Collier County, Florida
The story of Everglades City
Everything below is a single verifiable claim with a citation attached. Where the record is a local legend rather than a document, it says so.
founding
How it started
- 1923
Barron Collier began buying land here in 1922; the community incorporated as the Town of Everglades in 1923, became the City of Everglades in 1953 and the City of Everglades City in 1965.
etymology
How it got its name
- 1965
The town is named for the Everglades it sits at the edge of, and its successive charters renamed it twice before the present form stuck in 1965.
industry
What it lived on
- 1928
Collier built the place to build a road. He funded State Road 29 from Everglades City to Immokalee, finished in 1929 ahead of the Tamiami Trail itself, and in 1928 the Atlantic Coast Line reached town - the southernmost point that railroad ever got.
claim to fame
What it is known for
- 1960
It was a county seat that lost its county. Everglades City was Collier County's seat from the county's creation in 1923 until two years after Hurricane Donna struck in 1960, when the legislature moved it to East Naples. The 2020 population was 352.
landmark
What still stands
-
The Marjory Stoneman Douglas Visitor Center for Everglades National Park.
- 1929
State Road 29, Collier's road to Immokalee, completed in 1929.