City of Palms. City of Invention
Long before Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon set foot on the Gulf Coast shoreline of southwest Florida in 1513, the area in and around modern day Fort Myers had been inhabited by the Calusa Indians for many generations.
The Calusa — or “fierce people” — had been settled in the region for thousands of years, warding off attacks from other Native American civilizations and resisting any interaction with other would-be settlers.
After de Leon arrived in an attempt to establish a permanent settlement in Florida, which was eventually achieved in St. Augustine, a bitter battle between the Calusa and both European and Cuban natives continued for nearly two centuries.
Also during this era, bands of pirates — including the infamous Jose Gasparilla and Black Caesar — frequently raided cargo ships which patrolled the coastal waters between Miami and New Orleans, Louisiana.
In 1821, after Florida became an official U.S. territory, waves of settlers began to set up permanent encampments in the region. Fort Myers, named in honor of Colonel Abraham C. Myers (whose father-in-law, Major General David E. Twiggs, was the commanding officer of Fort Brooke in Tampa), was constructed as an outpost to provide protection for the area’s new arrivals from the resistant indian tribes.
After being abandoned in the mid-1800s, Fort Myers was reoccupied by Federal troops during what would become the southernmost skirmish of the Civil War, a battle between southern and northern forces along the Caloosahatchee River in 1865.
Following the war, the fort was disassembled, with the wooden materials used in the construction of some of the earliest buildings in Fort Myers’ downtown district. One of the town’s first men of wealth, cattle baron Jacob Summerlin, used to drive his herds past the old fort’s grounds on his way to Punta Rassa, where transport ships going to Cuba awaited.
With enough permanent settlers (approximately 350) living here by 1876, the official plat for Fort Myers was issued in Key West, at the time the county seat of Monroe County. Nine years later, Fort Myers’ most famous resident of all time — Thomas Alva Edison — arrived here.
Falling in love with the area, Edison constructed a home and laboratory — “Seminole Lodge” — on the banks of the Caloosahatchee. The prolific American inventor can also be credited for helping Fort Myers earn its nickname, “City of Palms,” as he was responsible for planting many of the royal palms lining Riverside Avenue (today known as McGregor Boulevard).
After spending more and more time at Seminole Lodge, Edison would soon be joined by his close friend and fellow inventor, Henry Ford. Not long after the turn of the century, Ford had gained notoriety for his invention of a gasoline driven automobile. In 1914, the first Ford Car Dealership opened in Fort Myers.
Sharing Edison’s admiration of the area, Ford purchased the property adjoining his friend’s estate and became a frequent winter visitor.
Following the turn of the century, when the local population “swelled” to more than 1,000, a number of elaborate private residences began to be built along First Street. Among the first of these was the Burroughs Home. After the Coast Railroad established a terminus at a dock on Monroe Street, Fort Myers would soon witness a construction “boom.”
During the height of this era, many Mediterranean Revival-style buildings were built, several of which can still be seen today in the downtown commercial district as well as in some residential neighborhoods. Adding access to the area, the Tamiami Trail and Bridge — linking the cities of Tampa and Miami — was opened, providing an opportunity for additional growth to Fort Myers.
Between the Great Depression and World War II, the city added the Edison Bridge, Federal Building and Yacht Basin, which had originally been designed for Sarasota as a W.P.A. project. While the military employed both Page Field and Buckingham airports throughout the war for transporting personnel, many servicemen and their families found permanent residence here in the years that followed.
Fort Myers is also known for being the winter home of Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins. Previously, the city housed spring training facilities for the Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals.