Railroad Station Bonita Springs, Florida

Bonita Springs, Florida Railroad Station

     I have found references to a Fort Myers Southern Railroad with service to Bonita Springs.  It began operating in 1925.  The railroad was owned by Barron Collier.

     I have found references to Seaboard Airline Railroad with service to Bonita Springs.  An individual named Alex Grantt stated the above photo of was of a train depot owned by the Seaboard Airline Railroad.

    .If anyone has more information about this please contact me 

Placid Tower, Lake Placid Florida

Placid Tower, Lake Placid, Florida

     Earnest Oakley Hunt was the force behind the Placid Tower in Placid Lake, Florida. He moved from Colorado to Orlando in 1938. He then moved to Sebring, Florida in 1947. It was about this time that he found a location for his observation tower in Lake Placid, Florida.

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     12 years later, Hunt and his partner and his partner Robert Gray formed Air View Corporation with the sole goal of building an observation tower. The tower was designed by Lakeland architect A. Wynn Howell.  It was built by Ridge Builders (a Hunt and and Gray Company) in 1960.

Placid Tower Lake Placid

     The Tower was constructed with nearly 100,000 concrete blocks. It was 240 feet tall. Placid Tower opened on January 1, 1961. There was a gift shop and a snack bar at the base of the tower. The Chamber of Commerce was adjacent to the gift shop.

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     In the late 1960’s, the tower was renamed The Happiness Tower and Tower of Peace.  The tower closed in 1982 due to financial issues. It reopened 1986, but it still had poor ticket sales. To generate more sales, a petting zoo was added and a pay phone was installed at the top of the tower. The last owner to operate the tower ran it from 1992 to 2003.

Placid Tower

     The tower was sold to CHL Tower Group on 11/6/2003.  It has been operated as a cell tower ever since.

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Placid Tower

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Placid Tower

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Placid Tower

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Placid Tower

Placid Tower

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Placid Tower

Placid Tower

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station, Fort Myers, Southwest Florida  Museum of History, Southwest Florida Community Foundation, Collaboratory,2031 Jackson St, Fort Myers

Old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station, Fort Myers

Old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station Fort Myers

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Old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station Fort Myers

     There is a historic mission style building located on Jackson Street in Fort Myers.  This was a railroad passenger station built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1924.  It remained in service until 1971. It was abandoned.  The building stood empty until 1982.

     In 1982, the building became the Southwest Florida Museum of History.  It functioned as the museum until 2015.  The museum had decreasing visitors.

     In 2015, the Imaginarium and the Southwest Museum of History merged.  The old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station was empty once again.

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     The next tenant of the old railroad station was the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.  This is a non for profit organization whose goal is to cultivate regional change for common good through collective leadership, social innovation and philanthropy and to address evolving needs in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties. This organization has 22 employees.  

Old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station Fort Myers

Photo of Southwest Florida Museum of History at RSW Airport Terminal Fort Myers

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Collaboratory, Fort Myers

Plaque Southwest Florida Museum of History

Old Atlantic Coast Railroad Station, Fort Myers

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Old Atlantic Coast Railroad Station Fort Myers

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Collaboratory, Fort Myers

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Memorial Clock Tower, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario

Memorial Clock Tower  Cenotaph

     The Memorial Clock Tower is located in the center of the Queen Street area  in Niagra on the Lake, Ontario. It was built as a memorial to town residents killed in World War I.  It was designed by the architect M.Wilmott.It is 42 feet high.  It is made of bricks with stone at the top and short columns and a clock at the point. It opened  on June 3, 1922.

Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

     Cape Fear Memorial Bridge carries US 76, US 17, US 421 over the Cape Fear River. The Bridge is in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina and Brunswick County, North Carolina. The bridge was constructed between 1967 and 1969. The builder/contractor was Bowers Construction Company.

Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

 The bridge type is a metal 12 panel bolt connected polygonal Warren through Truss, Movable: vertical lift (tower drive ) and approach spans: metal stringer (multibeam fixed). This is the only vertical lift bridge in North Carolina.

     The building specifications are:  main span length 408 feet; structure length 3,033 feet; width 56 feet

     Renovations are as follows:

1986 new painting.

1996 new decking.

2007 new control system

2011- 2012 cross beams were replaced and new paint job

Tennessee Theater Knoxville Tennessee

         This Theater is located at 604 Gay Street in Knoxville.  It was built in 1928.  It was located in the Burwell Building (1908).  The Burwell Building was originally the Knoxville Banking and Trust Company.  This was a 10 story building.  In 1917, Clay Brown Atkin purchased the bank building and renamed it the Burwell Building.  It was 166 feet in height.

Tennessee Theater Knoxville, Tennessee

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     The Tennessee Theater opened in 1928. It was designed by architects Graven and Mayger.  It had 2,000 seats.  The style was Spanish Moorish.   Lavish features such as crystal chandeliers, italian terazzo tiling in the lobby were present. The builder was  George Fuller.        Initially, the theater showed 2 silent features per week.  It also hosted live performers ie singers and dancers.  It showed movies until 1977.      Over the years the Tennessee changed ownership multiple times.  It first closed in 1977.  It closed intermittently in the 1970’s.  In 2005, it underwent a multimillion dollar restoration project

Tennessee Theater Knoxville

    Seen in movie Banking on Christmas

Big John Statue Cape Coral, Florida

Big John Statue, Cape Coral, Florida

     In May, 1969 Craig and John Hollingsworth purchased an existing grocery store in Cape Coral, Florida on Cape Coral Parkway.   They renamed the store Big Johns. They commissioned  a 28 foot fiberglass figure to be built as the store’s mascot.  They named it big John.  It represented a store clerk carrying two grocery bags. The statue was made by the General Sign Company in Cape Giradeau,Missouri.

Big John Statue, Cape Coral

    Big John stood in front of the store until its closing in 1986.  It is still in Big Johns plaza. It has undergone changes.  Big John wears an American Flag shirt,acid washed jeans and sneakers.  During holidays, it is dressed in holiday garb.

     Big John is now the landmark mascot of Cape Coral, Florida