From Paradisiacal Rurality to Industrious Urbanity: A Historical Record of Ft. Myers’s Millionaires’ Row and the Southern Fortunes that Helped Reshape Florida’s Southwestern Region from a Natural Wild into a Cultivated, Industrial Center

Abstract

The following Capstone consists of an online exhibit, entitled Ft. Myers’s Millionaires’ Row, documenting the lost architectural history and legacy of Fort Myers’s First Street, invariably known as southwest Florida’s first Millionaires’ Row. The Exhibit takes the form of an online website that reveals the personal stories of six historic estates, uncovering and publicizing for the first time collectively the individuals and families who bravely moved to the Floridian wilds, marshes, and wetlands to cultivate and transform the quiet cattle ranch town into a bustling industrial, agricultural city complex through the erection of stately mansions. Moreover, the Exhibit intends to be used for future historic preservation efforts and advocacy to serve as a reminder to the Fort Myers City Council, who holds power to sanction demolition permits, of just how much was lost in the name of “progress.” Nothing of this caliber has ever been attempted nor assembled, resulting in a fragmented past whose histories are currently separated by archival repositories, obscure mentions in a handful of nonfiction accounts of the area, and the rare opportunity of photographs featured by the Fort Myers Historical Society (FMHS). The Exhibit’s account of the Row’s six estates, and their unique architectural styles, featured in a central index allows visitors to learn about the small-town history of Fort Myers, its unique architectural past, and witness its urban development through the northernization of the area. The accompanying paper herein showcases the methodological approaches used in obtaining these obscure histories and creates a niche in the City’s local history; greatly adding to the historiography. Moreover, this Capstone provides an opportunity to uncover connections to the historic downtown area and shine a much-deserved spotlight on the once thriving, architecturally rich community that made the City’s urban development possible; all of which done at the hands of northerners who created a southern Yankeedom.