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Looking Back: Historical photos from Naples, Marco, Florida

See larger Vanderbilt Beach, 1961-62 — This scene of an uncrowded, small-town seaside were made in 1961-21 at Vanderbilt Beach, within the shadows of today's Ritz-Carlton, Naples. Patricia Florestano, who now has a condo in Pelican Bay, which she remembers as virgin wetlands, is at left with her mother, Virginia.

Vanderbilt Beach, 1961-62 — This scene of an uncrowded, small-town seaside were made in 1961-21 at Vanderbilt Beach, within the shadows of today's Ritz-Carlton, Naples. Patricia Florestano, who now has a condo in Pelican Bay, which she remembers as virgin wetlands, is at left with her mother, Virginia.

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  • There weren't always roads on Marco Island. Photo courtesy of Bill Perdichizzi and the Marco Island Historical Society.
  • Car traffic on the roads has changed dramatically over the years in Naples. So has people traffic on the beach. Reader Anne McCaffrey offers this 1965 photo she made of her two children, Steve, 8, and Leanne, 11, in one of the lifeguard chairs that used to be at Lowdermilk Park.
  • Reader Jim McTague writes, 'when I was digging through some office pictures, I came across this — from about 1978.' Pictured is my daughter, then Jo McTague, now Jo Atkinson, on the wing of a 'pot plane' near Everglades Boulevard south of Alligator Alley. As you may recall, this was a favorite landing strip for airborne loads of marijuana and, for some, it was the end of the line. Not exactly a picture of a phase of development, but history nevertheless.
  • One of the first golf links was at the Naples Hotel — not to be confused with the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club. This photo is from a 1920s Naples Hotel brochure that has this to say about golf: 'Much money has been expended on our golf course during the past year. The fairways are good, the greens have been rebuilt and will compare favorably with the better courses in the South. Naples probably has more good golf days than any other section of Florida. Many come to Naples for the golf. The course is in charge of an expert from the North who is at all times courteous and ready to instruct and assist beginners.'
  • Vanderbilt Beach, 1961-62 — This scene of an uncrowded, small-town seaside were made in 1961-21 at Vanderbilt Beach, within the shadows of today's Ritz-Carlton, Naples. Patricia Florestano, who now has a condo in Pelican Bay, remembers that her father, W.L. 'Jack' Sherer, was a salesman at the little realty office/cabin that was smack dab on the beach at the end of Vanderbilt Beach Road, where everybody parked. The office was named Faber Hair Realty, after the owner, a family friend from Washington, D.C. A special land deal was posted daily on a blackboard behind the station wagon.
  • Vanderbilt Beach, 1961-62 — This scene of an uncrowded, small-town seaside were made in 1961-21 at Vanderbilt Beach, within the shadows of today's Ritz-Carlton, Naples. Patricia Florestano, who now has a condo in Pelican Bay, which she remembers as virgin wetlands, is at left with her mother, Virginia.
  • 'This 1940s postcard could have been captioned 'American Gothic — Naples,'' says Lynne Frazer, author of a compilation of local images from 1940 to 1970. 'The truck on the pier, and the day's impressive catch, hint at the laid-back atmosphere of the small town, where fishing and the beach were the biggest — and perhaps only — attractions.'
  • In this circa 1920 photograph, women in heels walk toward the pier with fishing poles in hand on what is known today as 12th Avenue South. By 1920, the pier extended 1,000 feet into the Gulf. A Naples Hotel brochure assured guests, “From the hotel pier, those who do not care to go out in boats can catch Spanish mackerel, sea trout, redfish, snook, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and many other varieties.”
  • A sponge boat. Photo courtesy of Bill Perdichizzi and the Marco Island Historical Society.
  • The Tamiami barge. Photo courtesy of Bill Perdichizzi and the Marco Island Historical Society.
  • Wells Sawyer captures a scene on canvas in 1896 on Key Marco.
  • The Olde Marco Inn. Photo courtesy of Bill Perdichizzi and the Marco Island Historical Society.
  • When the center of Naples was the center of Collier County, this was the headquarters or flagship branch of the county public library system; the headquarters is now where the growth is, in North Naples on Orange Blossom Boulevard. Emergency medical helicopters used to land on an open field behind it, en route to Naples Community Hospital. The expansion and facelift that library patrons see today at the Central Avenue branch was completed in 1992.
  • You can almost smell the old paper of the books and newspapers from the Collier County Public Library when it consisted of one site — this one at Broad Avenue South and Third Street, from 1962 to 1966 — and a bookmobile. The library system celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2007. (Readers with local memorabilia to share are encouraged to call the Perspective editor at 263-4773.)
  • Lester Norris purchased the Keewaydin CLub in 1945. By the 1950s, the lodge included a lounge or great room, as seen in this undated photo. The Club also had a library, dining room, kitchen, chef's quarters and a manager's office. File Photo
  • Shuffleboard action — Local postcards to family and friends back home used to feature life's simpler pleasures. This undated souvenir shows shuffleboard action at the former Keewaydin Club, south of Naples' Port Royal and Gordon Pass. It was a winter retreat for the low-key rich and famous from 1935 to 1995; now it is an enclave of luxury mega-homes, still accessible only by boat. A 1995 Daily News story said: 'The name Keewaydin was taken from 'Song of Hiawatha,' a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The Indian word means northwest or homeward-bound wind, according to a short history of the club prepared in 1992 for the Collier County Historical Society. 'The concept for the Keewaydin clubs was initiated in 1893, beginning a network of summer camps that reached their peak in the 1930s. 'A lawyer named Chestman Kittridge convinced the original Keewaydin Camp in Ontario to expand its reach to Southwest Florida. He envisioned the Keewaydin Club in Naples as a resort where parents could bring their children for a respite from the harsh northern winters. He started in 1935 with a lodge and two cottages and established a school for the children of island vacationers.'
  • These days the addition of high-tech imaging and surgical gear makes news at local hospitals and clinics. In 1953, the arrival of an oxygen tent made news at Naples Community Hospital. This Collier County News photo shows, from left, Maynard Schryver, Mamie Tooke, Leonard H. King and John Meli, the now-retired doctor who submits this clipping for our readers, admiring the equipment. The original caption says the marvel, donated by the Betz Corp. of Indiana, was to be put on display at Tooke's Bank of Naples.
  • Until the early 1980s it was called Kelly Road. Now it is Bayshore Drive. But the name of the mobile home park featured in this undated postcard has not changed. It’s still Moorhead Manor, shown in this view looking east, with the entry off Bayshore in foreground.
  • The appeal was direct in this 1970 postcard, from the collection of Nina Webber of Cape Cod, Mass., and Naples. These days sea oats that thick are hard to find around here — if the photo were made in Southwest Florida at all.
  • Alice Seger, a longtime Naples resident who contributed photos for this feature until her death in 2005, is shown circa 1960 in the Florida Panhandle.
  • As the winter season winds down and part-time residents head back north, it reminds longtime Naples resident Mary Evelyn Staats that she too was a snowbird once. This 1953 photo was made at a northern entrance to the Sunshine State (she can’t recall which one) and includes her late husband, H.L. Staats.

Most of these historical photos were published in 2004 in the Sunday Perspective section of the Naples Daily News.

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