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Looking Back: Historic photos from Naples (2008 edition)

In the late 1950s, this was the view looking northwest toward the original Gordon River Bridge on U.S. 41 East. The development area to the left on the south side of the bridge is the predecessor of today’s Tin City. Submitted photo.

In the late 1950s, this was the view looking northwest toward the original Gordon River Bridge on U.S. 41 East. The development area to the left on the south side of the bridge is the predecessor of today’s Tin City. Submitted photo.

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  • Speedboats? On Lake Avalon in East Naples last weekend? No, this was about 40 years ago on Naples Bay, where racing now usually means the Great Dock Canoe Race every spring and boat speed limits spark long debates. Naples resident Dave Workinger says races were held in the late 1960s and early ’70s. That’s The Cove Inn in the background of this shot looking west from Aqualane Shores. The photo was made by Workinger’s father, the late Doyle Workinger. Naples City Dock can be seen beyond the boaters at left. Readers with local memorabilia to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • Daily News reader Wayne Peters believes his 1989 photo is from the first Naples St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Actually, that would be the 10th annual parade, but it’s still a great photo. It shows the late Rev. Thomas Goggin, then the pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church, as the parade gathered there that year in Old Naples. Lore has it that Goggin was an early backer of originators of the idea for the parade, which has grown into one of the biggest St. Patrick’s Day parades in the Southeast.
  • Governor C. Farris Bryant with members of Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe of Indians. The Miccosukee tribe were ideologically and politically separate from the Seminoles and organized as their own tribe in 1962.
  • In the late 1800s there was a push by the federal government to mainstream the Seminoles. The semi-nomadic Seminoles depended on hunting and trapping for their livelihood. Their hunting range was the Florida Everglades.
  • Daily News reader Loretta Necas, 93, of Naples Park thinks she knows the name of the mystery woman featured in this 1959 street scene from Fifth Avenue South. She appeared to be sweeping the sidewalk. Necas says the woman was Mary Foster, a friend who used to work at a variety store that saved Naples residents the long drive to Fort Myers for items such as socks at marked-up prices. Now, what was the name of the store? Look hard and you can see the time and temperature clock that was the trademark of the pioneer Bank of Naples, center left, that now is a three-story mixed-use building — still anchored by a bank. Submitted by Paul Lindabury of Naples. Readers with local memorabilia or clues to the woman’s identity are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • Henrietta “Ret” Ingram at her home in Naples in 1959.
  • More than 50 years ago, Christmas looked like this in a prominent Naples physicians’ office. Drs. James Craig, left, and John Meli had a tree decorated with tongue depressors, surgical instruments and cotton balls at 254 Broad Ave. S. Office staff, from left, were Bea Cope, Linda Hammond Franklin and Toni Benson Porter.
  • With all the hoopla about this year’s Naples High School Golden Eagles football team, reader Martha McKee shares this team photo of the 1962 squad from the Daily News. See if any names ring a bell. The newspaper caption said: Front row, left to right: Coach Jerry Howell, Danny Scott, Charlie Barley, Randy Davis, Keith Hogue, Danny Zwicker, Jim Lawrence, Andy Lorentzson, Paul Schryver and Dirk Tucker. Second row: Coach Jerry Morris, Gary Godley, Wally Frederickson, Fred Gore, Richard Becker, Jackie Kline, Bob Deeks, Dale DeBuseman, Mike Gibbs and Harley Hedden. Third row: Bruce Harris, Jim Smith, Bobby Caviana, Wayne Pennington, Bob Koch, Billy Bryan, Bruce Hodgson, Jim Marshall, Archie Turner and Coach Billy Bryan. Back row: Donald Walker, (name not legible), Lee Treadwell, Brad Unkeless, Marty Bowen, Bill Hartter, Buzz Ritchie, Steve Clarke, Kenny Vaughan and Van Weeks. Readers with local memorabilia to share are encouraged to contact the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • The 90th birthday party guest of honor, standing at left, with three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; the essayist, Chris Ingram, is front and center. Courtesy of the Ingram family (2)
  • This classic scene looking west at Naples Municipal Airport and parts of East Naples and Naples in 1965 is courtesy of Daily News reader Art Ullmann. Key roads for spotting landmarks include then-Airport Road (horizontal), Davis Boulevard and Estey Avenue (vertical at center and left) and U.S. 41 East (diagonal at left). Incredible. Daily News readers with memorabilia to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • We have seen plenty of aerials of the early days of Port Royal. But there are few scenes of the property as starkly clear of development and ready for homes — now mega-homes — as this undated photo provided by a Daily News reader who does not want his name printed. Port Royal, across Gordon Pass (upper right of center) from Keewaydin Island, was developed by dredge and fill, a practice curtailed for environmental reasons a few decades later. Readers with memorabilia to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • This is one of our favorite settings for vintage aerial photos — U.S. 41 East. It shows so much, from Naples Municipal Airport on the left to the Brookside neighborhood next door to the V junction of Davis Boulevard, left, and U.S. 41, right. Yesteryear’s Boat Haven marina, now Naples Bay Resort, is the upside-down V at bottom. Readers can find all kinds of interesting objects here — many changes, many things the same. The year: 1965, says photo donor Art Ullmann. The photo was made by Roy Caple Sr. Readers with memorabilia to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • Now we know it as Port of the Islands. When this photo, looking east, was made in 1967, it was called Remuda Ranch. Today there is much more residential, resort and marina development at the site on U.S. 41 about 20 miles east of Collier Boulevard. In fact, the private developer seeks to sell the property to Collier County government as a public recreation spot with public boating access to the Ten Thousand Islands and Gulf of Mexico. Photo courtesy of Art Ullmann of Naples; made by Roy Caple Sr. Readers with local artifacts to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • This was the scene 40 years ago at the junction of San Marco Road/State Road 92 and Goodland Drive on Goodland Bay. Today there is heavier development and a new bridge to replace the mechanical span that turned to let boats pass. But the essentials remain the same: to get to Marco, go left; to get to Goodland, go right; to get to U.S. 41 East, follow the curved S.R. 92 into the horizon at left. 1968 postcard courtesy of Virgil Cottingim. Readers with local memorabilia to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.
  • In the late 1950s, this was the view looking northwest toward the original Gordon River Bridge on U.S. 41 East. The development area to the left on the south side of the bridge is the predecessor of today’s Tin City. Submitted photo.
  • The road coming into the picture from middle left is Bonita Beach Road, long before today's development took place on Bonita Beach to the north (left) and Barefoot Beach (south or right). The time: the late 1960s, according to the owner of this and other priceless historic aerials, Art Ullmann of Naples.
  • “Those of you who have lived in Naples for at least 20 years may remember the current Docks on Fifth site between the two Gordon River bridges as the Temple Grove Gas Station and the Mason Jar Restaurant.” So says a press release from David Corban, president of Gregg Development, outlining efforts to get environmental permits for the marina, to make sure “the ghosts of the past don’t haunt the plans for the future. ... The ghosts would be potential low-level contamination left after the removal of underground gasoline and diesel fuel tanks.” The Docks on Fifth is planned for 57 wet slips, 100 spaces in a boat-storage warehouse and more than 16,000 square feet of office and retail space. Notes: An insurance office was located between the Mason Jar and gas station. Plus, the open-air boat-storage area at left foreground is not Boat Haven. Now the site of part of Naples Bay Resort, Boat Haven would have been off the right side of this aerial, toward the east. Finally, the then-vacant lot to the right of the Mason Jar now hosts Joe’s Crab Shack; Gregg Development does not own that. The photo is from 1970.

These classic photos were published in 2008 in the Sunday Perspective section of the Naples Daily News.

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