Suggested Reading List
Remembering Fort Myers: The City of Palms
Author: Prudy Taylor Board
Description: Known for its palm-lined boulevards and famous residents, Fort Myers is arguably the quintessential Florida destination. And although many people know the city was a winter getaway for the likes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, few know the story of “Wild Bill” Belvin who lived a year in the wilds of North Fort Myers, but was immediately arrested upon his return to civilization. Nor do they know that when Lee Memorial Hospital first opened in 1916, its surgical patients were as concerned about the agility of their stretcher-bearers as they were about their surgeons’ skills.
In Remembering Fort Myers: The City of Palms, author Prudy Taylor Board has compiled a collection of historical articles about the intriguing, but little known, people and events in the city’s history. Board traces the development of the city’s prestigious neighborhoods and parks, while introducing readers to some of the most captivating and eccentric characters.
The Edisons Of Fort Myers: Discoveries of the Heart
Author: Tom Smoot
Description: In 1885, Thomas Edison, age thirty-nine and already a world-famous inventor, met the two great loves of his life: Mina Miller and Fort Myers, Florida. Mina soon became his second wife, and Fort Myers - a remote, almost inaccessible, village on Florida's southwest coast - became their winter home.
Other tomes tell the global account of Thomas Edison, the American icon named by Life magazine as the Man of the Millennium. This book offers a look at his life in his tropical retreat, his jungle, where for forty-six years he and his bride sought refuge from the cold winters and the demanding lifestyle of his New Jersey home, laboratory, and business complex.
While in Fort Myers he watched over his extensive botanical gardens, fished from both his boat and his long dock, interacted with the locals, and labored for many hours in his laboratory. Henry Ford and his family lived next door and many dignitaries came to visit, including President-elect Hoover and Harvey Firestone.
The Edisons became an essential part of the Fort Myers story. They made lifelong friendships with townsfolk and joined in local activities until the love affair of the Edisons was cut short by the death of Thomas in 1931. Mina continued to live out her love for Fort Myers and its people until her death in 1947. She gave their winter estate, Seminole Lodge, to the grateful citizens of Fort Myers.
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