have come to naught except<br />
for the rift between three members of the<br />
newly formed board.<br />
Dr. Thomas E. Langford had been a close<br />
friend and long-time business associate of<br />
James E. Hendry, Sr., one of the newly<br />
appointed board members. Hendry and Dr.<br />
Langford’s son, Walter, also on the board of<br />
directors, never agreed on anything and after<br />
Dr. Langford’s death became obvious enemies.<br />
Another member of the board, whom Walter<br />
did not see eye to eye with, was Harvie Heitman.<br />
Making matters worse, Heitman was chosen to<br />
serve as head of the new financial institution.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
20<br />
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Walter was so perturbed; he promptly severed<br />
his relationship with the bank.<br />
Langford gathered others who had been<br />
insulted by their exclusion from the board<br />
and organized the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Bank. In 1908,<br />
after receiving their national charter, they<br />
changed the name to the First National Bank<br />
of Fort Myers.<br />
Those associated with Langford in this second<br />
bank were William H. Towles, George F.<br />
Ireland, Dr. B. P. Matheson, W. S. Garvey, John T.<br />
Murphy, Edward Parkinson, C. C. Pursley, L.O.<br />
Benton, a Georgia capitalist, and John M. Roach,<br />
president of the Chicago Transit Company.<br />
Langford, of course, was appointed president.<br />
The Bank of Fort Myers had it’s headquarters<br />
in Fort Myers’ first brick building, built<br />
by Heitman, close to the northwest corner of<br />
First and Jackson Streets.<br />
For over a decade, the two banks were at<br />
odds. There were differing opinions whether<br />
the factious actions of the two institutions<br />
were harmful or beneficial to the progress of<br />
Fort Myers. On one hand, the competition<br />
lead to the issuing of many loans that normally<br />
would not have been considered in conformity<br />
with sound banking practice, thus<br />
encouraging development. On the other<br />
hand, the dissension seemed to seriously<br />
retard progress. When one institution favored<br />
a public project, the other would oppose it,<br />
and consequently the proposed project was<br />
killed or at the very least delayed.<br />
The one undebatable fact during this feud:<br />
Heitman and Langford were both forces to be<br />
reckoned with who left a lasting impression<br />
on the city of Fort Myers.<br />
Langford played a major role in persuading<br />
officials of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to<br />
extend their tracks into <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> opening<br />
up new avenues of industry. He was also credited<br />
with bringing more outside money into<br />
this area than any other man in Fort Myers<br />
encouraging wealthy northerners to invest in<br />
properties in South Florida.<br />
In 1888, Harvie Heitman began his career<br />
in business as a teenager clerking for his<br />
great-uncle, Howell A. Parker (Fort Myers’<br />
first mayor), in the city’s largest general store<br />
at the time, located on the corner of First and<br />
Hendry Streets, where Fort Myers first brick<br />
building was later to be built. By 1894 he was<br />
in business for himself.<br />
Harvie built the first brick building in <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> in 1897, financed by Ambrose<br />
McGregor, and with the financial backing of<br />
Tootie McGregor in 1905, built the town’s second<br />
brick building, the Bradford Hotel, named<br />
in honor of Mrs. McGregor’s deceased son.<br />
Another landmark accredited to Heitman<br />
is the two-story, 193-foot-long Earnhardt<br />
Building built in 1915 on First Street housing<br />
the McCrory’s Five and Dime Store for more<br />
than three-quarters of a century with the only<br />
public bathroom complete with hot and cold<br />
running water.<br />
Heitman became the owner of a large part<br />
of the business section of Fort Myers and<br />
✧<br />
Above: The Thomas A. Edison estate with<br />
newly planted Royal Palms.<br />
Below: The Thomas A. Edison Estate with<br />
mature Royal Palms.<br />
CHAPTER III<br />
21
✧<br />
Above: The <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Courthouse, c.<br />
1925. The courthouse was built in 1915.<br />
Below: The Earnhardt Building, First Street.<br />
several large citrus grove properties in the<br />
county. Along with his position as president of<br />
the Bank of Fort Myers, he also lead H. E.<br />
Heitman Company, <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Packing<br />
Company, Mutual Realty Company, Bonita<br />
Land Company, Fort Myers Southern Railway<br />
Company, Heitman-Evans Company, <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> Fair Association, vice-president of the<br />
Fort Myers Golf and Country Club, and<br />
founder-member of the Board of Trade.<br />
Somehow, Heitman found the time to<br />
court, and marry Florida Shultz, the only<br />
daughter of George A. Shultz, telegrapher in<br />
charge of the Punta Rassa cable station of the<br />
International Ocean Telegraph Company, on<br />
October 6, 1897.<br />
Both Harvie Heitman and Walter G.<br />
Langford were successful visionaries with<br />
major contributions to the development of<br />
downtown Fort Myers, but both left this earth<br />
at a relatively young age, Heitman was 50<br />
when he passed and Langford was only 47.<br />
One wonders how much more the two would<br />
have accomplished if they would have been<br />
given another thirty years to glean from the<br />
wisdom only age brings forth.<br />
FORT MYERS NICKNAME<br />
Hugh O’Neill, a New York Department store<br />
magnate, came to Florida on business in 1892<br />
and ended up fishing for tarpon at Punta Rassa.<br />
He fell in love with Fort Myers and built the<br />
fifty-room Fort Myers Hotel. He planted large<br />
Royal Palm trees around the hotel which<br />
became such an attraction; he renamed his<br />
hotel the Royal Palm Hotel. Edison took notice<br />
of the majestic beauty of the palms and planted<br />
the royals down Riverside Drive (now known as<br />
McGregor Boulevard) from Monroe Street to<br />
Manuel’s Branch. They made such an<br />
impression on residents and visitors alike, Fort<br />
Myers became known as the “City of Palms.”<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
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CHAPTER IV<br />
T RANSPORTATION H ISTORY OF S OUTHWEST F LORIDA<br />
When speaking of the history of transportation in the area, the name Hamilton Disston most<br />
assuredly comes to mind. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on August 23, 1844, to a wealthy<br />
business owner, the charismatic, energetic fellow envisioned an ambitious project to reclaim<br />
swampland in Southern Florida known in part as the Everglades, to facilitate agricultural and possible<br />
residential development.<br />
In June 1881, Hamilton Disston purchased four million acres of land from the State of Florida<br />
for $1 million, promptly bailing the state out of its debt and becoming the largest single land owner<br />
in the United States at the time.<br />
Hamilton organized the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Company to take<br />
care of legalities and, to supervise operations, he hired a young fellow, then only twenty-three years<br />
old, from New Orleans who had much experience in drainage work. That young man was Captain<br />
J. Fred Menge, who was destined to play an important role in the growth of Fort Myers.<br />
After hearing of the sale of land to Disston, the Fort Myers residents were ecstatic pondering<br />
what great development such a huge drainage project would bring. Pioneers would flock to the<br />
area from all over to settle along the Caloosahatchee River. Fort Myers would become the gateway<br />
to a vast new empire and would eventually be the largest city in the state.<br />
Mr. Disston dredged and deepened the Caloosahatchee above Fort Myers, connecting two small<br />
lakes and creating a navigable link to Lake Okeechobee and on to Kissimmee. The first trip to<br />
Kissimmee from Fort Myers was planned for September 20, 1883. The maiden journey was to be<br />
undertaken on the Bertha <strong>Lee</strong>, a two-decked, wood-burning sternwheeler. Disston expected the trip<br />
to take three days, but he was sorely disappointed. The steamer was 130 feet long, drew three feet<br />
of water, and was entirely too large to navigate the narrow, shallow canals dredged by Captain<br />
Menge. Two dams had to be constructed along the way just to keep her afloat. A week passed just<br />
getting to Lake Okeechobee.<br />
The Kissimmee River proved to be even more of a challenge, at times requiring a whole day to round<br />
one torturous bend. The entire trip ended up taking forty-three days, not three, as Disston predicted.<br />
✧<br />
One of many dredges used to “tame”<br />
the Everglades.<br />
CHAPTER IV<br />
23
✧<br />
Captain Fred Menge, c. 1940.<br />
Draining and dredging the area proved to<br />
be more difficult than Mr. Disston had anticipated.<br />
His reclamation project ended in 1889,<br />
but not before beginning the Three Mile<br />
Canal, Nine Mile Canal and the 13 Mile Canal<br />
(now known as the Miami Canal). Perhaps<br />
Mother Nature had a hand in the failure of<br />
Disston’s project, as she objected to the devastating<br />
effect draining the Everglades would<br />
have on the delicate balance of life not taken<br />
into consideration during that period in time.<br />
Since the railway was not to extend to Fort<br />
Myers until after the turn of the century,<br />
steamboats and schooners were utilized for<br />
shipping marketable items and passenger travel.<br />
One such schooner, the Lily White, captained<br />
by Henry L. Roan, a resident of Fort<br />
Myers, made trips up and down the West<br />
Coast stopping at almost all ports along the<br />
way. One such port was Cedar Key. While<br />
docked there, Stafford C. Cleveland, a former<br />
publisher from New York, loaded his equipment<br />
on his way to Fort Ogden to start a newspaper.<br />
Roan, knowing Fort Myers needed a<br />
newspaper, discovered he had a genuine newspaper<br />
editor on board. Instead of going into<br />
Charlotte Harbor and stopping at Fort Ogden<br />
as usual, he headed straight to Fort Myers.<br />
When the Lily White arrived in Fort Myers,<br />
a group of influential residents talked<br />
Cleveland into staying in Fort Myers, guaranteeing<br />
him 300 subscribers for a year and $600<br />
to help with initial expenses. Overwhelmed by<br />
their offers, Cleveland agreed to stay, and on<br />
November 22, 1884, the first issue of the Fort<br />
Myers Press was distributed.<br />
J. Fred Menge left the employ of Hamilton<br />
Disston in 1888 and started a steamboat line<br />
with two boats purchased from Disston, the<br />
Gopher and the Mamie. The boats were small<br />
but large enough to carry all the items of the<br />
up-river settlers. One of his skippers was<br />
Captain M. A. Gonzalez, the first settler in<br />
Fort Myers.<br />
His pride and joy was his two-decked,<br />
stern-wheeler, the Edison, named in honor of<br />
his good friend, Thomas A. Edison. It was<br />
built by Sam J. Johnson in Apalachicola for<br />
river travel and drew less than2.5 feet of water<br />
with a capacity for 1,200 boxes of fruit.<br />
In 1890 Menge purchased the City of<br />
Athens, a stern-wheel steamboat which had<br />
been built for Kissimmee-Fort Myers runs.<br />
The steamer had to be rebuilt after being partially<br />
destroyed by fire, but Menge got it back<br />
into service running trips three times a week<br />
between Fort Myers and Fort Thompson. He<br />
soon formed the Menge Bros. Steamboat Line<br />
with his brother Conrad and continued service<br />
with numerous steamers until suspending<br />
operations just before World War I.<br />
While in Disston’s employ, Fred married<br />
Virginia <strong>Lee</strong> Hendry, a daughter of Captain<br />
Francis Hendry, one of Fort Myers first families.<br />
Another steamboat line in operation was<br />
owned by brothers, George and Andrew<br />
Kinzie. At the turn of the century George was<br />
chief engineer of the St. Lucie, a doubledecked,<br />
120-foot stern-wheeler owned by the<br />
Plant System, with Andrew as the purser on<br />
the ship. The Kinzie Brothers Steamer Line<br />
had its real beginning with the award of the<br />
mail contract from the government running<br />
daily service to Sanibel, Captiva, St. James,<br />
Useppa, Pineland, and Bokeelia, carrying passengers<br />
and freight as well. The Kinzies most<br />
popular vessel with the winter visitors was the<br />
Dixie with excursions from Fort Myers down<br />
the Caloosahatchee to the barrier islands.<br />
The days of the river steamers were<br />
numbered as they gave way to progress. With<br />
the extension of the railway from Punta Gorda<br />
and the development of highways and<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
24<br />
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automobiles, the steamers were relegated to<br />
recreational use.<br />
The advancement of the railroad to Fort<br />
Myers was hampered by Henry B. Plant, the<br />
Florida railroad magnate. Possibly due to<br />
business conflicts in the area, Mr. Plant<br />
refused to listen to pleas from prominent leaders<br />
in Fort Myers for an extension of his railway<br />
to <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> instead of Punta Gorda<br />
just north of the Caloosahatchee River. A vice<br />
president of the Plant System hinted in<br />
January, 1896 that if <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> would<br />
donate $40,000 to the system, the railroad<br />
might be provided. At the time, <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
was in no shape financially to take advantage<br />
of the wealthy Plant System offer even though<br />
it was in dire need of its services.<br />
When Henry Plant suddenly died in June<br />
1899, there was no mourning in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
for his passing. With his reluctance to even<br />
entertain the idea of extending the tracks<br />
south, he had made no friends in Fort Myers.<br />
After his passing, the Plant System was still<br />
controlled by Plant’s handpicked subordinates.<br />
Nevertheless, fate smiled on <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> when the $25-million holdings of<br />
Plant’s were sold to the Atlantic Coast Line<br />
Railroad in April 1902.<br />
Shortly after the purchase, Walter G.<br />
Langford, an influential and successful businessman<br />
representing a group of Fort Myers<br />
leaders, began soliciting the Coast Line officials<br />
for the much desired railway extension<br />
and in the summer of 1902, P. F. Jenkins, construction<br />
engineer for Coast Line, visited the<br />
city. Due to his favorable report submitted to<br />
the Coast Line directors, it was decided the<br />
tracks would extend to Fort Myers and a<br />
depot site would also be furnished.<br />
Construction began on the twenty-eightmile<br />
long extension the following winter. The<br />
last tracks were laid on Saturday, February 20,<br />
1904, amid much celebration from the Fort<br />
Myers residents. The original train station was<br />
built at the corner of Main and Monroe Streets<br />
with passenger train service starting on May<br />
10, 1904, including two daily runs. One<br />
almost dead industry brought to life in the area<br />
by the new train service was the growing of<br />
fresh vegetables for outside markets. The population<br />
and building boom that also followed<br />
were so tremendous, one wonders how much<br />
growth would have taken place if Mr. Plant had<br />
extended the train service when the first<br />
requests came from the citizens of Fort Myers.<br />
Feeling the city needed an attractive railroad<br />
station to welcome incoming visitors, a new facility<br />
was built in 1923 on Peck Street with a red<br />
barrel tiled roof and parapets, two waiting areas<br />
with fireplaces, four restrooms, baggage rooms, a<br />
ticket office, and a telegraph office upstairs. The<br />
blueprints included two separate waiting areas<br />
and restrooms to accommodate the then still segregated<br />
population, one labeled “Whites” and the<br />
other “Colored.” After passenger service ended in<br />
1971, the station was closed, but in 1982 it was<br />
renovated and has been home to the Fort Myers<br />
<strong>Historic</strong>al Museum ever since. An authentic<br />
replica of a pioneer “cracker” house, a 1926 La<br />
✧<br />
Above: The steamer Dixie.<br />
Below: The steamer City of Athens,<br />
c. 1914.<br />
CHAPTER IV<br />
25
✧<br />
Above: Menge Bros. Marine Steam Railway,<br />
six miles from Fort Myers.<br />
Below: Tamiami Trailblazers.<br />
France fire pumper, and a 1929 private Pullman<br />
rail car are among the exhibits you will find during<br />
the museum’s tour.<br />
In 1926, another railroad chugged into<br />
Fort Myers bringing competition for the<br />
already established Coast Line. Seaboard Air<br />
Line Railway, eager to acquire part of the<br />
region’s traffic, extended their service from<br />
Hull through Fort Ogden and on to Fort<br />
Myers, a sixty-nine-mile extension. By 1928,<br />
the last major rail project in Southwest<br />
Florida was finished, terminating in<br />
Everglades City, the southernmost point of the<br />
entire Atlantic Coast Line Railroad System.<br />
For decades, Southwest Florida was served<br />
by both the Coast Line and Seaboard railroads.<br />
The area did not warrant two major rail<br />
carriers and in 1967 the two merged, forming<br />
the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.<br />
In November 1980, the Seaboard Coast<br />
Line merged with the Chessie System to form<br />
CSX and became the second largest railroad in<br />
the U.S. (at that time). Ownership and operations<br />
of 118 miles of CSX tracks was taken<br />
over by Seminole Gulf Railway, Southwest<br />
Florida’s regional railroad. Today a popular<br />
attraction in the area is their mystery dinner<br />
train making weekly runs.<br />
One of the hardiest groups of men in Fort<br />
Myers were the “Explorers,” the Tamiami<br />
Trailblazers. Their goal was to conquer the<br />
Everglades and blaze a trail by automobile from<br />
Fort Myers to Miami, what they considered<br />
“the last frontier.” Many doubted their ability to<br />
tame the Everglades, but, on April 4, 1923, 26<br />
men and 10cars left town on the approximate<br />
route. They encountered numerous setbacks<br />
and dangerous obstacles along the way,<br />
attracting the attention of the national press.<br />
With much perseverance they arrived in Miami<br />
on April 25, twenty-one days later. The trail<br />
was officially opened to Miami in April 1928<br />
with thanks in part to Barron Collier, a wealthy<br />
advertising tycoon responsible for the<br />
formation of Collier <strong>County</strong> on <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s<br />
southern border. He assisted in funding the<br />
trail construction through his county. The state<br />
took over the legendary road in 1926, thus<br />
facilitating its completion in 1928. For the first<br />
time, motorists could drive from Tampa to<br />
Miami, having to travel through Fort Myers on<br />
their trek, thus opening Fort Myers to the<br />
outside world.<br />
Each steppingstone of advancement in<br />
transportation brought with it its own level of<br />
progress, growth, and new opportunities for<br />
what was once labeled “the little cow town” in<br />
Southwest Florida.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
26<br />
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CHAPTER V<br />
T HE O THER S IDE OF THE R IVER<br />
Prior to the development of Cape Coral, the area was known as “the other side of the river” by<br />
homesteaders, loggers, cattlemen, professional fishermen, and sportsmen. The vast open cattle range<br />
and hunting ground held fond memories of camping and fishing for many. Nicknamed “Redfish<br />
Point,” it was the best place in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> to catch redfish. But for some the memories were painful.<br />
On July 23, 1839, during the Second Seminole War, what is today the intersection of Del Prado<br />
Boulevard and Cape Coral Parkway was the location of the infamous “Harney Point Massacre.” At 4<br />
a.m. on that date, a group of 150 Seminoles attacked the unsuspecting soldiers posted there, leaving<br />
13 soldiers and civilians dead. Lieutenant Colonel W. S. Harney and thirteen others escaped by<br />
way of the Caloosahatchee, some reportedly in their skivvies. The fallout from the “massacre” resulted<br />
in the end of a short pause in fighting during the Second Seminole War.<br />
One of the resilient residents on “the other side of the river” was Jacob David Moulter, Sr. He<br />
was so susceptible to bronchial pneumonia that his physician strongly suggested he head to a<br />
warmer climate. He came to <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> in the 1920s and was employed by the Caloosahatchee<br />
Bridge Company, which was building a narrow wooden span at the time connecting the Tamiami<br />
Trail with Fort Myers east of Billy’s Creek at Freemont Street. It was then that Molter discovered<br />
there was homestead property available. He filed for and received 160 acres under the homesteader’s<br />
obligation of clearing a portion of the land, building a home and living on the property<br />
for five years in order to obtain the deed. This was no easy task, considering he had to bring all<br />
the lumber from Fort Myers, rowing it across the river in a skiff, tying it to his car and driving<br />
through the woods on a sandy trail just wide enough for one vehicle. It was a challenge, to say the<br />
least, and just one example of the determination of earlier settlers in the area.<br />
Moulter built a two-story frame house in 1928 for his daughter, Agnes, and her husband, Gerald<br />
Sushil, on the south side of Pine Island Road. Agnes and Gerald lived in the home for a short period<br />
of time before settling in Captiva. Gerald worked for Clarence Chadwick as a horticulturist<br />
whose Key lime groves on Captiva Island sat where the South Seas Plantation is located today.<br />
✧<br />
The Waltzing Waters attraction in<br />
Cape Coral.<br />
CHAPTER V<br />
27
✧<br />
Above: Connie Mack, Jr.<br />
Below: An aerial photo of Cape Coral.<br />
Ida Mae Moulter, Jacob Jr.’s wife, worked<br />
for the Forestry Service for eighteen years,<br />
manning the fire tower at the corner of Pine<br />
Island Road and Chiquita Boulevard, previously<br />
known as Moulter Grade Road. She<br />
sadly watched as the land was bulldozed to<br />
make way for progress. She believed, as many<br />
others, there was no reason for the developers<br />
to scalp the land.<br />
Most of the development on the other side<br />
of the river was concentrated along U.S. 41<br />
and near the railways. The development of the<br />
southern tip of what is now Cape Coral started<br />
in 1957, when Leonard and Jack Rosen<br />
purchased the 103-square-mile tract previously<br />
mentioned as “Redfish Point” for<br />
$678,000. Their dream was to build a<br />
“Waterfront Wonderland.” Of course, there<br />
was a limited amount of coastal property<br />
available, so to multiply their dividends from<br />
the sale of “waterfront” property, they dredged<br />
four hundred miles of “navigable” canals,<br />
more, they boasted, than the famous Venice,<br />
Italy. The Gulf American Corporation was<br />
formed to develop this magical waterfront<br />
community, and, on November 4, 1957,<br />
ground was officially broken as Cape Coral.<br />
This Florida development was marketed<br />
like no other, through a mail order program<br />
with ads on radio, television, and in print. Fort<br />
Myers and <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> were inundated with<br />
strangers toting advertisements and asking<br />
how to get to the “waterfront wonderland.”<br />
The company saw to it that no one visiting<br />
the area escaped without a sales pitch. The<br />
sales office was located in a fourplex at the<br />
corner of Cape Coral Parkway and Coronado<br />
Parkway, the end of developed roads at the<br />
time. Anyone traveling that far south would<br />
notice the office and signs of life, and stop, or<br />
if they failed to stop, the guard manning the<br />
booth at the intersection would stop them<br />
and send them back to the office. At times it<br />
was necessary to stop the ground traffic at the<br />
intersection so the company’s plane could use<br />
the road as a landing strip. After the sales<br />
pitch, the prospect was taken up in the company’s<br />
rented plane for a bird’s-eye view of the<br />
area. Ed Wilson, the company’s first pilot, was<br />
a Florida cracker who was able to point out<br />
landmarks on the ground and keep a running<br />
narrative with a local flair projecting a picture<br />
of Cape Coral in the future. Kenny Schwartz,<br />
one of Gulf American’s super salesmen and<br />
Cape Coral’s first permanent resident, sold the<br />
first lot to Hank Snodgrass. Snodgrass was<br />
willing to buy sight unseen, but Kenny insisted<br />
he see the property. Quoting Kenny, “It was<br />
my debut and I wanted him to see where the<br />
country club and the shopping center and the<br />
bank would be.” Cape Coral’s first four homes<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
28<br />
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were completed in May 1958 on Riverside<br />
and Flamingo Drives<br />
By 1959, water view home sites sold for<br />
$990, waterfront sold for $1,900, and riverfront<br />
would set you back $3,390. Today,<br />
waterfront lots on a canal with sailboat gulf<br />
access run in excess of $500,000. Property<br />
sales for Gulf American reached over $9 million<br />
after their first year. This, being quite<br />
unexpected so early in the game, presented<br />
the company with a problem, a good problem,<br />
yet a problem. They needed to acquire<br />
more land. Thus Bob Henshaw was hired. He<br />
had been in real estate in Florida for almost a<br />
decade with a specialty in large, raw, undeveloped<br />
parcels. He first learned what land was<br />
on the market and negotiated with the broker.<br />
After exhausting all those possibilities, he<br />
researched land ownership records at the<br />
courthouse. Armed with that information, he<br />
approached individual owners and acquired<br />
massive pieces of property for as little as $165<br />
an acre and smaller holdings for as much as<br />
$2,000 an acre.<br />
Those who contributed to the credibility of<br />
the Gulf American Land Corporation at the<br />
time were Connie Mack, Jr., whose father was<br />
the popular manager of the Philadelphia<br />
Athletics baseball team who called Fort Myers<br />
their winter home in the 1920s, Bill Stern, a<br />
notable sportscaster, and Dave Garroway, a<br />
friendly morning television show host who<br />
praised the development while on the air with<br />
millions of viewers.<br />
One of the most difficult times for Cape<br />
Coral was during Hurricane Donna in 1960.<br />
Even though Leonard Rosen’s business practices<br />
at times were questionable and even<br />
written about in the New York Times, he went<br />
above and beyond the call of duty during the<br />
aftermath of this powerful storm. There were<br />
stories of families whose homes had been<br />
damaged by Donna who Mr. Rosen put up in<br />
other places rent-free. The day after the<br />
storm, he went out and purchased all the<br />
roofing paper he could find in <strong>Lee</strong>, Charlotte,<br />
and Collier counties and sent a crew out to<br />
“weather in” peoples homes. The electricity<br />
was out for a period, and, during that time,<br />
Mr. Rosen saw to it free meals were provided<br />
until people could get back on their feet.<br />
The southern part of the Cape was a long<br />
way from any conveniences. One had to travel<br />
almost twenty miles just for a loaf of bread. So,<br />
a major improvement for Cape Coral came<br />
with the building of the Cape Coral Bridge in<br />
1964, connecting the city of Cape Coral and<br />
Fort Myers. Prior to this gateway to Fort Myers,<br />
one had to travel up Del Prado Boulevard and<br />
east to the Edison Bridge. Interestingly enough,<br />
as far back as 1959, when the best location for<br />
a bridge was being considered, engineers<br />
picked a location connecting Everest Parkway<br />
✧<br />
Above: Kenny and Barbara Schwartz.<br />
Below: An aerial of Cape Coral taken<br />
in 1968.<br />
CHAPTER V<br />
29
✧<br />
Early Cape Coral.<br />
with Colonial Boulevard, now the location of<br />
the Midpoint Memorial Bridge. However, due<br />
to construction costs and proximity to the area<br />
of initial development, the Cape Coral Parkway<br />
to Braden-Sutphin Road (now College<br />
Parkway) route was chosen. The Midpoint<br />
Memorial Bridge was finished in 1997, connecting<br />
Fort Myers with Veterans Parkway, now<br />
extending all the way to Burnt Store and Pine<br />
Island Roads.<br />
Since its inception, Cape Coral had been<br />
known as a “sleepy” community with its large<br />
retirement population. This all changed with<br />
the population boom of the 1990s that<br />
brought with it young working class families.<br />
There is still a larger than normal retirement<br />
population; however, the perception that the<br />
city is an “old” city no longer applies.<br />
Cape Coral is bordered by the<br />
Caloosahatchee River on the east and Matlacha<br />
Pass on the west. It runs north to the Charlotte<br />
<strong>County</strong> line. Today Cape Coral is one of the<br />
fastest growing areas in Florida, boasting more<br />
than 160,000 residents. At build-out it is estimated<br />
Cape Coral will have a population of<br />
approximately 400,000. It is the third-largest<br />
city geographically in the state of Florida and<br />
is the eleventh largest city in population.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
30<br />
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CHAPTER VI<br />
L EE C OUNTY’ S B ARRIER I SLANDS<br />
The barrier islands of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> include Sanibel, Captiva, Fort Myers Beach (consisting of<br />
Estero Island and San Carlos Island), Pine Island, and Useppa Island. In addition, hundreds of<br />
smaller named and unnamed bits of land are scatted around the waters of Southwest Florida. They<br />
all have somewhat similar beginnings, each having Calusa, Spanish, and Seminole histories, but<br />
through the years they have each taken on their own defining characteristics.<br />
Pine Island, along with all the barrier islands on the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> coast, had its Indians, Spanish<br />
fisheries and tales of pirates, but after the disappearance of the Calusa it basically remained uninhabited<br />
until 1873. That year the island’s first permanent resident arrived. Captain John Smith, a<br />
Finnish sailor who years earlier had been shipwrecked near Key West during a violent storm,<br />
brought his young family to the southern most tip of Pine Island, which was to become St. James<br />
City. Descendants of Captain Smith still reside on the island, over one hundred years later.<br />
In January 1886, a group of investors from Maine and Canada founded St. James City. They<br />
formed the On-The-Gulf Company and planted thousands of coconut palms for their envisioned<br />
coconut groves. They built the fifty room San Carlos Hotel, but, when their coconut venture failed<br />
due to poor preparation, the company failed, and St. James reverted to the wilds. Only a few fishermen<br />
remained. The hotel was destroyed by fire on July 27, 1905.<br />
Today, the development of Pine Island has differed greatly from that of its neighbors. It has kept<br />
its small town feel, resisting the over-commercialized, over-developed mentality of its neighbor,<br />
Cape Coral. There has been talk of annexing Pine Island into Cape Coral, but Pine Islanders will<br />
not go down without a fight. The residents enjoy their laid back, rural, sparsely populated community.<br />
Surrounded by mangroves, three aquatic preserves, and mostly agricultural zoning, it has<br />
escaped the cement and development of other Florida islands. Zoning limits now in place will<br />
allow future growth, but preserve its unique atmosphere for years to come.<br />
✧<br />
President Teddy Roosevelt.<br />
CHAPTER VI<br />
31
✧<br />
Casa Yble—Sanibel Island.<br />
Sanibel and Captiva Islands also saw their<br />
share of Indians, Spanish fishermen, and legends<br />
of pirates in their infancy. Ponce de Leon<br />
is believed to have discovered Sanibel Island<br />
in 1513 while searching for the “Fountain of<br />
Youth.” It is said he named the island “Santa<br />
Isybella” after Queen Isabella, thus the digression<br />
to the name “Sanibel.”<br />
An interesting part of the folklore of<br />
Captiva Island is the legend of Jose Gaspar. It<br />
was rumored he buried his stolen treasure on<br />
Sanibel and built a prison on “Isle de los<br />
Captivas” or Captiva Island, where he kept his<br />
female prisoners “captive” for ransom.<br />
Pioneer settlement on Sanibel centered on<br />
Point Ybel, which is now considered “Old<br />
Town Sanibel” This area was near the<br />
Sanibel Lighthouse, designated by the U.S.<br />
Government in 1870 as a lighthouse reservation<br />
with the lighthouse first being lit on<br />
August 20, 1884. It remains a working lighthouse<br />
to this day.<br />
By 1889 there were 21 houses and 40 families<br />
living on Sanibel. Its reputation of gracious<br />
hospitality began with the wealthy<br />
industrialist visitors looking for uninterrupted<br />
rest and relaxation. The beautiful Casa Ybel<br />
Resort, originally known as “The Sisters”<br />
opened in the late 1880s. Famous Americans<br />
seeking a tranquil retreat, such as Charles<br />
Lindbergh and his wife, Anne Morrow<br />
Lindbergh, frequently visited. President<br />
Teddy Roosevelt and poet Edna St. Vincent<br />
Millay also enjoyed the island’s hospitality.<br />
A Sanibel pioneer, Frank P. Bailey, arrived<br />
on Sanibel with his mother and two brothers<br />
in 1894. They began farming while working<br />
on obtaining their own land. The family eventually<br />
bought a plantation store that combined<br />
packing and shipping of their own produce<br />
as well as that of other farmers. When<br />
the Sanibel Packing Company, the name of<br />
the Bailey family enterprises, was destroyed<br />
by the hurricane of 1926, he rebuilt a larger<br />
store in a more secure location.<br />
Bailey co-founded the Sanibel Community<br />
Church in 1917 and, later, in 1926, helped<br />
to establish the Sanibel Community House,<br />
a facility that still serves as a center of<br />
island activity.<br />
In the 1940s he served as justice of the<br />
peace and operated the family’s general store<br />
until his death in 1952.<br />
One of the island’s most influential visitors<br />
was Jay Norwood “Ding” Darling. He discovered<br />
Sanibel on a trip in 1935. A Pulitzer<br />
Prize-winning political cartoonist and noted<br />
conservationist, “Ding” Darling actively campaigned<br />
for federal protection of the island’s<br />
fragile ecosystem. In 1945, more than 6,300<br />
acres of mangrove, bay, and estuary became the<br />
J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge<br />
and today is home to more than 300 species of<br />
birds, 50 species of reptiles and amphibians,<br />
and more than 30 types of mammals.<br />
Sanibel and Captiva’s reputations as sanctuary<br />
islands have attracted many visitors also<br />
drawn to the famous beaches, shelling, fishing,<br />
and wildlife. Many were afraid the island<br />
would succumb to over-development and lose<br />
its charm and national heritage. So, by 1974,<br />
Sanibel had formed its own city government,<br />
allowing the residents to control their own<br />
destiny. Land use restrictions were enacted<br />
and continue to guide growth and development<br />
today.<br />
Useppa Island is an upscale privately<br />
owned island and has been known since the<br />
late nineteenth century for its luxury resort. As<br />
on of the only Island in Southwest Florida<br />
with a source of freshwater, Useppa has<br />
attracted human habitation for thousands of<br />
years. First inhabited by Paleo-Indians around<br />
8000 B.C. and later the Calusa, the island<br />
boasts one of the most ancient history’s in<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
32<br />
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Florida. In 1989, within a burial mound, the<br />
body of a Calusa male was found, named<br />
“Useppa Man,” who had died around 600 A.D.<br />
Fort Casey was built in 1850 by the United<br />
States during the skirmishes with the Seminole<br />
Indians, but was soon abandoned. During the<br />
War Between the States, Useppa was an outpost<br />
for Union sympathizers, who launched<br />
guerrilla strikes on Confederate ships. Because<br />
of the popularity of tarpon fishing in the<br />
1880s, Chicago businessman John Roach<br />
established a resort on Useppa which was<br />
damaged by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935<br />
and torn down after World War II.<br />
Useppa has seen numerous owners<br />
through the years. Barron Collier, developer<br />
of Collier <strong>County</strong>, purchased the island in<br />
1911, William Snow in 1962, and James B.<br />
“Jimmy” Turner, a Tampa dairyman, bought<br />
the island in 1968. A little known fact about<br />
Useppa Island: it was utilized by the CIA during<br />
the 1960s as a training base for the “Bay of<br />
Pigs” invaders.<br />
Today the upscale homes and cottages are<br />
privately owned and can be purchased by<br />
“members only.” Garfield Beckstead is the sole<br />
owner of the Useppa Island Club, which serves<br />
Useppa property owners and non-resident<br />
Club members. The island boasts of its exclusivity<br />
with no bridges, no cars and no crowds.<br />
Fort Myers Beach is an entity all to itself<br />
and has chosen, for the most part, a much<br />
more commercialized way of life. Zoning<br />
restrictions are more liberal along the shores<br />
of Fort Myers Beach, allowing high-rise<br />
hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions to<br />
block the natural beauty of the island.<br />
It also has its history of Spanish explorers<br />
and pirates. Legend has it in the early 1700s<br />
the beach was host to two famous pirates honeymooning<br />
on its shores—Anne Bonney and<br />
Captain “Calico Jack” Rackham.<br />
Homesteaders headed for the islands in the<br />
late 1800s. The first to file for his homestead<br />
✧<br />
Above: Captiva Hotel.<br />
Below: Useppa Island.<br />
CHAPTER VI<br />
33
✧<br />
Above: Sunbathers on Fort Myers Beach.<br />
Below: Fort Myers Beach entrance arches<br />
on San Carlos Boulevard, c. 1924.<br />
rights of 172 acres on Estero Island (today<br />
known as Fort Myers Beach) was Robert B.<br />
Gilbert in 1898. There were others who filed,<br />
but most did not follow through for one reason<br />
or another. It was not the paradise we see<br />
today. The residents were isolated without a<br />
bridge to the mainland until 1921, when a<br />
wooden swing bridge was opened complete<br />
with a 50-cent toll for up to five people and<br />
10 cents for each additional person. Island life<br />
was not easy prior to the advancements development<br />
brought. Swarms of mosquitoes and<br />
no-see-ums (tiny flying biting insects) were an<br />
ever-present nuisance. The first telephones<br />
and mail service did not come until the early<br />
1920s. It was stubborn bunch that stayed and<br />
“proved up” on their homestead rights.<br />
An enterprising couple, Dr. and Mrs.<br />
William Winkler, built the first hotel on the<br />
beach, the “Winkler Hotel,” in 1912.<br />
Once the road was open to Fort Myers<br />
Beach in 1921, the building boom that was<br />
taking place on the mainland spread to the<br />
island. Developers such as Captain Jack<br />
DeLysle and Thomas Phillips capitalized on<br />
such an area so ripe for development. Phillips,<br />
with partner Harry Fieldler, built the first bathhouse<br />
and casino on Estero Island. DeLysle<br />
purchased a large tract of land on the island<br />
and started the development of a subdivision<br />
called “Seminole Sands.” He also constructed a<br />
bathhouse and a casino, a café, and restaurant.<br />
Land speculators gathered groups of prospective<br />
buyers and brought them to the beach to<br />
give them a glimpse of what living in paradise<br />
could be. Observing the development today,<br />
one can see many have shared in their vision.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
34<br />
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CHAPTER VII<br />
O THER C OMMUNITIES IN L EE C OUNTY<br />
Through the years of development of Southwest Florida, many small communities have<br />
emerged. Some have come and gone, yet some still remain.<br />
One such community that today is but a road on the map of North Fort Myers was the logging<br />
community of Slater. During the 1920s and ’30s the J. W. McWilliams Lumber Company headquarters<br />
was located on that site. It was a bustling community of several hundred people, mainly<br />
the employees of McWilliams. They lived in small shanties in the woods or boxcars provided by<br />
the company. Since McWilliams built portable or “coffee mill” lumber operations, once the area<br />
they inhabited had been “forested out,” they packed up and moved on. Slater was no exception.<br />
The legacy of the Slater community, though, can still be seen today. Traveling through Cape Coral,<br />
it does not take long to notice the apparent absence of mature, indigenous trees. The common<br />
belief is the trees suffered the wrath of rapid development by the Rosen brothers. While it is true<br />
the Rosens made drastic changes to the landscape of the area in question while developing their<br />
“Winter Wonderland,” the fact is Slater Mill had stripped most of the once, lush pine hammock<br />
long before the Rosens’ arrival.<br />
Other small communities, Samville, New Prospect, Nateby, and Halgrim faded, while others<br />
remained and grew. Alva, Olga, Tice, and Buckingham communities hung on and still thrive today.<br />
Bonita Springs, originally referred to as Survey, was founded by Braxton Bragg Comer, a wealthy<br />
Alabama farmer, and his business partner and friend, Archibald McLeod, who developed the area<br />
seeking to grow pineapple and bananas in the 1880s. It has grown by leaps and bounds since its<br />
✧<br />
Car 103 out of Slater Lumber Mill.<br />
CHAPTER VII<br />
35
✧<br />
Above: Koreshan Unity Store on Estero River.<br />
Below: Survey School, Bonita Springs,<br />
c. 1910.<br />
inception, slowly at first, but today is one of<br />
the major growth areas in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
One of the more interesting communities<br />
formed in the later 1800s was that of the settlement<br />
along the Estero River in southern <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> which came to be known as the “New<br />
Jerusalem.” It was first established in 1882 by<br />
Gustave Damkohler, a settler from Missouri,<br />
who was joined in 1895 by Dr. Cyrus Teed,<br />
originally from Chicago.<br />
Dr. Teed was the leader of the Koreshan<br />
Unity, a communal religious group located in<br />
Chicago, Illinois. After arriving in Southwest<br />
Florida, Dr. Teed announced to his followers<br />
his plan to build a “New Jerusalem” on the<br />
site. Dr. Teed said “it will contain ten million<br />
people, white and black, and will become the<br />
greatest city in the world.”<br />
By 1904, the Koreshan headquarters had<br />
moved from Chicago to <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, with their<br />
numbers totaling approximately two hundred.<br />
The Koreshans were overall self-sufficient.<br />
They set up a general store which served<br />
riverboat traffic, a bakery, electric utilities, a<br />
concrete works, a sculpting department, a<br />
laundry, saw mills, and boat works. The<br />
Guiding Star, their publishing house, had been<br />
brought to Southwest Florida with its typesetting<br />
department, photo engraving department,<br />
press room, bindery, and dark room. Remains<br />
of many of these operations can still be seen<br />
today at the Koreshan State Park, including<br />
the part referred to as Mound Key.<br />
With their love for the fine arts, they provided<br />
entertainment of varying types for both themselves<br />
and surrounding communities. They produced<br />
oil paintings and often wrote and staged<br />
their own plays in an amphitheater built along<br />
the Estero River called the Bamboo Landing.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
36<br />
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Their beliefs more than anything brought<br />
them under suspicion by the residents of Fort<br />
Myers. Dr. Teed, following a divine revelation<br />
received in 1870, believed the Earth was a hollow<br />
cell or sphere and was concave, not convex,<br />
and contained the sun, moon, and stars inside.<br />
Man lived on an inner crust. This has been<br />
referred to as the “inside-out universe” idea.<br />
Despite their beliefs, their master plan for their<br />
“New Jerusalem” contained amazing concepts of<br />
city planning, waste disposal, and underground<br />
utilities that were beyond their time.<br />
The last living member of the Koreshan<br />
Unity died in 1982, but before doing so, she<br />
made sure the settlement became a state park;<br />
thus the buildings and artifacts would be preserved<br />
and restored.<br />
Today, Estero, Spanish for “estuary,” has all<br />
the characteristics of a regular town—a growing<br />
population with the housing market to<br />
match and a burgeoning commercial development<br />
spreading out to the north towards Fort<br />
Myers and south towards Naples.<br />
Lehigh Acres, a community in the eastern<br />
part of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, got its start in the mid-<br />
1950s when Chicago businessman <strong>Lee</strong> Ratner<br />
needed a tax shelter. He had sold his pest<br />
control business, and he faced the possibility<br />
of losing most of his earnings to the high capital<br />
gains tax of that era. Ratner heard that cattle<br />
was a good investment for people in his<br />
predicament, and he bought eighteen thousand<br />
acres of land in eastern <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> and<br />
named it the Lucky <strong>Lee</strong> Ranch. After ranching<br />
for a while, and despite having no prior development<br />
experience, Ratner joined with Gerald<br />
H. Gould, a Florida advertising executive,<br />
Manuel Riskin, a Chicago CPA, and Edward<br />
Shapiro, a former Chicagoan who was in the<br />
real estate business in California, and began<br />
land sales at Lehigh Acres.<br />
Gerald Gould was the president of the corporation<br />
that developed Lehigh Acres, which<br />
began in 1954. He remained as president<br />
until the company was sold in 1972.<br />
Since the days of Lucky <strong>Lee</strong>, the boundaries<br />
of Lehigh Acres have stretched to cover sixtyone<br />
thousand acres. The pasture land where<br />
Ratner’s cattle roamed has been divided into<br />
some 152,000 quarter-acre and half-acre lots<br />
for housing, including over a thousand miles<br />
of roads. Strips of land along major thoroughfares,<br />
such as Homestead Road and <strong>Lee</strong><br />
Boulevard, were set aside for commercial use.<br />
✧<br />
Avove: Dr. Cyrus Teed, founder<br />
of Koreshan Unity.<br />
Below: Estero River.<br />
CHAPTER VII<br />
37
CHAPTER VIII<br />
S PORTS H ISTORY OF L EE C OUNTY<br />
SPORT<br />
FISHING<br />
✧<br />
Above: Ty Cobb, Thomas Edison and Connie<br />
Mack at Terry Park, Fort Myers.<br />
Opposite, top: Florida Shultz Heitman,<br />
daughter of George Shultz and wife of<br />
Harvie Heitman.<br />
Opposite, bottom: Shultz Hotel (Tarpon<br />
House), Punta Rassa.<br />
The history of fishing in the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> area started as a means of survival for the early settlers<br />
and became one of the initial reasons for the growth of Fort Myers. Exploring the coast from Boca<br />
Grande to San Carlos Bay and the Caloosahatchee River during the 1600 and 1700s, one would<br />
find “ranchos,” or fishing camps, established by fishermen from Cuba and Spanish settlers. Spanish<br />
fishing camps existed on Pine Island as early as 1765, but Spanish Indians were fishing<br />
commercially on the island in the mid-1600s.<br />
The Spanish Indian’s stronghold on the southwest Florida fishing industry was dealt an<br />
economic blow in 1680 when Havana prohibited them from selling their fish to Cuba because of<br />
their resistance to religious conversion. This embargo lasted until 1698, when the Indians accepted<br />
fourteen Franciscan missionaries into their villages in exchange for the right to trade again.<br />
The Spanish Indians’ conversion to Catholicism would backfire when Spain ceded Florida to<br />
Great Britain in exchange for Cuba in 1763. During this period many of the Spanish-Catholic<br />
Indians and Spanish fishing families left the area rather than remain under Protestant rule.<br />
In 1831, the United States, now controlling Florida, passed a harsh new law designed to push<br />
out the Spanish-Indian fishermen and make room for homesteaders. Under this new law’s<br />
provisions, foreigners supplying other than area markets with their fish were required to pay an<br />
annual license fee of $500 along with posting a $2,000 bond. Heavy fines were imposed on those<br />
fishing without a license and/or trading with the Indians. Any ship’s captain doing this would lose<br />
his vessel and be fined $500.<br />
More likely than not, reports that Spanish fisheries in the area were depriving American citizens<br />
of their rights by remaining there, brought about the Preemption Act of 1841. This act permitted<br />
settlers to locate a claim of 160 acres and after only 6 months of residency, and purchase it for as little<br />
as $1 to $1.25 an acre. Since most Spanish or Indian fishermen had no legal title to the land they had<br />
established their fishing camps on, they were forced to leave if a settler’s 160 acres happened to<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
38<br />
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include their camp. They were forced to find<br />
less inhabited areas to work from.<br />
In 1867, George Renton Schultz was sent<br />
to Punta Rassa by the International Ocean<br />
Cable Company to take charge of its relay<br />
station. He became known though for his<br />
famed Tarpon House. The cable company had<br />
taken over the old, run-down army barracks<br />
of Fort Dulaney, as their Punta Rassa station.<br />
Here Mr. and Mrs. Schultz began providing<br />
shelter for the cattlemen who came to ship<br />
cattle to Key West and Cuba. It had not been<br />
their intention to do so, but the cowboys<br />
persuaded the Schultz’s to allow them to sleep<br />
on the barracks floor or hang their hammocks<br />
between the rafters, seeing it was impossible<br />
to sleep outdoors in the mosquito-infested<br />
area. They also provided lodging and meals to<br />
travelers coming and going from Fort Myers<br />
while waiting for connections on river sloops<br />
and ships traveling up and down the coast.<br />
It was during the 1880s when visitors of a<br />
different sort began frequenting the inn—the<br />
sportsmen who had discovered the bounty in<br />
the nearby waters. It was a sport fisherman’s<br />
paradise. They came to catch Spanish<br />
mackerel, kingfish, channel bass, sea trout,<br />
and the most challenging of all, the “Silver<br />
King,” the tarpon.<br />
One of the first anglers to come and stay<br />
was Walt McDougald, a famous writer and<br />
cartoonist at the time. He and a group of<br />
friends were cruising the coast on a fishing<br />
trip in March 1881 when a storm blew in.<br />
Seeking shelter, they came upon the Schultz’s<br />
wharf, where they were invited to stay the<br />
night, and George and his wife furnished<br />
them meals. McDougald found their inn to be<br />
so unique that when he returned to his<br />
northern home, he told all his friends about his<br />
experience. The following winter, many were so<br />
intrigued by McDougald’s tale of such a lodging<br />
place that they decided to see for themselves if<br />
it indeed existed.<br />
The word spread, and many made Punta<br />
Rassa the winter rendezvous for businessmen,<br />
bankers, industrialists, politicians, and merchants.<br />
They found the crude decor, bare<br />
floors, and tin washbowls, so unlike anything<br />
they were accustomed to that the inn took on<br />
a quaint, yet strangely odd attractiveness.<br />
CHAPTER VIII<br />
39
✧<br />
Tarpon House, Punta Rassa.<br />
Many of the guests were wealthy, and the telegraph<br />
office operated by Schultz enabled them to<br />
keep in touch with the stock market and their brokers<br />
while thoroughly enjoying an angler’s vacation<br />
getaway. Preferred guests stayed in rooms<br />
which opened out onto a gallery built on the side<br />
of the building known as “Murderers’ Row.”<br />
Prior to any tarpon being caught by rod<br />
and reel, the elusive fish, when caught at all,<br />
was caught with a shark’s hook and chain line<br />
or by harpooning. It was believed to be<br />
impossible to catch one with a rod and reel,<br />
so, on March 12, 1885, when W. H. Wood, a<br />
sportsman from New York, did so, it captured<br />
the attention of the sporting world. He landed<br />
his tarpon in 26.5 minutes after it jumped 6<br />
times and ran the line out half a mile. It was 5<br />
feet, 9 inches and weighed 93 pounds.<br />
With this revelation came an influx of<br />
anglers to the West Coast each season to test<br />
their skill, many staying at Schultz’s hotel,<br />
prompting the name change to Tarpon House.<br />
Wood’s momentous accomplishment brought<br />
scores of visitors not only to Tarpon House,<br />
but also to Fort Myers, as many ventured<br />
upriver to see what the town may be like.<br />
Some decided they liked it so much, they<br />
made Fort Myers their home.<br />
The tarpon frenzy has lasted through the<br />
years, becoming one of the main attractions on<br />
Boca Grande, a small, quaint island located<br />
partly in northern <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> and southern<br />
Charlotte <strong>County</strong>. The Boca Grande Fishing<br />
Guides Association holds a tarpon tournament<br />
every year in Boca Grande Pass. It has become<br />
one of the most famous tarpon tournaments in<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
40<br />
COUNTY
the world, with a very large purse for the winners.<br />
Tarpon fishing is one of the most challenging<br />
of all fishing sports. The tarpon can be<br />
one of the most exhilarating fish to hook,<br />
watching the silver king jump numerous times<br />
out of the water while fighting to land him,<br />
and one of the most frustrating, fighting him<br />
for over an hour and watching him spit out the<br />
hook and swim away.<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> offers many types of fishing,<br />
from inshore fishing for snook, redfish, trout,<br />
sheepshead, and mangrove snapper, to offshore<br />
fishing for shark, grouper, barracuda,<br />
cobia, Spanish mackerel, and kingfish. Sport<br />
fishing has always been a favorite activity in<br />
the area and a large contributor to the growth<br />
of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
BASEBALL<br />
The history of baseball in Fort Myers is<br />
almost as old as the town itself. The first<br />
recorded game was between two local teams<br />
in 1896 as part of the town’s Independence<br />
Day celebration. Baseball was officially on the<br />
map in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> after Dr. Marshall Terry<br />
and his wife, a well-known name in the area,<br />
Mrs. Tootie McGregor Terry, donated approximately<br />
twenty-five acres of cow pasture to<br />
the county. On this site, located about a mile<br />
east of downtown Fort Myers and then considered<br />
“out in the boondocks,” a small wooden<br />
grandstand, seating no more than six hundred<br />
fans, was erected. Terry Park, as it was<br />
named, began a priceless lifetime of <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> baseball lure. A local pharmacist and<br />
leading booster at the time, Richard Quintas<br />
Richards, persuaded Connie Mack, manager<br />
of the Philadelphia Athletics, to bring his<br />
team to Fort Myers, arriving in February<br />
1925, for their first spring season.<br />
Starting with Connie Mack’s team in 1925,<br />
and ending with George Brett’s Kansas City<br />
Royals in 1987, Terry Park has hosted some of<br />
the game’s greatest teams and players. Hall of<br />
Famers Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Roberto<br />
Clemente, Jimmy Foxx, and Bob Feller are<br />
just a few of the great players who have graced<br />
Terry Park. The Philadelphia Athletics were<br />
the first major league team to play at Terry<br />
Park in 1925, followed by the Cleveland<br />
Indians (1940), Pittsburgh Pirates (1955) and<br />
the Kansas City Royals (1969). All these went<br />
on to become World Series champs in the<br />
years they trained in Fort Myers.<br />
Built originally with wooden grandstands,<br />
the park was remodeled with steel beam and<br />
truss material for the Pittsburgh Pirates.<br />
During the Kansas City Royals years, the main<br />
field featured artificial turf, just as Royals<br />
Stadium did back home, but several years<br />
later, when the Royals left for Baseball City in<br />
Lakeland, the turf left as well.<br />
Terry Park has been host to over 160<br />
college teams from around the country in the<br />
month of March as they begin their college<br />
season. It was the home park for the now<br />
defunct Fort Myers Sun Sox, one of the<br />
original franchises that began play in the<br />
Senior Professional Baseball Association.<br />
Less than halfway through their second<br />
season, ownership quarrels in Fort Myers<br />
caused the Sun Sox to fold and the league to<br />
cease operations.<br />
The <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Sports Complex<br />
completed in 1991 at a cost of $14 million in<br />
south Fort Myers, serves as spring training<br />
✧<br />
Above: Connie Mack, owner of the<br />
Philadelphia Athletics.<br />
Below: Connie Mack with A’s players Len<br />
Krausse, Joe Bowman, and Roy Mahaffey.<br />
CHAPTER VIII<br />
41
✧<br />
The new <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Stadium—home of<br />
former Miracle and Minnesota Twins.<br />
headquarters for the Minnesota Twins and<br />
summer home for the Fort Myers Miracle, the<br />
Class A team affiliated with the Twins. Spring<br />
training generally starts the middle of<br />
February, when the Twins report to camp at<br />
Bill Hammond Stadium, part of the <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> Complex named after the <strong>County</strong><br />
Commissioner who was instrumental in<br />
getting the state-of-the-art complex built for<br />
the Minnesota Twins. A beautiful facility<br />
designed for the entire Minnesota Twins<br />
organization includes complete home and<br />
visiting clubhouses in the stadium proper and<br />
complete facilities for the minor league teams<br />
in a building adjacent to their fields. There are<br />
only two levels of seating for spring training<br />
games, box and reserved bleachers, so there is<br />
a good chance for fans to get close to their<br />
favorite players.<br />
The Class A team, the Fort Myers Miracle,<br />
actually has a much longer history than most<br />
fans realize. Their humble beginnings can be<br />
traced back to 1926, when the club took the<br />
field for the first time as the Fort Myers Royal<br />
Palms. In their first year, the Royal Palms, came<br />
in third place, five games behind the second<br />
place team the Tampa Smokers, and 8 ½ games<br />
behind the champs, the Celeryfeds. After their<br />
debut in Terry Park, the Palms moved to Miami<br />
Field in what is now the southwest corner of<br />
the Orange Bowl stadium parking lot.<br />
In 1989, the team was sold to a group of<br />
investors including actor Bill Murray and<br />
singer Jimmy Buffet. After six name changes,<br />
numerous franchises, and a 66-year absence,<br />
the Miracle team returned to Fort Myers as<br />
the home team in 1992. In their years as the<br />
Twins’ top Class A affiliate, the Miracles have<br />
sent several dozen players to the majors, and<br />
more are likely to follow.<br />
Fort Myers can also boast of another major<br />
league team which makes this area their<br />
spring training home. The Boston Red Sox<br />
moved to Fort Myers from Winter Haven in<br />
1993. A beautiful facility was constructed in<br />
1992 in anticipation of their arrival. The<br />
architectural style is reminiscent of traditional<br />
stadiums like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park,<br />
with a 6,990-seat stadium that allows a<br />
closeness and access to the players that only<br />
occurs at spring training camps. The facilities<br />
include a practice field, five minor league<br />
fields, twelve indoor hitting tunnels,<br />
expansive clubhouses, and dugouts, as well as<br />
conditioning, hydrotherapy, training, and<br />
locker rooms. It is very aptly named City of<br />
Palms Park with its swaying palm trees<br />
surrounding the stadium.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
42<br />
COUNTY
CHAPTER IX<br />
A VIATION IN L EE C OUNTY<br />
The recorded history of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> aviation began in 1918 when a landing strip was built at<br />
Fort Myers Beach. Army Air Corps pilots who were training at the time in Arcadia at Carlstrom<br />
Field would fly to the landing strip at Fort Myers Beach for recreation on their days off to swim<br />
and indulge in a little girl watching.<br />
Just two years later on March 2, 1920, aviation was dealt a severe blow when an event described<br />
by the Fort Myers Press in a headline read, “MOST APPALLING TRAGEDY EVER KNOWN IN LEE<br />
COUNTY OCCURS NEAR EVERGLADES.” The article reported that Captain Richard Channing<br />
Moore Page, piloting a Curtiss Sea-Gull, was transporting G. Hunter Bryant, tax assessor, on county<br />
business along with Thomas H. Colcord, his “mechanician.” An interview with eyewitness George<br />
Storter written by Nell Colcord Weidenbach said, “After completing the tax assessments at Naples<br />
and Marco, they headed for Everglade, where they could land on the nearby Barron River. The<br />
hydroplane was maneuvering in a circle in order to land on the river…the plane hit a dreaded air<br />
pocket and suddenly swerved. It side slipped and fell to the earth from a height of some 50 feet.”<br />
All three men were killed.<br />
✧<br />
Fort Myers Field, Tommy Morse,<br />
scout in 1918.<br />
CHAPTER IX<br />
43
✧<br />
Above: Channing Page.<br />
Below: “Sea Gull” plane in which<br />
Channing Page died.<br />
Opposite, top: Charles Lindberg<br />
and Clarence Chamberlain.<br />
Opposite: Fort Myers Field, 1918.<br />
Captain Page, the pilot in the plane crash, was<br />
a World War I hero well liked and highly respected<br />
in the community. When the war began, he<br />
walked ten miles to Fort Myers to enlist, but was<br />
rejected. After trying to enlist in Memphis,<br />
Tennessee, and once again being rejected<br />
because he was underweight, he traveled to<br />
Washington, D.C., where he solicited the help of<br />
Florida Senators Fletcher and Drane. It was then<br />
he became the first Floridian to join the Army<br />
Aviation Corps. He was credited with bringing<br />
down three German planes on the western front<br />
during World War I and, according to the Press,<br />
was “known to have two other boche (German<br />
airplanes) machines to his credit”.<br />
In November 1924, the City of Fort Myers<br />
obtained a quarter of a section of land south<br />
of Fort Myers for $18,000 from Charles A.<br />
Stadler, president of Stadler Realty Company.<br />
The City had plans for a municipal golf course<br />
on the land which never came to fruition. A<br />
portion of the land, now known as Page Field,<br />
after Captain Page, decades later, was used as<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s first airport.<br />
By 1926, the airport consisted of two runways,<br />
300 feet wide which formed an “L”<br />
along two sides of the city-owned quarter section<br />
off Tamiami Trail. The push for daily air<br />
service to Fort Myers by the chamber of commerce<br />
brought Reid M. Chambers to a dinner<br />
meeting on February 15 at the Royal Palm<br />
Hotel. At the meeting Chambers explained the<br />
problems with his planes flying into and out of<br />
Fort Myers. Mainly, the ground was uneven<br />
and full of snags, palmetto roots, and ruts. He<br />
said no more Florida Airways planes would<br />
land here until these problems were corrected.<br />
After much planning and improvements,<br />
and great fanfare, daily air mail service was<br />
introduced into the Fort Myers area on April<br />
1, 1926. Postmaster J. F. Brecht announced<br />
that a specially designed cancellation stamp<br />
would be used for all air mail dispatched from<br />
the city that day. The stamp imprint read<br />
“First Flight Inaugurating Contract Air Mail”<br />
with the words “Fort Myers, Fla. 8:45 A.M.<br />
(or 12:30 P.M.), April 1, 1926.”<br />
The president of the Fort Myers Chamber<br />
of Commerce, S. O. Goodman, raved about<br />
the new service, saying, “The inauguration of<br />
the cross-state air route is without a doubt<br />
one of the greatest accomplishments this state<br />
has experienced, while the beginning of air<br />
mail service today has a value which cannot<br />
be estimated in dollars and cents”.<br />
Postmaster Brecht and Mayor O. M.<br />
Davison climbed aboard the Miss Miami, a<br />
Ford all-metal plane belonging to Florida<br />
Airways Corporation and traveled as far as<br />
Tampa, the plane’s next stop, along with four<br />
thousand pieces of mail from local citizens<br />
destined for the north.<br />
Air service to Fort Myers was short lived<br />
with problems surfacing within weeks.<br />
According to the minutes of the Fort Myers City<br />
Council dated April 16, 1926, Stanley Colquitt<br />
appeared to report he had been told by “one of<br />
the men operating the air mail planes that on<br />
account of the inadequacy of the field, they<br />
could carry only half the passenger capacity<br />
they could under favorable conditions.”<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
44<br />
COUNTY
FAMOUS AVIATOR VISITS<br />
In 1927, Fort Myers was visited by<br />
Clarence Duncan Chamberlin, one of the<br />
nation’s most famous aviators. The Fort Myers<br />
Press reported on July 16 that Chamberlin was<br />
“on an inspection tour of a new airline that<br />
will connect both coasts of Florida with New<br />
York.” Only six weeks earlier, Chamberlin had<br />
made history when he flew across the Atlantic<br />
and broke Lindbergh’s record for the longest<br />
distance and time in the air—3,911 miles in<br />
42 hours, 31 minutes.<br />
Clarence Chamberlain later returned to<br />
retire and live with his wife, Louise, on Fort<br />
Myers Beach until his death in 1976.<br />
By August 30, 1927, Florida Air Ways was<br />
no longer operating out of Fort Myers. Local<br />
aviators Roy E. Larson and Philip A. Roll<br />
appeared before the City Commission to<br />
request “use of the 160 acre tract which the<br />
City had prepared for the Air Mail Service, but<br />
which later proved inadequate.” They wanted<br />
to establish a flying school and later a<br />
municipal airport.<br />
Petitions were signed and numerous<br />
aviation figures appeared before the City<br />
Commission, but the effort was in vain. In<br />
February of 1928, City Manager Staley “stated<br />
he realized the advantages of having an airport,<br />
but did not at this time favor an expenditure<br />
such as it would to take to put this field in<br />
Class B condition.” His reason was simple. If<br />
the airport were to be improved, important<br />
street work would have to be abandoned.<br />
Air mail service continued. It was unreliable,<br />
since planes would have to fly over and<br />
not stop in rainy weather when the runways<br />
were muddy. It would not be until July 1937,<br />
when the need to provide air passenger service<br />
to <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> would again become a high<br />
priority for the airlines.<br />
by National Airlines, “George T. Baker had a<br />
dream in 1934 amid the dark clouds of<br />
America’s greatest economic depression. The<br />
NATIONAL SAVES THE DAY<br />
In 1937, National Airlines, a newly developed<br />
airline established in 1934, expressed an<br />
interest in bringing passenger service, air<br />
mail, and air express to the Fort Myers area.<br />
According to the October 1969 issue of The<br />
National Reporter, a trade magazine published<br />
CHAPTER IX<br />
45
✧<br />
Above: A B-24 at Buckingham Army<br />
Air Field.<br />
Below: Soldiers at Buckingham Army Air Field.<br />
National Airlines System, as it was called then,<br />
operated two secondhand Ryan monoplanes<br />
on a mail route between St. Petersburg, the<br />
airline’s base, and Daytona Beach.” Each of the<br />
“Ryans” could carry four passengers.<br />
Now Baker was ready to expand. At a meeting<br />
of the Fort Myers City Council, Baker<br />
explained that the present airport and hangar<br />
accommodations would be adequate for the<br />
Stinson trimotor planes which would be serving<br />
this area. However, by November 1,<br />
National would be using the new Lockheed<br />
Vega Highspeed passenger planes. By that time,<br />
the runways would have to be much longer.<br />
Baker was accompanied by H. C. Whitney,<br />
Director of the Aviation Division of the State<br />
Road Department. Whitney recommended<br />
construction of a four-thousand-foot runway<br />
made of shell covered with asphalt.<br />
On July 16, less than two weeks later,<br />
although the runways were not completely<br />
hard-surfaced, they were sufficient for an<br />
intermediate stop on the initial flight of<br />
National Airlines between Tampa and Miami.<br />
Mayor Dave Shapard, joined by Postmaster<br />
Walter Walters, greeted the planes.<br />
The first airmail and passenger plane<br />
arrived at the Fort Myers Airport at 8:25 a.m.<br />
and left carrying more than twenty-five thousand<br />
letters to be returned to stamp collectors<br />
all over the country, along with two passengers,<br />
Shapard and Walters, for the flight over<br />
the Everglades.<br />
On July 17,1937, the Fort Myers News<br />
Press reported, “Mayor Shapard returned<br />
enthusiastic over the airmail and passenger<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
46<br />
COUNTY
service and said a project had been worked<br />
up to make the Fort Myers Airport thoroughly<br />
modern. This would mean the construction<br />
of two black-surfaced runways 4,000<br />
feet long to accommodate fast airships.” In<br />
the same article, the fares were listed. Oneway<br />
to Miami was $7.50; round trip was<br />
$13.50. The fare to Tampa one-way was<br />
$7.95 and round trip was $12.95.<br />
As stated in Karl Grismer’s The Story of Fort<br />
Myers, “National began making regular stops<br />
at the Fort Myers Airport on August 4, 1937.<br />
Later the airline was forced to cancel many<br />
flights because of wet grounds, and late in the<br />
year officials threatened to discontinue service<br />
until concrete runways were provided.”<br />
The desire to comply with National’s<br />
requirements was there, the money was not. In<br />
order to qualify for Federal monies from the<br />
Works Projects Administration (WPA), the City<br />
of Fort Myers, in 1939, deeded the airport to<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> allowing voters to approve a<br />
$75,000-bond issue to pay the local share of<br />
improvements. Improvements were started by<br />
the WPA on January 1, 1940, and were soon<br />
taken over by the Civil Aeronautics Authority<br />
(CAA) and finally by the U.S. Army. The<br />
expansion plans included two hangars, an<br />
administration building, including quarters for<br />
the CAA and the weather bureau, and three<br />
4000-foot runways. This $250,000 project<br />
had a January 1, 1941 completion date, which<br />
was met.<br />
PEARL<br />
HARBOR<br />
The attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday,<br />
December 7, 1941, stunned the nation. Our<br />
reluctance to enter World War II was gone.<br />
Locally, <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> officially became part of<br />
the war effort on February 19, 1942, when the<br />
618-acre field was leased from <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> for<br />
use as a base, quickly gaining the nickname<br />
“Palmetto Field” for then obvious reasons.<br />
The first Army Air Force unit to occupy<br />
Page Field was the 98th Bombardment Group,<br />
which was equipped with B-24s. They arrived<br />
March 31, 1942, traveling from Barksdale<br />
Field, Louisiana, in 18 rail cars which carried<br />
400 men and supplies. The unit was known<br />
as Colonel H. A. Halverson’s “Halpro.” They<br />
were met at the station by Mayor Sam<br />
Persimmons, <strong>County</strong> Commissioner Harry W.<br />
Stringfellow and Dave Shapard, now representing<br />
the Chamber of Commerce.<br />
According to The History of Page Field, 75<br />
of Fort Myers’ “local belles” entertained 400<br />
soldiers from this field at a dance held at<br />
the former municipal pier on April 3. “Early<br />
in the morning of April 4, 1942, the citizens<br />
of Fort Myers were awakened by the mighty<br />
throbs of B-24s on their first flying mission.”<br />
On May 21, 1942, the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
Commission adopted a resolution changing the<br />
name from <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Airport to Channing<br />
Page Field after the late Captain Channing<br />
Page, the first Floridian to receive a commission<br />
as an officer in the Army Aviation Corps.<br />
Although the community, according to the military<br />
history, “had changed the name of the<br />
field to Page Field, this was not acceptable to<br />
the Army, which continued to operate under<br />
the name of the Fort Myers Army Air Base.”<br />
Meanwhile, National Airlines had once<br />
again appeared on the scene. Once the runways<br />
were improved, National reinstated regular<br />
flights to Fort Myers. While National’s<br />
service was commercial, W. H. Marcum,<br />
retired manager of Page Field, remembers that<br />
National also carried supplies needed for the<br />
military, so its planes were allowed to land on<br />
runways there. Civilian travel took a “back<br />
seat” to military priorities, causing passengers<br />
to often be bumped from the flights.<br />
✧<br />
A B-24 Liberator over southwest Florida.<br />
CHAPTER IX<br />
47
✧<br />
A P-39 at Page Field in 1943.<br />
The thrust of the training program at Page<br />
Field was changed on February 12, 1943, when<br />
P-39-1s arrived, transforming the base into a<br />
training ground for “high tech” pursuit fighter<br />
planes. Hundreds of P-39s were sold to the<br />
Russians and many Russian flight instructors<br />
came to Fort Myers to receive their training.<br />
A boost to the morale came in late January of<br />
1944 in the form of a visit by the famous boxer<br />
Max Baer, who was now a sergeant in the Army.<br />
He arrived to referee local boxing matches and<br />
to look over the physical training program at<br />
the base. On January 29, baseball great, Leo<br />
Durocher, and movie comedian, Danny Kaye,<br />
“motored over from Miami,” where they’d been<br />
appearing at the Homestead base.<br />
BUCKINGHAM<br />
GUNNERY SCHOOL<br />
In addition to the development of the Army<br />
base at Page Field, headquarters were being set<br />
up for the Army Air Force’s Flexible Gunnery<br />
School in a wasteland area of dead pine trees<br />
and palmettos, ten miles east of Fort Myers. The<br />
site, today known as Buckingham and Lehigh<br />
Acres, was sixty-five hundred acres needed to<br />
establish a flexible gunnery school. Fort Myers<br />
and <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> officials purchased the site leasing<br />
it to the U.S. Government for $1 per year<br />
for the duration of the war with the stipulation<br />
that the Government would return the land and<br />
the improvements.<br />
According to the U.S. Army Air Force history<br />
of Buckingham Gunnery School, “On May 5,<br />
1942, Major Richard W. Duggan, then a captain,<br />
arrived in Fort Myers and set up his offices<br />
in the Collier Arcade…. Furniture for the office<br />
was borrowed from local businessmen. Edward<br />
Allen, accountant, lent a typewriter and desk<br />
and Harry McWhorter and Harry Wood, real<br />
estate men, both gave a desk. Police Chief<br />
Charles Moore arranged parking space for the<br />
office, and the city and county officials gave<br />
numerous mops and other office equipment to<br />
help the new gunnery school.”<br />
Work on the field began May 25, 1942. The<br />
buildings were divided into two types, tar<br />
paper buildings, built in 75 days, or the more<br />
permanent buildings built in 110 days. At the<br />
peak of the work, 3,000 to 3,500 men were<br />
employed on the post, and a majority of the<br />
buildings were in serviceable condition when<br />
troops began to arrive. Accommodations were<br />
less than desirable, with outdoor toilets, little<br />
drinking water, and a tar paper-covered lunch<br />
stand. The post was formally activated on July<br />
5, with the first cadre of men arriving three<br />
weeks later from Tyndall Field.<br />
The runways were completed and training<br />
began September 5. Within seven months,<br />
Buckingham airfield was turning out gunners<br />
who were able to fire on enemy targets from<br />
the domed turrets and small windows of the<br />
giant bombers. Veterans who had fought off<br />
Zeroes and Messerschmitts were sent to<br />
Buckingham Field to train others in the ways<br />
of enemy warfare. With six runways, each a<br />
mile-long, paved, and suitable for all types of<br />
weather, the skies over Southwest Florida<br />
were filled with B-17 and B-24 bombers.<br />
In December 1942, the Central Instructors<br />
School was established, and all the instructors<br />
in the nation’s six aerial gunnery schools were<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
48<br />
COUNTY
equired to go through the training<br />
course at Buckingham.<br />
At its peak, the 6,500-acre base<br />
housed 16,000 men. By the time<br />
Buckingham was shut down in<br />
September 1945, fifty thousand soldiers<br />
had been trained there as air crew gunners.<br />
Many of those men, in spite of irritating<br />
mosquitoes and scorching hot<br />
summers, found something here of value<br />
for they returned after the War making<br />
their homes here.<br />
POST-WAR AVIATION<br />
A hush fell over <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> after the<br />
war, the population was cut in half and<br />
the skies were quiet. No more B-17 or<br />
B-24 bombers training overhead, but<br />
National continued its regular passenger<br />
service, the only major airline here at<br />
the time. In 1955 a new $25,000 terminal<br />
was opened at Page Field. The<br />
founder of Fort Myers Airways at Page Field<br />
in 1953, Ed Wilson, recalled in 1960 that <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> doubled the size of the terminal, and,<br />
just five years later in 1965, doubled it again.<br />
On December 15, 1965, Fort Myers joined<br />
the jet age with the introduction of jet air<br />
transportation to the city of Fort Myers with<br />
the inauguration of daily Boeing 727 flights to<br />
and from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport;<br />
the jet also had service to Boston. This was a<br />
momentous occasion, with National President<br />
L. B. Maytag, Jr., presenting a plaque praising<br />
Fort Myers for its “community endeavor to<br />
promote progress through aviation”.<br />
During the same year, a community service<br />
club called The Sundowners was started by a<br />
group of local pilots and boaters including<br />
Simon Martin, Bob Hampton, John Langan,<br />
Dale Regnier, Lewis Staerker Don Anderson,<br />
Walter Horn, George Cartwright, and Lou<br />
Beasley. All were from the Civil Air Patrol and,<br />
in the beginning, used the CAP plane to make<br />
search-and-rescue flights along coastal areas<br />
in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
Still active today, volunteer pilots fly<br />
from Page Field about ninety minutes<br />
before sundown searching for stranded<br />
boaters who they report to the Coast Guard.<br />
The route encompasses a 125-mile route that<br />
traces a path from the mouth of the<br />
Caloosahatchee River along Matlacha Pass,<br />
around the tip of Bokeelia, around the Coast<br />
of Pine Island, Sanibel and Captiva and down<br />
to Bonita Beach.<br />
Ed Wilson, owner and operator of Fort<br />
Myers Airways, never lost his love for<br />
teaching and training. Under his guidance,<br />
hundreds of students, young and middleaged,<br />
became pilots. Wilson recalled, “The<br />
heyday (of general or private aviation) around<br />
here was in the mid-1970s. People were<br />
learning to fly on the GI Bill, and we were<br />
selling airplanes”.<br />
PLANS FOR SOUTHWEST<br />
REGIONAL AIRPORT<br />
It was not long before the Page Field<br />
facility was found to be inadequate. By<br />
1973, the population explosion taking<br />
place in Southwest Florida begged for a much<br />
larger terminal. The runways were too short<br />
for the modern jets. Something had to be<br />
done immediately. Originally plans were<br />
made to enlarge Page Field, but projecting<br />
realistically, officials realized this would only<br />
✧<br />
National Airlines flight over<br />
ssouthwest Florida.<br />
CHAPTER IX<br />
49
✧<br />
Above: Aerial of Buckingham field.<br />
Below: Page Field, c. 1960.<br />
be a short-term fix. It was time for a<br />
move, but changes were subject to the<br />
approval of the Civil Aeronautics Board<br />
(CAB), and they had declared a moratorium<br />
on new routes in 1969.<br />
Because of the efforts of a group of local<br />
citizens, most notably Malcolm Schroeder, the<br />
need was established for more airline services<br />
to the rapidly growing metropolitan area.<br />
Delta, Eastern, Southern, and United Airlines<br />
filed to serve Fort Myers. A hearing held in<br />
1975 awarded Eastern the route. They started<br />
service on December 10 that same year.<br />
Now the stage was set for a new, much larger<br />
facility. A location was chosen near Daniels Road<br />
and I-75. Construction of the new regional airport<br />
was a complicated project requiring major<br />
construction plans, soil tests, filing for Federal<br />
grants, and meeting requirements for airport<br />
firefighting and rescue services. On Friday, April<br />
11, 1980, after years of work and planning and<br />
delay, groundbreaking ceremonies were held.<br />
After three more years of setbacks including<br />
sinkholes and the original cost tripling to over<br />
$93 million a cocktail party was held on May<br />
12, 1983, celebrating the new airport’s grand<br />
opening. More than 5,000 guests attended the<br />
semi-formal gala and toured the 300,000-<br />
square foot, two-level terminal. And, on<br />
Saturday, May 14, 1983 at 1:40 a.m. Delta<br />
Flight 1677 became the first commercial flight<br />
to land at Southwest Regional Airport.<br />
The airport was renamed Southwest<br />
Florida International Airport in 1993, exactly<br />
ten years after its inaugural flight, although it<br />
had hosted international flights since 1984<br />
and U.S. Customs since 1987, primarily for<br />
services to Germany and other European destinations.<br />
The runway was lengthened to<br />
twelve thousand feet to accommodate<br />
increased international traffic, including use<br />
by the Concorde.<br />
In 1988, the airport exceeded its annual<br />
capacity of three million passengers; by 2004<br />
the airport was serving nearly seven million passengers<br />
annually. With the airport operating at<br />
more than double its intended capacity, construction<br />
of a new terminal dubbed the Midfield<br />
Terminal Complex began in 2002. After a five<br />
month delay, the $438 million terminal opened<br />
on September 9, 2005.<br />
The pioneers of early aviation in<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Channing Page, Clarence<br />
Chamberlain, and the servicemen who trained<br />
at Page and Buckingham Fields, would surely<br />
be amazed at the progress of aviation today.<br />
They can be proud they were part of the legacy<br />
of what is now international aviation.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
50<br />
COUNTY
EPILOGUE<br />
By Matt Johnson<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> has a strong future build upon the foundation of its history. With a culture formed<br />
by so many individuals from many different backgrounds it is fitting that <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>’s future will<br />
continue to rely on its diversity in moving to the future. The area has seen, over the past few<br />
decades, growth of tremendous proportions and, like many communities, has struggled to keep up<br />
with the demands of that growth. The battles faced today do not involve muskets and cannons but<br />
are debates of preservation versus progress, development versus sustainability and heritage versus<br />
changing populations.<br />
Today’s Fort Myers claims one of the state’s most historic downtowns. Current redevelopment<br />
projects promise to bring the “River District” into the twenty-first century while preserving the<br />
foundations that moved it forward for so long. This progress has not been without its sacrifices.<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> buildings and homes have made way for high-rise condos and expanding government<br />
offices. During this process though, through efforts of citizens and representatives, much has been<br />
retained. The homes of the Edisons, Fords, Burroughs, and Langfords have been protected.<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Preservation codes have preserved historic neighborhoods like Dean Park and Edison Park<br />
and most importantly the downtown core that, ironically, was made possible by the demolition of<br />
the last remnants of the fort.<br />
One question that will continue to challenge <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> is how much growth can this environment<br />
sustain? This debate can be traced back to Thomas Edison’s famous quote “There is only<br />
one Fort Myers, and 90 million people are going to find out.” As the population continues to grow,<br />
so does the importance of this debate. Current residents face overcrowded roads, severe water<br />
shortages, and development continues to destroy more and more of the natural beauty that has<br />
encouraged Edison’s ninety million to seek out Southwest Florida. There are many current programs<br />
that show progress toward correcting the mistakes of the past. Hamilton Diston’s efforts to<br />
“tame” the wild are slowly being reversed by State and Federal Everglades restoration programs.<br />
Water conservation efforts have shown progress, and the nation movement toward a “green”<br />
lifestyle continues to bring new innovations to allow more from less.<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> boasts one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the Country and struggles<br />
with issues of illegal immigration, migrant workers and language barriers that challenge the<br />
schools and hinder acceptance and assimilation. A brief look at an area map shows that Spanish<br />
speakers have played important roles in the history of this area. The names Florida, Punta Rassa,<br />
Sanibel, Estero and Captiva all date back to early Spanish settlement. The areas earliest settlers are<br />
of Spanish ancestry and have help to shape the heritage of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>. Cattle, citrus and sugar cane<br />
all come from the earliest Spanish settlers<br />
Southwest Florida’s history has been shaped by natives, transplants, foreigners and visitors since<br />
the first humans arrive nearly ten thousand years ago. Like those who arrive today whether from<br />
Ohio or Mexico, everyone has come in search of their piece of paradise.<br />
✧<br />
Thomas Edison at the dedication of the<br />
Edison Bridge in 1931.<br />
EPILOGUE<br />
51
BIBLIOGRAPHY<br />
Barnes, Alberta Colcord and Nell Colcord Weidenbach. Early Fort Myers: Tales of Two Sisters. Punta Gorda FL: Chris the Printer, Inc., 1993.<br />
Board, Prudy Taylor and Esther B. Colcord. <strong>Historic</strong> Fort Myers. Virginia Beach VA: The Donning Company Publishers, 1992.<br />
Board, Prudy Taylor and Esther B. Colcord. Pages From The Past: A Pictorial Retrospective of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, Florida. Virginia Beach VA: The<br />
Donning Company Publishers, 1990.<br />
Board, Prudy Taylor and Patricia Pope Bartlett. <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>: A Pictorial History. Virginia Beach VA: The Donning Company Publishers, 1985.<br />
Brooks, Priscilla and Caroline Crabtree. St. James City Florida: The Early Years. Detroit MI: Harlo Press, 1982.<br />
Brown, Barrett and Adelaide. A Short History of Fort Myers Beach. Fort Myers Beach FL: Estero Island Publishers, 1965.<br />
Damkohler, Captain E. E.. Estero, Fla. 1882: Memoirs of the first settler. Fort Myers Beach FL: Island Press, 1967.<br />
Firestone, Linda and Whit Morse. The Firestone/Morse Guide to Florida’s Enchanting Islands Sanibel & Captiva. Richmond VA: Good Life<br />
Publishers, 1980.<br />
Godown, Marian and Alberta Rawchuck. Yesterday’s Fort Myers. Miami FL: E. A. Seemann Publishing, Inc., 1975.<br />
Grismer, Karl H.. The Story of Fort Myers. Fort Myers Beach FL: The Island Press Publishers, 1949.<br />
Hammond, E. A.. Spanish Fisheries of Charlotte Harbor. DeLeon Springs FL: E. O. Painter Printing Co., 1973.<br />
Jordan, Elaine Blohm. Pine Island, The Forgotten Island. Chelsea MI: BookCrafters, Inc., 1982.<br />
Turner, Gregg. A Short History of Florida Railroads. Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2003.<br />
Turner, Gregg and Stan Mulford. Images of America: Fort Myers. Charleston SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2000.<br />
Voegelin, Byron D. South Florida’s Vanished People: Travels in the Homeland of the Ancient Calusa. Island Press, 1977.<br />
Zeiss, Betty. The Other Side of the River, <strong>Historic</strong>al Cape Coral. Cape Coral FL: 1986.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
52<br />
COUNTY
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> profiles of businesses,<br />
SPECIAL<br />
THANKS TO<br />
organizations, and families that have<br />
contributed to the development and<br />
economic base of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> and Fort Myers<br />
AEGIS Factors, Inc.<br />
Strayhorn & Strayhorn..................................................................54<br />
Schehr Construction Company ........................................................56<br />
Sanibel Packing Company dba<br />
Bailey’s General Store..............................................................58<br />
Compass Rose Foundation ..............................................................60<br />
Saminco Inc.................................................................................62<br />
Bradley’s Fine Jewelers..................................................................64<br />
First Baptist Church of Fort Myers..................................................66<br />
Manheim Fort Myers .....................................................................68<br />
Southwest Florida Oral and Facial Surgery.......................................70<br />
BSSW Architects, Inc.....................................................................72<br />
Island Inn ...................................................................................73<br />
Hodges University ........................................................................74<br />
Edison College .............................................................................75<br />
The Islands of Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce ........................76<br />
Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce .......................................77<br />
Chamber of Commerce of Cape Coral ...............................................78<br />
DirectBuy of Southwest Florida.......................................................79<br />
Rels Title ....................................................................................80<br />
M E L - R E Construction Development Management ..........................81<br />
Industrial & Marine Hardware .......................................................82<br />
Flint & Doyle, Inc. .......................................................................83<br />
Harvey-Engelhardt-Metz Funeral Home & Crematory .........................84<br />
Ambassador Riverfront Hotel<br />
BTS Development Corporation/<br />
BTS Monterrey Holdings, LLC<br />
S&S Structural Systems, Inc.<br />
William A. Taylor Associates<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
53
STRAYHORN &<br />
STRAYHORN<br />
✧<br />
Above: The year was 1905 and the place<br />
was the cowpens of Guy M. Strayhorn in<br />
Citrus Center, near Moore Haven, with this<br />
group of cowmen working cattle. Shown in<br />
the photograph is Guy M. Strayhorn<br />
holding the branding iron.<br />
COURTESY OF E. BRUCE STRAYHORN OF FORT MYERS.<br />
The oldest law firm in Fort Myers is<br />
Strayhorn & Strayhorn (formerly Redwine &<br />
Strayhorn), established in the city in 1915.<br />
The firm was founded by Guy M. Strayhorn<br />
and Leonidas Redwine, the grandfather and<br />
great uncle, respectively, of two of the<br />
firm’s current principals. The practice focuses<br />
on the fields of administrative and public<br />
law, eminent domain, and associated land<br />
use issues.<br />
Guy Moreau Strayhorn was born on a cotton<br />
farm in London, Arkansas in 1889. With<br />
degrees from Hendrix College and Fort Smith<br />
Business College, he journeyed south in 1908<br />
to help his brother, Felix, survey land in Citrus<br />
Center, a Florida boomtown. That year he<br />
married Stella Redwine, who had traveled to<br />
Florida with her father, <strong>County</strong> Judge Mathew<br />
M. Redwine of Sandy Hook, Kentucky. Guy and<br />
Stella returned to Sandy Hook where he studied<br />
in the law office of Stella’s brother, Leonidas,<br />
who later relocated to Fort Myers and served as<br />
a <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> judge in the early 1900s.<br />
After Guy was admitted to the bar in<br />
Kentucky, the couple returned to Citrus<br />
Center where their son, Norwood, was born<br />
in North LaBelle. A second son, Orville<br />
Tennyson Strayhorn, would follow.<br />
Guy was <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> prosecutor from 1920<br />
to 1924; a period that he said kept him busy<br />
prosecuting “bootleggers, moonshiners and<br />
rum runners.” The pay was $50 a month and<br />
$5 for every conviction. He went on to serve<br />
as state attorney for the Twelfth Judicial<br />
Circuit from 1926 to 1935. He was elected<br />
state representative for <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> in 1938,<br />
and served in the Florida legislature until<br />
1941. Guy was a founding member of the <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> Cattlemen’s Association and, during<br />
World War II, he chaired the county’s draft<br />
board. In 1967, Guy served on the <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> Bi-Racial Committee and was a<br />
member of the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Charter<br />
Commission in 1969-70.<br />
“Mr. Guy” was just short of his ninety-third<br />
birthday when he died in 1981. He still lived in<br />
a brick house constructed in 1957 in Fort<br />
Myers on the site of one he had first built there<br />
in 1914. Norwood followed his father’s<br />
example, serving in the Florida legislature from<br />
1949 to 1954 as the State Representative for<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>. Norwood began practicing law in<br />
Fort Myers in 1934, and was city attorney for<br />
Fort Myers from 1947 until 1952. He was<br />
president of the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Bar Association in<br />
1953 and was the governor’s representative to<br />
the Central and South Florida Water<br />
Management District in 1962, and served as<br />
the governor’s representative on the Central<br />
and Southern Flood Control District. Norwood<br />
outlived his father by less than two years; he<br />
died in 1982 at the age of seventy-one.<br />
Today the firm consists of brothers and<br />
Fort Myers natives, Guy R. and Bruce<br />
Strayhorn, and Guy’s son-in-law Richard<br />
Pringle, who was born in Deland, Florida.<br />
Guy R. graduated from the University of<br />
Florida and received his J.D. from University<br />
of Florida Law School. He was admitted to the<br />
Florida Bar in 1963, and served as Assistant<br />
State Attorney for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit.<br />
Pringle holds a BBA from Stetson University<br />
and a juris doctorate degree from Stetson<br />
School of Law. He was admitted to the Florida<br />
Bar in 1987. Pringle is active in the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
Bar Association, the Florida Bar, Leadership<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, and the Florida Commission on<br />
Marriage and Family Support Initiatives. He is<br />
the county attorney for Glades <strong>County</strong> and<br />
general counsel for several independent special<br />
districts in Southwest Florida. His areas of<br />
practice include zoning and land use planning,<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
54<br />
COUNTY
annexation, agricultural law, government (or<br />
public) contract law, municipal law, and<br />
eminent domain.<br />
Bruce was admitted to the Florida Bar in<br />
1977, and to the U.S. District Court, both<br />
Southern and Middle Court. He graduated<br />
Stetson University, and Stetson School of Law.<br />
He served as a special assistant to the state<br />
attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit and as<br />
assistant state attorney for the Twentieth<br />
Judicial Circuit. Bruce has been active with<br />
several <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> entities including the<br />
Planning Advisory Committee, Industrial<br />
Development Authority, and the Public<br />
Schools Foundation. For twenty years, he has<br />
been a commissioner for the Housing<br />
Authority of the City of Fort Myers, and has<br />
been active with the U.S. Senate Advisory<br />
Committee for right-of-way acquisition and<br />
the City of Fort Myers Centennial Advisory<br />
Committee. His practice is predominantly in<br />
the fields of administrative law and land use.<br />
Bruce was a founding organizer and director<br />
of The National Bank of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> and its<br />
holding company, Gulf and Southern Financial<br />
Corporation. When the bank was acquired by<br />
SouthTrust Bank, he continued as a director of<br />
SouthTrust Bank of Southwest Florida, N.A.<br />
until its acquisition by Wachovia. In 2005, he<br />
was a founding organizer and director of<br />
Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida, and<br />
continues as a director.<br />
✧<br />
Above: The Florida Everglades,1929. Front<br />
row (from left to right): State Senator<br />
Ethridge, Sebring; Wallace Alderman; Cyril<br />
Baldwin, tax collector for Highlands <strong>County</strong>;<br />
and Circuit (later U.S. District) Judge W. J.<br />
Barker. Second row: Guy M. Strayhorn,<br />
state attorney; Ray Barnes, game warden.<br />
Standing: Circuit (later U.S. District) Judge<br />
George W. Whitehurst; Tommy Billie,<br />
Seminole Indian guide; and Concho Billie,<br />
Seminole Indian guide. This picture was<br />
taken by Dr. L. H. Kennedy, executive<br />
director of Game and Fresh Water<br />
Fish Commission.<br />
Below: Guy M. Strayhorn (standing, left);<br />
Orville Tenneyson Strayhorn (seated, left),<br />
Irving Brown (seated, right); and Norwood<br />
Redwine Strayhorn (standing, right).<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
55
SCHEHR<br />
CONSTRUCTION<br />
COMPANY<br />
✧<br />
Above: Brad Schehr, one of Schehr<br />
Construction Company’s employees and<br />
Dennis Schehr’s son.<br />
Below: Jennifer, daughter of Dennis Schehr,<br />
and Stephanie Schehr, employees at Schehr<br />
Construction Company.<br />
Schehr Construction Company<br />
started as a concrete company,<br />
back in Lockport, Illinois, in<br />
1978. In 1980 and 1981, interest<br />
rates reached twenty-one percent<br />
and there was no construction<br />
going on. Fort Myers was the<br />
number one growth city in the<br />
United States that year in growth.<br />
So, Dennis Schehr, founder and<br />
president of the company, packed<br />
up and moved in April 1981.<br />
Dennis found it amazing that<br />
the south was about ten years<br />
behind the north in modern<br />
equipment and tools. But things changed over<br />
the years and by 2000, Florida was a leader in<br />
this nation, among many, with its construction.<br />
Schehr Construction Company is a general<br />
contracting business, specializing in the<br />
wireless communication industry. Its goal is to<br />
perform top quality workmanship and help in<br />
the growth of communications nationwide.<br />
Customers include companies such as<br />
Verizon, Alltel, AT&T, and Sprint.<br />
The wireless industry is so vast, comments<br />
Dennis that every year new changes are being<br />
made, requiring the company to stay on top of<br />
all this growth with new training. In addition<br />
to normal cell phone features, the hard core<br />
work is with the Federal Government, with all<br />
the newest and tight security upgrades. The<br />
military grants huge communication contracts<br />
to companies like General Dynamics, who<br />
then subcontract to companies such as<br />
Schehr Construction.<br />
In the late 1990s, Dennis’ sons, Joe<br />
and Brad Schehr, entered the business and<br />
his daughter, Jennifer, started with them in<br />
2004. Joe and Brad plan on keeping the<br />
business going after Dennis retires. The<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
56<br />
COUNTY
company presently has ten employees with<br />
four million gross. By the year 2012, it is<br />
expected that Schehr Construction will show<br />
growth to $10 million, with Homeland<br />
Security being the number one agency.<br />
Budgets communications will also be a major<br />
focus and Schehr Construction’s goal is to<br />
grow with it.<br />
“Florida no longer sits behind any state,<br />
with respect to growth, quality, and work,”<br />
commented Dennis. “I am so glad that we got<br />
established in 1981 and that our company,<br />
with our reputation for quality and service, is<br />
here to stay.”<br />
Schehr Construction Company is located<br />
at 17430 Alico Center Road in Fort Myers.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Schehr Construction Company<br />
Founder and President Dennis Schehr.<br />
Below: Joe Schehr, an employee at<br />
Schehr Construction Company, and<br />
Dennis Schehr’s son.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
57
SANIBEL<br />
PACKING<br />
COMPANY DBA<br />
BAILEY’S<br />
GENERAL<br />
STORE<br />
✧<br />
Above: The home of Bailey’s General Store,<br />
1927-1966.<br />
Below:Bailey’s first store, 1899-1926.<br />
When Frank P. Bailey<br />
founded Bailey’s General Store<br />
in 1899, it was the epitome of<br />
an American general store.<br />
Today, Francis P. Bailey, Jr., and<br />
his brother Sam preserve the<br />
authenticity that makes it a<br />
center of social and business<br />
life on Sanibel. Celebrated<br />
writer and island resident<br />
Randy Wayne White mentions<br />
the beloved business in<br />
his latest cookbook, writing,<br />
“Shopping at Bailey’s is a little like coming<br />
home, even your first time.”<br />
Bailey’s General Store is the Island’s longestoperating,<br />
most complete supermarket,<br />
hardware and gift store. Its butcher shop is<br />
considered the best in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>, the deli<br />
serves three hot meals daily, and the bakery is<br />
famous for homemade goodies. Fresh<br />
vegetables, including organic varieties, appear<br />
in profusion, and organic and natural products<br />
are found in every aisle. Bailey’s sells gifts for<br />
every occasion, and a full line of hardware and<br />
small appliances. The service department cuts<br />
keys and glass panes, fills propane tanks, and<br />
can replace any battery, watches included.<br />
Around the corner, The Shell Net stocks gifts,<br />
books, jewelry, and decorative items crafted by<br />
local artists.<br />
Frank Bailey came to Sanibel Island from<br />
Kentucky with brothers Ernest and Harry. They<br />
left the tobacco business to found Sanibel<br />
Packing Company in a structure at the end of<br />
Mathews Wharf. They crated Sanibel’s bounty of<br />
fruit and vegetables, sending it by boat to New<br />
Orleans, Havana, Baltimore, and Key West. As<br />
more families and farmers settled on the island,<br />
the demand for necessities grew. The Baileys<br />
brought in everything the fledgling community<br />
needed, from plows and crates to food and<br />
clothing. In the days before bridges, ferry<br />
service, electricity, or telephone service, Bailey’s<br />
General Store was the center of the island’s<br />
commerce. In 1910, Western Union wire service<br />
came to Bailey’s, and it is still there today.<br />
Mathews Wharf washed away in the 1926<br />
hurricane and, with it, the original Sanibel<br />
Packing Company building. Frank and Ernest<br />
then built the company’s first land-based<br />
building on San Carlos Bay. This structure is<br />
now part of Sanibel’s <strong>Historic</strong> Village on Dunlop<br />
Road. In 1927, Kinzie Brothers began a daily<br />
scheduled ferry service from the landing at<br />
Bailey’s General Store, insuring a steady stream<br />
of customers on their doorstep. Sanibel’s first<br />
gas station (now a BP) opened on Periwinkle<br />
near Causeway Road in 1956, and Frank’s sons<br />
Francis and Sam, the current proprietors of<br />
Bailey’s, built it.<br />
The ferry made its final trip to Sanibel in<br />
1963 when the causeway connecting the<br />
island with the mainland was completed.<br />
Bailey’s bayfront location was no longer an<br />
advantage once the daily mail boat quit<br />
docking there, so the brothers sought a new<br />
location. In 1966, Bailey’s General Store<br />
moved to its current site at the corner of<br />
Periwinkle Way and Tarpon Bay Road.<br />
The new six-thousand-square-foot facility<br />
put groceries, clothing, and hardware<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
58<br />
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operations under one roof. The building was<br />
expanded in 1972, and Bailey’s moved its<br />
clothing department to Bailey’s Center in<br />
1974. By 1982, Bailey’s General Store had<br />
reached its present size.<br />
When Hurricane Charlie hit Sanibel and<br />
Captiva Islands in 2004, Bailey’s was again the<br />
island’s hub, opening to feed emergency<br />
crews, civil authorities, and any who had<br />
ignored orders to evacuate. Once telephone<br />
service was restored, Bailey’s operated as a<br />
communications center, relaying information<br />
and messages to people around the country.<br />
As recovery began, it was a strategic location<br />
for facilities and supplies.<br />
After a successful career as a professional<br />
athlete, head coach, and athletic director at<br />
the University of Tampa, Sam Bailey returned<br />
home to the family business in 1979. The<br />
Coach has always taken an interest in the<br />
people who work for Bailey’s, and gives them<br />
a big share of the credit for its success. Today<br />
he continues to take a personal interest in<br />
everyone there.<br />
Bailey’s began the process of transitioning<br />
the business to a third generation of the<br />
family in 2005, when Bailey’s General Store<br />
was honored by the State of Florida as a<br />
Centennial Business. That year Francis’<br />
daughter, M. Mead Johnson and her husband<br />
Richard, agreed they would undertake to keep<br />
Bailey’s in the family as it continues its<br />
evolution over the next hundred years.<br />
Legend has it that residents of Pine Island,<br />
across San Carlos Bay, ate very well for weeks<br />
after the hurricane of 1926 washed Bailey’s first<br />
store and its contents off the end of Mathews<br />
Wharf. They never knew what they would be<br />
having for dinner, though, because the floating<br />
cans had lost their labels in the storm.<br />
“I guess you could say that this is an early<br />
example of how Bailey’s gives back to the<br />
community,” said Francis P. Bailey, Jr., who<br />
took over as proprietor of Sanibel Packing<br />
Company (the firm’s original name) following<br />
the death of his father in 1952. Bailey’s<br />
remains a dedicated supporter of the entire<br />
island and all of its organizations. The energy<br />
its owners and staff bring to the annual<br />
Baileyfest and Island Night demonstrate the<br />
key role this family business plays the island’s<br />
life. For additional information, please visit<br />
www.baileys-sanibel.com.<br />
✧<br />
Bailey’s General Store today (above) and<br />
yesteryear (below).<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
59
COMPASS ROSE<br />
FOUNDATION<br />
✧<br />
The main branch of Southwest Florida<br />
College is located in Fort Myers.<br />
The Compass Rose Foundation has provided<br />
continuously to thousands of graduates for<br />
four generations with a central belief and commitment<br />
that a strong history assures a better<br />
future. Its campuses train students for high<br />
demand careers, thus contributing to the<br />
state’s infrastructure, as most of the graduates<br />
stay within the state of Florida and participate<br />
in their communities. The Foundation is a<br />
Florida nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation and<br />
maintains its principal place of business at<br />
Southwest Florida College in Fort Myers. It<br />
owns and operates two institutions of higher<br />
education in Florida: Southwest Florida<br />
College and Sunstate Academy. The main campus<br />
of Southwest Florida College is located in<br />
Fort Myers and a branch campus is in Tampa.<br />
Sunstate Academy has two locations, one in<br />
Fort Myers and the other in Clearwater.<br />
The educational roots of the Jones Family,<br />
the founders and operators of the Compass<br />
Rose Foundation, began in 1918. In that year,<br />
Annie Harper Jones started the “Mrs. Jones<br />
School,” a one-room schoolhouse in<br />
Jacksonville, Florida. Through this nonprofit<br />
endeavor, the Jones Family has operated several<br />
schools and colleges throughout Florida<br />
for many, many years.<br />
The Compass Rose Foundation began as the<br />
Broward College and School in 1941 and did<br />
not officially change to its current name until<br />
January 3, 2002. The not yet acquired<br />
Southwest Florida College was founded in<br />
1974 as the Lehigh School of Business. Eight<br />
years later, in 1982, the Lehigh School of<br />
Business underwent a name change and<br />
became the Fort Myers Business Academy. In<br />
keeping with the vision of its founders, Donald<br />
and Sharon Jones, the Foundation acquired the<br />
school on June 29, 1995.<br />
When the Compass Rose Foundation began<br />
operating Southwest Florida College, a group of<br />
team leaders comprising of Gregory Jones,<br />
Richard Ashley, Douglas Devaux, Nancy Ashley,<br />
and Carmen King worked together to expand<br />
the organization from one campus with 187 students<br />
to four campuses comprising of 2,000 students.<br />
All of which are still with the Foundation<br />
today in some capacity. Specifically, Jones is currently<br />
the president of the organization and<br />
Devaux is serving as Chairman of the Board.<br />
On April 25, 1997, the Accrediting<br />
Council for Independent Colleges and<br />
Schools (ACICS) granted Southwest Florida<br />
College a Junior College accreditation. In the<br />
spring of 2000, the college received approval<br />
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to open a branch campus in Tampa. As<br />
Southwest Florida College continued to<br />
expand its services, it sought Senior College<br />
status, which was granted in December 2005.<br />
Shortly thereafter, the college began offering<br />
bachelor’s degrees.<br />
The mission of Southwest Florida College<br />
is to provide an education to men and women<br />
that will enable them to pursue successful<br />
careers and lead enriched lives. The College<br />
recognizes the ever-increasing need for postsecondary<br />
education and strives to provide<br />
opportunities for individuals to pursue their<br />
educational goals through career-focused<br />
training. It is committed to providing an equal<br />
educational opportunity environment conducive<br />
to lifelong learning where individuals<br />
can acquire knowledge, build skills, and<br />
develop attitudes that will help prepare them<br />
for rewarding careers in fields with high<br />
growth potential. The most recent endeavor<br />
in which the Foundation is giving back to the<br />
community it serves is the Smart Choices<br />
Scholarship. The Foundation realizes the spiraling<br />
cost of higher education and witness<br />
around us many interruptions that preclude a<br />
student from achieving graduation. This<br />
scholarship is rooted in opportunity, and is<br />
being offered to any high school senior<br />
who attends a <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> or Hillsborough<br />
<strong>County</strong> high school. The only criteria are that<br />
these graduates must have a ‘normal’ high<br />
school diploma.<br />
Southwest Florida College offers certificates,<br />
diplomas, associate of science degrees and<br />
bachelor of science degrees in accounting technology,<br />
computer-aided drafting and design,<br />
computer programming and database management,<br />
criminal justice, early childhood education,<br />
elementary education, graphic design,<br />
interior design and decorating, management<br />
and marketing, massage therapy, medical<br />
administration, medical assisting, network<br />
engineering and administration, surgical technology,<br />
and Web design and development. For<br />
further details, please visit www.swfc.edu.<br />
Compass Rose Foundation’s Sunstate<br />
Academy began with the 1975 purchase of a<br />
barber school in Largo, Florida, and in 1982,<br />
expanded to Sarasota. In 1983 the Academy<br />
opened another barber styling school in<br />
Fort Myers, which relocated to Port Charlotte<br />
in 1991. A cosmetology school was established<br />
in Fort Myers in 1988, and in 1992,<br />
Sunstate purchased a barber and cosmetology<br />
school in Clearwater. Presently, there are two<br />
Sunstate locations: Fort Myers and<br />
Clearwater, which were purchased by<br />
Compass Rose Foundation on July 25, 2003.<br />
The philosophy of Sunstate Academy is to<br />
instill in all students, through quality education<br />
and motivation, belief in themselves and their<br />
ability to succeed. Programs of study include<br />
cosmetology, nail technician, and massage<br />
Therapy. Additional information is available<br />
at www.sunstate.edu.<br />
✧<br />
A branch campus of Southwest Florida<br />
College is located in Tampa.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
61
SAMINCO INC.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Corporate headquarters of Saminco<br />
Inc. is located at 10030 Amberwood Road,<br />
Fort Myers, Florida 33913.<br />
Below: The Ohio State University Buckeye<br />
Bullet, the fastest electric car on Earth at<br />
321.834 MPH, powered by Saminco M500<br />
AC Traction System.<br />
As the need for clean, fuel-efficient<br />
transportation solutions becomes urgent,<br />
Saminco Inc. of Fort Myers is developing<br />
reliable solutions. Eighty percent of its business<br />
is related to underground mining, ten percent<br />
is in industrial controls, and ten percent relates<br />
to producing transportation-related products<br />
including hybrid vehicle control systems.<br />
Revenues increased from under $1 million<br />
in 1992 to more than $15 million in 2006. It<br />
has international reach, with clients in<br />
Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom,<br />
Germany, Canada and the U.S. The staff is<br />
equally diverse, with employees from the U.S,<br />
England, France, Poland, Germany, Laos and<br />
various Latin American countries.<br />
The motor control products produced by<br />
this privately-held, U.S.-owned corporation<br />
figure in the electric propulsion components<br />
for some of the world’s longest running<br />
hydrogen fuel cell-powered transit programs.<br />
Saminco’s products are used for locomotives<br />
on long distance freight trains, and they run<br />
in the world’s fastest electric vehicle, the<br />
Buckeye Bullet, capable of reaching speeds up<br />
to 321 miles per hour.<br />
Fort Myers resident Bonne Posma,<br />
Saminco’s CEO and founder, has had a<br />
distinguished career in the fields of electronics<br />
and motor control technologies. With degrees<br />
in mathematics and engineering from the<br />
University of Western Ontario, he first worked<br />
as a research officer for the Council of Scientific<br />
and Industrial Research in South Africa. There<br />
he was involved in the design of an anti-shark<br />
device that used giant pulse generators to keep<br />
sharks away from South Africa’s beaches.<br />
This initial research led him to found<br />
Saftronics SA in South Africa in 1969. It<br />
became South Africa’s leading supplier of<br />
variable frequency drives, and is still thriving.<br />
In 1976, he started Saftronics (now known as<br />
Saft Drive Systems) in Canada. In 1985,<br />
Posma left the Canadian company to establish<br />
Fort Myers-based Saftronics, a leading<br />
supplier of AC and DC drive systems. Seven<br />
years later, in 1992, he founded Saminco.<br />
While Saminco cultivated its core<br />
business—propulsion control systems for<br />
underground coal mining—it also got<br />
involved in early research and development of<br />
hydrogen fuel cells for cars and public<br />
transportation vehicles. Projects included<br />
electric pick-up trucks for Florida Power and<br />
Light and the U.S. Air Force, and research for<br />
General Motors EV-1 battery car.<br />
Hydrogen fuel cells produce power by a<br />
chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen,<br />
resulting in heat, water vapor and electricity;<br />
the process creates no pollutants. Saminco<br />
designs and builds products that convert<br />
electricity from the fuel cell to power the wheels<br />
of vehicles from industrial machinery for<br />
underground coal mining to passenger buses.<br />
Between 1995 and 1999, Saminco moved<br />
to a new fifteen-thousand-square-foot<br />
manufacturing facility in South Fort Myers.<br />
The firm designed and manufactured a digital<br />
overhead crane control system for EATON<br />
Corp., and an electric propulsion system for<br />
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General Motors that put over fifty dieselelectric<br />
hybrid buses on the road.<br />
In 2000-2002, it opened a facility in West<br />
Virginia to maintain its mining control<br />
equipment, in addition to working with<br />
Lockheed-Martin on a thermal battery system to<br />
steer solid booster rockets for the Space Shuttle.<br />
It passed all ground flight-testing requirements<br />
at the NASA facility, but the technology has yet<br />
to be adapted. During this period, Saminco<br />
delivered street car propulsion systems to New<br />
Orleans for the Canal Street Car line; twentythree<br />
cars were operating before Hurricane<br />
Katrina damaged them. Saminco worked on fuel<br />
cell automotive programs with Ford and<br />
Daimler-Chrysler, and supplied Ballard with the<br />
control system for fuel cell buses that are now<br />
operating in ten European cities.<br />
In 2003, work began on the Ohio State<br />
University Buckeye Bullet race car. In 2004<br />
this battery-powered streamliner set U.S. and<br />
world land speed records for an electric<br />
vehicle, clocking over 321 mph at the<br />
Bonneville Salt Flats.<br />
The year 2006 marked the company’s<br />
largest growth period with sales revenue<br />
tripling over the three-year period starting in<br />
2003. Sales advances were made in Australia,<br />
South Africa, China, and Europe. It also<br />
expanded in the Fort Myers area, purchasing<br />
the building housing its current headquarters<br />
on Amberwood Road.<br />
Recent accomplishments include an<br />
innovative AC motor propulsion system for<br />
mining vehicles and expansion to a second<br />
West Virginia facility. Its Co-Gen freight<br />
locomotive system, which began operating on<br />
North America rail lines in summer 2007, will<br />
improve the efficiency and reliability of the<br />
country’s rail transportation system.<br />
“We are currently testing a high performance,<br />
efficient system for short line and regional freight<br />
rail lines and are in the process of introducing<br />
many new industrial products for coal<br />
preparation and production. We are involved in<br />
coal-to-liquid research, with the goal of<br />
producing high-grade fuels for automotive use<br />
from our country’s vast coal reserve,” said Larry<br />
Machak, sales and marketing director.<br />
Saminco and its employees are active<br />
supporters of the United Way, the Special<br />
Olympics, Veterans of Foreign Wars,<br />
Make-a-Wish Foundation, and Boy Scouts.<br />
They support the Immokalee BETA club for<br />
honor students and other public school<br />
programs, and provide engineering support<br />
and guidance to automotive research<br />
departments at the Ohio State University,<br />
West Virginia University, and the University of<br />
Florida. For more information on Saminco,<br />
please visit www.samincoinc.com.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Saminco VF1-75 DC to AC Coal<br />
Transport Vehicle control panel.<br />
Below: A New Orleans Canal Street Car<br />
powered by Saminco A300 traction<br />
control system.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
63
✧<br />
Above: The inside of Bradley’s Fine Jewelers.<br />
In 2007 it relocated and expanded to the<br />
Park Shops at Andrea Lane at 14261 South<br />
Tamiami Trail, #3 Fort Myers, FL 33912 or<br />
call 239-337-2723.<br />
Below: (From left to right) Colbi Congress’<br />
parents Marvin and Caron Leff, Colbi<br />
Congress, and Brad Congress.<br />
BRADLEY’S FINE JEWELERS<br />
To understand this charming little store and<br />
the couple that owns it is to appreciate their<br />
logo statement, “The way things used to be.”<br />
That sentiment is evident from the moment<br />
you walk through the doors. Bradley’s Fine<br />
Jewelers has combined old Florida style with a<br />
contemporary flair, featuring brightly colored<br />
progressive art and a mix of woods,<br />
establishing a fresh and cheerful atmosphere<br />
for a better shopping experience!<br />
Owners Brad and Colbi Congress are<br />
dedicated to giving everything that personal<br />
touch. “Our hope is to make everyone’s<br />
purchase a memorable one, reminiscent of<br />
days gone by when spending time with your<br />
jeweler was a special occasion. We’ve<br />
provided an ambiance that is inviting,<br />
delightful and engaging. Our goal is to offer a<br />
timeless selection of beautiful, wearable<br />
jewelry at fair prices. We offer our clients the<br />
best of ourselves and our expertise with<br />
personalized service in an atmosphere where<br />
dreams are realized. These principles and our<br />
commitment to the customer’s satisfaction<br />
set us apart, in a time where true quality<br />
and personal service are not easily found.”<br />
Bradley’s Fine Jewelers opened in 2003<br />
just off Sanibel Island. In 2007, Bradley’s<br />
relocated and expanded to the Park Shops<br />
at Andrea Lane in Fort Myers. It is family<br />
owned and operated, offering custom design,<br />
fine diamond and gemstone jewelry, bridal<br />
jewelry, and ancient coins (Greek, Roman,<br />
and Spanish), also featuring an on-site gem<br />
lab for insurance appraisals and gemstone<br />
detection services along with on-site fine<br />
jewelry repair. They also offer off-site Rolex<br />
and fine watch repair. The gallery also<br />
features dynamic displays of hand-blown<br />
glass, as well as internationally renowned<br />
contemporary fine paintings.<br />
Brad, co-founder and third-generation<br />
jeweler, began his career in 1984 with his<br />
parents, Larry and Dee Congress, in their<br />
jewelry store on Sanibel. Brad excelled in<br />
gemology and became a (GIA) Graduate<br />
Gemologist in 1991. He furthered his studies<br />
becoming a Certified Gemologist (AGS) and<br />
a member of the Numismatic Association.<br />
Brad is considered to be a foremost authority<br />
in his field and is often the “go-to” person<br />
for challenging jewelry consultations, like<br />
identification of natural and synthetic<br />
diamonds. He is a strong proponent of selfeducation<br />
and his patrons are the benefactors.<br />
His expertise is often requested for area<br />
speaking engagements as well.<br />
Colbi, Brad’s wife and business partner,<br />
was a television news producer when the<br />
couple met on a blind date in 1996. Born,<br />
raised and educated in Miami, she earned her<br />
bachelor of science in communications at the<br />
University of Miami in 1990. Colbi received<br />
her practical business education thanks to<br />
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64<br />
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parents Marvin and Caron Leff who were also<br />
entrepreneurs. They are a constant source of<br />
inspiration, encouragement and counsel for<br />
Brad and Colbi. The combination of their<br />
collective personalities, experiences, and<br />
talents gives this store its own brand of<br />
warmth and innovative panache!<br />
“We take our time with clients. What’s fun<br />
about this business is seeing customers’ eyes<br />
light up when we take heirlooms and recreate<br />
them into something modern and fantastic!<br />
I hand sketch everything while getting<br />
customers’ feedback. By allowing them to be<br />
part of the creative process we always achieve<br />
magnificent results!” says Brad.<br />
“Our showroom is a place where you can<br />
find anything from the affordable and tasteful<br />
to the exotic and extravagant! We offer jewelry<br />
price ranges respectable for all budgets and<br />
because we are owner operated, we are able to<br />
hand select our merchandise. Each fine piece<br />
is carefully chosen for its individuality, beauty<br />
and durability,” Colbi offers.<br />
Soon after the store’s opening, the<br />
Congresses introduced the Sea Reel Life by<br />
Bradley’s ® , their signature jewelry collection.<br />
The collection is an island-themed cast of<br />
lovable cartoon characters, with distinct<br />
personalities, that stand up for the<br />
environment. Each handmade character is<br />
cast in fourteen-karat yellow and white gold<br />
with platinum hand-finished techniques and<br />
gemstones. Coloring books have even been<br />
created, teaching kids of all ages lessons about<br />
preserving wildlife and ecology. Each<br />
character comes with its own story.<br />
Information about each of the characters and<br />
examples of the fine jewelry offered may be<br />
found on the Internet at www.seareellife.com.<br />
Brad says of the collection, “The Sea Reel<br />
Life is a complete departure from the basic<br />
replica of shells and sea life people have seen<br />
in the past. In our new collection we’ve<br />
actually poured imagination and love into<br />
the equation, creating thirty individual<br />
characters, each with its own attributes,<br />
eccentricities and quirks. You can really see<br />
my wife’s influence as we combine superb<br />
craftsmanship with personality and whimsy!”<br />
A portion of each purchase is donated<br />
toward local and international wildlife<br />
organizations. Although ecology is the main<br />
focus, this philanthropic couple is often found<br />
participating in many area auctions and benefits.<br />
Shortly after they launched their<br />
collection, they had an opportunity to meet<br />
with renowned wildlife conservationist Jack<br />
Hanna. He said of the eco-friendly collection,<br />
“I think Brad and Colbi Congress are seriously<br />
devoted to using their jewelry line in a way<br />
that will promote conservation, our natural<br />
resources and wildlife. They are showing<br />
the business community that they can be<br />
successful and have a positive impact on the<br />
environment at the same time. They have<br />
great ideas and a true innovative spirit.”<br />
✧<br />
Above: The Sea Reel Life, Bradley’s<br />
signature jewelry collection, is an islandthemed<br />
cast of thirty characters, that stands<br />
up for the environment.<br />
Below: Colbi Congress, wildlife<br />
conservationist Jack Hanna, and Brad<br />
Congress in 2006.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
65
FIRST BAPTIST<br />
CHURCH OF<br />
FORT MYERS<br />
✧<br />
Above: The current sanctuary of the First<br />
Baptist Church of Fort Myers, located at<br />
Second and Jackson Streets, was dedicated<br />
on November 29, 1959.<br />
Below: The second sanctuary to be built on<br />
the corner of Second and Jackson Streets<br />
was completed in 1929.<br />
The First Baptist Church of Fort Myers was<br />
founded by nine pioneers in 1889. Mary<br />
Frierson donated the land for the first<br />
building and also placed flowers every<br />
Sunday in the sanctuary. Dr. Robert B. Leak, a<br />
pioneer schoolmaster and church member,<br />
donated $50 annually to pay the first pastor,<br />
Reverend William W. Bostick.<br />
From its earliest times, the First Baptist<br />
Church has been located in downtown Fort<br />
Myers and has played an important role in the<br />
community. The church’s bell summoned the<br />
volunteer fire company, when, in December<br />
1902, a terrible fire destroyed many of the<br />
wooden buildings in downtown Fort Myers.<br />
Along with many of the townsfolk, the<br />
church’s employees worked hard to keep the<br />
fire under control.<br />
The Baptist Church moved to its present<br />
location on Second and Jackson Streets<br />
around 1905. A new sanctuary and pastorium<br />
were built with the help of the Baptist State<br />
and Home Mission Boards. Because of<br />
continued growth, the old church building<br />
was moved to the back of the lot in 1929 to<br />
make room for a new church sanctuary.<br />
During World War II, the church helped<br />
meet the spiritual needs of thousands of<br />
soldiers, who were stationed at one of two<br />
training facilities, Buckingham Gunnery School<br />
and Page Field, in Fort Myers. In the late 1950s,<br />
First Baptist Church built a new sanctuary,<br />
dedicated in 1959, on the present site.<br />
Throughout its history, the congregation<br />
has been the catalyst in the establishment of<br />
new churches, which over time, became<br />
flourishing congregations. These include:<br />
Riverside Church, First Baptist Church of<br />
Cape Coral, First Baptist Church of Lehigh<br />
Acres, and McGregor Baptist Church (now the<br />
largest church in Fort Myers). During the<br />
1950s and 1960s, several new missions were<br />
established by the church in Collier <strong>County</strong>,<br />
including Copeland, Everglades City, and<br />
Goodland. Reverend A. P. Minshew was the<br />
trusted and admired pastor at that time.<br />
The 1970s and ’80s were a time of<br />
stability in leadership and programs. It was<br />
during this time that Reverend Bryan<br />
Robinson concluded eighteen years of<br />
service as pastor (the longest in the history of<br />
the church).<br />
In the early 1990s, after more than a<br />
century of service, the church again reached<br />
out to the community with live telecasts of the<br />
Sunday morning worship services, along with<br />
regular television advertising, a strong<br />
community visitation program, and a<br />
“Launching Our Second Century” campaign<br />
to build a new state-of-the-art Family Life<br />
Center, which opened in June 1995.<br />
The late 1990s brought many challenges as<br />
downtown Fort Myers deteriorated and the<br />
community changed and aged. The church<br />
membership declined significantly and those<br />
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emaining were primarily retirees. There<br />
was a corresponding decline in finances.<br />
However, during that time, several ministries<br />
to the community were begun, including<br />
sharing facilities with the Haitian Baptist<br />
Church and the formation of a contemporary<br />
worship service.<br />
In the summer of 2004, First Baptist<br />
Church made a three-year commitment to a<br />
“Congregational Renewal Process.” Dr.<br />
Winford L. Hendrix (who had served as<br />
senior pastor, 1986-1994) was then called to<br />
be the transition pastor and to lead the church<br />
to become revitalized and relevant for the<br />
twenty-first century. Among the innovations<br />
being implemented are the formation of<br />
ministry teams (replacing the previous<br />
committee system) that minister to the needs<br />
of the congregation and the community.<br />
During this exciting period of renewal,<br />
three historic downtown churches: First<br />
Presbyterian, First United Methodist, and First<br />
Baptist have formed the “Downtown Alliance<br />
of Churches” (DAC) and have quickly begun<br />
to make a more positive impact on downtown<br />
Fort Myers. For example, the DAC has<br />
developed the “Trinity Village Concept,”<br />
which might become a model for other cities<br />
to follow. “Trinity Village” would be a campus<br />
of three churches of different denominations,<br />
focusing upon cooperation instead of<br />
competition, seeking ways to eliminate<br />
duplication in terms of programs, ministries,<br />
properties, and buildings—reducing costs,<br />
increasing effectiveness, and creating a critical<br />
mass in all age groups, as well as providing a<br />
pool of more leaders—resulting in more<br />
enthusiasm, energy, financial resources, and a<br />
greater impact for Christ upon the city. Each of<br />
the three churches would continue to have<br />
their own worship centers.<br />
It is believed that “Trinity Village” would<br />
become a central city destination, drawing<br />
creative, young, dynamic people to the<br />
downtown area and to the downtown churches,<br />
leading to the renewal and revitalization<br />
desired. Instead of three struggling<br />
congregations with aging memberships, they<br />
would have one concentrated, cooperative,<br />
creative effort. “Trinity Village” would be a<br />
beautiful new center of activity and energy in<br />
downtown Fort Myers.<br />
The timing for these plans coincides with<br />
the City of Fort Myers’ commitment to<br />
shaping up its appearance with new<br />
streetscapes, including bricked streets and<br />
sidewalks with beautiful new palm trees and<br />
turn-of-the-century street lights. New stores,<br />
restaurants, and hotels are being built in the<br />
downtown, and developers are constructing<br />
upscale high-rise condominiums along the<br />
Caloosahatchee River, many of which will be<br />
within walking distance of the churches.<br />
Indeed, the future for First Baptist—and the<br />
other downtown churches—may have greater<br />
potential than ever before!<br />
For more information on First Baptist<br />
Church, please visit www.fbcfortmyers.org.<br />
✧<br />
The First Baptist Church Activities Center<br />
was completed in 1995.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
67
MANHEIM<br />
FORT MYERS<br />
Manhiem Fort Myers is proud to serve the<br />
needs of more than 1200 auto dealers each year.<br />
The facility, formerly known as Southwest<br />
Florida Auto Auction, opened for business in<br />
1985 and was acquired by Manheim on May<br />
1, 2006. It hosts wholesale auctions for used<br />
car dealers each Wednesday afternoon.<br />
Manheim, headquartered in Atlanta, is the<br />
world’s leading provider of used vehicle<br />
services and is a wholesale marketplace for<br />
the millions of cars that change hands every<br />
year both in the auction lands and online.<br />
Manheim helps sellers achieve the maximum<br />
value for their vehicles and provides buyers<br />
a reliable and safe market in which to<br />
purchase inventory.<br />
“Florida is growing at an amazing rate and<br />
his auction location serves a critically<br />
important market in our industry,” said Tom<br />
Hammer, general manager of Manheim–Fort<br />
Myers. “This auction’s potential is huge and<br />
we have had a tremendously positive<br />
experience working with dealers here in the<br />
southwest corner of Florida.”<br />
Manheim–Fort Myers, which sits on<br />
nineteen acres at 2100 Rockfill Road, is one of<br />
eleven Manheim operating locations in the<br />
state of Florida.<br />
“Manheim–Fort Myers has been an<br />
incredible addition to the automotive<br />
business in Southwest Florida,” said Sean<br />
McCormick of O’Brien Imports. “The staff is<br />
knowledgeable and always willing to go the<br />
extra mile. The Manheim brand and way of<br />
operation has expanded the selection of<br />
vehicles offered and number of buyers<br />
attending.”<br />
Manheim–Fort Myers, like all Manheim<br />
operating locations serve as a “stock<br />
exchange” of the automotive remarketing<br />
industry. It provides a real-time, real-world<br />
marketplace where customers can buy and<br />
sell used vehicles with the confidence that<br />
comes from knowing that an objective third<br />
party is there to assure the fairness and<br />
transparency of each transaction.<br />
Manheim–Fort Myers provides the full<br />
array of products that customers need to<br />
succeed in this challenging industry: vehicle<br />
transportation, secure vehicle storage,<br />
inspections, reconditioning, marketing,<br />
certification, multiple sales channels<br />
(including Manheim Simulcast, which allows<br />
dealers to participate remotely online), floor<br />
plan financing arbitration and consulting<br />
service and more.<br />
This location prides itself in community<br />
involvement. Manheim–Fort Myers is a member<br />
of the Chamber of Commerce and the Florida<br />
Independent Auto Dealers Association.<br />
Manheim–Fort Myers involvement with Voices<br />
for Kids of Southwest Florida during the holiday<br />
season resulted in over $5000 in donations,<br />
providing holiday gifts to over 100 children in<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
68<br />
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<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>. Other involvements include but are<br />
not limited to donations, sponsorship of many<br />
area schools and sports teams, 4H, the Sheriff’s<br />
Office, Habitat for Humanity, American Cancer<br />
Society, and many more.<br />
The history of the auto auction business in<br />
the U.S. is an interesting one, dating back<br />
more than sixty years. During World War II,<br />
auto manufacturers were so involved with the<br />
war effort that used cars became the major<br />
source of transportation. After the war ended<br />
in 1945, the original Manheim Auto Auction<br />
was established in Manheim, Pennsylvania.<br />
When the auto auction opened its doors,<br />
there were three vehicles in the sale; by 1959,<br />
it had become the largest auto auction in the<br />
world. Today, Manheim has 34,000<br />
employees and 145 operating locations<br />
around the world, and registers ten million<br />
vehicles annually.<br />
Additional information is available on the<br />
Internet at www.manheim.com.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
69
SOUTHWEST<br />
FLORIDA ORAL<br />
AND FACIAL<br />
SURGERY<br />
✧<br />
Above: Dr. Gerald LaBoda and<br />
Dr. Frank DiPlacido.<br />
Below: Dr. Gerald LaBoda.<br />
Southwest Florida Oral and Facial Surgery<br />
offers a full scope of oral and maxillofacial<br />
surgery with expertise ranging from<br />
cosmetic facial surgery to corrective jaw<br />
surgery, cleft lip and palate surgery and<br />
wisdom tooth removal. They can also<br />
diagnose and treat facial pain, facial<br />
injuries and temporomandibular joint (TMJ)<br />
disorders, and perform a full range of dental<br />
implant procedures. There are four office<br />
locations in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>: Fort Myers, Cape<br />
Coral, Lehigh Acres and Bonita Springs.<br />
Dr. Gerald Laboda established the first<br />
practice in oral and maxillofacial surgery in<br />
Fort Myers in 1965. The services that he<br />
provided for the treatment of maxillofacial<br />
pathology and trauma were in great demand<br />
and he rapidly found himself with a thriving<br />
hospital and outpatient practice.<br />
In 1968, Dr. Laboda’s good friend and<br />
fellow oral surgeon, Dr. DiPlacido came to<br />
join him in the practice and they established<br />
Drs. Laboda and DiPlacido, P.A. The practice<br />
thrived with an overabundance of oral<br />
pathology, particularly in facial soft tissue and<br />
hard tissue trauma. They did all of the soft<br />
tissue pathology above the clavicle due to the<br />
fact that there were no plastic surgeons in<br />
Southwest Florida until 1971.<br />
In 1972 the practice moved into a<br />
newly constructed ambulatory surgical facility<br />
on Broadway in Fort Myers. This was a<br />
state-of-the-art facility and the practice<br />
remained there for the next fourteen years.<br />
Satellite offices were established in Charlotte<br />
<strong>County</strong> and in South Fort Myers. Drs. Laboda<br />
and DiPlacido were joined for a short period<br />
of time by Dr. Harold Odle, who subsequently<br />
left to practice in Central Florida.<br />
Drs. Laboda and DiPlacido pioneered<br />
reconstructive maxillofacial surgery, working<br />
closely in conjunction with Dr. Van Speas, the<br />
first diplomat of the American Board of<br />
Orthodontics to establish a practice in<br />
Southwest Florida. Together, they obtained<br />
training throughout the world in this new<br />
area of orthognathic surgery.<br />
In 1974, Dr. Laboda took a leading position<br />
with a group of physicians to build what was<br />
originally Fort Myers Community Hospital. It<br />
expanded and eventually became Southwest<br />
Florida Regional Medical Center. Drs. Laboda<br />
and Dr. DiPlacido were quite active in the<br />
early days of the medical staff and Dr. Laboda<br />
subsequently became chairman of the board of<br />
trustees of the hospital.<br />
By the mid 1980s it was apparent that the<br />
practice needed to expand in order to meet<br />
the growing needs of the expanding<br />
population of Southwest Florida. A 6500-<br />
square foot new state-of-the-art Ambulatory<br />
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Facility was<br />
built in 1986 on Summerlin Road. The<br />
satellite office in Charlotte <strong>County</strong> was<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
70<br />
COUNTY
eventually sold and the other in South Fort<br />
Myers closed.<br />
Dr. Timothy Hogan was brought into the<br />
practice at this time. His extensive<br />
background in the management of<br />
maxillofacial deformities and traumatic<br />
injuries added great depth of knowledge.<br />
Within the next four years, Dr. Mark Streater,<br />
who was well known to the practice, also<br />
joined Drs. Laboda and DiPlacido, and helped<br />
to broaden the technical expertise of the staff.<br />
In 1992 a 2500-square foot state-of-the-art<br />
facility was built just north of Cape Coral<br />
Hospital on Del Prado Boulevard. The<br />
practice, now known as Southwest Florida<br />
Oral Surgery Associates, established this<br />
facility for the practice of ambulatory oral and<br />
maxillofacial surgery.<br />
Dr. Harvey Satz joined the practice in 1998<br />
with expertise in the management of<br />
temporomandibular joint disorders and<br />
specialization in the nonsurgical treatment of<br />
craniofacial pain. Dr. T.J. Tejera joined the<br />
practice in 2003 and brought a whole new<br />
dimension to Southwest Florida Oral and<br />
Maxillofacial Surgery by creating an entire<br />
division of facial cosmetic and reconstructive<br />
surgery with medical skin care. His scope of<br />
practice also includes the surgical treatment<br />
of obstructive sleep apnea.<br />
In 2004 a facility was opened in<br />
Bonita Springs and Dr. DiPlacido retired<br />
from active practice. In 2006 Dr. Laboda<br />
retired and this would end the era of the<br />
founding fathers. The practice now known as<br />
Southwest Florida Oral and Facial Surgery<br />
continues to thrive and grow and broaden its<br />
scope. The extensive background and<br />
experience of the staff has caused the<br />
treatment of maxillofacial deformities to be<br />
equal to any practice in the Southeast. The<br />
management of facial traumatic injuries and<br />
participation at the trauma center at <strong>Lee</strong><br />
Memorial Hospital also continue to be an<br />
important focus. The future looks promising<br />
with a younger staff taking over the<br />
administration and continuing to deliver a<br />
superior level of care to the people of<br />
Southwest Florida.<br />
Southwest Florida Oral and Facial<br />
Surgery is active in community service in the<br />
Fort Myers area with participation in many<br />
causes including the American Cancer<br />
Society’s Cattle Baron’s Ball, Kid Rock<br />
Program, Cleft Lip and Palate Team, Project<br />
Dental Care Team, Children’s Hospital of<br />
Southwest Florida at <strong>Lee</strong> Memorial Hospital,<br />
the Alliance of the Arts, United Way, the<br />
Foundation of <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Golden Apple,<br />
Voices for Kids, the Florida Gulf Coast<br />
University Booster Club, Chico’s Charities,<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Project Graduation, Fort Myers<br />
High School, St. Cecilia Catholic Church,<br />
Father Anglium Academy, St. Frances Xavier<br />
School, St. Michaels Lutheran School, and<br />
Bishop Verot High School.<br />
Additional information is available on the<br />
Internet at www.swfofs.com.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Dr. Frank DiPlacido.<br />
Below: Standing from left to right;<br />
Dr. Harvey Satz, Dr. Tinerfe I. Tejera, and<br />
Dr. Mark Streater. Sitting; Dr. Timothy<br />
Hogan and Dr. Gerald LaBoda.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
71
BSSW<br />
ARCHITECTS,<br />
INC.<br />
✧<br />
Above: The Old <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Courthouse is<br />
one of a number of historic projects that<br />
BSSW Architects has preserved.<br />
Below: BSSW Architects has planned and<br />
designed many buildings throughout <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong>, including the BSSW Office Building,<br />
pictured here.<br />
BSSW Architects, Inc. was<br />
founded in 1980, as the Architectural<br />
Resources Corporation. At that time,<br />
Joe Barany, Ron Weaver and Tim<br />
Stone purchased Fenton-White<br />
Associates from Mariner Properties,<br />
Inc. to become independent from the<br />
developer and expand the client base<br />
of the firm. The newly reorganized<br />
firm continued to plan and design the<br />
development at South Seas Plantation<br />
on Captiva Island and other new resort<br />
projects of Mariner Properties throughout<br />
<strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
In the early 1980s the firm was retained by<br />
Bonita Bay Properties to design their new<br />
community, Bonita Bay. That working<br />
relationship has continued to the present day<br />
with “The Brooks,” “Verandah” and soon to<br />
start “Murphy’s Landing” developments.<br />
In 1990 the firm joined Schmitt Design<br />
Associates with Chuck Schmitt and formed<br />
the new company Barany Schmitt Weaver and<br />
Partners, Inc. This new firm combined the<br />
“private” sector experience of Architectural<br />
Resources with the “public” sector experience<br />
of Schmitt Design Associates<br />
The three principals—Joe Barany, Chuck<br />
Schmitt, and Ron Weaver—along with Ken<br />
Lamers, continued to run the firm until 1998<br />
when Dan Summers joined the team. The<br />
name subsequently changed to Barany<br />
Schmitt Summers Weaver and Partners, Inc.<br />
The year 2002 brought the addition of<br />
another new partner, Kevin M. Williams, to<br />
the firm, and the company became BSSW<br />
Architects, Inc.<br />
In the early 1990s, the firm completed two<br />
school projects that continued to preserve <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> history. The Edison Park Elementary<br />
School with the Edison Auditorium and<br />
the 1948 Fort Myers High School were<br />
both renovated and expanded with additions<br />
that complemented the original historic<br />
architectural character.<br />
BSSW Architects preserved other historic<br />
projects including the Old <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
Courthouse, the Murphy Burroughs Home,<br />
and its headquarters, the Bank of Fort Myers<br />
Building, all in downtown Fort Myers. The<br />
firm has won awards for outstanding<br />
architectural design from the Florida Trust<br />
for <strong>Historic</strong> Preservation, the American<br />
Institute of Architects, the Naples Area<br />
Chamber of Commerce, the Urban Land<br />
Institute, and others.<br />
Today, the firm, with offices in Fort Myers<br />
and Naples, is planning its next expansion in<br />
Charlotte <strong>County</strong>. BSSW Architects continues<br />
to establish itself as the largest architectural<br />
firm headquartered in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>. It continues<br />
its work on high profile projects, such as the<br />
planning and design of the ten-year expansion<br />
of the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> Justice Complex, and also<br />
provides services to established private sector<br />
corporations and individuals.<br />
The firm is active in the community with<br />
such organizations as the Fort Myers<br />
Development Agency, City of Fort Myers<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Preservation Commission, and <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> <strong>Historic</strong> Board. For details, please<br />
visit www.bsswarchitects.com.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
72<br />
COUNTY
ISLAND INN<br />
Harriett and Will Matthews, who came from<br />
Kentucky in 1895 with their children Anne,<br />
Eleanor, Charlotta, and Thomas, founded<br />
Sanibel’s Island Inn. A Confederate War widow<br />
who leased a beachfront cottage to the family<br />
willed Harriett $500 in 1900. With it, Harriet<br />
bought the widow’s house and property.<br />
Today’s Island Inn, encompassing 10 acres<br />
and 550 feet of unobstructed beachfront,<br />
operates on the original acreage settled by the<br />
Matthews family.<br />
A hundred years ago, the gulffront resort<br />
known simply as “The Matthews” was already<br />
famous for its hospitality and fine dining.<br />
When a fire destroyed the two-story<br />
guesthouse in 1914, Bailey Buck and Ben<br />
Hartman lent Harriett funds for a new<br />
building, and Buck took back his share of the<br />
loan in room and board. The Matthews family<br />
built a new home, Matthews Cottage, now the<br />
Inn’s oldest building. Sanibel’s first shell fair<br />
was held in 1916, when guests displayed their<br />
finest shells on tables in the Inn’s lobby.<br />
The 1919 marriage of Anne Matthews and<br />
Frank Bailey united two prominent families,<br />
both longtime contributors to Sanibel’s<br />
development. After Will died in 1928,<br />
Harriett leased the hotel to the Terrill family,<br />
who ran the Inn until 1938. Charlotta<br />
managed it while her sister, Eleanor Matthews<br />
Clapp, cared for their now-elderly mother. It<br />
was around this time the name Island Inn<br />
was adopted.<br />
Jack Foote and Bill Grantz from St. Paul,<br />
Minnesota, assembled investors to buy the<br />
Inn in 1957. They incorporated The Island<br />
Inn Company to ensure that families like<br />
theirs, who had vacationed at the Inn for<br />
generations, could continue their annual<br />
visits. Charlotta turned over the Inn for<br />
$120,000 plus the use of Matthews Cottage<br />
and dining room privileges for life.<br />
Tourism increased when the causeway<br />
linking Sanibel to the mainland opened. In May<br />
1963 construction began on Matthews Lodge,<br />
and the outdoor pool was added in 1965. Two<br />
years later, Charlotta’s nephew, Sam Bailey,<br />
moved one of the original cottages to a<br />
beachfront lot near Bailey’s General Store, which<br />
was founded by Sam’s father and still operating<br />
today. A new structure with ten kitchenequipped<br />
rooms was built on the empty site.<br />
Pegge Ford, who took over as general<br />
manager in 1994, continues the Island Inn<br />
Company’s mission to operate and maintain<br />
a resort reminiscent of early Sanibel<br />
hospitality, and to preserve the natural beauty<br />
and ambiance the unique island setting<br />
provides. This historic resort rents guestrooms,<br />
efficiencies and cottages, and the Traditions<br />
dining room offers fine meals in an “Old<br />
Florida” atmosphere.<br />
Please visit www.islandinnsanibel.com for<br />
information on rates, reservations, or more of<br />
what Island Inn has to offer to you.<br />
✧<br />
Above: A Horse and buggy, c. 1910.<br />
Below: A devil fish, c. 1914.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
73
✧<br />
Above: The Naples Campus.<br />
PHOTO BY JIM HARDESTY.<br />
Below: The Fort Myers Campus.<br />
PHOTO BY JIM HARDESTY.<br />
HODGES<br />
UNIVERSITY<br />
Hodges University is an<br />
independent, nonprofit, coeducational<br />
institution with campuses in Naples<br />
and Fort Myers, Florida, and learning<br />
sites on the campuses of Edison<br />
College, Pasco-Hernando Community<br />
College and Manatee Technical<br />
Institute. Hodges University is<br />
accredited by the Commission on<br />
Colleges of the Southern Association<br />
of Colleges and Schools to award<br />
associate, bachelor’s, and master’s<br />
degrees. The University offers twelve<br />
associate degrees, eleven baccalaureate<br />
degrees, and seven master’s degrees in<br />
the schools of allied health, business,<br />
professional studies, and technology.<br />
In order to appreciate the<br />
enormous strides Hodges University<br />
has made in becoming a progressive<br />
institution of higher learning, it is<br />
important to understand its history.<br />
Founded in 1990, the institution then<br />
known as International College began classes<br />
in a rental facility in Naples with only eightyfive<br />
students. In 1992, International College<br />
opened a branch campus, again in rental<br />
facilities, in the City of Fort Myers and<br />
expanded its academic programs to include<br />
English as a Second Language program. The<br />
population of the institution at this time was<br />
491 students.<br />
In 1993, International College began its<br />
quest for regional accreditation with the<br />
Commission on Colleges of the Southern<br />
Association of Colleges and Schools and was<br />
granted Candidacy in 1996; membership as a<br />
Level II institution (bachelor’s level) in 1998;<br />
and in 1999 received approval to offer master’s<br />
degree programs. In 1993, accreditation was<br />
reaffirmed by the Commission for ten years.<br />
On May 15, 2007, International College<br />
announced that it had received a generous<br />
gift from long-time Naples residents Earl<br />
and Thelma Hodges. In conjunction with the<br />
gift, the institution changed its name to<br />
Hodges University.<br />
The University has moved out of both of its<br />
original rental facilities and built new<br />
campuses in Naples and Fort Myers. The<br />
Naples Campus is located at 2655<br />
Northbrooke Drive and the Fort Myers<br />
Campus is located at 4501 Colonial<br />
Boulevard. The University currently serves an<br />
adult student population of approximately<br />
1,800 students, with an average age of 33.<br />
Many of these students work full time and<br />
have family obligations as well. The mission<br />
of the University embraces this population by<br />
providing a learning environment conducive<br />
to the adult student.<br />
The programs of study offered at the<br />
University, as well as the faculty who teach<br />
within these programs, prepare students to<br />
meet the challenges of today’s society and<br />
beyond. Hodges University is positioned to be<br />
a long-time player in Southwest Florida by<br />
educating a workforce that lives and will<br />
continue to live and contribute to this region.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
74<br />
COUNTY
Edison College, a Florida community<br />
college with programs ranging from<br />
continuing education to the baccalaureate<br />
degree, was founded in 1962. The college<br />
opened in the Andrew Gwynne Institute in<br />
downtown Fort Myers, but high demand had<br />
the college soon using local businesses,<br />
churches, and community centers.<br />
Today, Edison College has four campus<br />
locations: Fort Myers, Naples, Punta Gorda,<br />
and a smaller center in LaBelle.<br />
Edison’s first president was Dr. Charles E.<br />
Rollins. The 1963 yearbook includes pictures<br />
of the college’s first group of 124 students and<br />
lists six administrators. According to the<br />
catalog, student fees that first year were $70<br />
per semester for a full load of courses.<br />
The college’s first dean, Dr. David G.<br />
Robinson, succeeded Rollins in 1965 to<br />
become Edison’s second president, a role he<br />
would fill for twenty-six years. Under his<br />
leadership, Edison—which had been part of<br />
the local school district—established its own<br />
governance, and Dr. Robinson engaged<br />
faculty, staff, students, and the community in<br />
developing a vision for the future of Edison.<br />
During this period, Edison also became an<br />
accredited institution, began holding classes<br />
in Charlotte and Collier Counties, and<br />
opened the Barbara Mann Performing Arts<br />
Hall. Because of his contributions to the<br />
success of the institution, Robinson was<br />
named president emeritus of Edison College.<br />
When Dr. Robinson retired in 1992, the<br />
Board of Trustees chose Dr. Kenneth P. Walker<br />
as the new president. Dr. Walker’s focus on<br />
collaborative partnerships resulted in<br />
tremendous advancements for the college. His<br />
vision for community colleges to offer<br />
bachelor’s degrees became reality in 2007,<br />
with more degree programs on the horizon.<br />
During Dr. Walker’s tenure, Edison<br />
expanded to four locations, including<br />
permanent campuses in Collier and Charlotte<br />
Counties and a center for Hendry and Glades<br />
Counties. Enrollment grew to 16,000<br />
students and more than 20 new programs<br />
of study were added. Dr. Walker created<br />
the University Center, which allowed<br />
students to complete bachelor’s degrees from<br />
numerous colleges and universities without<br />
leaving the Edison campus. Dr. Walker also<br />
began Project HOPE, which promised<br />
scholarships and a college education for atrisk<br />
students who stay in school and stay out<br />
of trouble.<br />
The vision continues with development<br />
and implementation of the “Decade of<br />
Promise: 2010” strategic plan. Edison College<br />
has a rich tradition of innovation, growth, and<br />
change. At the heart of this innovation is the<br />
commitment of faculty and staff to provide<br />
the best possible service to students.<br />
Additional information on Edison College<br />
may be found at www.edison.edu.<br />
EDISON COLLEGE<br />
✧<br />
Above: An aerial view, taken in 2006, of<br />
Edison College’s Fort Myers campus.<br />
Below: Edison College opened in 1962 in the<br />
Andrew Gwynne Institute, pictured here, in<br />
downtown Fort Myers.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
75
THE ISLANDS<br />
OF SANIBEL<br />
CAPTIVA<br />
CHAMBER OF<br />
COMMERCE<br />
✧<br />
The Islands of Sanibel Captiva Chamber of<br />
Commerce welcomes up to fifteen hundred<br />
visitors and walk-in traffic a day.<br />
One afternoon in 1962, on the east end of<br />
the Islands of Sanibel and Captiva, Francis P.<br />
Bailey, Jr. (Bailey’s General Store), Paul E.<br />
Stahlin, Thomas Billheimer, John T. Wakefield<br />
(Wakefield Construction), Thomas W. Mason<br />
(South Seas Plantation), Dean Mitchell (The<br />
Castaways), and H. K. Jeremiassen (fishing<br />
guide) all got together on a pile of logs on<br />
Ferry Road. That was the first “Chamber<br />
Board Meeting.” The top priority of Bailey and<br />
these other “young kids” was to “take care of<br />
the people and our environment.”<br />
The Chamber, first known as The Sanibel-<br />
Captiva Islands Business Association, became<br />
the Sanibel-Captiva Islands Chamber of<br />
Commerce, a not-for-profit organization, on<br />
February 20, 1962. A few of the first businesses<br />
on the Island to join the new Chamber were<br />
Bailey’s General Store, Bailey’s Service Station,<br />
Tween Waters, South Seas Plantation, High Tide<br />
Motel, Coconut Grove Restaurant, The<br />
Seahorse Shop and Heirs Cottages and Kinzie<br />
Brothers. Stahlin became the president of the<br />
organization; Billheimer, vice president; Bailey,<br />
secretary; Wakefield, treasurer, and Mason,<br />
Mitchell and Jeremiassen, directors.<br />
A building for the Chamber was<br />
constructed just over the Sanibel Causeway.<br />
Martin Hiers, the builder, painted the facility<br />
purple. The community of the Islands cried<br />
out and it did not last long before being<br />
repainted. The present Chamber still resides<br />
in the same building today.<br />
On May 23, 1963, the Sanibel Causeway<br />
replaced the ferry. “It was a Sunday,” recalls<br />
Bailey, “and it was free admission to the island<br />
for that day. I remember sitting on my front<br />
porch, watching the stream of cars coming<br />
onto the Island. A few nights later, coming<br />
back from a dinner party in Fort Myers, it<br />
amazed me how one minute I could be<br />
driving past Punta Rassa and then a few<br />
minutes later, be here on the Island looking at<br />
our native vegetation.”<br />
“The population started to boom in<br />
1970…that’s when the changes came in. It has<br />
always amazed me the amount of people that<br />
knew about this Island without advertising<br />
throughout the United States and Europe,”<br />
Bailey said. The residents fought against<br />
overdevelopment by incorporating the island<br />
as a city in 1974.<br />
In 2007, Sanibel completed its new<br />
causeway, replacing the worn out 1963<br />
bridge spans. The new bridge features a<br />
“flyover” span tall enough for sailboats to pass<br />
under. Today, approximately 30 volunteers<br />
and 15 employees welcome up to 1500<br />
visitors and walk-in traffic a day at the<br />
Chamber’s Visitor’s Center. For details, please<br />
visit www.sanibel-captiva.org.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
76<br />
COUNTY
GREATER<br />
FORT MYERS<br />
CHAMBER OF<br />
COMMERCE,<br />
INC.<br />
The Greater Fort Myers Chamber of<br />
Commerce, Inc. is a voluntary organization of<br />
business and professional men and women<br />
who have joined together to promote <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong>’s civic and commercial progress, with<br />
an emphasis on Fort Myers. This 1,350-<br />
member Chamber of Commerce was<br />
incorporated in 1989, following the merger of<br />
the original Fort Myers Chamber with the<br />
Cape Coral Chamber.<br />
Over four hundred business people<br />
attended the installation ceremony for the first<br />
officers and directors, with then-Governor Bob<br />
Martinez as keynote speaker. The organization<br />
has grown from a single employee to seven<br />
full-time and two part-time staff. From its first<br />
10-by-10-foot office, donated by Wilbur (Bill)<br />
Smith, Jr., the Chamber has progressed to its<br />
current beautiful location at 2310 Edwards<br />
Drive facing the Caloosahatchee River and the<br />
city’s yacht basin.<br />
Among the charter board members are<br />
Wilbur (Bill) Smith, Jr., Richard C. Ackert, T.<br />
Hart, Gay Rebel Thompson, Burnett<br />
Bloodworth, Bruce Strayhorn, and thirty-five<br />
other local business people. To insure<br />
continuity, the initial board members were<br />
selected as three sets of six individuals, each<br />
serving three years. This has been an<br />
important factor in the growth and progress of<br />
the Chamber, and most of the original board<br />
members are still involved. These individuals<br />
continue to be major influences on the<br />
Chamber’s direction, helping to keep the<br />
Chamber’s original mission alive and its<br />
membership growing. The guiding<br />
philosophy has been to ask the member<br />
businesses what services they want and need,<br />
and to provide those services.<br />
One of the Chamber’s key goals has been to<br />
make a difference in local education. By<br />
allocating ten percent of all membership dues<br />
to its Foundation, the Chamber has set aside<br />
and distributed more than $400,000 to<br />
schools, other education organizations,<br />
teachers, and students throughout <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>.<br />
“Education will always be a prime concern,<br />
and the Chamber is committed to increasing<br />
the funds the Foundation donates as grants<br />
and scholarships,” said Executive Director of<br />
the Chamber Marietta Mudgett.<br />
In addition to creating a vibrant businessto-business<br />
atmosphere, the Chamber also<br />
welcomes not-for-profit groups as members.<br />
The executive director and members of the<br />
staff are personally involved in many<br />
charitable organizations. Visit the website at<br />
www.fortmyers.org for full information on<br />
programs and services provided by the<br />
Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce.<br />
✧<br />
Executive Director Marietta Mudgett.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
77
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF CAPE CORAL<br />
✧<br />
Above: In 2004 the dynamic Chamber of<br />
Commerce of Cape Fear began an initiative<br />
to build a new visitor center and<br />
administrative offices on its current site at<br />
the foot of the Cape Coral Bridge.<br />
Groundbreaking is set to occur in 2007.<br />
Below: In 2007, the Chamber grew to 1000<br />
plus members and increased its staff to eight<br />
full-time and three part-time employees.<br />
The nonprofit 501 (c) (6) organization uses<br />
the membership’s investments to operate<br />
three Welcome Centers throughout Cape<br />
Coral and implement programs related to<br />
business advocacy, growth, recruitment, and<br />
community promotion.<br />
Fewer than seventy-five businesses existed<br />
in Cape Coral when Edward B. Quirk<br />
founded the Merchants Association in his<br />
small storefront in 1965. The organization<br />
was renamed the Cape Coral Chamber of<br />
Commerce in 1967 and Charles Blackburn,<br />
president of the town’s only bank, was the<br />
new Chamber’s first president. Richard<br />
Crawford, owner of the local newspaper, the<br />
Cape Coral Daily Breeze, succeeded him<br />
in 1968.<br />
Well-known leaders started public life at<br />
the Chamber of Commerce of Cape Coral.<br />
Senator Connie Mack III, Chamber president<br />
in 1974, was elected to the U.S. House of<br />
Representatives for two terms, and also served<br />
in the U.S. Senate. State Senator Fred Dudley,<br />
the 1975 president, served in the Florida<br />
House of Representatives and state<br />
Senate. In 1984, the Chamber elected its<br />
first woman president, Gail Markham,<br />
owner of a Cape Coral CPA firm.<br />
In 1976, the Cape Coral Construction<br />
Industry Association and Cape Coral<br />
Chamber of Commerce collaborated to<br />
build its Cape Coral Parkway location on<br />
land leased from <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>. In 1987,<br />
the Cape Coral Chamber and Fort Myers<br />
Chamber merged to form the Chamber<br />
of Commerce of Southwest Florida, and<br />
the Welcome Center transferred to the<br />
new organization.<br />
After two years, the community decided to<br />
form the Chamber of Commerce of Cape<br />
Coral. It operated out of a small building on<br />
the corner of Del Prado and Cape Coral<br />
Parkway. In 1994, the Chamber of Commerce<br />
of Cape Coral agreed to rent space from<br />
the Chamber of Southwest Florida and<br />
moved back to the Cape Coral Parkway<br />
Welcome Center. In 1998, they bought the<br />
building outright.<br />
In 2004 the Chamber began an initiative<br />
to build a new visitor center and<br />
administrative offices at its current location.<br />
Groundbreaking is set for 2007. “It is our<br />
hope that we provide the best possible<br />
gateway into our little corner of paradise,”<br />
said Chamber President Mike Quaintance.<br />
The mission of the Chamber of Commerce<br />
of Cape Coral, “To Promote and Serve<br />
Business and Community,” has made the<br />
organization the first choice for business<br />
people who want to partner to succeed.<br />
The Chamber understands that to<br />
have successful members, the community<br />
itself must prosper. To promote networking<br />
among its members and keep them<br />
informed of issues affecting the business<br />
community, the Chamber holds monthly<br />
membership meetings, business-after-hours<br />
and other monthly networking events.<br />
Annual Chamber activities include three<br />
major community events: Celebrate Cape<br />
Coral, Holiday Festival of Lights, and Red<br />
White and Boom. It hosts the Chamber Cup<br />
Golf Tournament, as well as Candidates<br />
Forums, and Hobnobs. For additional<br />
information, visit www.capecoralchamber.com.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
78<br />
COUNTY
DIRECTBUY OF<br />
SOUTHWEST<br />
FLORIDA<br />
DirectBuy of Southwest Florida is a private<br />
membership club and one of over 130<br />
showrooms across the United States and<br />
Canada where members have the ability to<br />
purchase products directly from over 800<br />
name-brand manufacturers. The key to<br />
DirectBuy’s tremendous growth revolves<br />
around its groundbreaking but simple concept<br />
of eliminating high-retail markups that cost<br />
consumers millions of dollars each year.<br />
DirectBuy offers an astounding 1.6 million<br />
products with savings of 50 percent or more off<br />
store prices. The unparalleled selection of<br />
merchandise includes top name-brands of<br />
furniture, cabinetry, flooring, windows,<br />
plumbing and lighting fixtures, electronics,<br />
appliances, and custom window treatments. It<br />
is a perfect fit for any family that is looking to<br />
build, remodel, furnish, or redecorate a home.<br />
As membership and products have<br />
significantly grown over the years, so have the<br />
available services to DirectBuy members.<br />
Over the past few years, DirectBuy has<br />
developed a design, delivery, and installation<br />
model which rivals some of the value-added<br />
retailers in the area. Through the use of its<br />
merchant member program, members have<br />
access to approved local contractors who<br />
provide their services to DirectBuy members<br />
at a discounted pricing structure.<br />
DirectBuy of Southwest Florida became a<br />
reality on December 27, 2004. Prior to retiring<br />
after thirty years in the banking industry, Marge<br />
Harkins was a member of DirectBuy in<br />
Pittsburgh. She was working with the local<br />
showroom on a kitchen remodel and was asked<br />
how she was enjoying her retirement. After<br />
stating that she was bored, Harkins learned that<br />
the franchise territory was available in the Fort<br />
Myers area. Needing a business partner,<br />
Harkins flew with Paul Schuster, who was a vice<br />
president for the seventh largest public relations<br />
firm in the world, to Merrillville, Indiana,<br />
where the corporate headquarters is located.<br />
They now own and operate their sixteenthousand-square-foot<br />
design showroom,<br />
located on Brantley Road in Fort Myers.<br />
DirectBuy’s vision is to be the recognized<br />
leader as the best alternative to conventional<br />
retail buying. DirectBuy’s unified commitment<br />
to delivering exceptional customer service is a<br />
priority and is essential to its continued growth<br />
and success. DirectBuy of Southwest Florida<br />
has been recently recognized as one of the<br />
organization’s top franchises for providing its<br />
members with excellent customer service and<br />
is one of the leading franchises in the chain in<br />
regards to overall merchandise volume.<br />
DirectBuy is a member of The Better<br />
Business Bureau and The Greater Fort Myers<br />
Chamber of Commerce, and Paul Schuster is<br />
a Rotarian. The company supports several<br />
charitable organizations and looks forward to<br />
making a positive impact on the community<br />
for a long time to come.<br />
✧<br />
Above: DirectBuy of Southwest Florida’s<br />
16,000-square-foot design showroom where<br />
members can purchase products directly<br />
from over 800 name-brand manufacturers.<br />
Below: This kitchen design is one of the<br />
many products that members can buy<br />
at the showroom of DirectBuy of<br />
Southwest Florida.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
79
Rels Title<br />
✧<br />
State Operations Manager Sue Pucin, (in<br />
black-and-white) and Director of Sales and<br />
Marketing Sue King, in purple.<br />
Rels Title opened in Fort Myers in 1996,<br />
and soon expanded its Florida operations with<br />
offices in Pensacola, Santa Rosa Beach,<br />
Jacksonville, and Cape Coral. Minnesotabased<br />
Rels Companies is the nation’s premier<br />
provider of credit, appraisal, title and<br />
settlement products and services for the<br />
lending industry. In Florida, it facilitates and<br />
closes real estate transactions including escrow<br />
and settlements, foreclosures, and refinancing.<br />
“Our volume in Florida has increased from<br />
a few hundred to several thousand<br />
transactions a year,” said Sue Pucin, who is<br />
based in the Fort Myers Rels office. She<br />
sees extraordinary personal service as the<br />
key to the company’s success. “We go the<br />
extra mile, assisting people after hours,<br />
nights, and on weekends. We work around<br />
the client’s schedule to get a transaction<br />
closed,” Pucin said.<br />
“Each member of our staff is held to high<br />
standards of integrity, performance and team<br />
work,” said Sue King, director of sales and<br />
marketing, who joined Rels in 2001. King’s<br />
three decades of experience in sales and<br />
marketing are a benefit to those with whom<br />
she works. Pucin, who has been active in the<br />
real estate and title industries since 1978,<br />
points out that the staff’s experience allows<br />
them to anticipate—and head off—most<br />
closing-related problems before they arise.<br />
“There are many other title companies in the<br />
area, but our difference is national backing.<br />
Rels will be here for the long term.”<br />
Rels is not affiliated with any real estate<br />
brokerage firm, yet its staff members are<br />
dedicated to assisting their colleagues in the<br />
real estate industry. They do this by offering<br />
educational programs that help Realtors and<br />
mortgage brokers sharpen their own<br />
marketing skills and increase their business.<br />
Active in multiple chambers of commerce<br />
as far up the coast as North Port, the Fort<br />
Myers Rels office supports the American<br />
Cancer Society with a table at the annual<br />
Cattle Barons Ball, and participates in golf<br />
tournaments sponsored by Easter Seals,<br />
Realtor associations, and organizations<br />
dedicated to helping young people overcome<br />
substance abuse. They take part in Muscular<br />
Dystrophy Association’s fundraisers, and<br />
supports ACT, a shelter and counseling<br />
service for abused women.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
80<br />
COUNTY
MEL-RE Group has been an important<br />
influence in the growth of Southwest Florida<br />
since it was founded in 1983. Founder and<br />
Chief Executive Officer Edward D. Adkins, is<br />
an innovator who led the way for designbuild<br />
techniques and was one of the first<br />
entrepreneurs to offer a “total service”<br />
development process. Able to see projects<br />
from the point of view of the investor,<br />
developer and contractor, Adkins and his<br />
team continue to work in ways that control<br />
costs, remain on schedule, and result in<br />
properties that function well and hold their<br />
value as assets.<br />
The son of an independent Florida<br />
building contractor, Adkins learned construction<br />
in the field, then added a college<br />
business education before working with<br />
industrial building contractors in California<br />
and Southwest Florida.<br />
With MEL-RE Construction, Inc., he<br />
helped to establish the design-build approach<br />
as the preferred method for commercial construction<br />
throughout Southwest Florida.<br />
Within the region’s highly competitive<br />
building industry, MEL-RE developed a<br />
reputation for quality and reliability. The firm’s<br />
strategy of acquiring or collaborating with<br />
neighboring projects has enabled MEL-RE to<br />
define many of Southwest Florida’s business<br />
districts and mixed-use neighborhoods.<br />
Adkins expanded into land development,<br />
becoming a partner in industrial parks in Fort<br />
Myers and Sarasota, and several smaller office<br />
and mixed-use projects. Envisioning a “total<br />
service” development process to create real<br />
estate facilities and investments that<br />
performed to prescribed financial models, in<br />
1996 he established MEL-RE Group, a closely<br />
controlled affiliation of firms that handle<br />
commercial real estate brokerage and property<br />
management, construction, project funding<br />
and asset management. Experienced<br />
professionals in each specialization ensure the<br />
long-term success of each project MEL-RE<br />
Group undertakes.<br />
Early influences on the business include<br />
Ernie Finger, Erwin Geiss and Bill West, local<br />
and national industrial developers who<br />
became partners in many projects. Others<br />
were Randal Mercer, a marketing agent and<br />
partner in several projects, and marketing<br />
consultant Bill Burdette.<br />
The new focus of the MEL-RE Group is to<br />
begin providing full service development<br />
services and outsource the need for general<br />
contractors and real estate services. We are<br />
evolving to the next level in order to stay in<br />
tune with the changes to the Southwest<br />
Florida Economy and Real Estate Market.<br />
Active in matters related to <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
government, Adkins is a member and<br />
past governor of the Real Estate Investment<br />
Society. He is a member of the Chamber<br />
of Commerce of Southwest Florida, the <strong>Lee</strong><br />
Building Industry Association, and the<br />
Executive Regulatory Ordinance Committee.<br />
For more information about MEL-RE, please<br />
visit www.mel-re.com.<br />
MEL-RE<br />
DEVELOPMENT<br />
CONSTRUCTION<br />
MANAGEMENT<br />
✧<br />
Above: MEL-RE developed and manages<br />
this project. The A.G. Edwards is located at<br />
5246 Red Cedar Drive and built in 1997.<br />
Below: MEL-RE developed and manages<br />
this project and are based in the the Regions<br />
building, which is located at 15051 South<br />
Tamiami Trail and built in 1998.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
81
INDUSTRIAL &<br />
MARINE<br />
HARDWARE<br />
✧<br />
Above: Industrial & Marine Hardware<br />
is located at 2947 Hanson Street in<br />
Fort Myers.<br />
Below: (From left to right) Hubert Toney,<br />
Sr., an employee for more than 35 years;<br />
Store Manager Al Lager, who has 25-plus<br />
years experience in hardware; owner Mary<br />
Jane Morris; and Julius T. Morris.<br />
In 2007, Industrial and<br />
Marine Hardware in Fort Myers<br />
marked 120 years of continuous<br />
operation. “Older customers<br />
comment that our store reminds<br />
them of a real, old-fashioned<br />
hardware store,” said President<br />
Mary Jane Morris. “Do-ityourselfers<br />
are welcome, but<br />
our major customers are<br />
contractors in the building<br />
trades, landscapers, and<br />
facilities maintenance firms. If<br />
someone comes in asking how<br />
to resolve a problem, our staff is<br />
usually able to offer a solution,” Morris said.<br />
She got to know the business as the wife of<br />
Gary R. Hermann, who bought it in 1965, and<br />
operated it until his death in 1998. She<br />
acquired ownership and continues to operate<br />
the business today, now married to Julius T.<br />
Morris, who had represented one of the store’s<br />
major suppliers. His fifty-plus years of<br />
experience and product knowledge remain an<br />
asset to the business.<br />
Industrial & Marine Hardware is just<br />
what the names says—a hardware store that<br />
sells hardware. Founded in 1887 by R. A.<br />
Henderson shortly after Fort Myers was<br />
incorporated, the Henderson family ran it as<br />
Henderson Hardware until Mel Porter bought<br />
it around 1953. Porter later changed the name<br />
to Industrial & Marine Hardware to better<br />
reflect the store’s specialties. It stocks<br />
everything a plumber, carpenter, electrician,<br />
janitor, or landscaper might need; every kind<br />
of rope, chain, and cable; and equipment for<br />
boats, docks, and mobile home set ups. If<br />
they don’t have something a customer needs,<br />
they will cheerfully order it.<br />
When the shrimping industry was strong,<br />
boat operators came to the store for fittings<br />
and gear. Those customers have been replaced<br />
by an influx of residents with recreational<br />
boats and yachts. “We carry an extensive<br />
inventory of fasteners in a variety of sizes,<br />
grades and materials including stainless<br />
steel, which is very important in Florida,”<br />
Morris noted.<br />
When people ask how Industrial & Marine<br />
Hardware can compete with big-box stores,<br />
Morris points out that Home Depot and<br />
Lowe’s regularly send them customers who<br />
need hard-to-find items the giants do not<br />
stock. Until the late 1960s, Industrial &<br />
Marine even had wagon wheels in its<br />
warehouse, although the demand for them<br />
had pretty much dried up!<br />
The business initially was located at<br />
First Street and Jackson Street in downtown<br />
Fort Myers, when Fort Myers had about<br />
four hundred residents. It moved to Anderson<br />
Avenue (now Martin Luther King Boulevard)<br />
in the 1960s, and has occupied its<br />
present location at 2947 Hanson Street<br />
since 1972. For more information, please<br />
visit www.industrialmarine.com.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
82<br />
COUNTY
Flint & Doyle Inc., Florida’s largest and<br />
most successful structural moving company,<br />
is a multimillion dollar business that does<br />
both heavy hauling—including transporting<br />
heavy equipment and construction<br />
materials—and moving buildings and other<br />
structures. Today it boasts being in business<br />
for fifty-eight years.<br />
In his autobiography Barefoot to Boots,<br />
Charles Flint chronicled the beginnings and<br />
growth of the company. He recounted his life<br />
from barefoot boy to that of a widely<br />
respected and shrewd businessman,<br />
cattleman and landholder.<br />
In 1946, Flint started his first business, a<br />
general store. Despite not having electricity,<br />
he added a gas pump, repaired automobiles,<br />
and with his wife’s assistance, sold milk,<br />
sandwiches, and other merchandise.<br />
A frequent visitor to the store was<br />
Tommy Doyle, who was ferrying planes<br />
from Buckingham Army Air Base in<br />
Fort Myers to Altus, Oklahoma. As time<br />
permitted, Flint and Doyle began working on<br />
jobs together.<br />
When Doyle completed his military<br />
service, he and Flint began a personal and<br />
professional relationship. Notice of an auction<br />
of surplus equipment and supplies at the Air<br />
Base caught their attention. They entered a<br />
bid of $35 and it was accepted. With the<br />
profit of the sale of the equipment, they began<br />
buying buildings, which they dismantled and<br />
sold as lumber.<br />
Flint & Doyle’s first moving job was a small<br />
tarpaper house measuring only 14 by 18 feet.<br />
They jacked the building up on drums using<br />
long pry poles. Unable to get their truck<br />
under the building, they dug a hole and<br />
backed the truck under it. As business grew,<br />
they added a trailer, truck, jeep, jacks, timber,<br />
and a truck crane.<br />
Increasing business forced Flint & Doyle to<br />
find a larger headquarters and the company<br />
purchased six acres on Anderson Avenue, now<br />
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. One of<br />
the company’s earliest jobs was elevating<br />
Thomas Edison’s laboratory at his winter<br />
residence in Fort Myers. It also moved a large<br />
two-story house, the Flossie Hill house, which<br />
became the home of Doyle and his family.<br />
Because of rapid growth in Southwest<br />
Florida, Flint & Doyle began moving heavy<br />
equipment such as bulldozers, draglines,<br />
tractors and construction materials. Flint<br />
handled the house moving duties while Doyle<br />
headed up the heavy hauling division. While<br />
running a growing business took most of their<br />
time, it did not prevent Flint from hunting<br />
and fishing, and Doyle from his favorite<br />
pastime of piloting airplanes. After forty years<br />
in the moving business, Flint & Doyle turned<br />
the business over to their sons, Manny Flint<br />
and Tommy Doyle III.<br />
FLINT &<br />
DOYLE INC.<br />
✧<br />
Above: The Lighthouse Motel on Fort Myers<br />
Beach was elevated twenty-five feet to gain<br />
two-story living space and a garage under<br />
the building.<br />
Below: The Kingston Lanford mansion,<br />
relocated in Fort Myers by Flint & Doyle Inc.<br />
SHARING THE HERITAGE<br />
83
HARVEY-<br />
ENGELHARDT-<br />
METZ<br />
FUNERAL<br />
HOME &<br />
CREMATORY<br />
The Harvey-Engelhardt-Metz Funeral<br />
Home & Crematory is the largest single<br />
funeral home operation in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong> and the<br />
only funeral home with its own Crematory<br />
that operates on the premises. The company,<br />
under the direction of Managing Partner<br />
Robert Sheehan, CFSP is a combination of the<br />
three oldest funeral homes serving <strong>Lee</strong><br />
<strong>County</strong> for over 100 years.<br />
The present facility, with over twenty<br />
employees and annual revenues of<br />
approximately two million dollars, was built<br />
in the early 1960s by Jim Harvey when he<br />
moved from his old location downtown. In<br />
1974, Cy Case purchased the Harvey Funeral<br />
Home, and in 1986, he purchased the Leo<br />
Engelhardt Funeral Home in downtown Fort<br />
Myers, and combined all the previous<br />
businesses at the present location at 1600<br />
Colonial Boulevard.<br />
In 1996 the Carriage Funeral Service<br />
(NYSE) purchased the Harvey-Engelhardt<br />
Funeral Home & Crematory and the Metz<br />
Funeral Chapel in Cape Coral and established<br />
the Harvey-Engelhardt-Metz Funeral Home &<br />
Crematory. The Metz Funeral Chapel still<br />
operates today in Cape Coral at 1306<br />
Lafayette Street, under the direction of<br />
Manager Tim Hauck.<br />
The Fort Myers funeral business started<br />
around the 1890s when Carl F. Roberts<br />
established the first funeral home, at Hendry<br />
and Oak (now Main Street), which he<br />
operated in conjunction with his lumber<br />
business. In 1903 the funeral establishment<br />
was destroyed by fire and he then opened a<br />
lumber shed on the Hendry Street dock.<br />
Vernon G. Widerquist moved to Fort Myers<br />
and as a young man became associated<br />
with Roberts in the lumber business and<br />
other undertakings. Following the death<br />
of Roberts, he became president of the<br />
Seminole Lumber Company and continued to<br />
manufacture caskets.<br />
In 1919, Louis W. Engelhardt came to Fort<br />
Myers and established a funeral home on<br />
Hendry Street, which was moved in 1933 to<br />
McGregor Boulevard. Engelhardt operated his<br />
funeral business with James C. Spooner, who<br />
became a partner in 1933 when Louis’ son,<br />
Leo, joined the business.<br />
Lawrence Powell arrived in Fort Myers<br />
in 1920, and established the undertaking firm<br />
of Lawrence A. Powell, Inc., which he<br />
operated until 1948. At that time, Powell sold<br />
the business to Howard McQueen. The<br />
business was eventually purchased by Harvey,<br />
who operated the Harvey Funeral Home until<br />
his retirement.<br />
The firm is active in the community with<br />
several church and parish councils, Hope<br />
Hospice, the Rotary Clubs, the Kiwanis Clubs,<br />
the Chamber of Commerce, the <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong><br />
Republican Executive Committee, CROW, the<br />
VFW, the American Legion, the Salvation<br />
Army, and numerous other volunteer efforts.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
84<br />
COUNTY
SPONSORS<br />
AEGIS Factors, Inc..............................................................................................................................................................................53<br />
Ambassador Riverfront Hotel ..............................................................................................................................................................53<br />
Bradley’s Fine Jewelers ........................................................................................................................................................................64<br />
BSSW Architects, Inc...........................................................................................................................................................................72<br />
BTS Development Corporation/BTS Monterrey Holdings, LLC ............................................................................................................53<br />
Chamber of Commerce of Cape Coral .................................................................................................................................................78<br />
Compass Rose Foundation ..................................................................................................................................................................60<br />
DirectBuy of Southwest Florida...........................................................................................................................................................79<br />
Edison College ....................................................................................................................................................................................75<br />
First Baptist Church of Fort Myers ......................................................................................................................................................66<br />
Flint & Doyle, Inc...............................................................................................................................................................................83<br />
Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce .........................................................................................................................................77<br />
Harvey-Engelhardt-Metz Funeral Home & Crematory.........................................................................................................................84<br />
Hodges University...............................................................................................................................................................................74<br />
Industrial & Marine Hardware ............................................................................................................................................................82<br />
Island Inn ...........................................................................................................................................................................................73<br />
The Islands of Sanibel Captiva Chamber of Commerce........................................................................................................................76<br />
Manheim Fort Myers...........................................................................................................................................................................68<br />
M E L - R E Construction Development Management..........................................................................................................................81<br />
Rels Title.............................................................................................................................................................................................80<br />
S&S Structural Systems, Inc................................................................................................................................................................53<br />
Saminco Inc. .......................................................................................................................................................................................62<br />
Sanibel Packing Company dba Bailey’s General Store...........................................................................................................................58<br />
Schehr Construction Company ...........................................................................................................................................................56<br />
Southwest Florida Oral and Facial Surgery..........................................................................................................................................70<br />
Strayhorn & Strayhorn........................................................................................................................................................................54<br />
William A. Taylor Associates ...............................................................................................................................................................53<br />
SPONSORS<br />
85
ABOUT THE AUTHOR<br />
P AMELA<br />
S USTAR<br />
Pamela R. Sustar is a graduate of Edison University, with a degree in journalism. She became a resident of Southwest Florida over<br />
twenty-five years ago, and has been actively involved with several church organizations, as well as, successfully pursued a career, and<br />
raised a family here in <strong>Lee</strong> <strong>County</strong>. Although her primary job has been in the banking industry, her love of the history of South Florida<br />
has compelled her to study both the written history of South Florida, as well as visit the many existing historic sites in the region. Pam<br />
has stayed involved in the study of Florida history by authoring guest columns in many local publications.<br />
Working closely with Matt Johnson on this HISTORIC LEE COUNTY book was a culmination of these many years studying<br />
and examining “real” South Florida history. Visit her website, www.pamelasustar.com, for valuable information on writing and the writing<br />
community.<br />
ABOUT THE EDITOR<br />
M ATT<br />
J OHNSON<br />
General manager of the Southwest Florida Museum of History/Imaginarium/Burroughs Home, Matt Johnson received his degree in<br />
history from Florida Gulf Coast University. He has given presentations on many aspects of regional history.<br />
HISTORIC LEE<br />
86<br />
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ABOUT THE COVER<br />
M ARCUS A NTONIUS J ANSEN<br />
Marcus Antonius Jansen had his first exhibition in 1974 at New York City’s Park Avenue Lever House at the age of six during a student<br />
art competition. Born in Manhattan, New York City, Jansen began his artistic career as a commercial painter in Germany and later<br />
transformed his life from a soldier at war to a leading artist on the international contemporary art scene.<br />
Over the last decade, Jansen’s works have been included in international biennials and can be found in museum collections such as the<br />
Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Art, and the Smithsonian Institution. He has been awarded his<br />
place in Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in Visual Art, and Who’s Who in International Art alongside some of the most noteworthy<br />
men and women in today’s art world.<br />
ABOUT THE COVER<br />
87
For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, please call<br />
<strong>Historic</strong>al Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com.<br />
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<strong>Historic</strong> Kern <strong>County</strong>:<br />
An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern <strong>County</strong><br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Lafayette:<br />
An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Laredo:<br />
An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb <strong>County</strong><br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Louisiana: An Illustrated History<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Lubbock <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Midland: An Illustrated History<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Montgomery <strong>County</strong>:<br />
An Illustrated History of Montgomery <strong>County</strong>, Texas<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion <strong>County</strong><br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Oklahoma: An Illustrated History<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Oklahoma <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />
<strong>Historic</strong> Omaha:<br />
An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas <strong>County</strong><br />
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<strong>Historic</strong> Passaic <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />
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<strong>Historic</strong> Williamson <strong>County</strong>: An Illustrated History<br />
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HISTORIC LEE<br />
88<br />
COUNTY
ISBN: 9781893619876