History of Marco Island, Collier County
Transcribed and Submitted to Genealogy Trails by Norita Shepherd
Moss
Marco Island Florida History
Gateway to the awesome land of Ten Thousand Islands, Marco Island is about
4 miles wide, 6 miles long, and a mere 90 miles west of Miami and 157 miles
south of Tampa.
History informs us that probably around 4000 BC the Calusa Indians, who may
have been the descendants of the Mayans, inhabited the island. These Native
People had built large mounds using millions of shells that offered them
protection from hurricanes. The mounds were also used for religious temples
and burial sites.
The Calusa were crafty and intelligent woodworkers, who constructed canoes,
beams and planks for their houses, docks and piers. Due to disease brought
to the island by the Spanish explorers, the Calusa were wiped out by the
mid 1700s, later replaced by the Seminole. Until after the Civil War, there
was little population occupying southwest Florida.
In 1870, W.T. Collier brought his wife and nine children to Marco Island.
His son, William D. “Captain Bill” Collier, opened a 20-room hotel in 1896
that is today known as Olde Marco Inn. In 1922 Barron G. Collier (no
relation to the other Colliers) purchased most of the island.
Unfortunately, the depression took its toll and development of the island
was postponed until 1962.
It was at this time, when brothers Elliott, Robert and Frank Jr. Mackell
developed a master plan for the island, after purchasing it from the
Collier estate for the paltry sum of seven million dollars.
Not surprising, prior to its development in the mid-1960s, the population
was a mere 550, as the only way to reach the island was by crossing a
narrow, wooden, hand-operated swinging bridge. A trifle frightening!
Nestled in the mangrove islands of southwest Florida's coast, Marco Island
is indeed a world-class resort destination surrounded by miles and miles of
pristine, uninhabited islands, bays, creeks, and the Gulf of Mexico. To the
north is the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and its Briggs
Memorial Nature Center. To the south lies the sprawling 10,000 Islands with
over 70 coastal miles of fly fishing heaven, inhabited only by the tiny
fishing villages of Goodland, Everglades City, Chokoloskee and eventually
Flamingo. Included in this southerly stretch is Collier-Seminole State
Park, the 10,000 Islands National Wildlife Refuge, Fakahatchee Strand State
Preserve, Big Cypress National Preserve and the 5000 square mile Everglades
National Park, ensuring continued protection against coastal development.
Four miles wide by six miles long, Marco Island is home to about 14,000
year-round residents. During the months of January through March however,
the island population swells to well over 30,000 due to the annual influx
of vacationers and winter residents, filling up the large inventory of
hotel rooms, condos, villas and apartments. No wonder, with our dependable
sunshine and winter afternoon temperatures usually in the 70's and 80's.
Gulf water temperatures range from the low 60's in the winter to the high
80's
The arrival of homesteader Captain W.D. "Bill" Collier rang in the arrival
of "civilized" life on Marco in 1870. Collier's Marco Island centered
around the fishing and clamming industry. Captain Bill's relatives still
live on Marco Island today.
Three of the original building of Collier's sleepy village still remain in
the Olde Marco area today and receive more activity than they did in
Collier's time. They now are all popular restaurants!
Captain Bill stumbled upon one of the richest archeological finds in
Florida accidentally while he dug mucky soil as fertilizer for his garden.
After word got around and the Smithsonian Institute archaeologist Frank
Hamilton Cushing got involved in the excavation, which later became known
as the widely celebrated "1896 Expedition", hundreds of artifacts were
uncovered. Unfortunately, many of the items were lost days, sometimes
hours, after being exposed to the air outside their mud burial site
One six-inch wooden brown-red cat statue did, however, survive. The Key
Marco Cat, as it was later dubbed and is still called, became the very
symbol of the lost Calusa and remains so today.
Marco Island Cat Statue
From November 1995 to May 1996, the feline made a special centenary
appearance at the Collier County Museum. On loan from the Smithsonian
reserves, it struck wonderment into the minds of thousands of visitors.
Back
to Collier County Home Page
Back
to Florida Home Page
Back
to Genealogy Trails
Genealogy Trails ©2008
