History
Before the period of European colonization, the indigenous Calusa lived in Florida (including the region of present-day Naples) for thousands of years, from Charlotte Harbor to Cape Sable. In 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León explored the region and encountered the Calusa, who resisted the first Spanish attempts to establish a colony in Florida. However, decades later, Florida was finally incorporated into the Spanish Empire. In the early 18th century, following slave raids from Muscogee and Yamasee raiders allied with European settlers in Carolina, the majority of the remaining Calusa moved south and east to escape the raids.
The city of Naples was founded in 1886 by former Confederate general and Kentucky U.S. Senator John Stuart Williams and his partner, Louisville businessman Walter N. Haldeman, the publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Throughout the 1870s and 1880s, magazines and newspapers ran stories about the area's mild climate and abundant fish and likened it to the sunny Italian Peninsula. The name Naples caught on when promoters described the bay as "surpassing the bay in Naples, Italy". With a population of approximately 80 in 1888, Naples saw the opening of its pier that year and welcomed its first hotel the following year. Major development was anticipated after Collier County was established in 1923, the completion of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad extension in 1927, and the completion of the Tamiami Trail linking Naples to Miami in 1928, but did not begin until after the 1929 Stock market crash, the Great Depression, and World War II. During the war the U.S. Army Air Forces built a small airfield and used it for training purposes; it is now the Naples Municipal Airport.
In 1938, John Glenn Sample, a pioneer in radio advertising from Chicago, came to Naples. He had read about the fame and fortune of Palm Beach; however, he decided to look elsewhere and discovered the relaxed atmosphere that Naples had to offer on the Gulf of Mexico and soon began buying property on the south end of Naples below 5th Avenue and along Naples Bay, which consisted mostly of marshland.
In 1949, Naples officially became a city, and the Bank of Naples, the city's first banking service, opened on 5th Avenue. In the early 50's, Sample began dredging to create numerous peninsulas and canals with lots overlooking the Naples Bay. He nicknamed the project "Port Royal", which was conceived after the 17th century Jamaican city of Port Royal. The neighborhood's streets are all named in pirate tradition, examples being names like Gin Lane, Rum Row, Treasure Lane, and Galleon Drive. Works to pave streets in the neighborhood were completed in the late 1970s.
In March 1956, the first modern medical facility was opened in Naples with the name Naples Community Hospital. In the 1960s the historic Cove Inn on Naples Bay was built, as well as the Collier County Public Library, and Cambier Park on 8th Avenue.
In May 1971 passenger train service to the city was discontinued by Amtrak; the station is now called Naples Depot Museum, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places three years later.
Sample's dredging project with Port Royal also spurred developments in the 60s and 70s like Aqualane Shores, Park Shore, and Moorings, all affluent neighborhoods in Naples with large, waterfront homes that have boat access. In 1977, the city's first mall, the Coastland Center, was opened.
