Visitors transported back in time by Naples Depot

The history of how transportation — and the Orange Blossom Special train — transformed Naples from a sleepy, isolated 1920s town into a thriving city is chronicled at the Naples Depot museum, which opened its doors Thursday after about nine months of renovations.

The original terrazzo floor of the old train depot, which opened on Jan. 7, 1927, was still being polished as throngs of people waited outside, barred by yellow tape at its entry. By 6 p.m., about 500 people had come through the museum doors and director Ron Jamro expected more than 1,000 by closing at 8 p.m.

“That floor hasn’t been seen since the 1930s,” Jamro said of the sparkling, gold, cream and brown terrazzo floor of the depot at 5th Avenue South and 10th Street South. “It was covered with linoleum and two layers of shag carpet.”

The depot’s original door jambs, doorways, benches, and the stationmaster’s desk and keyboard await visitors. “The termites had done a number on this place,” Jamro said, adding that they plan to use everything that is salvageable.

About $500,000 has been provided to the museum so far by the Collier County Board of Commissioners and the Tourist Development Council; the funds came from bed-taxes, money charged to tourists staying at area hotels.

Naples’ growth began on Jan. 7, 1927, when the Orange Blossom Special, part of the Seaboard Rail Line, steamed into town — marking completion of a 106-mile section of railroad that opened up Southwest Florida. The five-section train pulled out of New York’s Penn Station at 6:25 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 5, with 115 investment bankers on board. About 120 more passengers were added in Philadelphia and Solomon Davies Warfield, Seaboard’s president, was picked up in Baltimore. The next day, 350 passengers from Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Tampa and Sarasota boarded in Plant City.

Photo by Jeremy Lyverse, Naples Daily News // Buy this photo

Luke Arena, 3, of Naples, watches some of the Lionel model trains with his brother Gavin, 4, on display during the opening festivities of the Naples Depot downtown Thursday afternoon. Gavin Arena had his birthday party last year at the depot, according to his father, John. “This is their favorite place in town,” he said.

The new rail line ran from Fort Ogden south to Fort Myers, with stops in Estero and Bonita Springs and the Naples Depot. In Bonita Springs, Naples officials boarded for the final 12 miles. The 580 passengers who arrived Jan. 7 more than doubled the city’s population, making history and prompting celebrations by bands and bagpipers.

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad actually arrived in Naples 11 days earlier, but the freight train didn’t gain much attention.

Transportation thrived until the 1950s and dwindled over the next two decades, when the last passenger train pulled out of Naples in 1972, putting the depot’s future in danger. In 1975, a group of civic leaders formed the non-profit Southwest Heritage Inc., which obtained National Historic Landmark status for the depot and created a cultural and civic center.

On Thursday, visitors viewed a temporary collection of pen and ink watercolors by Capt. Ron Storter, who painted Southwest Florida’s history and scribbled down journal entries on paintings showing Naples Bay, Naples Mackerel Fleet, Naples Pier, Fools Point and the history of other areas. A painting of Doctor’s Bay depicted it as a great area to fish and dig for clams, but shows his sadness at the future.

“But it will soon be gone through a big pipe like the rest of the natural beauties have gone,” he wrote in 1965. “1972 and it’s gone now, called The Moorings. ... The little islands gone, clams gone. The natural beauty gone. Only the memories left. I remember. ... 1974 — It is gone now. Condominiums and millionaire homes there now.”

The rooms are named for benefactors, including Benedum, Windschip, Norris, and Bradley. This is the first phase of about three more years of renovations. The Norris Gallery, once a freight loading area, is open, but its ceilings and carpeting will be ripped out in the next stage. That will be followed by the Bradley Gallery, the last room as you walk through the museum. It will depict Naples as it is now.

“This is a sequential museum,” said Chris Miles, president of Lighthouse Creative in Orlando, which was hired to design the museum. “You track the story from the Calusa Indians ... and everything leading up to the modern era,” he said. “We will be looking at how and why the first train arrived, a race to build to Naples, and why the trains went away.”

The museum depicts the history in Naples of various modes of transportation, from an Indian dugout canoe, oxcarts and sailboats to automobiles, swamp buggies, trains and air travel. An actual canoe and Tumble Bug, a swamp buggy, highlight of one gallery.

Black-and-white and sepia photos of historic moments line the walls. A blackboard showing arrival and departure times, along with an old brochure, also are featured. Exhibits show Naples’ first permanent residents, John and Madison Weeks, who arrived in 1876 in Gordon’s Pass. Within a decade, lots were being sold for $10. By the 1930s, Naples had increased to 595 residents, growing to 4,600 in 1960 and 12,000 by the 1970s.

“When everything goes forward it’s going to be a really interesting place to visit, a milestone in history for Southwest Florida,” said Leo English, director of exhibits for Sparks, which created the depot’s exhibits.

Peter Manion, a Moorings resident for 10 years, called Naples Depot fabulous. “The fact that they’ve saved this historic facility is a testament to the hard work of people who have been at it for a long time,” Manion said. “I think there always was concern that it would go to the wrecking ball.”

Bob Purcell, who visited with his wife, Pat, also admired the depot as the couple listened to Grant Livingston sing about Southwest Florida’s history. “It’s really, really wonderful,” he said. “They’re trying to preserve railroad history here and do more than let it sit idle. If you let it sit idle, it will deteriorate.”

Naples Depot info

Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: 10th Street South and 5th Avenue South

Admission: Free

Phone: 262-6525