Everglades City History

A Brief Account of Everglades City

Everglades City is in the Chokoloskee Bay. This area was originally occupied by Glades Native Americans. Just as in Fort Myers Beach and Naples, the Glades society was eventually overrun by The Calusa Indians before the arrival of the Europeans in the early 1800’s. The site was final transferred to Spain rule in 1821 after the very gruesome Seminole Wars.

The American settlement wouldn’t begin until after the Civil War. Sympathizers were feeding supplies to the Union in the Key West area and ultimately shifted up the coast. William Smith Allen was the first to settle on the Potato Creek in 1873. Potato Creek got its name from the Potato plants put there by the Seminoles. The river is now called The Barron River. William Allen sold the land and a man named George W. Storter. Storter farmed a very important crop, sugar cane, which earned his much esteem in Everglades City area. A lot of the activities that the city offers were started by George Storter. He was active with his yacht, fishing and hunting. In 1892, he opened the first trading post in the area. Storter being the consummate host entertained Northerners and built up the popularity of the Everglades City region. William’s house is now a historic featured attraction and is called The Rod and Club, which is very popular site with political figures.

From 1893 to 1910 various schools were built and destroyed by Hurricanes and Tornadoes. There was also a battle of which church would be the main church for the province. The Methodists held there position for about four years. However, with the retirement of a Methodist Minister resident, more denominations were able to take there place in the region.

In the early part of the 1920’s, a man by the name of Barron Collier began buying hefty amounts of land in the Lee County district. With this land Collier brought he was able to leverage the votes of the Florida Legislature eventually splitting off Lee County in to what is now Collier County. In 1923, the town of Everglades was born and incorporated with a handful of families and a few others with winter homes.