By: Rick Compton, S. Alison Chabonais and Kathleen McNamara

It's not easy to envision the days when Southwest Florida was little more than wetlands, cypress hammocks, natural beaches and wildlife. But that's what the earliest entrepreneurs had to work with back before condominiums, golf courses, shopping malls, gas stations and even roadways came to town.

In all truth, Southwest Florida's business history includes the earliest Native Americans, who fished regional waters and conducted early forms of trade. We also can't exclude European explorers, who likely gazed upon our incredible beachfronts and held the same sense of amazement that new tourists experience when they first enter our region.

Our timeline below, however, begins in 1850, in the midst of the Seminole War. The US Government built Fort Myers on a clearing along the banks of the Caloosahatchee River, starting what would become a modern-day city ...

1850

Fort Myers is born and named after Lieut. Col. Abraham C. Myers, a quartermaster and the suitor the daughter of Gen. Twiggs.

1858

Fort Myers is abandoned at the end of the Third Seminole Indian War.

1863

The Cattle Guard was formed as a special, draft-exempt militia of 496 men to protect the Confederacy Southwest Florida's cattle herds from Union raids out of Federalist forts at Punta Rassa and Fort Myers. Even so, more than 4500 head were rustled and shipped north.

1864

Punta Rassa, the only Union base in peninsular Florida, instituted a blockade to stop shipment of cattle to Confederate forces.

Fort Myers is reoccupied by Union Forces, to serve as base for cattle raids into local herds.

1865

Fort Myers was decommissioned, and Major James Evans of the Confederacy reinstated his title issued under the Florida Homestead Act.

1866

Manuel Gonzalez, Joseph Vivas and John Weatherford arrive as Fort Myers's first civilian settlers.

1868

Dr. Howell T. Lykes, father of the now-well-known Lykes Brothers, started cattle farming.

Captain W.T. Bill Collier (no relation to Barron Collier) arrives on Marco Island and forms a small settlement on the island's north tip.

1873

Major James Evans paid $1.25 per acre for 140 acres to gain clear title to Fort Myers. He was aided by the Hendry Family.

1876

The first year-round residents arrive in Naples.

1880

Regular trade boats ply the waters between Marco and Key West.

1881

The largest cattle herd, numbering 17,000, wandered the free range bearing the Hendry family brand.

1883

An undersea telegraph line from Havana terminated at Punta Rassa.

Everglade (now Everglades City) is founded by August Storter.

1884

The Fort Myers Press newspaper opens with an advertising rate of $1000 for a one- column ad for one year.

1885

Fort Myers begins incorporation process, completed in 1886.

Florida state census counts 349 people in Fort Myers.

Thomas Edison arrives in Fort Myers.

1886

First seasonal residents arrive in Naples.

1887

Thomas Edison turns on the electric lights on his Fort Myers estate for the first time.

Lee County was formed from the former Monroe County and was the bigger of the two and the largest county in the United States.

Molasses produces $50,000 in revenue, making cane second only to cattle. Then-current wisdom calculated that molasses revenues were to cover all production costs and refined sugar revenues were the profits.

1888

The Naples Company purchases 8700 acres at $1.50 each from Florida Land Company under Walter Disston, but Disston is unable to convey a clear title.

1889

W.P Gardner opens Seminole Canning in Lee County to process fruits and vegetables.

1890

W.N. Haldeman founds Naples and buys The Naples Company at a sheriff's sale for $50,000 (already holding a $45,000 mortgage on it). The purchase includes Naples Hotel with furniture and fixtures, docks, a sloop, a steamship and 8600 acres.

Gilmer Heitman wins the telephone franchise from Fort Myers City Commission and has 20 subscribers by February.

There was no bank in Lee County and cattle, selling between $6 and $14 dollars a head, were the only collateral accepted by private lenders.

William and Harriet Matthews opened a tourist hotel on Sanibel Island. Casa Ybel was hosting guests also.

1891

Chokoloskee, the link between coastal Southwest Florida, the Ten Thousand Islands, The Everglades and Cuba establishes a post office.

1892

The Rod & Gun Club of Everglades City is opened.

1894

The Koreshans, a religious order from Chicago, arrive in Estero.

Citrus freeze. Temperatures dropped to 24 degrees in the coldest areas. growers in the northern part of the state relocated many groves to Lee County causing a 260 percent increase in shipments the following year, and a 180 percent additional increase the next.

1896

The Marco Inn is opened by Captain Bill Collier.

1897

The Fort Myers Press merges with The Tropical News to become The Fort Myers News-Press.

The Boca Grande Railroad is chartered, primarily to carry phosphate.

1898

Fort Myers receives electric utility service.

1900

Captain Bill Collier reports 1500 orange trees and 5000 coconut trees producing fruit on Marco.

Federal census counts 943 Fort Myers residents.

1902

Florida Southern railway and Desoto Lee and Gulf Railways haul lumber, cattle and phosphate over 50 miles of tracks.

Atlantic Coast Lines purchase the Plant (Rail) System for $25 million and immediately fire all female employees.

1903

Drainage efforts begin on the Everglades. Reporters foresaw "pumps kept going night and day to lift fresh water over the dikes into salt water as Holland has done for more than 2000 years and will continue to do for two million more." (Florida In The Making, page 225)

Florida Southern Company completes its rail line form Punta Gorda to Fort Myers.

The Koreshans, a religious order from Chicago, built a sawmill.

1904

First cannery appears at Caxambas on Marco Island.

Mrs. J. E. Hendry drives last spike of the Fort Myers extension of the Atlantic Coast Line.

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad opens a small wooden depot in Fort Myers.

Napoleon Broward is elected Governor of Florida on a platform of draining the Everglades.

1906

The Smallwood Store in Chokoloskee is founded.

1908

Captain Bill Collier digs clams commercially in 12 feet of water with his own invention, a clam dredge.

1910

With only 12 automobiles in Lee County, a visionary Ben King opens the first auto garage and gasoline station.

Federal census counts 2,463 Fort Myers residents, a 10-year increase of 161 percent.

1911

Fort Myers is incorporated.

200 brick homes are built in Fort Myers.

The Doxsee family opens a cannery on Marco.

Boca Grande was established as the American Agricultural Chemical Company's phosphate loading port, where a 24-inch wide conveyor belt driven by a five boiler power house with a 150-foot smokestack moved phosphate from railcars to ships.

Barron Collier arrives in Southwest Florida and buys Useppa Island for $100,000.

1912

Bonita Springs is created from the town of Survey, and Surveyor's Creek is renamed Imperial River.

1913

The Tarpon House Hotel at Punta Rassa is destroyed by fire.

Peter Tonnelier of Michigan develops four hotels, the Ritz Theatre and the Patio De Leon.

1914

Agricultural production tops $84 million, an increase of more than $27 million in two years.

E.W. Crayton organizes the Naples Improvement Company.

1915

Robb & Stucky opens its first store on Fort Myers's Main Street.

Fort Myers purchases its first motorized fire truck, a 750-gallon-per-minute pumper.

The Tamiami Trail was conceived and bonds were approved for its construction between Naples and Fort Myers.

Fort Myers streets get asphalt/shell paving.

McGregor Boulevard is built, with half the road funded by the estate of well-known winter resident Tudi McGregor.

1916

Lee Memorial Hospital opens.

1917

Citrus freeze. Temperatures dropped to 27 degrees. Since there were no processing plants for turning freeze-damaged oranges into juice, 1.5 million boxes were lost statewide.

1921

Barron Collier makes first land purchase in Collier County-to-be.

1922

Barron Collier buys out August Storter's Everglade Rod & Gun Club and makes it the center of his operations.

Barron Collier has acquired all of Marco Island except Capt. Bill Collier's town site.

John S. Jones finances Naples's electric plant.

1923

The Fort Myers Municipal Gas plant is approved by the city commission at a cost of $29.6 million

1923

Collier and Hendry Counties were formed, and Collier was named due to Barron Collier promising to build the Tamiami Trail through his holdings.

Everglade becomes Everglades City and is made the Collier County seat. The town is divided into tow parts: Port Dupont to the north, an industrial site with a machine shop that made parts for the equipment working on the Tamiami Trail; and Everglades City to the south, a residential neighborhood.

Bank of Everglades opens.

The total assessed value of Collier County property is $1.653 million.

1924

Lee County is shipping 13,000 crates of guava jelly a year.

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad opens a new permanent stucco depot with 10 out buildings in Fort Myers.

Although it had no roads to the outside world, Everglades City receives a passenger trolley on one barge, and 400 tons of 90-pound rails on another.

J.W. Williams built the Slater mill to ship an average of $1.8 million of lumber per year logged from its 102,000 acres.

A $10,000 bond is sought and granted to improve Gilmer Heitman's Lee County Telephone System.

Barron Collier buys the Lee County Telephone System.

The Fort Myers-to-Punta Gorda section of the Tamiami Trail was completed including a bridge over the Caloosahatchee promoted by the Henderson and Franklin Law Firm.

1925

State census counts 1256 people in Collier County.

The Marco War, a rumor of gun battles, circulated an inflated story about Barron Collier acquiring land titles form homeowners on Marco Island.

Lee County Agriculture produced 176,900 crates of peppers; 156,450 crates of tomatoes; and 109,720 crates of cucumbers. Its 390,000 citrus trees produced $2.8 million in revenue and production ranked it 6.67 percent higher per acre than any other Florida county.

The Rod & Gun Club in Everglades City is officially opened to the public.

Fort Myers is 1900 acres until the city commission annexes 15,000 more in one act.

Bonita Springs is incorporated.

The Town of Naples is incorporated.

1926

Naples's tax roll is $170,000. The town budget is $8500.

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad arrives in Naples, beating Seaboard Air Line Railroad by 10 days.

Marco Island was incorporated as Collier City, not named after Barron Collier, but after Captain W.T. Bill Collier.

The dredge Barcarmil, named for Barron Collier's sons Barron, Carnes (or Sam) and Miles, pumps two million feet of fill into Everglades City.

Barron Collier makes Useppa island his legal, full time residence.

1927

Everglades City mills are processing 10,000 board feet of lumber a day, brought in on three tractor trains that ran between the city and the logging camps daily.

Bradstreet's Book of Ratings lists 200 merchants in Fort Myers.

1928

The Naples Chamber of Commerce is founded with J.W. Chatterton as president.

The Tamiami Trail is opened. A dredge, moving blasted limestone at the rate 80 linear feet per day, left a canal 25 feet wide and 12 feet deep to raise the road surface.

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad completes the Everglades City to Immokalee line, 41 miles.

1929

Everglades City trolley tack is destroyed by weather and not replaced.

Dowling & Camp Lumber bought Slater Mill and boosted production by more than 10 percent to $2 million annually. Lumber production today in Lee County is less than $250,000 a year.

The botanist Dr. Henry Nerhling begins Caribbean Gardens, now Jungle Larry's in Naples.

1930

Federal census counts 2,883 people in Collier County.

1932

Barron Collier, in response to the Great Depression, says "Florida is all right. I find everything here that first sold me on the state and I know of no reason to change the opinion I've always held."

The City of Bonita Springs is dissolved due to bankruptcy.

The Lee County Bank closes for reorganization, to reopen in March of 1933.

1933

The Civilian Works Administration, to become the Works Progress Administration (WPA) gears up locally to build within the next 10 years the Edison Bridge, the Federal Post Office, a water/sewer plant, the Waterfront Park and Yacht Basin and Lee Memorial Hospital.

1934

Citrus freeze. Temperatures dropped to 20 degrees in the coldest areas and resulted in 90 percent defoliation in groves around Estero.

1935

State census counts 4,792 people in Collier County.

1937

Sears opens on Fort Myers's First Street.

1939

Fort Myers Broadcast gets a license from the Federal Trade Commission to operate the 250-watt WFTM.

Barron Collier dies with massive land holdings but virtually no cash, after

having achieved limited development.

1940

Citrus freeze. Temperatures dropped to 14 degrees in the coldest places in the Everglades Region. Florida Citrus Commission instituted a seven-day shipping embargo to keep growers from sending freeze-damaged fruit to market.

1941

Lee County citrus has grown to 4000 acres, and gladiolus's 1400 acres represent a $500,000 investment in the flower.

1942

The Army Air Corps has more than 20,000 troops at Buckingham Gunnery School and Page Field. Fort Myers civilian population is about 10,000.

WFTM sold to Ronald Woodyard and Reginald martin for $126,000 and changed to WAAC.

The Naples Depot ceases to serve as a train station.

1943

The first commercial oil well in Florida is sunk at Sunniland.

WAAC affiliates itself with CBS.

Fort Myers Beach boasts 473 residents and four hotels.

1944

The USDA ranked Florida as 15th nationwide in cattle production with 908,000 head.

WAAC changes call letters to WINK.

1945

The state census counts 15,198 people in Fort Myers.

1946

Lee County Vegetables produce $2 million in revenues.

H.B. Watkins and W.D. McCabe arrive in Naples from Columbus, Ohio, and start The Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club.

1947

Everglades National Park is dedicated.

Mina Edison entrusts the City of Fort Myers with the Edison Estate.

The Doxsee cannery closes on Marco Island.

WJJD, Inc. of Chicago pays the city of Fort Myers $1000 for the right to use WFMF as its call letters.

1948

The gladiolus becomes Fort Myers biggest industry, shipping 4 million dozen glads, and producing $2.135 million in gross revenues.

Naples's building permits pass the $500,000 mark for the first time.

The Town of Naples becomes The City of Naples.

Win Ellis opens The Snack House, the first air-conditioned eatery in Fort Myers.

1950

The US Census estimates the population in Lee County at 23,404 and Collier County at 6,488. Starting this year, population in both counties will double every decade.

Shrimp are discovered near the Dry Tortugas, and Fort Myers Beach becomes home port for a large fleet of shrimpers. By 1954, the location nets one-third of the area's total 1.5 million-pound catch of "pink gold."

The Bank of Naples opens.

A fence law is passed, ending the era of open range cattle ranching.

1951

Naples organizes mosquito control.

Early houses in the Port Royal subdivision sell for $22,000 to $25,000.

Bonita Springs' Shell Factory burns to the ground and relocates to North Fort Myers.

1953

McNichols Art Gallery opens as Naples' first gallery.

Everglades City incorporates.

Inter-county telephone toll lines connect Punta Gorda and Fort Myers. Naples still relies on non-dial telephones and a central operator exchange.

1954

WNOG-FM hits the airwaves.

Fort Myers dedicates its first City Hall building.

1955

Lehigh Acres houses its first family "For $10 down and $10 a month." The community's name combines the name of its founder Lee Ratner and its high elevation, at 27 to 30 feet above sea level.

Collier County building permits near $5 million, up from $1.5 million in 1950. Assessed property values soar from $5 million to $24 million in the same period.

Commercial fishermen deliver 7-1/4 million pounds of fish to a dozen fish houses. Mullet comprise half the catch.

1956

Lee County thoroughly evaluates, maps and adjusts property appraisals for the first time. The associated boost in county budgets catalyzes unprecedented growth.

Naples Memorial Hospital debuts with 50 beds, saving local patients a 40-mile trip to Fort Myers.

Local businessmen break off from the Hendry County Association to establish their own Cattleman's Association.

1957

Lumber interests that began cutting in the 1940s tap out Collier County timber, one of the largest remaining virgin stands of cypress and pine in the country.

Arkansas attorney John R. Wood arrives in Naples. After a year, he starts his own real estate company.

1958

Cape Coral's "Waterfront Wonderland" advertising program launches its fly-over land sales campaign.

1959

Marco Island becomes home to an U.S. Air Force tracking station.

1959

Caribbean Gardens commences commercial operation as a tourist attraction.

Naples Pier ties up its last large vessel, a miniature submarine, the U.S.S. Marlin.

1960

The US Census lists Lee County's population as 54,539 and Collier County's as 15,753.

Hurricane Donna blasts through Southwest Florida on Sept. 10 at 200 miles per hour, propelling 8- to 10-foot floodwaters and leaving $20 million in damage.

The top price paid for Gulf shore property in the early 1960s is $1,750 per acre.

Dubbed the decade of the bridges, spans come to replace ferry service in the 1960s. Traffic gains access via the Bonita Beach Causeway, Caloosahatchee Bridge, Cape Coral Bridge at College Parkway, Sanibel Causeway and Pine Island Bridge.

Naples Yacht Club becomes the first private club in town.

1961

Gulf America Corporation launches Golden Gate Estates.

Developers promote Lehigh Acres by offering a free house as a grand prize on "The Price is Right" nationwide television show.

1962

Collier's county seat moves from Everglades City to Naples.

Barron Collier enterprises join with the Mackle Brothers to master plan development of Marco Island as the Deltona Corporation. The Collier family will sell its interest in 1968.

1963

Edison Community College schedules its first classes in Lee County, and will occupy its own campus by 1965. Collier and Charlotte students have their own dedicated campuses in 1992 and 1997.

1964

Bonita Springs makes the map with the upscale Shangri-la Natural Health Resort.

1965

Edison Mall development causes shoppers to drift away from downtown retailers.

Successive frosts continue to push the citrus belt to the south, and Collier County plants its first groves.

State completes widening of US 41 to four lanes along Cleveland Avenue and installs much needed storm drains.

1967

Lee County Vo-Tech opens with 180 students. The Lorenzo Walker Institute of Technology will follow in 1974 with its first 100 students.

The Naples Daily News begins daily publication, increasing from twice weekly.

1968

Alligator Alley crosses the Everglades, linking Florida's east and west coasts. It will expand from two to four lanes in 1990, continuing the Interstate 75 throughway.

1970

The US Census estimates the population in Lee County at 105,216 and in Collier County at 38,040

Cape Coral incorporates.

1971

Atlantic Coast Line's last passenger train departs Naples Depot. Fort Myers' passenger train station on Peck Street also closes after almost five decades of operation. The station will become home to the Fort Myers Historical Museum in 1982.

1974

Sanibel incorporates to protect itself from high-density development.

Congress passes legislation creating Big Cypress National Preserve.

1975

The US Census Bureau estimates Lee County's population at 154,900 and Collier County's at 63,600.

1977

Cape Coral Hospital opens with 94 beds.

The Coastland Center Mall opens in Naples.

1978

Florida now ranks eighth in U.S. oil production. In 1943, Humble Oil discovered the state's first oil field near Immokalee. By 1954, Sunniland's eleven local oil wells were producing a half-million barrels annually.

1979

Plans are unveiled for the Bonita Bay development in Bonita Springs. Construction begins in 1984.

1980

The US Census estimates Lee County's population at 205,266 and Collier County's population at 85,971.

Collier County has 36,000 acres planted in winter vegetables, generating 10,000 jobs. Collier ranks third in Florida vegetable production, after Dade and Palm Beach counties, which are fast falling to urban sprawl.

1981

Road builders complete expansion of I-75 to four lanes all the way south to Alligator Alley.

The Deltona Company settles a multi-year legal battle with environmentalists and the US Army Corps of Engineers, giving up its claims on may development prospects in the Marco island area. By the mid-1980s, Deltona sells off much of its remaining Marco properties.

1980s

Downtown Fort Myers revives as a government center and financial district.

1983

Southwest Florida Regional Airport opens for business on May 14 in Fort Myers.

1985

The Ritz-Carlton, Naples, opens for business. The hotel, Florida's only five-star, five diamond resort, marks a new era of luxury living in Naples.

1988

The city of Fort Myers acquires the Ford Estate.

1989

The Philharmonic Center for the Arts opens in Naples with Myra Janco Daniels as leader.

1992

The Lely Development Corporation begins its Lely Resort in south Naples. With future capacity for more than 6,000 units, The development is potentially the largest in Collier County.

1993

Southwest Florida Regional Airport is renamed Southwest Florida International Airport to reflect its emerging international status.

The town of Fort Myers Beach incorporates.

A dramatic revitalization plan is initiated for Naples' sagging 5th Avenue South business/retail district. Developer Jack Antaramian steps up to the plate by refurbishing the Colony Court building in 1995.

1994

Mega-developer Al Hoffman and a group of investors purchase WCI Communities from the Westinghouse Company. Hoffman later merges the company with his Florida Design Communities.

The State of Florida adopts a ban of marine net fishing in Florida waters. Many local fishermen give up their businesses or switch to other forms of fishing.

1997

Florida Gulf Coast University opens its doors to students.

Bonita Springs and Estero become the new hot spots for residential and commercial development, drawing massive projects such as Miromar Outlets and The Brooks residential community.

The United States Army Corps announces it will form an Environmental Impact Statement. Local developers worry it will prohibit projects. Environmentalist worry it won't be comprehensive enough.

Sparks of redevelopment begin in downtown Fort Myers as entrepreneurs begin to buy historic buildings and remodel them into bars, cafes and nightclubs.

Aubrey Ferrao, president and CEO of Gulf Bay Communities, opens his newest project, Fiddler's Creek on SR 951 on the way to Marco Island. The project is estimated to be the largest in Collier County upon completion.

After five referendums, the city of Marco Island incorporates.

1998

The US Census Bureau estimates Lee County's population at 392,895 and Collier County's at 199,436.

The Everblades Arena opens, home to minor league hockey team the Everblades. The arena is later named TECO arena when natural gas company TECO Peoples Gas secures naming rights.

Cleveland Clinic Florida and NCH Healthcare reach an agreement allowing Cleveland Clinic clearance to open a hospital. The Clinic begins construction on an acute care clinic with future plans for an adjoining 70-bed hospital.

1999

US Census admits it has underestimated Collier County's 1998 population. The new number: 218,818 residents.

The Lee County Port Authority unveils its plan to build a new $386 million Southwest Florida International passenger terminal by approximately 2005.

Miromar announces it has purchased more land to add to its massive residential and retail development projects in Estero.

Plans are announced for two mega-malls that will dwarf those in existence: a project by the Rouse Company at Alico Road and I-75 and Simon Property Group (owners of Edison Mall) on the Sweetwater Ranch property in Bonita Springs.

The City of Bonita Springs incorporates.

2000

US Census estimates the population of Florida at 15 million, with a projection of 20 million by the year 2025. The numbers represent a more than 40 percent increase from 1995.

The Army Corps of Engineers releases its final version of the Southwest Florida Environmental Impact Statement.