Naples:: 1940s to 1970s

By Lynne Howard Frazer

Naples was not much more than a bend in the road in the 1940s, but by 1950, its beautiful beaches and balmy weather had been rediscovered, and development and tourism became the city's lifeblood. Although Hurricane Donna struck Naples in 1960, the building boom continued, and by the late 1970s, few undeveloped areas remained. The last large gulf-front parcel was acquired in 1972 for the development of a new luxury community called Pelican Bay. More than 200 images offer insight into this rarely chronicled period of Naples's history, including seldom-seen historic photographs from the archives of the Naples Daily News (formerly the Collier County News) and vintage postcards from the collection of Nina Heald Webber.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Sep 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781439633403

Lynne Howard Frazer

With a combination of historic photographs from the collection of the Naples Historical Society and vintage postcards from the collection of Nina H. Webber, author Lynne Howard Frazer, executive director of the Naples Historical Society, highlights the colorful history of the once-remote and rustic town, with many never-published images of the original Naples Hotel and Pier.

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Frazer.)

INTRODUCTION

Tourists are to Naples what orange juice is to Florida, claimed a 1978 Naples Daily News Visitors Edition story. From the start, the once-remote and rustic resort, founded in 1885 as a place where invalids can escape the chilling blasts of winter, depended on tourism. Accessible only by water, however, the town perched on the edge of the Everglades remained primarily a winter retreat for the rich until train service arrived in 1927. A year later, with the opening of the Tamiami Trail, the first road through the Everglades, Naples was finally accessible to a new traveling public—and to developers.

The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Depression stalled development, however, and Naples languished, little more than a bend in the road until after World War II. As Americans began to travel again, sun-seekers headed south and rediscovered the endless white beach and phenomenal fishing found in the one-stoplight town.

By 1952, the city’s three trailer parks and handful of hotels couldn’t keep up with the increasing number of winter visitors, and an editorial in the Collier County News implored residents to help: A good example of the hospitality of Naples is the fact that Mayor Roy Smith has taken travelers into his own home on nights when the situation has been desperate. Have you got an extra room in your house? Notify the Chamber of Commerce if you would like to do some weary motorist a good turn.

Many winter visitors returned to buy property, and by the early 1950s, the backwater village was becoming a boomtown. In 1949, the year Naples became a city, the first dredge-and-fill operation, Aqualane Shores, began to transform useless swampland into waterfront home sites. The inspired idea of creating man-made canals and multiple waterfront lots spurred similar developments, including Port Royal, the Moorings, and Royal Harbor, Where every backyard is bay front.

From mobile homes to mansions, property was available in every price range. Be independent by owning your own piece of Florida, the land of forever summer, implored a 1952 advertisement for Naples Park. Options that year included a Naples Park lot for $10 down and $10 a month for a $239 lot, and a luxurious, waterfront, three-bedroom Bermudian residence in Port Royal for $45,000.

In addition to beautiful beaches and balmy weather, visitors soon had another reason to come to Naples—Caribbean Gardens. Julius Junkie Fleischmann, a wealthy entrepreneur and philanthropist, opened the gardens in 1954, and by the late 1950s, the exotic tropical plants and performing Duck Vaudevillians had become a premier tourist attraction. The piano-playing ducks performed on the Ed Sullivan Show and throughout Europe, and a Collier County News writer credited the gardens as one of the primary generators of traffic into Greater Naples. It is estimated (from nationally-conducted surveys) that 12,000 people come to Naples yearly just to see the birds and to stroll along the shaded paths.

On September 10, 1960, Hurricane Donna stormed through Naples, wreaking havoc on the developing city. An influx of insurance money, combined with tightened zoning and building regulations, spurred the rebuilding of what the chamber of commerce called a more beautiful Naples. Many new buildings, including the Cove Inn, the pavilions at both the Pier and Lowdermilk Park, the municipal airport—even the new Ford dealership—were all built in what was affectionately dubbed the Neapolynesian style. A 1964 editorial in the Collier County News noted, Everywhere you look, there’s something new. It is hard to go down any street in the Naples area and not see something being built.

Development spread to the far reaches of Collier County in 1962 when the Gulf American Land Corporation began work on its newest mega-development, Golden Gate, which included the nearly eight-square-mile city of Golden Gate, the City of the Future, and more than 100,000 acres in eastern Collier County called Golden Gate Estates. Marketing enticements included free gasoline, trading stamps, Florida oranges, fishing trips, tours of Naples, lunch at a local restaurant, and sightseeing flights over the massive development.

The clever marketing plan worked, and thousands of visitors came to Naples, lured by Gulf American’s long list of free goodies. Helen and Bob Baroni, owners of Baroni’s Restaurant, were so thrilled with the increased business that they placed a quarter-page advertisement in the March 25, 1962, edition of the Collier County News thanking the company for the opportunity to serve the large numbers of pleasant visitors who have traveled many miles to see and purchase new home sites.

The building boom continued, and by September 1963, a front-page story in the Collier County News noted: Construction is going on at a record pace. Building permits in August amounted to $1,512,955, the largest figure for a single month. In the early 1950s, it took a whole year for that much building to be done. There is a chance the current year’s total will hit $10 million.

Although the first beachfront cooperative building, the Bahama Club, opened in 1957, the 36-unit building, considered the ultimate in luxurious Florida living, remained virtually alone on the beach until the mid-1960s. By 1966, a Collier County News editorial asked: Where will the Naples’ high-rise era stop? Five years ago, Gulfshore Boulevard was all but a deserted stretch of sandy beach from the Bahama Club to Doctor’s Pass. Today, high-rise co-ops and condos dot the landscape.

That same year, Naples was named one of the top-10 growth cities in Florida by the First Research Corporation, selected for its soundness, rapid growth, and promise for the future. In response, a March 8, 1966, editorial in the Collier County News inquired, With Naples one of the fastest growing communities in the United States, how can even faster growth be accommodated and still conserve the qualities and features of the Naples way of living, which fundamentally are the root cause of Naples’ growth?

It was a question that would be asked again and again. The city continued to struggle with over-crowded roads and the specter of over-development. By 1978, another massive development was underway on the last large beachfront tract, Pelican Bay. Naples Daily News editor Thomas Hayer acknowledged the city’s growing pains in his special Visitors Edition editorial that year, noting: "The visitor who comes to this area year after year sees pretty much