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Naples, Florida

Throughout the 1870's and 1880's,stories telling about the white sandy beaches ,mild climate and abundant
 fisn and gamewere described as surpassing the bay in Naples Italy. Once the only people who walked the
  7 miles of white sandy beaches of Naples were the  Caloosa Indians,they were the first settlers of the area.

In 1887, a group of wealthy Kentuckians, led by Walter N.Haldeman, who owned the Louville Courier-Journal,
purchased almost the entire town of Naples.  The first improvements he made was to build a pier, 600 feet
linto the Gulf. It was an unusual  "T" shape which allowed ships to dock easilyDespite being destroyed and
rebuilt 3 times, the piers "T" shape remains today.


              Naples gained a reputation as a winter resort. The Naples Hotel played host to many celeberties such as,
 Rose Cleveland,Thomas Edison, Harvy Firestone, Greta Garbo, Hedy Lamarr and Gary Cooper., the
 Naples Hotel was the hub of society.
As Naples gained its reputation as a winter resortso did the price of property.
 The cost of a beachfront lot soon rose to 125.0 per lot.


Page created and copyrighted by Peggy McSwain


 

" Naples On The Gulf Being Put On The Map By It's Backers "

Many Improvements in Little Neighbor City Place It Among Popular Resorts.
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Fort Myers News Press - Saturday afternoon
January 3, 1925 - Pgs. 1 & 9
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  For a half a century a number of leading people of the country have been going to Naples on the Gulf, thirty-eight miles south of Fort Myers, to spend their winters. Gradually, a fine little coast town has grown up at this beautiful spot on the Tamiami Trail. Henry Watterson, General W.B. Haldeman, Bruce Haldeman, W.E. Dwight, Colonel West, Colonel Hendry, E.W. Crayton, Judge Wilkinson, John S. Jones, and many others have had a hand in building this beautiful resort city on the Gulf.
  It was not however, until the Naples Improvement Company decided to go ahead and really build a city, the things now being carried out at Naples started. Many beautiful homes had been built, the Naples Hotel had been established, etc. About two years ago, when it was decided to put in a complete electric plant and improve the water works system, the little city began to show increased life and growth.

  Modern Electric Plant

  One of the best small city electric plants in the country is installed there. It has sufficient capacity to light a town of five thousand people. During the past year and a half, this water works system has been improved and extended, and the streets have been surfaced and new sidewalks laid.
  Early in the summer of 1923 Mr. Jones, the heaviest stockholder in the Naples Improvement Co., engaged Peter P. Schutt, who for ten years had managed the Bradford Hotel in this city, to go to Naples and build up the hotel and allied industries. Immediately the hotel was remodeled and improved and several more cottages built for rent to winter visitors. A complete bakery was installed and other improvements made in all directions.
  A new wing to the hotel is now being built and will be ready for use not later than February 1st. Some of the rooms will be ready by the fifteenth of the month. The new wing has fifty rooms, all with private bath, all steam heated, and all large rooms, the average size being fourteen by fifteen feet.

A Wonderful Solarium

Connecting the new section of the hotel with the original building is a solarium, which is a perfect dream. In it's construction almost four thousand panes of glass have been used. It is most artistically decorated and draped, and will certainly be a joy for all time to come for the guests of the hotel. At one side of the sun room is a beautiful little gift shop. In one end is a new grand piano.
  In the decoration of the hotel grounds, 147 Royal Palms have been planted, with plenty of other tropical foliage. A hibiscus hedge surrounds the grounds, and adds it's beautiful foliage and flowering beauty to the scene.
  A beauty parlor and a barber shop are in the buildings adjoining the hotel. A swimming pool 36 X 800 feet is under construction now and will be in operation in a very short time.
  A new building nearing completion will be occupied by a moving picture theatre, a drug store, a doctor's office, a school room and a club room to be known as the Men's room, or Trophy room. This new building should be ready for occupancy within two or three weeks.

Excellent Orchestra

A permutted water softening plant has been installed and all the water in the hotel is perfectly soft. A complete electric refrigeration system is in operation in the hotel, and odds to it's perfect equipment.
  Beginning the first day of this month the Naples hotel has one of the best orchestras in the country employed to provide music for the guests and for all social events at the hotel. Boschinnl's Trio, a splendid Italian musical organization from New York City is the orchestra engaged, and from their performance New Years Eve, at which time they made their initial appearance, the new musical organization is one that can be most enthusiastically recommended. The hotal surely made a wise selection. Madame Boschinni is a soloist of ability and charm, while all three members of the company are soulful musicians.
  The Fort Myers Press is proud of the work being done at Naples the past two years, and congratulates Mr. and Mrs. Peter P. Schutt, genial host and hostess of the Naples hotel, for what they have accomplished and what they are still planning to do. It also feels that some words of praise should be given to Messrs Jones, Crayton, and Hartley for the big things going on at Naples. All of this section of the state is interested in the development of Naples On The Gulf, and appreciate these men who have had and are having a substantial part in that development. Naples is being put on the map.
 


Submitted by: Mary

 


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