When was cape coral established

Flying over what would become Cape Coral, Leonard tossed some coins out of the window of the plane. And that he did, changing the wilderness into a waterfront paradise, a place for selling and buying dreams. Cape Coral was to become the largest master-planned community in the United States.

Early Cape Coral history starts with the Calusas, a tribe of native Americans that all but disappeared by the time the United States gained control of the area. Florida had been discovered by Spanish explorer, Ponce de Leon, in In , Florida became an organized territory and settlers poured in along with runaway slaves who were harbored by Seminoles.

Inevitably, there were clashes between Seminoles and whites. The Harney Point Massacre became part of Cape Coral History during one of the Seminole Wars, where Seminoles fought with new settlers and the military, to try to keep their land. The Seminoles lost and were moved to reservations. Later on, the land was patented to Florida, when Florida became a state in The state sold much of its land to railroad companies which in turn sold the land to various companies, such as the Matlacha Cattle Company, and to individuals.

One of these individuals was Franklin Miles of Miles Laboratories and of Alka Seltzer fame, who bought some of the land in He used it mainly for hunting and the hunting quite good. There were plenty of wild hogs, deer, wild turkeys and ducks; which were usually hunted on horseback with dogs.

At that time, Cape Coral was known as the "other side of the river" or "Hungryland". It was populated by homesteaders, loggers, cattlemen, rustlers and fishermen. It was a hard place to live, wild and desolate, as you can see from the photo on the right, which was taken on Pine Island Rd. The first building, the Rosen's sales office, was built on what is now Cape Coral and Coronado Pkwys, right at the spot where George's Auto now stands.

Clearing the land involved a lot of chopping through the mangroves, pine trees, and vegetation with machetes. The men slept in tents and had to battle rattlesnakes, panthers, and gators. Our Facebook page has more than , followers who love off the beaten path Florida: towns, tourist attractions, maps, lodging, food, festivals, scenic road trips, day trips, history, culture, nostalgia, and more.

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Privacy Policy. Renninger's Mount Dora antique center has antique booths. The flea market has as many as dealers at one time. Prior to incorporation, Cape Coral encompassed fewer than square miles; today it is some square miles, and its population has exploded from some 11, in to nearly , today.

Before incorporation, Cape Coral had one school —Cape Elementary. By the way: SWFL graduation rates are in. Lee makes slight gains, Collier is static. Since large parts of the area could not yet be driven by car, the Rosens sold the individual plots of land unceremoniously from the aircraft.

The interested parties were flown over the country with a Cessna and were able to drop a flour sack over their desired property. A kind of sale that had probably never existed before in this manner. The demand was so great that up to prospective buyers had to be transported every day. To further stimulate demand, the Rosens had Cape Coral Gardens built as a first attraction, that location is where now the Tarpon Point Marina is located.

Even celebrities, like Hollywood star Bob Hope and jazz legend Duke Ellington, for example, helped raise public interest in this part of Florida.

In retrospect, it seems almost impossible, what Leonard and Jack Rosen created in Cape Coral almost out of nothing. At the end of the fifties, two years after the development work had begun, there were a total of inhabitants. This made Cape Coral way to small to garner a spot on a map.

These first few hundred people have now grown to around , The opening of the Cape Coral Bridge in March made an important contribution to this rapid development. As a result, the inhabitants who wanted to travel to Fort Myers were spared a major detour, which they had to accept until then.

Just a few years later, it finally happened. In , Cape Coral became a city and thus received the status of a registered municipality. From then on, the city attracted even more people. Since , with the Midpoint Bridge , a direct connection to the Interstate 75 was inaugurated, Cape Coral is one of the fastest growing cities in Florida.