Fort Myers or Ft. Myers , is the center of the region and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. It has grown tremendously in recent years. At the 2010 census, the city's population was 62,298 and by 2016 was estimated at 77,146.
Fort Myers is the gateway to the Southwest Florida region and a major tourist destination in Florida. Thomas Edison's winter plantation ("Seminole Lodge") and Henry Ford ("The Mango") are the main attractions. The city is named Colonel Abraham Myers.
Video Fort Myers, Florida
History
Spain originally had colonial influence in Florida, replaced by the United Kingdom and, most recently, the United States. During the American Indian War of the 1830s, the United States built Fort Myers as one of the first fortresses along the Caloosahatchee River; it is used as a base of operations against Seminole. During the Seminole Wars and Indian Removal period, Fort Myers is a strategic location, with access to the Atlantic waters. While many Seminoles were forced to move to the Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, others used their knowledge of the Everglades and Florida wilderness to fight America. They have never been defeated and two federally-recognized Seminole tribes still occupy some of their historic territory.
During the American Civil War, violators of the Confederate blockade and cattle ranchers were based in Fort Myers. These settlers prospered through trade with the army of Seminole and Union.
Settlement and assignment
The Fort Myers community was founded after the American Civil War by Captain Manuel A. Gonzalez on 21 February 1866. Captain Gonzalez recognized the area as a result of his years of service sending letters and supplies to the Union Army at the Fort during the Seminole Indian War and the Civil War. When the US Government left the fortress after the Civil War, Gonzalez sailed from Key West, Florida to establish the community. Three weeks later, Joseph Vivas and his wife, Christianna Stirrup Vivas, arrived with Gonzalez's wife, Evalina, and Mary's daughter.
Gonzalez placed his family near the abandoned Fort Myers, where he started the first trading post in the area. Gonzalez exchanges tobacco, beads, and gunpowder, and sells beavers, jungle cats, and crocodiles, to an adjacent Seminole. Small communities begin to form around trading posts.
At the end of the 19th century, northerners began to travel to Florida in the winter. Some see development opportunities. In 1881, a wealthy industrialist, Hamilton Disston from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, came to Caloosahatchee Valley. He plans to dredge and stream the Everglades for development. Diston connects Lake Okeechobee with the Caloosahatchee River; this allows the steamers to run from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Okeechobee and ride to the Kissimmee River.
On August 12, 1885, the small town of Fort Myers - all 349 residents - was founded. At that time, it was the second largest city on the Gulf Coast of Florida south of Cedar Key.
In 1885, inventor Thomas Alva Edison was sailing on the west coast of Florida and stopped to visit Fort Myers. He immediately bought 13 acres along the Caloosahatchee River in town. There he built his house "Seminole Lodge", as a winter resort. This includes the laboratory for its ongoing work. After the Lodge was completed in 1886, Edison and his wife, Mina, spent much of the winter in Fort Myers. Edison also enjoys local recreational fishing, which Fort Myers has earned a national reputation.
In 1898, the Royal Palm Hotel was built. This luxury hotel attracts many tourists and establishes Fort Myers nationally as a winter holiday destination.
20th century
On May 10, 1904, access to the Fort Myers area greatly improved with the opening of the Atlantic Coast Train, which links Punta Gorda to Fort Myers. This route gave Lee County a passenger and freight train service.
In 1908, the Arcade Theater was built in downtown Fort Myers. It originally served as a vaudeville house. Thomas Edison saw the movie here for the first time with friends Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone. With the growth of the film industry, the Arcade Theater was transformed into a full-fledged home movie. A wall divides the stage to form two play spaces. Changes in film-watching habits since the late 20th century have led to theater renovation to be used again in live performances. It now hosts the Florida Repertory Theater, the performing arts hall.
During the period 1914-1918 (World War I), Edison became concerned about America's dependence on foreign rubber supplies. He partnered with Harvey Firestone tire manufacturers, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and Henry Ford, Ford Motor Company, to try to find rubber trees or plants that can grow quickly in the United States. He searched for containing enough latex to support his research. In 1927, the three men contributed $ 25,000 each, and created the Edison Botanic Research Corporation in an effort to find a solution to the problem.
In 1928, the laboratory of Edison Botanic Research Corporation was built. In Fort Myers, Edison did most of his research and planted exotic plants and trees. He sent the results and samples of rubber residue to West Orange, New Jersey, for further work at Thomas A. Edison's large "Discovery Plant" (now preserved in Thomas Edison National Historical Park). Through Edison's efforts, the royal palms on Riverside Avenue (now McGregor Boulevard) were imported and planted. They inspired the nickname of Fort Myers as "City of Palms".
After testing 17,000 plant samples, Edison finally found the source at the Goldenrod plant (Solidago leavenworthii). Thomas Edison died in 1931. The rubber project was transferred to the US Department of Agriculture five years later.
In 1916, the automotive king Henry Ford bought a house next to Edison's from Robert Smith from New York. Ford named his plantation "Mango". "Bungalow" a la Ford craftsman was built in 1911 by Smith. Ford, Harvey Firestone and Edison, are the top three leaders in the American industry. They are part of an exclusive group called "The Millionaires' Club". All three men have been immortalized in the statues in downtown Fort Myers, Centennial Park.
In 1924, with the start of Edison Bridge construction, named after Thomas Edison, the city's population continued to grow. The bridge was opened on February 11, 1931, the 84th anniversary of its name. Edison dedicated the bridge, and became the first to ride it.
In the decade after the construction of the bridge, the city is experiencing a boom in real estate. Several new housing subdivisions are built outside Downtown, including Dean Park, Edison Park, and Edison Park Seminole Park, located opposite McGregor Boulevard from Edison and Ford properties, including some of Fort Myers' most magnificent houses. Historical developments display a variety of architectural styles. In the 21st century, it is known for its powerful community activities and environmental ties.
In 1947, Mina Edison handed the Seminole Inn to Fort Myers City, in memory of her late husband and to enjoy the public. In 1988, Henry Ford's nearby winter plantation was bought by the city and opened for a public tour in 1990. The combined property is now known as Edison and Ford Winter Estates.
Maps Fort Myers, Florida
Geography and climate
According to the US Census Bureau, the city has a total area of ​​40.4 square miles (105 km 2 ), of which 31.8 square miles (82 km 2 ) is ground and 8.6 square miles (22 km 2 ) (21.25%) are water.
Fort Myers experiences a tropical savanna climate (KÃÆ'¶ppen
Temperature rarely rises up to 100Ã, Â ° F (38Ã, Â ° C) or lowers to a freezing mark. Fort Myers has 89 days each year where lightning storms are close enough to be heard, the most in the country.
Daily daily average temperatures range from 64.2 Â ° F (17.9 Â ° C) in January to 83.4 Â ° F (28.6 Â ° C) in August, with the annual average being 75.1 ° F (23.9 ° C). Ã, Â ° C).
Records range from 24Ã, Â ° F (-4Ã, Â ° C) on December 29, 1894 to 103Ã, Â ° F (39Ã, Â ° C) on June 16-17, 1981.
Demographics
The population of Fort Myers was 62,298 during the 2010 census. Between the 2000 census and the 2010 census, the city's population increased at a rate of 29.2 percent.
Fort Myers is one of two cities that make up the Metropolitan Cape Coral-Fort Myers Statistics Area. The 2010 population for the metropolitan area is 618,754.
The population of Lee County, Florida and the Cape Coral-Fort Myers Metropolitan Statistical Area has grown 40.3 percent since the 2000 census, much faster than the average growth rate of 17.6 percent experienced across the State of Florida.
Government
Fort Myers is governed by a six-member city council in which each member is elected from a single member's ward. The city is practicing a council-manager form in which the city council is responsible for the municipal legislative function. The city council is responsible for setting policy, passing local regulations, choosing allocations, and developing an overall vision for the city.
The mayor was elected in the entire city vote. The mayor of Fort Myers today is Randy Henderson, Jr.
Fort Myers Policing is conducted by the Fort Myers Police Department.
Education
Junior high school
View: Lee County School District for other public schools in the area.
- High schools in this city include:
- Dunbar High School's Science Olympic team won 15 places overall in the Florida State Science Olympics in 2007, including a victory in the remote sensing category.
- Fort Myers High School, the International Baccalaalureate school, is ranked as one of the country's best public schools by the Newsweek magazine.
- Bishop Verot High School, a Roman Catholic private school in Ft. Myers, operated by Venetian Diocese, Florida.
Higher education
Higher education institutions in the city include:
- Hodges University
- Keizer University
- Nova Southeastern University
- Rasmussen College
- Southern Technical College
- Fort Myers Technical College
Library
View: Lee County Library System for other libraries in this area. Library services include:
- Fort Myers Regional Library: Fort Myers Regional Library is the center for the Lee County Library System, which stores the ultimate collection of legal, business, news and financial information. The library is located in Downtown Fort Myers at 2450 Main Street and is home to the Cornog Plaza.
- Dunbar-Jupiter Public Library Hammon: Library was officially opened on 7 October 1974. The founders of the library were named Jupiter Hammon Public Library in honor of the first African poet to publish his work. Dunbar, community name, added at the request of the occupants. The library was moved in 1996 to its current location at 3095 Blount Street. It is home to the largest collection of African-American books in Southwest Florida.
Sports
The City of Palms Classic is an annual high school basketball tournament held in Fort Myers, Florida, since 1973. Several alumni have made it to the NBA.
Destination
- Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium is a private, nonprofit, environmental education organization. Located on an area of ​​105 acres (0.42 km 2 ), it has a museum, three nature trails, a planetarium, butterflies and bird aviaries, a gift shop and a meeting and picnic area.
- City of Palms Park, a former home of the Boston Red Sox spring training program, is close to downtown Fort Myers.
- Edison and Ford Winter Estates
- Edison Mall
- Historic City Center, seaside entertainment area
- Murphy-Burroughs House
- Imaginarium Science Center
- Southwest Florida History Museum
Public Transport
Airport
The Metropolitan area of ​​Fort Myers is served by two separate airports within and around the city limits.
- This area is mainly served by Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), located in the southeast of the city. The airport, located on 13,555 acres of land is the 45th busiest airport (by yearly passengers). By 2017 the airport serves 8,842,549 people. It has been ranked as one of the top ten under ten million in the United States.
- The Fort Myers area is the second one served by Page Field, which is a small airport whose main traffic consists of smaller planes.
Land Transport
The bus run by LeeTran provides local services in Fort Myers.
Fort Myers in popular culture
In the movie
- The abandoned city scene with Edison Theater, from the movie Day of the Dead (1985) was filmed in downtown Fort Myers.
- Some courthouses and other "city" scenes in Just Cause (1995) were filmed in downtown Ft. Myers.
- The part of the independent film Trans Trans (1999) was filmed in Fort Myers, Florida.
In print
- Fort Myers is part of the Red River Grass setting: A Legend (1998), the award-winning novel by James Carlos Blake
Famous people
Attend
Past
- Verna Aardema - author of children's books
- G. Harold Alexander - chairman of the Florida Republican state, c. 1952-1964
- Patty Berg - Golf Hall of Fame, co-founder of LPGA
- Gerard Damiano - adult film director
- Thomas Edison - improves and refines incandescent light bulbs and audio recording methods, has a winter real estate next to Henry Ford
- Harvey Firestone - founded Firestone Tire Company, owns a winter plantation near Edison and Ford's homes
- Henry Ford - founded Ford Motor Company, and father of the assembly line, owns a winter plantation next to Thomas Edison
- Charles Ghigna - poet and author of children known as "Goose Fathers;" childhood home 1950-1973
- Sara Hildebrand - US Olympic diver (2000, 2004)
- Jerry Lawler - WWE wrestler and broadcaster
- Denise Masino - professional bodybuilder
- Mindy McCready - country music artist
- Diamond Dallas Page - former WCW and WWE wrestler, actor
- Kimberly Page - a former member of WCW Nitro Girls and Playboy model
- Marius Russo - professional baseball player
- Walt Wesley - professional basketball player
Twin Cities
Fort Myers has twin agreements with the following twin cities:
- Santiago de los Caballeros (Dominican Republic)
References
External links
- Official website
- Fort Myers Economic Overview, US Department of Labor
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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