Fort Myers, Florida
| Fort Myers, Florida | |
 |
|
| Nickname(s): City of Palms | |
 |
|
 |
|
| Coordinates: | |
| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| State |  Florida |
| County | Lee |
| Founded | March 24, 1886 |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Jim Humphrey |
| Area | |
| - City | 40.4 sq mi (104.7 km²) |
| - Land | 31.8 sq mi (82.4 km²) |
| - Water | 8.6 sq mi (82.4 km²) 21.25% |
| Elevation | 10 ft (3 m) |
| Population (2008)University of Florida estimate | |
| - City | 68,689 |
| - Metro | 623,724 |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| - Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP codes | 33900-33999 |
| Area code(s) | 239 |
| FIPS code | 12-24125[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 0282700[2] |
| Website: http://www.cityftmyers.com | |
Fort Myers is the county seat[3] and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 48,208 in the 2000 census. According to 2008 estimates, the population is 68,689. [4]
The city is one of two major cities that make up the Cape Coral-Fort Myers MSA, the other being Cape Coral. As of 2008, the population estimate for the metropolitan area was 623,725. [5]
Established in 1886, Fort Myers is the historical and governmental hub of Lee County. It is the gateway to the Southwest Florida region, which is a major tourist destination in Florida. The winter homes of Thomas Edison (Seminole Lodge) and Henry Ford (The Mangoes), which are both primary tourist attractions in the region, are located on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers.
On August 13, 2004, Fort Myers was hit hard by Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall north of the area. In 2005, Hurricane Wilma struck south of Naples, but caused extensive damage nonetheless in Fort Myers and its southern suburbs.
Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW) is located southeast of the city in South Fort Myers, near Gateway and Lehigh Acres.
Contents |
History
Incorporated in 1886, Fort Myers is the center of a popular tourist area in Southwest Florida and the seat of Lee County. It is located about 120 miles (190 km) south of Tampa at the meeting point of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caloosahatchee River. Fort Myers was the frequent winter home of Thomas Edison and is the current home of the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins spring training camps.
The first known resident of what is now Fort Myers was Manuel Gonzalez, a Spaniard from the province of Asturias, who came via Cuba in the 19th century.
Fort Myers, built in 1850 as a military fort to fend off Seminole Indians that were massacring the area's few settlers, was named after Col. Abraham C. Myers, who was stationed in Florida for seven years and was the son-in-law of the fort's establisher and commander. In 1858, after years of elusive battle, Chief Billy Bowlegs and his warriors were persuaded to surrender and move west, and the fort was abandoned. Billy's Creek, which flows into the Caloosahatchee River and runs between The Beau Rivage Condominiums and Alta Mar, was named after a temporary camp where Billy Bowlegs and his men awaited ships to take them west.
The fort was abandoned until 1863 when a small number of Union troops re-occupied the fort during the Civil War. In 1865 the fort was attacked unsuccessfully by a very small group of Confederates. After the war, the fort was again deserted.
The first settlers arrived in 1866, but it wasn't until 1882 when the city experienced a significant influx of settlers. By 1885, when Fort Myers was incorporated, it was the second largest city only to Tampa on Florida's west coast south of Cedar Key even larger than Clearwater and Sarasota, also growing cities at the time.
Fort Myers first became a nationally known winter resort with the building of The Royal Palm Hotel in 1898. But what really sparked the city's growth was the construction of the Tamiami Trail Bridge built across the Caloosahatchee River in 1924. After the bridge's construction, the city experienced its first real estate boom and many subdivisions sprouted around the city.
Geography and climate
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 40.4 mi² (104.7 km²). 31.8 mi²(82.4 km²) of it is land and 8.6 mi² (22.2 km²) of it (21.25%) is water.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration classifies Fort Myers as a subtropical climate [6]. Others interpret the Köppen climate classification to classify it as a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw),[7]
| Climate in Fort Myers | |||||||||||||
| Monthly averages[8] | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norm high °F (°C) | 75 (24) | 77 (25) | 80 (27) | 85 (29) | 89 (32) | 91 (33) | 92 (33) | 92 (33) | 90 (32) | 86 (30) | 81 (27) | 77 (25) | 85 (29) |
| Norm low °F (°C) | 56 (13) | 58 (14) | 60 (15) | 63 (17) | 68 (20) | 73 (23) | 74 (23) | 74 (23) | 74 (23) | 69 (21) | 62 (17) | 56 (13) | 65 (18) |
| Precip. in. (cm) | 2.2 (5.7) | 2.1 (5.3) | 2.7 (7.0) | 1.7 (4.3) | 3.4 (8.7) | 9.8 (24.8) | 9.0 (22.8) | 9.5 (24.2) | 7.9 (20.0) | 2.6 (6.6) | 1.7 (4.3) | 1.6 (4.0) | 54.2 (137.6) |
| Avg. no. precip. days[9] | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 10 | 18 | 22 | 22 | 20 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 145 |
Demographics
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1890 | 575 |
|
|
| 1900 | 943 | 64% | |
| 1910 | 2,463 | 161.2% | |
| 1920 | 3,678 | 49.3% | |
| 1930 | 9,082 | 146.9% | |
| 1940 | 10,604 | 16.8% | |
| 1950 | 13,195 | 24.4% | |
| 1960 | 22,523 | 70.7% | |
| 1970 | 27,351 | 21.4% | |
| 1980 | 36,638 | 34% | |
| 1990 | 45,206 | 23.4% | |
| 2000 | 48,208 | 6.6% | |
| Est. 2007 | 64,258 | 33.3% | |
| Population 1890-2000.[10] | |||
As of the census[1] of 2006, there were 65,729 people, 19,107 households, and 10,738 families residing in the city. The population density was 584.8/km² (1,514.6/mi²). There were 21,836 housing units at an average density of 264.9/km² (686.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.35% White, 33.39% African American, 0.38% Native American, 0.98% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 5.69% from other races, and 3.11% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.49% of the population.
There were 19,107 households out of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 32.3% were married couples living together, 18.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.8% were non-families. 33.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 26.3% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 17.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 97.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.3 males.
Education
Secondary schools
Secondary schools in the area include:
- Canterbury, a private school, was listed in Forbes's "Top 400 Schools to Get Your Kid into Harvard". Canterbury students have also won the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) Grand Award five times in the past 20 years.
- Dunbar High School's Science Olympiad teams won 15th place overall in the 2007 Florida State Science Olympiad, including a win in the remote sensing category. [11]
- Fort Myers Senior High School, an International Baccalaureate school, was ranked as one of the best schools in the nation by Newsweek magazine. [12]
- Cypress Lake High School, which is notable for being one of the only high schools in the area that has a Center for the Arts. It specializes in media arts, music, dance, theatre, and visual arts.
- Bishop Verot High School, a private, Roman Catholic high school in Ft. Myers, operated by the Diocese of Venice, Florida.
Higher learning
Institutions of higher learning in the area include:
- Barry University
- Edison State College
- Florida Gulf Coast University
- Hodges University
- Nova Southeastern University
- Rasmussen College
- Southwest Florida College
Spring Training
Fort Myers is the current Spring home for the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins. The city holds the distinction of being the host of five different Major League Baseball franchises who've gone on to win the World Series following Spring training in Fort Myers. The Philadelphia Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates and Kansas City Royals compose the five along with the city's current two inhabitants.
Minnesota Twins
Hammond Stadium is located in the Lee County Sports Complex in South Fort Myers. The stadium was built in 1991 and holds 7,500 people. It is the Spring Training home of the Minnesota Twins.
The Twins' won the World Series following their first Spring Training in Hammond Stadium. Their agreement with Lee County for use of the complex runs through 2011.
Red Sox
Former Boston Red Sox left fielder Mike Greenwell is from Fort Myers, and was instrumental in bringing his team to the city for Spring training. City of Palms Park was built in 1992 for that purpose and holds 8,000 people. It is also the home of the Red Sox Rookie team, the Gulf Coast League Red Sox, from April through June.
Perhaps the most memorable game played at City of Palms was on March 7, 2004. This was the first game played between the Red Sox and New York Yankees since Aaron Boone hit the home run that eliminated the Red Sox from the play offs the previous October. Boone's replacement at third base, Alex Rodriguez was the high profile key acquisition of the off season for the Yankees, and he was savagely booed by the 7,304 in attendance.
The Sarasota Curse?
The Red Sox's lease with Fort Myers runs through 2019, however, the BoSox have been toying with exercising the early out in their contract that allows them to leave following the 2009 Spring season. Chief operating officer Mike Dee met with Sarasota officials on April 25, 2008 to discuss the possibility of the Red Sox moving to Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium once its current Spring inhabitants, the Cincinnati Reds, move to their new Spring home in Goodyear, Arizona. Representatives of the Baltimore Orioles and Milwaukee Brewers have also met with officials from Sarasota.
John Yarborough, director of Lee County Parks and Rec, met with Jeff Mudgett, a Fort Myers architect who is volunteering his time to brain storm ideas on what can be done to keep the Red Sox in Fort Myers. “I’d like to have a project by 2012,’’ Yarborough said after the meeting.
No drawings were shown or locations were discussed for a new Red Sox Spring training site, but they said the dream would be to have a facility look like a mini-Fenway Park, the Boston home of the team.[13]
In an effort to dissuade the Sox from leaving Fort Myers, the Fort Myers News-Press printed flyers for fans to mail Matthew Bernstein of the Boston Globe warning of the "Sarasota Curse."[14]
Essentially, the curse reminds the Red Sox that they never won a World Series in the thirteen years they spent in Sarasota, and that every other franchise that has held Spring training in Sarasota also suffered downturns in their fortunes after moving there. Sarasota is "0-for-ever" when it comes to World Series championship teams. Meanwhile, since the Sox arrived in Fort Myers in 1993, they have won two World Series over the past four years. Fort Myers has been the spring home to five World Series winning franchises, more than any other city in Florida or Arizona.
New Spring Facility
On October 28, 2008, the Lee County commission voted 3-1 to approve an agreement with the Boston Red Sox to build a new spring-training facility for the team in south Lee County. Commissioner Brian Bigelow was the lone dissenting vote. Commissioner Bob Janes was not present for the vote, but stated that he supported it.
Red Sox chief operating officer Mike Dee was present in the chambers for the vote. He will take the agreement back to Boston to meet with team owner John Henry and other team officials. Dee expects to have an answer in a week or so from his bosses on if they want to go ahead with the plan.
The new stadium will be south of Hammond Stadium. Speculation is that the stadium would be in the general neighborhood of Florida Gulf Coast University, however, neither the county or Dee want to be more specific until proposals come in from developers.
County officials have talked for months about the possibility of securing another team for City of Palms. No team has been contacted yet.[15]
Points of interest
- Edison and Ford Winter Estates
- The Lee County Sports Complex in South Fort Myers, which includes Hammond Stadium, home of the Fort Myers Miracle baseball club of the Florida State League, and spring training locale for the Minnesota Twins. The Gulf Coast League Twins also play at the Lee County Sports Complex. The Florida State League will hold the 48th annual Florida State League All-Star Game at Hammond Stadium in June 2009. The league’s mid-season classic returns to Fort Myers for the first time since 2003.
- The Boston Red Sox hold their spring training at City of Palms Park close to downtown Fort Myers. It is also home to the Gulf Coast League Red Sox.
- Fort Myers hosts the Florida Everblades ECHL hockey team at Germain Arena, and Florida Firecats af2 arena football.
- For the golfing enthusiast, the Fort Myers Area (Bonita Springs, Cape Coral, Estero, Lehigh Acres and Sanibel Island) is home to over 50 of Southwest Florida's renowned 130 public and private golf courses. Florida's great weather combined with the scenic and challenging nature of these courses makes the area an excellent stop for the vacationing golfer.
- The Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium is a private, not-for-profit, environmental education organization. Set on a 105-acre (0.42 km2) site, it has a museum, three nature trails, a planetarium, butterfly and bird aviaries, a gift shop and meeting and picnic areas.
Crime
Unmarked Graveyard
In March 2007, the remains of 8 people were found in a wooded area in Fort Myers, leading to an ongoing investigation for a possible serial killer. So far three of the individuals have been identified using DNA as Erik Kohler, John James Tihay and John Blevins.[16] [17]
Crime Statistics
In 2007, the crime rates per 100,000 people for the Ft. Myers/Cape Coral MSA were as follows:
| Crime | Fort Myers/Cape Coral MSA crime rate | U.S. National Average[18] |
|---|---|---|
| Murder | 8.7 | 5.7 |
| Rape | 35.4 | 30.9 |
| Robbery | 156.3 | 149.4 |
| Assault | 396.5 | 287.5 |
| Burglary | 1035.5 | 729.4 |
| Theft | 2165.9 | 2206.8 |
| Grand Theft Auto | 416.8 | 398.4 |
Notable people from the Fort Myers area
Present
- Bert Blyleven — former MLB pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and California Angels. [19]
- Ivy Box - Actress, Artist, Producer, Entrepreneur, castmember of BET's College Hill Interns
- Phillip Buchanon — NFL cornerback, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (current team), Houston Texans, Oakland Raiders
- Stacy Carter — Former WWE wrestler.
- Noel Devine — running back at West Virginia University
- Earnest Graham — NFL running back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Mike Greenwell — former Boston Red Sox left Fielder and current NASCAR driver
- Randy Hand- Offensive tackle, Buffalo Bills (current), New England Patriots.
- Mario Henderson — Offensive tackle, Oakland Raiders
- Nolan Henke — Professional golfer.
- Anthony Henry — NFL cornerback, Dallas Cowboys (current team), Cleveland Browns
- Sara Hildebrand — United States Olympic Diver (2000,2004) [17]
- Jevon Kearse — NFL defensive end, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans (current team)
- Terri Kimball — Playboy Playmate of the Month for May 1964
- Mindy McCready — country music artist
- Seth Petruzelli — professional MMA fighter [20]
- Matt Prater — current placekicker for the Denver Broncos, attended Estero High School.
- Deion Sanders — Retired NFL cornerback for six teams, and Major League Baseball outfielder for five teams
- Vonzell Solomon — American Idol 3rd-place finisher
- Elissa Steamer — Professional skateboarder
- Algernod Lanier "Plies" Washington — American rapper
- Tommy Watkins — Minnesota Twins farmhand who spent part of the 2007 season with the Twins.
- Walt Wesley — NBA basketball player (1966-1976): Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phonenix Suns, Philadelphi 76ers, Capital Bullets, Milwaukee Bucks, Cincinnati Royals.
- Cliff Williams — bass player for AC/DC
Past
- Thomas Edison — Improved and perfected the incandescent light bulb and audio recording methods, had a winter estate next to Henry Ford.
- Henry Ford — Founded the Ford Motor Company, and father of the assembly line, had a winter estate next to Thomas Edison.
- Harvey Firestone- Founder of Firestone Tire Company, had a winter estate near Edison and Ford's homes.[21] [22]
- Amanda Dunbar - Professional female bodybuilder ,[23] [24] [25]
- Peggy Schoolcraft- Professional bodybuilder. 1997 NPC Team Universe Champion [26]
- Patty Berg - Groundbreaking LPGA member
- Charles Ghigna — poet and children's author known as "Father Goose;" boyhood home 1950-1973[27]
- Denise Masino- Professional bodybuilder
- Kimberly Page- Former member of the WCW Nitro Girls and Playboy model.
- Diamond Dallas Page- Former WCW and WWE wrestler, actor.
- Jerry Lawler- WWE wrestler and announcer.
- Beverly DiRenzo- Professional bodybuilder [28] [29] [30]
- Gerard Damiano- Adult film director. [31]
Fort Myers in popular culture
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ↑ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ "Köppen Climate Classification Map:". Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, Department of Climate Science. Retrieved on 2008-10-25.
- ↑ "Monthly Averages for Fort Myers, FL". The Weather Channel.
- ↑ "Precipitation averages for Fort Myers, FL". Sperling's Best Places.
- ↑ "Census Of Population And Housing". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-10-25.
- ↑ 2007 Scores
- ↑ America's Top Public High Schools | Newsweek Best High Schools | Newsweek.com
- ↑ "County targets 2012 for Red Sox project by Glenn Miller, Fort Myers News-Press". Retrieved on 2008-07-14.
- ↑ "The Sarasota Curse?". Retrieved on 2008-10-17.
- ↑ "Lee County commissioners approve Red Sox agreement". Retrieved on 2008-10-29.
- ↑ "Bone investigation solves 1 mystery, opens another". CNN.
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ FBI crime rate tables (2006)
- ↑ [5]
- ↑ [6]
- ↑ [7]
- ↑ [8]
- ↑ [9]
- ↑ [10]
- ↑ [11]
- ↑ [12]
- ↑ Charles Ghigna bio
- ↑ [13]
- ↑ [14]
- ↑ [15]
- ↑ [16]
- ↑ Day of the Dead (1985) - Filming locations
- ↑ Day of the Dead Locations - Fort Myers, Florida
External links
- City of Fort Myers
- Fort Myers Economy at a Glance, U.S. Department of Labor
- The News-Press
- Florida Weekly
- Fort Myers, Florida is at coordinates
|
||||||||||||||||||||
