Florida Historical Markers Programs - Marker: Lee

Lee

IWO JIMA MONUMENT

Location:2101 SE 23rd Terrace
County: Lee
City: Cape Coral
Description: Side 1: This monument immortalizes the famous photograph taken by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal during the American victory over Japan on the island of Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. One of the most iconic images of World War II, the photograph depicts 5 U.S. Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising the American Flag atop Mt. Suribachi. After the brutal 36-day battle, Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz, said that on Iwo Jima “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” Of the 27 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. armed forces who fought on Iwo Jima, 22 were awarded to Marines, and to Navy personnel, 5 of them corpsmen. Fourteen medals were awarded posthumously. The U.S. suffered 26,038 casualties in the battle including 6,821 dead. Of the 22,785 Japanese soldiers defending Iwo Jima, only 1,083 survived. The airfields captured on Iwo Jima served as vital assets to the American war effort, providing emergency bases for B-29 bombers returning from missions over Japan. The monument captures the emotional impact of the event, and honors the courage and sacrifice made by the participating U.S. Marine and Naval forces. Side 2: This monument was crafted by Felix de Weldon, sculptor of the national Iwo Jima Memorial statue in Arlington, Virginia. De Weldon created two larger than life-sized monuments to travel with the 7th War Bond Tour of 1945. The third and last cast from the original mold was commissioned in 1964 by Cape Coral developers, the Rosen Brothers, and dedicated in 1965. Originally located at Tarpon Point’s Rose Garden, this monument served as a promotional tool to drive real estate sales in Cape Coral during the 1960s. In the 1970s, the Rosen Brothers fell into bankruptcy and the Rose Garden was abandoned. Many of the exhibits and gardens were later vandalized and damaged by neglect. In 1980, Michael Geml, Vice President of North First Bank hired de Weldon to restore and move the monument to the bank's Cape Coral property where it stood until 1997. The monument was restored a second time by the Lee County Marine Corps League Detachment following its relocation to ECO Park Preserve in 1997. A third major restoration was completed in 2011. A source of pride for Cape Coral, this monument is the only one of de Weldon’s originals in civilian possession.
Sponsors: City of Cape Coral

CAPTIVA SCHOOL AND CHAPEL-BY-THE-SEA

Location:11580 Chapin Lane
County: Lee
City: Captiva
Description: The building now known as the Captiva Chapel-by-the-Sea was built in 1901 as a one-room schoolhouse by the Lee County Board of Public Instruction. William Binder, the first settler to establish a homestead on Captiva, donated the land. As it was the first school on Captiva, students from the island, nearby Sanibel, and Buck Key attended classes here. Area families also used the space as their primary house of worship. A new schoolhouse was erected in 1918, and the Captiva School closed. In 1921, the Methodist Church purchased the building for use as a mission church. A separate minister’s study was built in 1926 to replace a structure destroyed by the Great Miami Hurricane. The Captiva Civic Association, by agreement with the Methodist Church, took over operation of the building in 1947. The Methodist Church deeded the property in 1954 to Captiva Chapel-by-the-Sea, which manages and operates it as an interdenominational church. The parsonage building was designed by noted architect Leon R. Levy, and built in 1965. This 1901 building remains the oldest school house in Lee County on its original site and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Sponsors: Captiva Chapel-By-The-Sea, The Captiva Historical Society

HISTORIC CAPTIVA CEMETERY

Location:11580 Chapin Lane
County: Lee
City: Captiva
Description: The Captiva Cemetery is closely associated with the history of Captiva Island. It served as a pioneer cemetery, and contains the graves of many of the island’s earliest settlers. The land for the cemetery was part of a homestead established by William Binder in 1888. The first interment was the unnamed stillborn daughter of Herbert and Hattie Brainerd in 1897, and a second stillborn daughter was buried in 1899. In 1900, Binder sold the parcel where the infants were buried to the Brainerds’ ten year old daughter, Ann, in exchange for a gold coin she received as a birthday gift from her grandmother. Ann died a year later from tetanus after stepping on a rusty nail. She was interred with her sisters. Other pioneers are buried here, including the original homesteader William Binder, who died in 1932 and was buried in the Brainerd family plot. The graves of two Confederate veterans, George Washington Carter and Henry P. Knowles, are also here. Hattie Brainerd retained ownership until she deeded it to the Methodist Church in 1936. The church deeded the cemetery in 1954 to Captiva Chapel-by-the-Sea, which maintains it to the present day. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Sponsors: Captiva Chapel-By-The-Sea, The Captiva Historical Society

BONITA SPRINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Location:10701 Dean Street
County: Lee
City: Bonita Springs
Description: This school contains two historic building and is a rare example of a historical school that continues to serve its original function. The rural village of Bonita Springs, originally called Survey, grew during the Florida Land Boom of the 1920s and this brick structure replaced the previous one-room schoolhouses. The original three-room school was built in 1921 and the first principal was Miss Alma McDonald. A local contractor utilized local oak and cypress lumber to complete the masonry vernacular structure. The school expanded in 1927 by adding a two-story building with auditorium. The addition features the Mediterranean Revival architectural style common from 1915-1930, and is a combination of Spanish, Italian, Moorish and Byzantine influences. In the early 1940s the two buildings were united and a cafeteria was an integral part of the community for generations. The school was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the first property in Bonita Springs to be so listed.
Sponsors: Sponsored by the City of Bonita Springs and the Florida Department of State.

THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF BOCA GRANDE

Location:421 4th Street West
County: Lee
City: Boca Grande
Description: The First Baptist Church of Boca Grande is the oldest church building on Gasparilla Island and housed one of the island’s two oldest congregations. In the early 1900s, phosphate companies decided to use the port of Boca Grande as a primary shipping point. The Seaboard Airline Railroad laid track to the southernmost tip of the island, and soon the island’s population grew enough to support a ministry. In 1909, the First Baptist Church was organized. At first, services were held outdoors conducted by circuit riding preachers twice a month. Between 1911 and 1912, a building committee was organized. Construction of the church was funded by a loan from the Florida Southern Baptist Missions Board and by congregational donations. In 1915, the church, an example of balloon-frame Carpenter Gothic style architecture, was completed. The Seaboard railroad donated a locomotive’s bell for the church that is still in use today. In 1928, the building was enlarged to accommodate Sunday school classrooms, and in 1934, a parsonage was built as a residence for a full-time pastor. In 2009, the First Baptist Church celebrated its 100th anniversary and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Sponsors: The First Baptist Church of Boca Grande and the Florida Department of State

'TWEEN WATERS INN

Location:15951 Captiva Drive
County: Lee
City: Captiva
Description: ‘Tween Waters Inn was established on Captiva Island by F. Bowman and Grace B. Price in 1931. They started the inn with a single building and expanded it over the next 30 years, adding guest cottages, a marina, and other buildings as they built their remote tourist destination into a favorite winter resort for wealthy northerners. Bowman Price provided guided fishing trips for guests and Grace Price offered entertainment and dining in the inn’s Old Captiva House. The inn’s visitors included Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who drew inspiration from Captiva for her bestselling book Gift from the Sea (1955) and J.N. “Ding” Darling, a conversationist and renowned editorial cartoonist who won Pulitzer prizes in 1924 and 43. Darling wrote and drew while staying at “Tween Waters Inn for seven winter seasons between 1935-36 and 1941-42. He also helped to establish Sanibel National Wildlife Refuge, which was named in his honor in 1967. In 1976, Tween Waters Inn was purchased by Rochester Resorts, Inc/, which restored its historic cottages for the inn’s continued use as a resort. ‘Tween Waters Inn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Sponsors: Sponsored by ‘Tween Waters Inn and the Florida Department of State

"IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY" - Koresh

Location:Koreshan State Park
County: Lee
City: Estero
Description: Dr. Cyrus Read Teed, Founder of the Koreshan Unity and President of the Koreshan University of Chicago, established in 1892 his "College of Life" in Estero, Florida, as a cooperative community in the spirit of Christ's teaching. "We live inside the World," the Koreshans believe, as the Earth is the Universe, with life and the celestial bodies and spheres manifest inside the World. Measurements of the concave curvature of the Earth were derived by the Koreshan Geodetic Staff in 1897 at Naples. In "The Cellular Cosmogony" by Koresh, Universology is explained. This and other books, magazines, and newspapers were printed in the Guiding Star Publishing House at Estero. Through the Koreshan Nursery the garden came to fame for its subtropical plant life. Mechanics, arts, and music were taught, and sports cultivated. In 1961 the Koreshan Unity corporation deeded 305 acres of their landholdings to the State of Florida as "a gift to the people".
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with The Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc.

ARMY POST FT. MYERS

Location:S.R. 80 downtown Fort Myers
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: Post Fort Myers was established 14 February 1850 with 116 men and officers. Winfield Scott Hancock, Q.M. Captain was assigned in 1856. During the last years of the Seminole War there were 835 personnel in residence. The fort was deactivated in 1858, then reactivated in 1863 during the War Between the States. The long pier was near present day Hendry Street; the hospital was west of Fowler. The riverfront officers quarters were where Bay Street is now.
Sponsors: sponsored by nicholas meriwether chapter national society colonial dames xvii century in cooperation with florida department of state

BILLY BOWLEGS

Location:951 Marsh Ave Billy Bowlegs Park (see comments)
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs refused to move West in 1842 following the Second Seminole War. An 1853 State law making Indian residence illegal caused increased pressure against the Seminoles in the Big Cypress Swamp. In December, 1855, army surveyors from Fort Myers injured crops of Bowleg's plantation. This began the Third Seminole War often called the Billy Bowlegs War. He surrendered after three years when his people were promised financial aid. In March, 1858, Bowlegs and 165 Seminoles left peacefully for Oklahoma.

EDISON & FORD WINTER ESTATES

Location:2350 McGregor Blvd.
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: In 1885 world-famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) first visited Fort Myers. In 1886 he built his winter home, “Seminole Lodge,” a second home for a friend/partner, and a laboratory. He brought his bride, Mina Miller Edison (1865-1947), to honeymoon and vacation here in 1886. The homes were designed by Edison and pre-cut by two firms in Maine and shipped to Fort Myers. In 1916 industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947) purchased the estate next door, “The Mangoes,” in order to spend more time with his good friend and mentor, Thomas Edison. These two prominent figures vacationed here until Edison’s death in 1931, and Mina continued to vacation here until 1947. The City of Fort Myers purchased the Ford estate in 1988 as an addition to the Edison Historical Site. Mina generously deeded the estate to the City of Fort Myers for $1.00. In her dedication ceremony on March 6, 1947, she stated: “My faith and belief in the sincerity of the people of Fort Myers prompts me to make this sacred spot a gift to you and posterity as a Sanctuary and Botanical Park in the memory of my honored and revered husband, Thomas A. Edison, who so thoroughly believed in the future of Fort Myers.”
Sponsors: CITY OF FORT MYERS AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

FIRST STREET, FORT MYERS

Location:First Street,between Hendry and Jackson St.
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: The post-Civil War era brought South Florida its first wave of settlers. In 1866, Manual A. Gonzalez and Joseph Vivas took up residence at recently abandoned Fort Myers. Arrival of other settlers led to the establishment in 1876 of a post office. First Street, delineated in the original 1876 town plan occupied a central position in community development. By 1901, frame buildings housing stores and offices lined downtown First Street. Banks, a theatre, a church, a school, and the Keystone Hotel, which first welcomed Thomas Edison in 1886, occupied locations along its route. Railroad construction and tourism, twin forces for growth in late 19th century Florida, contributed to community expansion. The paving of First Street to ease the way for tourists and automobiles and the construction of "modern" buildings replacing many frame structures reflected early 20th century attitudes among many Floridians. Electrification of the city street lights in the early 1920s symbolized the onset of Florida's Boom Period, an era of rapid growth especially significant in South Florida history. Fort Myers' palm-lined First Street has continued to embody the appeal of sub-tropical Florida.
Sponsors: sponsored by nicholas meriwether chapter, national society colonial dames xvii century in cooperation with department of state

FORT MYERS

Location:1st Street & Jackson Street on grounds of Federal
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: In this vicinity, Caloosa Indian villages were located in ancient times. Around this site, in the Seminole War of 1841-1842, a fort was established and named for Lieutenant John Harvie. The fort was reestablished in 1850 and named Fort Myers, honoring Lieutenant Abraham C. Myers. This Seminole War ended in 1858. During the War Between the States, Fort Myers was once more re-activated as a base to round up wild cattle to supply beef to Federal gunboats patrolling the Gulf off Sanibel.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with the Southwest Florida Historical Society

GASPARILLA INN & CLUB

Location:E. Railroad Ave. Between 7th and 5th St.
County: Lee
City: Boca Grande
Description: The Gasparilla Inn, built by the Boca Grande Land Company, subsidiary of a national phosphate company that was an early major island land holder, opened in 1911. Under the leadership of company principal, Peter Bradley (1850-1933), the hotel provided an upscale winter destination for wealthy guests. Tampa architect Frances Kennard (1865-c. 1938) assisted in the hotel’s 1912 enlargement and again in 1915 when its size doubled. The grounds were landscaped by the nationally known landscape firm, the Olmsted Brothers, and included a bath house, band shell, greenhouse, tennis courts, golf course and staff dormitories. A New York firm decorated the interior with furnishings purchased in Philadelphia. The Inn drew wealthy fishermen and industry tycoons such as J.P. Morgan and Henry DuPont who enjoyed the Inn’s seclusion and impeccable service. In 1930, Florida land baron Barron Collier (1873-1939) purchased the hotel, adding a grand new entrance, an 18-hole golf course and several cottages. By the 1960s, the Inn’s condition had declined. Longtime Gasparilla Island resident and champion, Bayard Sharp (1913-2002), purchased the property, restored it and added modern amenities to ensure that the Inn’s traditions would continue.
Sponsors: THE SHARP FAMILY, THE BOCA GRANDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE

HARNEY'S POINT

Location:2051 Cape Coral Pkwy E
County: Lee
City: Cape Coral
Description: Near here on the Caloosahatchee River a band of 160 Indians attacked the Fort and Trading Post at four o'clock on the morning of July 23, 1839. In the raid led by Chief Chekaika of the Spanish Indians, thirteen soldiers died and fourteen, including Col. William S. Harney in command of operations, escaped down river. A year later Col. Harney returned and destroyed Chekaika in the Everglades.

MILITARY CEMETERY

Location:Corner of Fowler St. and 2nd St.
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: During the Seminole Wars, this was the site of a military cemetery for soldiers of Fort Harvie, 1841-42, and Fort Myers, 1850-58. The cemetery was located outside the breastworks of the respective forts which were in the vicinity of the present Federal Building in downtown Fort Myers. When Fowler Street was cut through, the graves were moved to the civilian cemetery on Michigan Avenue.
Sponsors: Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials in Cooperation with the Southwest Florida Historical Society

SANIBEL LIGHTHOUSE

Location:Lighthouse Park on Lighthouse Road at Island's S.
County: Lee
City: Sanibel Island
Description: The first permanent English-speaking settlers on Sanibel Island arrived from New York in 1833 as part of a colony planned by land investors. Although that settlement was short-lived, the initial colonists petitioned the U.S. government for the construction of a lighthouse on the island. No action was taken on that proposal at the time. By the late 1870's, seagoing commerce in the area had increased in volume. The U.S. Lighthouse Bureau took the initiative in requesting funds for a lighthouse for Sanibel Island, and in 1884, construction of the tower began. The station was lighted for the first time in August, 1884. The significance of the Sanibel Lighthouse lies in the regular and reliable service it has provided for travellers along Florida's West Coast. Since 1950, the U.S. Coast Guard property at the lighthouse has been a wildlife refuge.
Sponsors: Sponsored by nicholas meriwether chapter n.s. colonial dames xvii century in cooperation with department of state

THE ATTACK ON FORT MYERS

Location:2031 Jackson Street, Southwest Florida Museum of History
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: In December 1863, the Army post of Fort Myers, inactive since 1858, was reoccupied. The fort served as a supply depot for the Federal blockade squadron. Troops from the fort often raided Confederate supply depots in the state's interior, since Florida beef fed the Confederate army. To discourage these raids, Confederate Major William Footman led 275 men of Florida's "Cow Cavalry" from Fort Thompson (LaBelle) to the very gates of Fort Myers. Shortly after noon of February 20, 1865, Major Footman approached the fort under a flag of truce and gave the Federals 20 minutes to surrender. After Captain James Doyle, commander of the garrison which consisted of the Union 2nd Florida Cavalry, the 110th New York Infantry, and the 2nd U.S. Colored Infantry, refused, the Confederates bombarded the fort with their field piece. They were answered by Fort Myers' three cannons. The cannonade and musketry continued until after nightfall, when Footman and his Confederates withdrew under cover of darkness. Casualties on both sides were light.
Sponsors: sponsored by col. abraham c. myers camp #1322 sons of confederate veterans in cooperation with department of state

BUCKINGHAM ARMY AIR FIELD GUNNERY RANGES

Location:South of SR 82, between Griffin Road/Ray Avenue South and Homestead Road South
County: Lee
City: Lehigh Acres
Description: During World War II, nearly 50,000 soldiers earned their wings as aerial gunners at the Buckingham Army Air Field’s (BAAF) Flexible Gunnery School. As one of only six gunnery schools in the United States, BAAF was in operation from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. At the ranges once located near here, south of State Road 82, trainees were taught the skills needed to protect American bomber planes from enemy attack. Soldiers first learned how to shoot at moving targets from a moving platform. Enclosed in a spinning turret mounted to a truck, the men fired machine guns at unmanned jeeps carrying large white cloth targets that drove along a track inside the range. After ground training, the soldiers practiced firing from aircraft at targets towed by other aircraft. This training provided the soldiers with the skills and knowledge needed to man the many turret and window machine guns on B-17 and B-24 bombers, and successfully defend those bombers in both Europe and the Pacific. These gunnery ranges were an important part of the Buckingham Army Air Field and Florida’s role in training the military personnel who served protecting our nation.
Sponsors: Lennar Homes, LLC

WILLIAMS ACADEMY

Location:1936 Henderson Avenue
County: Lee
City: Fort Myers
Description: Williams Academy, originally located between Lemon Street and Anderson Avenue (later MLK Boulevard), was built in 1913. Named for J. S. Williams, the Lee County Supervisor of Colored Schools, it was Lee County's first government-funded school for black students, and served students from Lee County and Punta Gorda, Charlotte County. In the 1930s, fire destroyed the second floor, and in 1937, the remaining building was moved to the African American Dunbar High School campus on Blount Street. The school was renamed Williams Primary School and served grades 1-2. In 1942, the school added two new classrooms, classes expanded to include grades 4-9, and the Williams Academy name was restored. In 1958, the original Williams building was dismantled and the 1942 addition was relocated elsewhere on the Dunbar campus. The addition served as a band room, daycare facility, and storage room. In 1994, the building was slated for demolition until the Lee County Black History Society successfully requested that the city give it to the organization. The building was relocated to Roberto Clemente Park in 1995, and reopened as the Williams Academy Black History Museum.
Sponsors: Lee County Black History Society and the Florida Department of State