A Century of Growth and Prosperity

From swampland to prime property, Collier County and the City of Naples are honoring their centennials this year

BY NANCI THEORET

In 1923, Time published its debut issue, Babe Ruth hit a homer during the first-ever game played in Yankee Stadium, and a sign advertising a new real estate development in the hills above Los Angeles was hoisted, spelling out its name in block letters: Hollywoodland. Meanwhile, in the remote reaches of Florida’s most southwestern coast, a county and two cities were newly minted by state legislators. 2023 rings in year-long celebrations commemorating the triple centennials of Collier County and its county seats—first Everglades City, then Naples. During the past century, the untamed wilds of this Florida backcountry transformed into a coveted cosmopolitan destination of resorts, high-end retailers and restaurants, and rich cultural landscape, and a robust real estate market punctuated by record-breaking prices, including last summer’s $62 million titleholder.

From Wilderness to Winter Playground

Collier County and its cities tend to woo almost anyone who steps foot here. Long before airports, interstates and electricity, the area was accessible only by boat, then by seaplane. There were no roads plunging into the tangle of wilderness and swampland, and travel by land was time-consuming and arduous. Those arriving by sea in the late 1800s were welcomed by a postcard setting—sweeping stretches of white-sand beaches along the gently sloping Gulf of Mexico, a bay just beyond with meandering tributaries, and mangrove islands teeming with fish.

The area’s history is intrinsically tied to the railroad, the road and real estate. It’s a past forever intertwined with the unique visions of two men who made their fortunes in publishing and advertising. Walter H. Haldeman and U.S. Senator John Stuart Williams, Naples’ founding fathers, recognized Naples’ potential in the 1880s, imagining the country’s newest wintertime paradise.

Barron Gift Collier, Sr., however, was the harbinger of future growth and tourism, providing the missing link by forging across the inhospitable Everglades terrain to connect the state's west and east coasts with the completion of a Tampa-toMiami thoroughfare—which came to be called the Tamiami Trail—across Florida’s “Last Frontier.” A self-made millionaire, Collier bankrolled both projects and in return, state legislators thanked him with a county named in his honor.

First Comes Naples

Haldeman, the publisher of the Louisville Courier, joined Williams, who had served as a Confederate general, during U.S. surveys of Southwest Florida in 1885. With dreams of establishing a new city, they sailed south, combing the shoreline for potential sites. They were smitten by Naples’ location and regaled folks back home with tales of balmy beaches and beautiful blue water.

The Naples Town Improvement Company was established in 1886 as the city’s first developer with the goal of attracting tourists to the peninsula formed by the Gulf and Naples Bay, a location promoted as reminiscent of the Italian city. The company paid $11,136 for 3,712 acres, sold lots for $10, and went belly-up in a year.

Williams, Haldeman, and their Kentucky cronies assumed ownership in 1887 and within two years built the 16-room Naples Hotel on the fringes of the present-day Third Street South district, the 600-foot predecessor of the Naples Pier, a general store, and post office. Rose Cleveland, the sister of President Grover Cleveland, was the hotel’s first official guest in 1889. Despite exciting progress, the

From left to right: The Tamiami Trail in March 1927, Barron G. Collier Sr., and the C.J. Jones Lumber Company locomotive that turned native pine and cypress into lumber at the rate of 10,000 board feet each day. The operation moved from Immokalee into the Big Cypress in 1940, based out of the tiny logging town of Jerome.

newest iteration of the Naples Town Company failed, and its assets were sold in 1890 at a public auction in the hotel. Haldeman was the sole bidder, paying $50,000 for 8,600 acres, the hotel, pier, and the steamship Fearless, which ferried visitors to Naples.

Today, Haldeman’s two-story, 3,500-square-foot, tabby-and-mortar home built in 1895 is the headquarters of the Naples Historical Society. Called Historic Palm Cottage, it’s Naples’ oldest home. When Haldeman died in 1902, St. Pete developer Ed Crayton stepped in, building upon Haldeman’s modest success for three decades and ushering in the era of Barron Collier, rail service, electricity, and the Tamiami Trail.

Then Comes Collier

A visit to the historic Ted Smallwood Store on Chokoloskee Bay provides a freeze-frame of life in nearby Everglades City at the turn of the century—a stark contrast to Naples 40 miles away. Perched on stilts and filled with curiosities, the store was a trading post for the Seminoles in a wilderness becoming legendary for its prime hunting and tales of 300-pound Goliath grouper and game fish larger than a human.

Collier, who made his millions in streetcar advertising, bought Everglade City’s Rod & Gun Club and much of Southwest Florida in 1922. At the club, he entertained international dignitaries and U.S. presidents, and in 1923 agreed to finance the beleaguered Tampa-to-Miami road—an $8 million project the state couldn’t afford. Construction crews were based out of Everglades City, which the state recognized in 1923 as the county seat of the new county carved out of adjoining Lee County.

By its first U.S. Census count in 1930— two years after the Tamiami Trail’s official grand opening —Collier County was home to a population of 2,833. Upon his death in 1939, Barron Collier was Florida’s largest landowner. His influence and legacy continue today with fourth-generation heirs operating development companies and the 7,721-acre Collier-Seminole State Park, founded in 1947, to share Collier’s love of the land with the public.

Port Royal and Rapid Growth

The advent of air conditioning and commercial aviation brought big changes in the mid-1900s, improving access and travel times from the north and relief for those who dared to take on sweltering humid summers. Naples also got an airport courtesy of Uncle Sam. The Naples America Airport, an Army airfield and flight training school for combat pilots activated in 1943 during World War II, was turned over to the city in 1947.

Many servicemen returned to Naples following the war, prompting the area’s

Milestones

1886 The Naples Town Improvement Company is founded to promote the city as a winter vacation retreat 1889 The company completes the 16-room Naples Hotel and 600-foot Naples Pier 1890 Kentucky publisher Walter Haldeman buys the Naples Town Improvement Company’s entire holdings, encompassing 8,600 acres, the hotel, pier, and the steamship Fearless for $50,000 1895 Haldeman builds Palm Cottage, today the city’s oldest home 1896 The Key Marco Cat is discovered on Marco Island 1919 Botanist and ornithologist Henry Nehrling plants the garden that will become the Naples Zoo and Caribbean Gardens 1923 Collier County, Naples, and Everglades City are established by state legislation 1923 The newly formed county commission meets at the Barron G. Collier-owned Rod & Gun Club 1925 The Naples Town Council holds its first meeting 1926 Electricity is introduced to Naples 1927 Naples’ first passenger train, the Seaboard Air Line’s Orange Blossom Special, marks the completion of the railroad 1928 Tamiami Trail is completed 1930 Collier County’s first U.S.

A dipper dredge, drill barge, and service boat 30 miles west of Miami during Tamiami Trail construction circa 1927. The trail was completed the following year.

first real estate boom. John Glenn Sample also arrived around that time. A pioneer in radio advertising and an apparent fan of the Jamaican town steeped in pirate lore, he purchased two square miles of Naples’ southwestern tip, filling in marshland and dredging canals with the goal of creating another Port Royal as “the finest place to live.”

Sample's venture foreshadowed Florida’s land rush in the 1950s and ‘60s when developers converted the barrier island of Marco Island into a waterfront residential community—wining and dining potential home buyers with paid vacations and the opportunity to own a vacation home.

As the decades unfolded, Interstate-75 and a new international airport brought more tourists and residents. Wilderness Country Club introduced a new lifestyle in 1975 as Naples’ first private, gated golf community selling two- and three-bedroom condos from $70,000 to $125,000—now from the mid-$700,000s to over $1.2 million. The 1985 opening of The Ritz-Carlton on the gulf forever elevated Naples’ cachet.

For local history, centennial events, and a photo gallery: colliercounty100.com. For official city happenings: naplesgov.com/ centennial.

Census records a population of 2,883 1947 Ownership of the Naples America Airport is transferred to the city 1947 Everglades National Park is dedicated 1949 Naples becomes an incorporated city and the Naples-on-the-Gulf Board of REALTORS® is chartered with a membership of 13 1962 The county seat relocates from Everglades City to Naples 1968 The 78-mile Alligator Alley opens, connecting Florida’s two coasts 1975 Wilderness Country Club opens as the first gated golf community 1981 I-75 is extended from Corkscrew Road in Estero to Immokalee Road in Collier County 1983 The Southwest Florida Regional Airport opens 1985 The Ritz-Carlton debuts on the beach 1989 The Philharmonic Center for the Arts announces its inaugural season 1993 The regional airport is renamed Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) 1997 Marco Island becomes an incorporated city 2005 A $400 million terminal is completed at RSW 1992 Waterside Shops introduces luxury specialty stores 2002 Naples becomes one of only a handful of destinations with two Ritz-Carltons