Explore Collier County's Past. Florida History & the Arts Magazine - Fall 2003
@ Florida OCHP
[ By Tracy Jones ]
Celebrating Collier County's Past
Florida's Collier County celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, thanks in great part to the legacy of Barron
Gift Collier. On May 8, 1923, the Florida legislature created Collier County, formerly part of Lee County, after
Barron Collier pledged to use part of his personal fortune to complete the Tamiami Trail (US 41), a connecting
road between Tampa and Miami. A prominent New York businessman, Barron Collier first visited Florida in 1911,
and by 1925 owned nearly 1 million acres in southwest Florida, including the area that became Everglades City.
To develop the property, Barron hired engineer D. Graham Copeland, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
Copeland platted the Town of Everglades along the Allen River, designed and surveyed the Tamiami Trail before its
completion in 1928, and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1949.
Long before Collier's time, the Seminole Indians, and the long-vanished Calusa Indians before them, took up life
in this land where mastodons once roamed. Today, Collier County's commitment to the celebration and documentation
of its heritage is apparent at the three sites of the Collier County Museums. "Our museums tell a vast array of
stories spanning centuries of life in Florida's unique and enduring frontier, the Everglades," says Ron Jamro,
director of the Collier County Government Museums.In Naples, the Collier County Museum provides exhibits and
evidence from prehistory to the present: mastodons and saber cats, Calusa and Seminole Indians and the 19th and
20th century pioneers. In Everglades City, the Museum of the Everglades offers a look at Collier County's
development in the early 1920s and the significance of the Tamiami Trail to the development of south Florida.
And in Immokalee, the 15-acre Immokalee Pioneer Museum at the town's historic Roberts Ranch provides a glimpse
of daily life on an authentic early twentieth century pioneer homestead, and recalls the story of cattle ranching,
one of the regions' oldest industries. All museums are free to the public.
To Learn More:
Collier County Museum
3301 Tamiami Trail E
Naples, FL 34112 Call 772.794.0601 www.colliermuseum.com
.
Florida's Collier County celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, thanks in great part to the legacy of Barron
Gift Collier. On May 8, 1923, the Florida legislature created Collier County, formerly part of Lee County, after
Barron Collier pledged to use part of his personal fortune to complete the Tamiami Trail (US 41), a connecting
road between Tampa and Miami. A prominent New York businessman, Barron Collier first visited Florida in 1911,
and by 1925 owned nearly 1 million acres in southwest Florida, including the area that became Everglades City.
To develop the property, Barron hired engineer D. Graham Copeland, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.
Copeland platted the Town of Everglades along the Allen River, designed and surveyed the Tamiami Trail before its
completion in 1928, and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1949.
Long before Collier's time, the Seminole Indians, and the long-vanished Calusa Indians before them, took up life
in this land where mastodons once roamed. Today, Collier County's commitment to the celebration and documentation
of its heritage is apparent at the three sites of the Collier County Museums. "Our museums tell a vast array of
stories spanning centuries of life in Florida's unique and enduring frontier, the Everglades," says Ron Jamro,
director of the Collier County Government Museums.In Naples, the Collier County Museum provides exhibits and
evidence from prehistory to the present: mastodons and saber cats, Calusa and Seminole Indians and the 19th and
20th century pioneers. In Everglades City, the Museum of the Everglades offers a look at Collier County's
development in the early 1920s and the significance of the Tamiami Trail to the development of south Florida.
And in Immokalee, the 15-acre Immokalee Pioneer Museum at the town's historic Roberts Ranch provides a glimpse
of daily life on an authentic early twentieth century pioneer homestead, and recalls the story of cattle ranching,
one of the regions' oldest industries. All museums are free to the public.