Southwest Florida history trivia questions
Do you know your Southwest Florida history? The News-Press is looking back at 130 years in Southwest Florida and will be posting 130 trivia questions below.
1. What term originates from the early days of the cattle industry and refers to the
A: Cracker
2. Who were the original inhabitants of Fort Myers?
A: The Calusa Indians, who lived along the coast here from about 1200 B.C. to 1600 A.D.
3. Who was Fort Myers named for and why?
A: Col. Abraham Myers, whose future father-in-law, Gen. David Twiggs, named the fort in his honor.
4. What was the initial problem with
A: Mina Edison and her friends objected to the statue of Rachel at the
5. How was the "Rachel dilemma" resolved?
A: The sculptor added a veil made of powdered marble to cover the statue's naked body.
6. Seaboard Air Line competed with which RR to reach Naples?
A: The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.
7. What was
A: The tracks were absolutely straight "as the crow flies."
8. What railroad president had a world famous daughter?
A: Wallace Warfield Simpson, daughter of Seaboard's S. Davies Warfield, became Duchess of Windsor.
9. What famous family did estate owner Eric Jewett perform with?
A: The Barrymores
10. What was the predicted result of construction of the Sanibel causeway?
A: The project would cause the collapse of the scallop industry.
11. Where did the Tootie McGregor palm tree fountain in front of Fort Myers Country Club come from?
A: The "Five Points" intersection.
12. Where was "Five Points" intersection?
A: Five Points was name for the place Cleveland Avenue, MLK Boulevard (then Anderson Ave.), McGregor Boulevard, Main Street and Carson Street all meet in downtown Fort Myers.
13. Why was McGregor fountain erected?
A: Dr. Marshall Terry had the statue built in memory of his wife, Tootie.
14. What street in Dean Park was once known as "Millionaire's Row?"
A: Rhode Island Avenue
15. Dean Park was once known by what
A: Hyde Park
16. What is raised at Babcock Ranch?
A: Cattle
17. Who was Dunbar Community School named for?
A: The poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.
18. Who was Andrew Gwynne, and how did he get his name on a building?
A: He committed to matching any funds raised by the townsfolk for a new school, a commitment his widow later respected.
19: What was the Williams Academy building later used for?
A: A black history museum.
20. What business was founded by 19-year-old Gilmer Heitman?
A: The Lee County telephone company.
21. What was the original use of the South Florida Bank building?
A: Built in 1885, it was the home of Bill Towles.
22. What year did a hurricane halt most construction in Fort Myers? What was its name?
A: 1926; however, hurricanes were not named in those years.
23.What building did Harvie Heitman build in 1905?
A: The Bradford Hotel.
24. How did the Bradford Hotel get its name?
A: Harvie Heitman accepted financing from Tootie McGregor Terry, with the condition he
25. What was the original name of McGregor Boulevard?
A: Riverside Avenue.
26.How did Riverside Avenue become McGregor Boulevard?
A: Tootie McGregor offered to pay for part of the paving of Riverside Avenue if the city renamed it after her late husband, Ambrose McGregor.
27. What was second condition Tootie McGregor asked for when she paved McGregor Blvd.?
A: That cattle no longer be driven on the boulevard.
28. What reclaimed marsh became first prestigious housing development?
A: Dean Park, in 1914. Dean Park is located on the east side of downtown Fort Myers
29: What did Clarence Chadwick invent?
A: The transplant to Lee County invented tamper-proof checkbook paper.
30: What
A. Four hundred acres on Captiva Island, which houses South Seas Island Resort.
32. The "Chad" Lime was an invention of which Lee County resident?
A. Clarence Chadwick, who planted disease-resistant
33. When was Fort Myers incorporated?
A: March 23, 1886
34. When was the first house built on Cape Coral?
A: 1958
35. What flower was once a major industry in Lee County?
A: Gladiolus
36. What
A: American Gas and Construction Co.
37. What was the first Fort Myers bridge crossing over the Caloosahatchee? Is it still standing?
A: On Freemont Street, east of the Edison Bridge; it was a wooden construction torn down in 1947.
38. Who built the Fort Myers Yacht Basin?
A: The Works Progress Administration.
39: What beach hotel owner was one of the first trailblazers of the Tamiami Trail?
A: Cyril Shawcross
40. What was the first county electric company called?
A: Seminole Power & Ice Company
41. Where was the Omar theater with its Mooresque architecture Located?
A: In the Patio de Leon, downtown Fort Myers
42. How many houses did Edison build when he chose a winter home in Fort Myers?
A: One; the other home was built by his partner, Ezra Gilliland.
43. Who built the Burroughs Home?
A: John T. Murphy, a cattleman from Montana.
44. Why did Thomas Edison come to Florida?
A: A warm climate was prescribed to him by his doctors.
45. Why did Thomas Edison choose Fort Myers for his winter home?
A: The ready source of bamboo for his work gave him the idea to construct a laboratory and a home.
46. Why did Henry Ford buy a home in Fort Myers?
A: To be next door to his close friend Thomas Edison.
47. Where did the Burroughs Home get its name?
A: Originally the Murphy-Burroughs Home, Mona Burroughs bequeathed the home to Fort Myers.
48. Where was the original Atlantic Coast Line depot?
A: On the riverfront at the foot of Monroe Street.
49. What city street was next to the original shoreline of the Caloosahatchee River?
A: First Street
50. Who were remnants of Creek Indian Nation who came to Florida from Georgia about 1750?
A: Seminole Indians
51. What happened to the house Ezra Gilliland owned in Fort Myers?
A: Gilliland sold it to Ambrose McGregor in 1892 and subsequent owners the Edisons bought the house in 1906 and converted it to a guest house.
52. What were the first buildings of Fort Myers made of?
A: They were made from logs, with roofs of thatched palmetto fronds. It was more than a year later before more permanent structures replaced them.
53. What was Florida's biggest contribution to the Civil War?
A. Cattle. Florida was one of the leading cattle states in the South.
54. What was the name of the first school in Fort Myers?
A: The Fort Myers Academy
55.Who was the first official postmaster of Fort Myers?
A: William Marion Hendry
56. What was the first plane service in Fort Myers?
A: Florida Airlines, a taxi-plane service, began serving Fort Myers in the 1920s.
57. When did Fort Myers get its first newspaper?
A: The Fort Myers Press was founded Nov. 22, 1884.
58. Who is Cleveland Avenue named for?
A: Stafford C. Cleveland, founder of the Fort Myers Press.
59. When cattle were driven from Bartow to Punta Rassa, what streets were used through Fort Myers?
A: First Street and Riverside Avenue, now McGregor Boulevard.
60. Lee County was created May 2, 1887. What 3
A: Fort Myers, Alva and Fort Denaud.
61. What county was Fort Myers part of before Lee?
A: Monroe County, with Key West as the county seat.
62. What event led Fort Myers residents to ask for a new county to be created?
A: When Fort Myers Academy burned down, Monroe County officials said Fort Myers was careless to let the school burn down and they could not replace it for at least a year.
63. How many Royal Palms were originally planted along McGregor Boulevard?
A: 1,300
64. Who was the sculptor of the statue at entrance to Edison Park?
A: Helmut von Zengen
65. What was "the Mermaid" and what was it used for?
A: The Mermaid was a 100-foot barge that doubled as a dance hall and casino in the 1920s.\
66. In June 1929, the Sun Queen reigned over the celebration of what supposed event?
A: The 1,000th day of continuous sunshine.
67. In 1885, what fruit was adopted for the town insignia?
A. A pineapple in full bloom.
68. What professional baseball teams have held spring training in Lee County?
A: Philadelphia Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Pittsburgh Pirates, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox.
69. Where did the wood to build the first hospital in Fort Myers come from?
A: When the original wooden courthouse was razed in 1914, the wood was carefully saved and used to build the hospital.
70. What was the first brick building in Fort Myers?
A: Heitman General Store on First and Jackson streets.
71. What was the nickname of the Royal Palm Hotel?
A: Queen of the Frontier
72.How many acres does the Jewett-Thompson estate cover?
A: Two.
73. What does Caloosahatchee mean?
A: River of the Calusas.
74. What was the first building in Fort Myers to be wired for electricity?
A: The Fort Myers Hotel, built in 1898.
75. Why was the name of the Fort Myers Hotel changed?
A: When royal palms on the property started to attract attention because of their beauty, owner Hugh O'Neill renamed his hotel the Royal Palm Hotel.
76. How many boat slips are there in the Fort Myers Yacht Basin?
A: 286
77. What was official population of Fort Myers when it was incorporated in 1885?
A: 349
78. Who was Billy Bowlegs?
A: Seminole Indian chief
79. Was Billy Bowlegs really bowlegged?
A: No; his nickname came from a mispronunciation of his French ancestor Beaulieu.
80. Who was Page Field named after?
A: Channing Page, a Fort Myers youth who became a World War I ace.
81. What newspapers merged to form the Fort Myers News-Press?
82. What initial purpose was served by the Cape Coral Yacht Club?
A: It attracted homeowners to live in Cape Coral.
83. How many acres did Babcock Ranch have in its heyday?
A: 156,000 acres
84. How many acres does the Babcock Ranch Preserve encompass today?
A: About 73,000 acres
85. When did the City of Fort Myers
A: 1975
86. When was the Fort Myers Historical Museum opened?
A: April 1982
87. What well-known section of downtown did Peter
A: Patio de Leon
88. What was most enduring contribution of F.A. Hendry to Southwest Florida?
A: He named Lee County after Gen. Robert E. Lee.
89. Where and when was the first Fort Myers waterworks tower built?
A: 1911, at Sandspur Patch, the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Lee Street.
90. What was the main attraction provided by the Pleasure Pier from 1927-43?
A: Saturday night dancing
91: Where was Stafford Cleveland taking his printing press when he was brought to Fort Myers?
A: Fort Ogden, but the boat captain wanted Fort Myers to have a newspaper and sailed right on by Fort Ogden, bringing Cleveland to Fort Myers instead.
92. What was unusual, to the area at the time, about the Miles building when it was built in 1925?
A: The building featured a mixed-use approach, with commercial use on the first floor and residential apartments on the second. An approach common in Europe.
93. When the Ford dealership opened on Main Street, what unusual features did the building have?
A: Floors were specially constructed to hold
94. What town did F.A. Hendry name by combining names of two of his daughters?
A: LaBelle, for Laura and Belle.
95. What famous Fort Myers hotel was built on the site of
A: The Royal Palm Hotel
96. What downtown streets were the original borders of Fort Myers?
A: Second Street was
97. Who first brought spring training baseball to Fort Myers?
A: In 1925, Cornelius McGillicuddy (Connie Mack) brought his Philadelphia Athletics to Fort Myers for spring training.
98. Who founded the Koreshan Unity?
A: Cyrus R. Teed
99. When Henry Ford came to see Thomas Edison in 1914 how many Model Ts did he have driven to the Edison estate?
A: Three, one for himself, one for Edison and one for John Burroughs.
100.How many car owners were there in Fort Myers who drove out to the Edison estate when Henry Ford came in 1914?
A: Thirty-one
101. When Miles Building was built in 1925 some thought it would be unable to attract commercial tenants. Why?
A: The building on McGregor Boulevard was considered too far from downtown.
102. Why was the Pleasure Pier dismantled after 16 years?
A: The supporting pilings were rotting.
103.What happened to the auditorium of the Pleasure Pier?
A. It was moved on shore when the pier was demolished and is the Hall of 50 States on Edwards Drive in Fort Myers.
104. Why did ACL Railroad depot have identical waiting rooms at opposite ends?
A: The Jim Crow Laws in the South required separate facilities for blacks and whites until 1954.
105.Where was the first Lee Memorial Hospital located?
A: Victoria Street
106. What was
A: The Sanchez House
107. Who built Lee Memorial Hospital on Cleveland Avenue and when?
A: The Works Progress Administration in 1943.
108. When and by whom was the Southwest Florida Historical Society created?
A: It was created by Ernest Hall, a teacher at Fort Myers High School, in 1963.
109. What did Cement Industries Inc. do for the Fort Myers Historical Museum?
A: The contractor built the time capsule in front of the museum that will be opened in 2086.
110. What requirement did Cyrus Teed impose on followers that limited growth of his colony?
A: All members were required to be celibate.
111. What was Gilmer Heitman's main contribution to Lee County?
A: He started the Lee County Telephone Co. in 1900.
112.Cyrus Teed moved his followers to Estero in 1894; what did he call his new community?
A: New Jerusalem, because old
113. How many converts lived in Cyrus Teed's New Jerusalem?
A: 200
114. What business was Dr. Franklin Miles engaged in before coming to Fort Myers?
A: Over the counter drug remedies.
115. What was one of the complaints Bill Towles had
A: It had no bathrooms.
116. Who built Casa Rio?
A: Paper manufacturer C.W. Stribley
117. What street had the first electric lights in Fort Myers?
A: First Street, in 1898.
118. When did the first passenger train run in Fort Myers?
A: On April 7, 1904; it was run to Punta Gorda.
119: What name was given to the Henry Ford Estate by its first owner?
A: The Mangoes.
120. What year did Lee Memorial Hospital open?
A. 1916
121. Which Fort Myers math teacher organized the Southwest Florida Historical Society?
A: Ernest Hall.
122. When the Edison Theater opened in 1941, what double feature was on its marquee?
A: "Mystery Ship" and "Charlie Chan in Rio"
123. Who built Fort Myers first brick hotel, The Bradford?
A: Harvey Heitman, in 1905.
124. Who built Caloosa Blue in 1908 as his home?
A; Gilmer H. Heitman, a prominent Fort Myers businessman and brother of Harvie Heitman.
125. What is the name of the Pullman railroad car at Southwest Florida Museum of History?
A: Esperanza
126. When did the last passenger rail service leave Fort Myers?
A: 1971
127. Who campaigned for a new courthouse to replace the wooden one built in 1894?
A: County Commissioner William F. Towles, in 1914.
128. What was the name of Thomas Edison's first wife?
A: Mary Stilwell Edison; she died in 1884 at age of 29.
129. Who is credited as one of Fort Myers' first settlers?
A; Manuel A. Gonzalez, in 1866.
130. Who starred in a 1991 benefit to raise funds to restore Fort Myers' Arcade Theatre?