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Bonita Springs History
The History of Bonita Springs
In early 1870, a government group of surveyors setup in a remote area that had no name. It was only known by the preceding culture that inhabited it. A spring existed there that the Native Americans believed could heal the sick and dying. The surveyors called it Survey.
That name wouldn’t last very long as soon as more people heard about the fountain of youth spring. Braxton B. Comer had heard a whisper about Survey and instantly saw dollar signs. He purchased over 6000 acres of Survey and brought with him 50 families from Alabama to work his huge plantation of pineapples and bananas. Over night Survey grew from a village to a community town.
Following Comers arrival, the first public school in the area was constructed and in the first years of the 1900’s the Eagle Hotel was built. Only two stories tall, the hotels clientele were mainly hunters and fisherman who traveled to the area for a swath of Southwest Florida’s untouched natural lands.
Next came tourism, the Braxton and Co. built the Eagle Hotel and several outsider hunters and fishermen would stay there. In 1912, another developer came into town to build. He wanted to make a small town for himself of 2400 acres. He decided that the name of the town had to be changed because it would not draw potential settlers and buyers of land and property. The name was officially changed to Bonita Springs based on the spring that has healing powers. They also changed the river name to Imperial River, the same name it carries today. The last part of this new area to be changed was the beach-gulf region. It was to be known as Bonita Beach (originally Fiddler-Ville).
Bonita Springs grew as time progressed but would remain a small town for almost 30 years. The Piper brothers built the biggest a tourist attraction in the 1930’s and Bonita Springs would be at the height of tourism. The Everglades Wonder Gardens would draw thousands of people and get thousands more interested in the area setting the stage for an even bigger City of Fort Myers.
