post # 16 Pre Fort Myers trip

To my surprise Fort Myers has such an extensive and interesting history that is most likely unknown to everyone who lives here. Fort Myers that was named after a Captain in to war was initially names after a general named Harvey. With the change of name many other changes were also implemented. One of the first changes recorded is the building of the first school in 1880. This school was the only school for the entire city, and at this time the city went all the way down to the keys. The school 2 years later was burnt down by a disgruntled student. The City then asked for assistance in rebuilding the school and they were not granted the help so they built it themselves. With the new school came a new county, Lee county named after Robert E. Lee.  A good 70 years later in 1950 there were then 12 schools in the city of Fort Myers, this may not sound like much but it was the stepping stone to the 72 schools that we now have in the city. As the town continued to grow so did the need for communication, in 1884 the first newspaper was started the Fort Myers press. This growth caught the eye of many big names Thomas Edison and Henry Ford are a few of the great people that came to Fort Myers and had a significant impact.

It is crazy to see the changes that occurred over 50 or 60 years in even just the economical stand point. The growth of the city in the late 1880’s and 90’s attracted many merchants that flooded the downtown Fort Myers area. The merchants truly accommodated the needs of the consumers, they would stay open late just to compensate for closing at noon so everyone could go fishing. In the 1960’s this all began to change when the Edison mall was built. This was the first time that all these department stores were together and that a person shopping could be indoors in the air conditioning. This soon took the place of being outside going from shop to shop and began to take a toll on the downtown economy. Fort Myers has grown in astronomical amounts and it is crazy to see what has come out of this town and the good that was created from inventors, entrepreneurs, and the general population.